XXXVIII

XXXVIII

We entered in the luxury building we had stopped minutes ago. It was a famous condominium building in London, and might be the most expensive among the rest. The personnel at the front door greeted us, recognizing Prince Alexander.

He wore sunglasses, and we walked quickly to avoid the eyes of the curious people. Paparazzi might see and reported us immediately. The queen would know where he went.

Actually, Prince Alexander explained to me why we left the palace before his engagement party. Obviously, he did not want it to happen. He would not attend so there would be no engagement. In addition, he wanted to spend the day with me because we were not able to be together for a long time last two days.

Once we were inside the lift, Prince Alexander swiped a card on the side of the buttons, and the lift immediately brought us on the top floor. I assumed it was the penthouse.

The doors opened and I got the frontline view of a wealthy pad. There was no other door, once we stepped outside the elevator, we were already standing inside of the penthouse. Prince Alexander removed his sunglasses and went to the couch in front of the forty-two inches LED TV.

I was not able to move because I carefully observed each corner of this pad. The floor was like a mirror in cleanliness. There were windows viewing the great city of London. Kitchen and dining area were located on the left side of the pad, while the living room was on the right side. There were staircase, and I assumed the rooms were located on the second floor.

"Shirley, come here," Prince Alexander invited me to sit on his side.

"Who owns this?" I asked while I walked toward him but my eyes roamed on the walls and ceiling.

"Nicholas, Victoria and I," he simply answered while clicking the button on the television's remote control.

I looked at him, before saying, "Really?" If I was going to guess who owned this place, the last persons I would think was the royal siblings.

I did not say that they could not afford to buy this kind of residence, but the design of this apartment and how it was arranged was not defining the princes and princess. It described more that its owner was a businessman or a multi-billionaire.

He pulled me beside him and explained, "We bought this when Victoria celebrated her eighteenth birthday. No one knows this place, but only the three of us. We all have the keys for this pad."

"It means that you never brought a woman here?" I scooted closer as if his answer was a great deal.

He shook his head, "I brought one," my eyebrow raised instantly, "You."

I giggled, "Oh yes, so this place was known by four now."

He enveloped me in his arms and I leaned my head on his chest. I loved the comfort he gave to me. He kept on switching the channels when he stopped at the news. The reporter said about the weather for today. Winter started. Snow covered the London, and it gave me thrill that Christmas was near. I was going to celebrate it for the very first time here in England with my prince.

I felt him smelling my hair, but stopped when another news flashed on the television. His body became tensed. If I was not mistaken, he flinched when the newscaster began his report.

The news was about the rebels in Africa, the Anti Monarchy Federation Assembly or also known as AMFA. They kidnapped last month, two Britons who worked in the monarchy, and now, they killed a group of Britons who worked for the charity program of England's monarchy in Nigeria. Soldiers went in the said hideout of the group, but a lot of them also got killed. However, there were few of the rebels who died in the encounter. One of them was the spokesperson of the said group.

The picture of the spokesperson viewed on the right side of the television, and below his picture was a symbol I was certain I was familiar with. Red rectangle that had a white circle in the middle and inside it was two intersecting lines. I saw it before...

"It is in your document," I blurted once realization filled the missing piece of my mind. I could not be wrong. I still remembered the small picture of that symbol on every page of the missing transactions.

I looked at Prince Alexander, whose breathing became abnormal. He was shocked, but he hid it immediately. "What are you saying? What document?" he asked, hiding something.

"The document Clarissa..." I trailed off, remembering what she told me when she gave those documents to me.

'Don't tell him that I still have these copies.'

"Clarissa gave you those documents?" I could hear his anger in his words.

"No," I defended, "I was looking for those documents and I found it inside my room."

"Stop lying, Shirley!" he shouted, "Why Clarissa gave those to you?!"

"Don't shout at me!" I fought back and stood. I gathered myself by running my hand on my face up to my hair. "I'm only doing my job. I need those documents for the year-end report."

He did not respond. He just put his face on his both palms. "Get out of this, Shirley," he whispered.

"I don't understand. What are those documents? Why are you hiding those transactions? And why is there a symbol of AMFA?" I kneeled in front of him. I removed his hands so I could see his face. He was worried and all I could see was hatred in his eyes. I knew he was not angry with me, he was angry with himself. "Tell me," I continued, "I'll understand everything you say."

"You won't," he sighed, "You don't deserve someone like me."

"We back at this again," I touched his cheek, but he only winced, "Nobody is perfect, Alexander. I'll accept your darkness of how you accept mine. You're my life now, Your Highness, and I can't afford to lose you just because of this simple problem."

"It's not simple, Shirley," he distressed. He kissed my forehead, "I did not do it if you went in my life earlier."

"Tell me, what is it?"

He bitterly smiled, "Sorry. I'm sorry, Shirley." He stood and quickly made his way on the stairs.

"Alexander!" I yelled, and followed him.

Before I could step on the top, I heard a door closed loudly, and I knew it was the first door I saw on the second floor.

I knocked hardly, "Alexander! Your Highness, please talk to me."

"Shirley, leave me alone," he exclaimed, "There is a room at the end of the hallway, you can rest there."

I sat in front of the door, while my ear was on the expensive wood. "No, I'm going to wait for you."

"Shirley, please," he pleaded.

I stopped responding and just shook my head. I held the ring in my necklace, playing it between my fingers.

I did not hear anything in a few minutes, until I drifted and everything went blank.

-----

She was arranging her table when her personal mobile phone rang. She knew it was Prince Alexander. Maybe, the prince wanted her to cover his absence on the engagement later. She prepared a reason for that. That was always her job.

She clicked the accept button, and said, "Hello, Your Highness."

"I told you, don't let her involve in my problem," even though the prince was in another line, she knew that he was gritting his teeth.

She immediately thought the possibility that Shirley Woodman had finally said the missing transactions to Prince Alexander. She had no idea if the accountant discovered something more.

"I have no choice, she asked me about those transactions." She took a deep breath, "Has she learned about the rebels?"

"No," he snapped, "She only saw the symbol on TV and recognized it immediately. I told you that no matter what happen, don't give those documents to her."

"She is a good accountant, Prince Alexander. Even though you hide those transactions in the deepest part of the earth, she can still look for it. I'm still wondering if she is a spy because she rapidly acknowledged the missing documents," she did not want to speak about it, but Prince Alexander pushed her.

"Shut it, Clarissa," the anger raged in his voice, "You did a background check on her. Your accuse is not true, right?"

"Will you depend on those background checks? It's hard to know if a person is a spy or not," she contended, not trusting anyone who got near the prince.

"You're the one who chose her for this job," he stated as a matter of fact.

"Yes, you know why I chose her. I told you before to stop this, but you did not listen. This is the effect of it, Your Highness. The woman you love will be gone again because of your greediness," Clarissa spoke like this to His Highness. She was like a second mother to him.

"It's not greediness. I wanted a revenge for what they had done to me," he explained, she knew that his sick experience of his love in the past was playing on his mind. "I won't let Shirley to leave. I won't let them take her away from me."

"Your Highness, you need to hold her because you're the only person who can do that," Clarissa responded, "I'm here to protect you, and my job doesn't extend to her. If you really want her, be ready for the consequences."

"I have already accepted the consequences of what I have done, but losing Shirley is a life without air. It's better to die than to lose her," she could feel how Prince Alexander's love for his accountant was as deep as the Pacific Ocean. "Prepare flight tickets and the place I'm going to email to you."

"Do you need to do this?" They had talked about it since last month, and she approved that it was the right time to let it happened.

He replied, "Of course, whatever happens, I won't let them hurt her."