002

NORMANI.

The sun seeped into the living room from the floor to the ceiling. I stared out, watching the garden. Estella had different species of birds there, and they often chirped, so it was kind of relaxing.

I stared at them for what felt like an eternity, my thoughts swimming in thick bitterness as the memories dug deep within me.

George didn't know my family or my background because I never told him. My father told me never to tell him about it for the next five years in order to see his true colors. My father had promised to accept him if he treated me right for those five years only for him to fuck it all up at three years.

Suddenly, Estella’s voice cut through my thoughts like a blade, smooth but sharp.

“I have always known George wouldn’t end well,” she said, sitting across from me in the living room with two cups of Turkish coffee.

“But this? Framing you… wanting you to get locked up for five damn years?” She stretched one cup to me and I took it. The aromatic smell took over the atmosphere. I couldn't help but sip it instantly.

“You know, it is the level of wickedness in their hearts that still shocks me, Estella. I lived with that man. I slept beside him. I loved him. And the whole time—he was plotting my downfall with that… witch. I gave myself away for him!” I said 

My fingers wrapped around the mug, the heat of the coffee pressed against my palm leaving a soothing feeling.

“You gave him your freedom, your life, everything,” Estella added, her voice low with fury. “And now he is walking around free, planning a wedding, like none of it ever happened.”

I didn’t speak for a moment. The silence was too loud, ringing in my ears. Then Estella shifted slightly and looked at me with an intensity that made my chest tighten.

“When are you going to tell your father about the divorce?”

My throat burned. I looked away. “I don’t know what to tell him. He will be disappointed in me. He warned me, Estella. And I… I failed him. I failed as his daughter. I left everything behind for a man and now that man has left me scarred!” I breathed in quickly, my stomach clenching with pain

Estella was quick to shut me down, glaring at me as she did.

“No. You are not a failure, Normani. Don’t even let those words cross your mind again. You have accomplished more than anyone your age. That is why your father chose you, not your brother, despite tradition. Because he knew his people would be safest in your hands. Your father, who is the king, saw something in you and you should see it too!”

I blinked rapidly, swallowing down the tears threatening to fall. I had built so much only to give it all up for a man who did not care about me. The second he had the chance he sent me to prison. It made me wonder how much he hated me to do this to me. Yet, I had slept next to that man for three years. I loved him like he was a part of me.

“I just don’t know what to do anymore.”

“What to do,” she dropped her mug on the side table next to her and continued, “Pick up your damn phone and call him.”

I was about to reach for it when I saw Estella freeze. Her entire body stiffened. I looked up.

“What is it?” I asked, unease settling in my stomach as I stared at her.

She held up her phone with trembling fingers, and I read the headline aloud, my voice flat with disbelief.

“George and Becky Announce Engagement.”

It felt like a slap to the face. No. A punch straight to my ribs. The air left my lungs. Why did it still hurt like I didn't already know about it?

Estella hissed, “This jerk and that witch… You just got divorced last week and they are already announcing a date to the public?”

I stood slowly, fury rising in my belly.

“He thinks he can humiliate me twice? No. I won’t let this go!” My pain was already turning to anger for revenge.

“You have to tell your father now before your brother beats you to it with this public announcement they made” Estella urged.

I took a deep breath, dialed the number, and pressed the phone to my ear. When my father’s voice came through, calm and yet so heavy, I flinched.

“I have seen the news, princess,” he said. “I was waiting for you to come tell me yourself.” He sounded angry yet I could hear the concern in his voice for me. I missed him.

"I'm so sorry, Father, I should have listened to you." Tears welled up in my eyes as I wished I hadn't let love blind me.

“So when are you coming back home?”

“I’m not coming down there,” I replied softly.

There was a pause. Then: “What? Your marriage to him was the only thing stopping you from taking the crown. Since that is no longer an issue, there is no reason not to return and take your rightful place.”

“I can’t. Not yet. I have to make him pay for what he did to me.”

“I can do that with one command.”

“No, Father.” My voice broke, but I forced myself to stay firm. “This… this I need to do it myself. No one is going to help me make that bastard cry but me!”

There was another long silence.

“How long will this revenge take you, Normani?”

“I don’t know.”

“I hope you don’t waste too much time. You should know the people are eager to know who will succeed me,” he said quietly. “The crown cannot always wait.”

“I understand….I promise I won’t delay," I whispered. “But I need one favor.”

“Anything.”

“The company Estella now manages the one I built before I handed it over. I need it back. I need resources. And power.”

“It was always yours,” he said. “You sacrificed it for your marriage. Take it!”

I walked back into the living room. Estella stood when she saw my face.

“What is it?”

“It is time,” I said coldly.

“Start digging. I want every weakness of Becky’s family, every skeleton in every closet. And the Bitcoin company, what is the update?”

Estella looked grim. “Well, Becky is after it too. Trying to purchase it.” She grabbed her laptop and then showed me the entire details. Estella was smart, she was a top student back in college.

“Then we have to beat her to it,” I said, my voice sharp. “That company will be mine!”

SHAWN.

Blood.

It painted the stone walls of my dungeon like a sick masterpiece, dark and glistening with red. The man lay on the floor, coughing out what was left of his strength. My hand wrapped around his throat like the tail of a python.

“Who sent you?” I snarled, my patience wearing thinner with every second. He kept dragging the entire thing making it so hard.

His eyes were blank. He was already halfway gone. “George… George…” he whispered.

George. Again.

It was not the first time George had gotten in my way. This time around George sent a spy to my home. The bastard became one of them only to disclose information to George

I couldn't help the anger that slipped through me. My fingers tightened around his neck, and I heard him gasp for breath quietly before I slammed the bastard into the wall to end him faster. He had already delayed me for too long.

His thick blood scattered all over the room and his flesh became particles and spread through the air in little ones.

My breath came in hard, slow pulls as I grabbed a towel from the wall and wiped my hands. The name ‘George’ rang through my ears again. That bastard had done so much damage. So much!

I walked toward the kitchen, my boots echoing with every step. There was a maid in the kitchen and she froze when she saw me. Her eyes locked on the blood running down my arm. It wasn't the first time she had seen something like this, though.

“Get me soap,” I said calmly, even though inside, a storm raged.

She trembled as she placed the soap near the sink, standing still like a statue. She knew what working in my house meant. Death or devotion.

“Leave before you die from shaking too much,” Jerome's voice rang through the air. “You kill chickens but shake at blood?” He chuckled at the maid who didn’t wait. She ran. Pretty sure she had been begging her god to send someone to come save her from me.

I didn’t even look up as I washed the blood off. Jerome’s presence was the only thing keeping me from exploding again.

“It’s George,” I muttered.

“That bastard,” Jerome spat. “He has been chipping away at us from the inside. I knew it.”

“He sent that spy to the house. Feed him information. Now another client has joined Karl Finnegan’s circle.”

I slammed my fist against the sink. Anger coursed through me, and I growled. Another associate is gone. Another hard work. Everything was all gone because of George.

“He is trying to prove himself to Karl. Proposing to his daughter, stealing my partner's… all of these to get his boss to look at him. Pathetic fowl!” I hit the counter again. That piece of shit has been doing too much lately, trying to outsmart me, my security, and men!

“Look at this,” Jerome said, pushing something into my hand.

A photo.

I glanced at it and looked away uninterested.

“Take a look at it” Jerome insisted

“I’m not interested in any woman right now” I snapped.

“She is George’s ex-wife.”

I looked.

“And the daughter of the King of Scotland. He divorced her a few days ago, the very day she was released from prison, a sentence he was meant to serve. It was George and Becky who'd masterminded her imprisonment, all to remove her from their path."

That made me stop. I took the photo. She was stunning; dark eyes, lips full like she got lip fillers. Her expression was cold and excessively stunning. She looked like she was smart.

“He left her for Becky?” I muttered staring at her goddess-like face. “He left gold for wood."

“He doesn’t know her as the princess of Scotland. I heard the woman hide her identity from him” Jerome spiked my interest.

I narrowed my eyes.

“So what am I supposed to do with this information?” I wanted to hear what was in his head. Jerome was a smart man.

He took the martell from the cabinet and poured himself a shot before handing me the bottle.

“She wants revenge. And she wants to acquire a Bitcoin company to compete with Becky's company. But Becky is also after that same company.”

“So?” I raised my brows.

“So help her,” Jerome said with a knowing smirk.

“Help her get it before Becky does. You can use that to get close to her. Get in her circle and use her to bring George to his knees. Bam!”