POV: Natalie

“Miss Nat, please hurry, I hear footsteps.” Dani’s words came in hushed,

cracked tones from the entrance.

Not a chance, I'm not leaving until I find it.

“We’ve got less than five minutes, we really can’t get caught.” Dani’s shaky

voice came again.

She’s right, we are literally in the lion’s den. I can't find a softer word to describe being

in my father's office in his absence, and I’m just an inch close to getting devoured.

Rummaging through Don Ramirez’s unlocked safe, I scurried like a mouse

searching for cheese.

‘There you are!’ I squealed happily, pulling the stack of papers, an exchange of all the love and promises Jamiel and I have shared for weeks from where it was carefully placed in the safe.

I can’t believe I was this close to getting caught by my father with these letters. Just as I was about to close back the safe, my eyes caught sight of something, and my heart leaped again with joy.

My phone. It’s been ages.

By now Danielle was standing beside me, I could feel her tensed breathing.

‘Oh miss Nat, I don’t really think this is a good Idea. We could just take the letters and leave before anyone sees us.’

Yet again, I knew deep down that Danielle was right. I mean, of what use is a gadget when everything you do with it is being doctored and tracked? I dared not use my phone for something that I'm not allowed to.

But I knew I had to do something, even if it was risky.

Reading through my thoughts, she merely nodded.

“You’ve got it, so what now?”

“The tracker, I could take it out. There's an app too, you know. The one he uses to trace every inbox or movement.”

My hands trembled as we walked to the entrance. It was a mix of fear and excitement. It felt good to defy Don Ramirez and trick him, but I also knew I was as good as dead if I got caught.

“Are you sure about this?”

“Nope.”

Not helping, Nat.

“Is there something else we could do to cover our tracks?”

“Nothing to be scared of.” I didn't believe my words but one of us has got to

be brave.

“He has no idea that the phone isn't in his safe anymore, and before he finds out, I would probably have figured something better to save us from his wrath, and as for the letter, I’m certain his men haven’t told him that they found something.”

All thanks to the business trip he had suddenly taken, the night before the letters were found.

‘How do we even know that?’

‘I can’t say. It’s only a wild guess.’

Or a reckless one.

My fingers moved quickly as I opened the back of my phone and retrieved the tracker, before turning it on to delete files, or apps that would land me in trouble.

The office felt cold and quiet and I could sense Dani’s hesitation from the slow gasps of fear that escaped her lips. It’s been over five minutes, and I should be panicking too, but I’m not. Atleast not like Dani.

“Miss Nat, I’ve got a bad feeling about this, I don't think we should be doing……”

Her words were cut off the moment we heard heavy footsteps approaching the hallway.

“Shhhh, all is fair in love.”

I winked at her with a grin forming on my lips, before pulling her along with me before we got caught.

I’m too excited and in love to be bothered for now. But hours into the night, standing in the cold garden, I began to rethink my actions.

He isn't here yet.

He’s supposed to be here.

He’s supposed to be here before I got here, but he isn’t.

I waited in the coldness of the night for hours, pacing slowly first and then increased steps that hastened my pants too, before I finally gave up and walked back to my room.

My mind was in a trance as I tried to make sense of the best explanation for getting stood up for the very first time, but nothing convinced me.

Still not giving up, I kept my gaze fixed on my open window, my mind wandering back to all the love that had been shared between us in the past weeks.

In the nights that followed after I ran the second time we met, my heart didn’t stop racing anytime I looked through my window and I saw him dropping off a note, before leaving.

They didn’t stop racing anytime I snuck off my window to pick up letters from him, and they grew fonder when these letters wouldn’t stop coming.

I had never felt this way for anyone before, and before I knew it, before I could stop myself, I found myself waiting for him in the garden after numerous nights of different letters that warmed my heart.

And soon enough I became his, wholly, and willingly, just as he became mine.

My happy place became our secret place…..

Until two nights ago after my father’s sordid instructions that landed me in his office earlier.

I don't know how long I had been sitting at the window, but it was just when I opened my eyes to the brightness of the morning that I knew I had spent the night on a chair.

My back ached from bad posture and I quickly jumped on my bed, sliding into my blanket, and drifting into a world of less worries.

I almost tripped from my bed as soon as my eyes opened hours later to the sight and presence that greeted them.

Dad…?

I was too scared to utter the word, but I knew it before I could even think it, I dared defy Don Ramirez, and showing up in my room for the first time ever means only one thing.

“My office. Now.” His tone was wary of any sort of compassion, and with that, he was gone, leaving me to the only sound that played in my room….the beats from my heart.

I followed behind a few minutes after he had gone, ignoring the screams in my head that said I should have washed up first.

I was too clouded with thoughts and questions of what my fate would be than to occupy my thoughts with anything else.

Did I miss something? Does he know? Has he found out…..?

Oh my gosh, the cameras!

The realization of my foolishness, coupled with the fear of what I was going to face hit me like a blow and it suddenly felt like it was winter, or was I about to the have a flu?

Cold shivers ran down my spine and it wasn’t until I held the door handle to open his office that I realized I had been shivering all the way up to his office.

“Close the door, Natalie.” His voice was calmer now, more like stern.

I pretended to be calm and collected and closed the door behind me with both hands gripping it tightly.

“Sit.”

Huh?

I sat down confidently in the chair in front of the desk, trying to relax a little.

But I couldn't, and I clasped my hands between my legs, both thumbs rubbing uncontrollably against the backs of my hands.

It was at this moment when I was feeling apprehensive and a little dizzy and lost in thought that my father's voice broke through the frozen room, sounding so relentless and calm.

As if to say it was a beautiful day.

“You're getting married soon.”