Chapter One

The suffocating heat and musty air woke me from my pitiful sleep. The cargo plane had stopped and landed as I peered on the small gaps of crates. 

No one was around.

A sigh of relief left me, as I tried to swallow on my parch mouth. I am thirsty having not packed anything to eat or drink or any of my belongings. I don't have anything aside from the clothes on my back and the small pouch of money I kept through the years. 

The bustling activities a few hundred meters from me reached my ears while I tried to shove the crates using my feet to create a gap that would fit me. 

After an arduous sixty seconds of pushing. The gap was finally large enough so I could fit. I hastily slipped from my cramped hiding place while trying to stay quiet as much as possible.

My knees wobbled the moment I tried to stand. The place was cramped up having filled with weapons that were purchased from  Tierra del Diablo throughout the night.

I scanned my surroundings. When I heard nothing outside of the small cargo plane I peeked through the small window. We had arrived on what appeared to be a busy dock. 

Everyone is busy hurriedly doing their business. Then I heard three short blasts of a cargo ship's horn, signaling its departure. 

‘Maybe I could slip through on one of the small cargo ships.’ I thought to myself.

Then suddenly the door swung open and a man with an ugly scar on his face barge inside with a gun in his hand pointing at me. 

I trembled in fear.

“No, no please,” I begged in a trembling voice. But he only smiled at me.

A cruel smile that only means one thing.

I'm going to die.

•••

I gasped as the heavy feeling lifted from my chest.

It's just a dream. A bad dream.

It's been a month since that fateful day happened. I escaped the cargo plane unharmed before running and slipping inside a departing cruise ship, and by pretending to be part of the cleaning crew. That cruise ship had brought me here to Avondale. 

My guardian angel may have been with me the whole time as I instantly found a job at the diner where I eat and meet Lena. 

My best friend.

She's also a waitress on the Diner, yes the name of the diner where I work is Diner. Lena offered me her extra room in her apartment, saying she could use a friend to accompany her everywhere she goes.

It's been a long trip from home to here but I regret nothing. 

“Sarah! Hurry up or we’re going to be late, again.” My best friend yelled from the door of our shared apartment.

“Okay, okay! I am coming!” I shouted back. We were always like this early in the morning. While I'm trying to be fast, I always end up daydreaming. 

You know, imagining prince charming would swoop to my rescue and take me into his palace, and then we will live happily ever after. Not.

I wish everything would be as simple as that, though. 

Lena would always say that I am a hopeless romantic that’s why my first and only relationship didn’t work out because I was expecting too much. 

I felt sad not being able to share with her what really happened to me. Or the reason why I'm here and the dangerous man I been running from. And also the kind of prison I would be living in if ever the wedding happened. I could only tell Lena that I ran from my groom because I'm still not ready to settle down. That I have a bucket list to complete before entering the life of matrimony.

 That's the only truth I could tell her.

The first time I told her, she laughed at the mention of my bucket list but she had been supportive. Perhaps, for others, it was a stupid list. But to me, it was the list of things I wanted to accomplish before I die. 

I was diagnosed with hemophilia at an early age.  I inherited it from my father, from the king himself. But the sickness doesn’t stop him from ruling our small country greatly. I am not saying it because he's my father but because that’s what I saw from the day that I started to think and ‘till the day that I had escaped from the prison I am confined my whole life. 

I accepted death a long time ago, I had made peace to it that my disease doesn't a cure. And I'm okay with it as long as I got to experience to truly live.

Growing up inside my room, my dream was to live a normal life away from the luxury of being royal, away from being a fragile princess who always needs assistance from everyone. 

I was no prisoner that’s what they all said, but the suffocating feeling of being restricted from almost everything says otherwise.

Right now I am free to live my life to the fullest.

I was pulled from my thoughts when someone pinched my right earlobe, dragging me out of my thoughts and me in the process. 

“Daydreaming again, I see. Who is it this time?” My best friend Lena asked me teasingly.

I blushed.

“No one!” I reply almost indignant. I can't really tell her that I having a nightmare again. It will only make Lena worry and when she is worried she would only probe more. I can't afford to lie to her again. It'll break her heart, she trusted me and I can not trust her in return for the fear that Roman would include her the moment he would catch up on me.

“Nah. Ah-ah-ah. You’ve got to tell me later girlfriend but for now, we need to hurry or we’re going to be late.” I nodded, thankful at the change of subject.

“So where to, later?” I asked Lena when we're on our break from the diner.

She just gave one of her evil smiles.

Oh-oh, this sounds trouble.

Later that day we were preparing for the night. Apparently, Lena got an invite from the diner that one of the high school jocks was throwing a party and we’re going to check it out.

Sounds lovely!

“I think we’re old enough to go to this kind of party,” I said while finishing my hair.

“Of course not!” She retorted with a hurt look on her face but I know better than to fall for it. The truth was, she hadn't really moved on from weekday parties during her junior and senior years.

“Yeah, I know. And to think we’re going to be the only oldies there proves your point.” I deadpanned.

She just rolled her eyes and stand beside me.

“Just add this night’s escapade into your bucket list.” She said playfully but I know that she’s serious about it. She was helping me to carry out each of them, after all.

I'll just have to extra careful not to cut myself or it's game over.

Living here in Avondale makes me feel whole and happy even in my small wage. Every penny and sweat-soaked uniform was equivalent to food and roof on my head and I'm okay with that.

“You ready, princess?” Lena playfully asked me. I just rolled my eyes at her antics and nodded my head. Of course, she didn’t know that I am a runaway princess. I only told her a small part of the story. 

That I am a runaway bride.

When we arrived the party was already in chaos. Loud music, sweaty grinding bodies, and the smell of alcohol and cigarettes lingered in the air making me dizzy. This party was way different from the parties I used to attend back home.  

“You okay, Sar? For a moment one could think you're already drunk. You look ready to puke and pass out.” Lena commented as she looked at me from head to toe.

“Don’t mind me, Len, I am okay I just felt overwhelmed, that’s all.” I wave my hand in the air to make my point.

She just nodded her head reluctantly then turned her head on the makeshift platform on the center. A guy is standing there watching our exchange or rather watching Lena.

“You go to lover boy and dance, I am okay. I'm going for a walk outside, I need fresh air.”

“You sure?” She asked again, unsure.

“Of course I am. Now go.” I made a shooing motion and she reluctantly inched away from me. I flashed her a smile before making my way outside.  

The night was cold but not too cold to make me shiver it was enough to cool down my body. 

I was having a time of my life just watching the stars and the moon that slowly makes its way to its peak. But the tranquility of the moment was shattered by the sound of a gunshot and followed by an audible thud. 

I yelped in shock and run the small distance to hide on the parked black SUV. I didn’t dare to peek or move for a while. There’s no need to get involved in this mess and got myself killed. 

It seemed that no one heard the gunshot based on the still blaring music in the background. I sighed in relief. 

I scanned my surrounding for immediate danger. Negative. I slowly stand on my hiding spot and started to make my way to the house. My hands were still shaking from the fright. 

I was about to climb on the front porch when a firm hand wraps around my wrist stopping me from advancing further on my destination. I looked at the hand then very slowly followed its owner until I am looking at the beautiful stormy gray eyes of a man.  

It was a magical moment where I got lost just staring at his stormy orbs and it was the kind of loss that's exactly like being found amid a blizzard. The time seemed to stop and the background blurred into nothingness. All I heard was the frantic beating of my heart and the electricity that sparked from the contact and travels through my very core. 

I shivered not from the cold but the deliciously foreign sensation.   

I closed my eyes and savored the sensation emitting a moan in the process. Then his cold bow-shaped lips touch my forehead. 

My eyes fluttered open now staring at his lips that still pressed on my forehead.

Wait! What!?

Like being splashed with ice-cold water I was pulled out from my magical bubble.

“Welcome back, Princess.” Fear gripped me like I was transported back to my nightmare the night before. Instantly as my eyes rolled back before the welcoming arms of darkness engulf me. 

 •••