The Royal Betrayal

Chapter 2

Tanya broke off a paper towel and wiped Chloe's face with it.

'Even with all this bullshit I'm going through with this man for the past three years...I'll never regret my daughter,' She thought to herself.

~*~

"I told you the show was going to be wretched," Natalia, Oliver's wife said with a laugh as they both lazily dragged themselves to their bedroom suite in the Alexandria castle in the country of Walleria.

"I know, I should have listened to you darling, but of course Raymond and his wife will have multiple publicity with us making an appearance, all of Walleria and the UK will rave about the prince and his beautiful wife at the opening of the brand new opera house, we did them a favor sweetheart I promise you," He said sitting on the bed untying the laces to his Mezlan Marini black alligator dress shoes.

"Of course love," Natalia said as she removed her earrings and necklace. "Have you heard from Miranda about doing the cover of that American magazine?"

Oliver glanced at his wife before clearing his throat and unlatching his cufflinks. "Uh, no I have not. I was not really thinking about it much. But rest assured I will first thing in the morning."

Natalia glanced at the crystal digit clock on their nightstand. '23:54' it read. "We have been out for so long at the after show, it's damn near midnight Oliver, I'm exhausted and I have a meeting with the woman who chooses all of the latest fashions for Fendi and of course my jewelry advisor from Babette Wasserman," She squealed. "Our anniversary party is going to be ravishing!"

Oliver smiled at his wife as he unbuttoned his white collar shirt and tie. "Yes of course it always is, and it has only been three years we've been married," He said.

"And it's the happiest three years I've ever had," She said with an sincere smile as she took her hair down from its elegant updo and stalked to rising her long dress to her torso to straddle his lap. "When are you going to allow me the honors of giving you a child darling?"

At the mention of 'child' Oliver's mind flashed to the dark sandy haired grey eyed brown child he'd had with a woman he'd grew more than fond of waiting for him in Dublin. Their smiles played in his head as their laughter echoed into his head. He smiled involuntarily remembering chasing after his daughter with the woman he'd met and fell in love with.

"I have to shower, can we discuss this after?" He asked gently swinging Natalia's leg off of him so he could raise and walk to the bathroom. He'd turned on the hot water to the shower and leaned against the face basing staring into the mirror at himself. He waited a while before pulling out his cellphone staring at it for a while before dialing the number he'd known by heart.

He waited in anticipation for her to answer, he didn't know how to apologize for taking so long to respond to her after all the text messages and voicemails she'd left him, he knew he owed her an explanation. He was about to give up and hang up until her sleepy voice answered with a groggy 'Hello?'

He sighed in relief. "Hello sweetheart...how are my two favor girls?" He asked.

Tanya sighed into the receiver and he heard rustling and shifting assuming she was in bed siting up straight. "Cedric, do you know what time it is?" She asked exasperated and Oliver could sense her annoyance.

"I know it is late where you are, but it is only morning here," He lied. "I wanted to check in on you both and make sure you are safe and okay."

Oliver could sense Tanya's hesitation.

"We're doing fine no thanks to you. I've left you message after message, Cedric. Even a quick text from you would've been enough for me to know you haven't forgotten about me and Chloe. We haven't seen you in two months Cedric, Chloe misses you, she asked about you tonight when I was putting her to bed did you know that? She may only be two...but she's not dumb. When are you coming home? Are you coming home at all?"