LylaJavier smiled at me. "I told you that. Remember?"I shook my head at him, trying to move backward but was only met with the hard bodies of the guards surrounding me. In my arms, Nasir began to cry. The sound made my heart ache. It fucking sucks that my newborn child has been put into this situation. It's not fair. "What is going on!" Salama tried to jerk away from the guards surrounding her too. "Javier, what are you doing!"He sighed. "I'm sorry to tell you, but I have to break off our engagement. Don't worry, I won't make it look like you were at fault.""I don't care about that!" she snapped back. "You're not actually taking her back to Spain with you, right?""I am, actually."I shook my head. "I'm not going anywhere with you, Javier. You know that."He frowned at me. "Lyla, we had a deal. I help you get your baby back and you come with me to Spain. You agreed to that.""I got my own baby back! No thanks to you!" I cried, holding m
RashidThree Months Later…"Rashid! Can you come grab the milk out of the microwave!" Lyla called out through the house.I looked up from the laptop resting in my lap, my eyes readjusting from looking at the screen for too long and watering slightly. "I got it," my sister said, pulling herself up from the floor."Thanks." I stretched my arms over my head, feeling my shoulders crack as I did so. Who knew trying to find accommodations for a former princess was going to be this much of a hassle?Salama and I had been working on finding her a place to live on her own while Lyla and I's house was being built. After her breakup with Javier, my parents had disowned her as well, cutting her off before she had a chance to explain that he'd masterminded an entire campaign into trying to steal my wife away to Spain with him.According to our parents, Salama was just as much of a failure as I was and since she'd gotten back into contact with me and come ov
LylaNever in my life had I considered that I would have made it as far as I currently had. Growing up, everyone around me constantly put me down, no matter my achievements. I was either not pretty enough, smart enough, or proper enough to be considered a lady, let alone be taken seriously in the eyes of adults. Especially when it came to my judgmental parents who only wanted to extort me for what I was worth to them. F*cking assholes, both of them.For years, I tried so hard to be good. To be the daughter they wanted and to have that bonding love with my mother that every young girl wishes to have, but of course, that dream quickly died.Now with graduation in sight, I could almost smell the freedom. That is until this morning when my world came crashing down upon me like a glass house destroyed by a stone that no one had a clue who had thrown. "Dude, that's a lot of f*cking money, Lyla."Mentally rolling my eyes, I let a soft groan of irritation escape my throat as I stabbed my for
Rashid"Another round for the table!"Zayed, my closest friend, waved over the attendant standing near the doorway of our private balcony. The French doors leading back into the main part of the restaurant remained blissfully closed, with sheer curtains parted over them in order to block glances from curious guests.This wasn't an unusual kind of afternoon. With the way I lived, money was no object.I watched as the attendant trotted over with a drink cart, wheeling it along the carpeted flooring before kicking down the brake. A bit of uneasiness lingered within their shifting eyes as if they were trying to remember everything they were told about their job, or perhaps who I was.Raising a brow at the fresh bottle of champagne he produced from a chilled ice bucket, I turned to Zayed and nudged his foot with my own just as they popped the cork. "Don't you think you've had enough to drink? It's hardly noon."My friend let out a laugh. "Are you the king of day drinking, telling me you've
LylaAs the dim light from the sun outside cast shadows into the room I was in I began to stir. My eyes slowly opened but the feeling of a thousand knives stabbing me in the head reminded me of the drunken stupor I had been in the night before. I had no idea where I'd ended up last night after collapsing, but from what I could tell from my aching back and stiff neck, it wasn't in my bed."Oh, what the f*ck…" I muttered to myself as I slowly sat up. My hand felt around for my phone before landing on a hard surface that I tried to focus on. "Coffee table?"Shit. I had fallen asleep at a weird angle on Sven's sofa and with the littered cans and cups around the area, it was clear that we had one hell of a rager last night. I hated being hungover. I was never graceful about it, nor was I one to be able to feel normal the next day. You'd think I'd learn my lesson during my first year at college, but apparently, I was doomed to repeat mistakes.Looking around for my phone, I spotted it lying
Rashid~~On the other side of the world~~"You can't actually be serious…""I am deadly serious, my friend," Zayed replied as he stared at me. I had never expected to wake the next morning to the happy expression of my friend telling me he had found someone to entertain me. In fact, I had awoken this morning completely having forgotten about the damn bet I made with him the day before.We spent all morning cooped up inside the embassy while our fathers bickered with overseas commissions. It reminded me of a never-ending cycle of blaming and pointing fingers as to why shipments were being delayed."Rashid."Shaking my head from the thoughts of my father's business and the never-ending bickering from my mother over what I should be doing with my life, I glanced back at him, slightly annoyed. "I didn't think you'd actually take my challenge to heart, Zayed." Laughter emitted from his throat as he shrugged his shoulders in a nonchalant kind of way. "Of course I did. You told me to find s
LylaPacing around Sven's house for the next twelve hours wasn't going to be a productive use of my time, so I headed back to my dorm with the hopes of figuring out how to solve the current problems I'm facing. Like what I was going to do about the money I owed to the school.Also, I was embarrassed. I didn't want to face the music that I had done something incredibly stupid and impulsive and put my pictures on a porn website. Even though none of them were explicit, I'd still advertised myself as such, which made it ten times worse in my book.Granted, I'd always admired those able to put themselves out there and be free and confident enough in their own body to sell themselves, but I couldn't. The comfort of my room and books was where I thrived. An introvert who strayed far from anything dangerous or exotic.The moment I stepped into my dorm I shut myself in and collapsed on my bed. Before I left, I'd made Jess promise he would have his phone on him the rest of the day and update me
Rashid"You think she'll answer?"Leaning away from the desktop, I rested my hand on my hip as I stared at the message I'd sent at the bottom of the chat log. A slow breath escaped my lips as I realized what the next steps were going to be in this process. When Zayed had finally placed the bid on Lyla's auction, not more than a few minutes after the account showed pending and her notification that she was online became active.For some reason, it'd made me insatiably curious. "I doubt she'll answer before the auction is over, Zayed."He swiveled in the chair to give me a look. One I was unfortunately familiar with. "Who else is going to outbid us? They'd have to put down at least a million."I raised a brow at him. "Us? I distinctly remember you inputting my card information. As well as you found this listing for me."He answered me with a lazy grin, shrugging. "I'm invested now, sue me."If Zayed really wanted to focus all of his energy on seeing this entire transaction through, the