Chapter 6

RYDER'S POINT OF VIEW

"Come have breakfast."

Mirabel covered her head with a pillow, ignoring me. I had sent a maid to tell her to come down, but she said she wouldn't. Now that I was in her room, she chose to be stubborn and not listen to me.

"Mirabel, I don't want to repeat myself, you hear me? Get your ass up and come down for breakfast."

She removed the pillow and sat up. "I don't want to."

"Mirabel."

"Ryder, leave me alone. I said I don't want to have breakfast with you. Can't you respect that?"

"No." I moved closer to her bed. "I cannot respect that. Who am I supposed to eat with if you're not there?"

She looked away from me. "There's Theo."

"But you're my family." I removed the blanket she had used to cover herself despite her trying to put it back on.

"Ryder, please." She angrily kneeled on the bed, trying her best to appear the least bit scary.

"Mira, please." I teased, lifting her up from the bed. She struggled in my arms, letting me realize she really didn't want to have breakfast with. I didn't want to force her into doing something she did not, so I placed her back on the ground.

She seemed to have noticed her actions hurt me and was about to say something, but I beat her to it.

"You don't have to come down. Do what you want."

"Ryder-"

I walked out of her room and gently closed the door behind me.

This was weird. Eating alone, that is.

I wasn't one to eat without having people around me. When Isabella was alive, I'd wait for her to come home before having dinner. Even Mirabel knew it. Asking me to eat with Theo was just unbearable, because he could be very annoying.

"Isn't she coming down?" Theo asked, placing his fork down. "I thought you went to call her."

"I did. It's as if she doesn't want to be around me anymore, you know. It hurts."

"You know what it is that you have to do." He reached for an apple in the fruit bowl. "Let the kid go back to school. If you do that, believe me, she'll be back to how she used to be."

"But I don't want to do that just yet. I'm worried something bad will happen to her. Why doesn't she understand I'm only looking out for her?"

When one of the attacker's men announced Isa's death, it felt as though all the air in my lungs had been knocked out of me. No matter how much I tried to not believe it, I had to at one point. Losing Mirabel would kill me slowly. She was the only family I had left.

"And that is why you should make sure she's happy."

"You don't get it, Theo."

"I get it." He argued. "You don't want what happened to Isabella to happen to Mirabel, which is completely understandable. Mirabel gets that, but she still insists on going to school. It's been three weeks, Ryder. These walls must be suffocating her."

"She's just being ridiculous. I bet there's a boy she's hell bent on seeing." My eyes widened at the thought of Mirabel having a boyfriend. "Do you think she has a boyfriend?"

Theo laughed out loud for a few seconds before his expression quickly morphed into one of seriousness. "You're not serious, are you?"

"You know something, Theo." I pointed an accusing finger at him. "You know why she wants to leave the house even when she knows her life is at risk. Tell me, who is the little devil who is trying to lure her out of the house?"

"I know Mirabel. She wouldn't do something she knows you won't like, and having a boyfriend is one of them. Stop being paranoid, it doesn't suit you." He took a bite of the apple in his hand. "Besides, Mira is a smart kid. She knows what's wrong and right. Have some faith in your sister and let her go out. Even if it is three times a week. I know she'll feel better."

"No, she'll remain in the palace. I want you to get two women to keep an eye on her. If I hear she snuck out, I'll be using you as my new punching bag. We good?"

"Yes, sir."

<<<>>>

The private investigator I was supposed to meet up with yesterday had arrived at the palace. Theo led him to my office and left, saying he had something important he needed to attend to.

"Please, sit." I gestured to the chair across from me. I hated when people sat down without me telling them to sit down. It was simple etiquette that many people failed to pass.

"Thank you." He sat down and placed his briefcase on his thighs. "I heard what happened yesterday. Are you alright?"

I nodded, placing both my hands on the desk. "It's a good thing I didn't get seriously hurt. People just have to be more careful."

"Agreed."

"So, what is it you said you have to tell me? Any new update?"

"I went to the police station yesterday morning. The phone you had brought from Hawaii; the one you said was used by the attacker. A message was seen when the officers turned the phone on."

"Message? What message?"

"Things will happen." He said, "I don't know what the person means by that but I advise you to be very careful."

Why wouldn't this person leave me alone? Wasn't Isabella enough? What more could they want from me?

"Sir, do you know why?"

Confusion etched its way onto my face at his question. "What do you mean?"

"The reason this person is after you. Did you in any way fight with someone over the throne?"

There was no one to fight with. My father was an only child and then he married my mother. The only person who could rule over Ordene was my sister, and she wouldn't fight me for it. As per right, I was the heir to the throne. Mirabel wouldn't hurt me for the throne. Heck, she wasn't even ready for it.

"No. This person's motive isn't clear to me, so it's a little difficult to know why they're hell bent on making me suffer."

"I'll sort this out, Sir."

"I hope so."

"I'll be on my way now. Thank you for having me."

I forced a smile; one I hoped would appear genuine. "Anytime."

He got up from the seat and walked towards the door, with me following directly behind him. When we got to the entrance of the palace, he waved me goodbye and left. When I turned around, Mirabel stood in front of me, her eyes going over my shoulder to see who had just left.

"Who was that?" She asked, finally looking at me.

"The private investigator I hired to look into Isabella's case." I walked around her and toward the hallway.

"Private investigator?" She was following me.

"Yes." I stopped walking to stare at our family portrait that was hung on the wall of the hallway. It was a reminder of what I used to feel. Happiness and love.

One was of my parents, Mirabel, and me. The other was after my parents' death. Isabella had her arms around my neck as she smiled at the camera. Mirabel stood beside me, also smiling. The good times I really missed.

"Why didn't I know about this?" She crossed her arms over her chest.

I tore my gaze from what was now a memory and to my sister's displeased face. "You don't have to know everything, Mira. Have you eaten? You don't look too good." I took a step forward so that I could feel her body temperature, but she stepped back.

"Aren't I a part of this family? Don't you think I should know what's going on? I mean, Isabella was family to me. I have a right to know what you're doing as long as it concerns her."

"You're making it sound as though I am doing something wrong." My tone was oddly calm. It felt as if I was a kid being scolded by my mother. I was the older one here.

"That's because you are." She pointed at me. "First you refuse to let me out of the house and when I leave my room, you have people follow me around even in our home. What is going on with you, Ryder?"

"I'm just trying to protect you, Mira. Why don't you understand that?"

"You're the one who doesn't understand me." She fired back. "I hope you would understand my feelings and tell those two..." she looked over her shoulder to where two armed women clad in suit were. "Tell them to stop following me around, okay?"

She stormed off, leaving me puzzled and angry at the same time. The two women came to me as soon as Mirabel was out of earshot.

"Sir, should we still follow her?" One asked.

"Isn't that what I'm paying you for?" I pinched the bridge of my nose and shut my eyes. "Sorry, that came out wrong." I swear Mirabel was getting on my nerves. "Just follow her closely and make sure she does nothing stupid. Call me if something seems off, alright?"

"Yes, Sir."

Goodness, Mirabel. Please understand me. Why didn't she get it? The reason I did not want her to return to school just yet was because I could not bear the thought of losing her. Especially now that the attacker had made it clear that he or she was not done with putting me through a lot of pain.

Just when I thought my troubles would finally give me a break, I heard a commotion outside. Already feeling mentally exhausted, I went out to check what was wrong. A sigh escaped my lips when I saw the person. She was arguing with the guards.

"Let her through."

Elena looked up at me when she heard my voice. She wore a blue jean, white button-up shirt, nude colored heels and a white bag. Her black hair was in soft curls.

"It's good to see you again, Miss Greene." I was trying my most possible best to be polite. I really wasn't in the mood to entertain any guest. "So, what brings you here?"

"I came to apologize." She gripped her bag, probably to ease her nerves.

"Apologize? What for? I should be the one saying sorry for dragging you to the police station. It must have been scary for you."

She mumbled something I couldn't quite catch.

"It was scary, but I said some things I shouldn't have said. I know I was a little disrespectful because I hadn't considered your reason for doing what you did yesterday."

I was becoming confused. "What do you mean?"

She rubbed her hands together, something lots of people did when they got nervous. "When I got home yesterday, I told my friend about what happened. She explained to me that you lost your girlfriend some weeks back, and it was probably why you insisted on involving the police. I hadn't realized earlier, so I spoke rudely to you. I'm sorry."

Talking about Isabella with a stranger wasn't something I wanted to do. I had to end the conversation as quickly as possible.

"You have nothing to apologize for. I just hope you don't think of me as an annoying jerk because I am certain you cursed me out yesterday."

She immediately shook her head. "What? Of course not?" I raised a brow at her and she bit her lower lip. "Well, maybe a little."

"Its fine, Elena. If that's all, I would like to return to what I was doing." I told her.

"That would be all."

From the way she answered me, I had a feeling there was more she wanted to say but was stopping herself from doing so. Either way, it was her problem and not mine. We'd both apologized and I hoped we wouldn't cross paths again.