Chapter 15: The Prince Returns
1894 Words
By the middle of her second week at La Paloma, Reina finally felt like she was starting to find her footing.
Not much.
Just enough to notice the difference.
She no longer got lost trying to find supply closets.
She no longer needed to double-check every cleaning cart before leaving a floor.
And she had finally stopped expecting someone to tell her she was doing everything wrong.
Most of the time.
"Look at that."
Violet glanced up from her clipboard.
"You've gone almost three hours without looking terrified."
Reina rolled her eyes.
"I'm working."
"Exactly."
"Those aren't the same thing."
"They absolutely are."
Trina pushed a cart past them.
"No."
Violet pointed dramatically at Reina.
"See? She's learning confidence."
"She's folding towels."
"It's a start."
Reina laughed.
The sound surprised her.
A few weeks ago, she hadn't known any of these people. Now she spent most of her shifts listening to Violet complain, Trina argue, and Anna somehow keep everyone organized without ever raising her voice.
The familiarity was comforting.
Especially in a city that still didn't quite feel like home.
The morning passed quickly.
Guests checked out.
Rooms were cleaned.
Fresh linens arrived.
Housekeeping carts rolled endlessly through the hallways.
For the first time, Reina found herself appreciating the work instead of simply trying to survive it.
As a guest, she'd always seen the finished product.
Perfect rooms.
Fluffed pillows.
Fresh flowers.
Clean floors.
Now she understood how much effort went into creating that illusion.
For the first time, Reina wasn't looking at La Paloma as a guest.
She was beginning to understand how the hotel worked.
Housekeeping.
Front desk.
Maintenance.
Administration.
Hundreds of people moving in different directions while somehow keeping the entire hotel running smoothly.
Just after lunch, Anna appeared beside her cart.
"Reina."
She immediately straightened.
"Yes?"
Anna handed her a folder.
"Can you please take this maintenance issue report straight upstairs?"
"Of course."
"Third floor administration."
Reina nodded.
"Got it."
Several floors above, David was reviewing occupancy reports when movement near the elevators caught his attention.
A housekeeping cart had become stuck against the carpet transition.
An elderly guest stood nearby looking frustrated.
Before anyone could intervene, one of the newer housekeepers stepped forward.
Reina.
It took David a second to place her.
The name clicked before the face did.
Carlos's niece.
They’d never really spoken...
She had appeared often enough over the years.
Usually standing in the corner somewhere.
Usually looking as though she'd rather be anywhere else.
Family dinners.
Holiday parties.
Charity events Carlos insisted everyone attend.
David remembered seeing her.
Quiet.
Observant.
Easy to overlook if you weren't paying attention.
Most of what he knew about her came from Jimena.
And none of it had been flattering.
Yet the woman helping guests in front of him looked nothing like the person Jimena had spent years describing.
A moment later she personally walked her toward the elevator instead of simply pointing.
The interaction lasted less than a minute.
Nothing remarkable.
Yet he found himself watching longer than necessary.
The realization surprised him.
He barely knew her.
He'd seen Reina at holiday parties and family gatherings over the years, but he'd never paid much attention.
Back then, she'd been a quiet kid lingering near the adults while everyone else talked around her.
Now she looked different.
Older.
More confident.
The shy girl he vaguely remembered was gone.
Unfortunately, that realization came with another one.
She was beautiful.
The thought immediately reminded him of Jimena.
Over the years she'd never had much good to say about Carlos's niece.
Too emotional.
Too spoiled.
Too much like her mother.
David had never paid much attention.
At the time, Reina had simply been a child drifting through holiday parties and family gatherings.
Now, watching her patiently help a guest who could offer her absolutely nothing in return, he found himself wondering how much of it had actually been true.
David immediately returned his attention to the reports in his hands.
A pointless observation.
And one he had no business making.
The task seemed simple enough.
She took the elevator upstairs and stepped into a part of the hotel she had never seen before.
The administrative offices felt completely different from housekeeping.
The hallways were quieter.
The décor looked more expensive.
Everyone moved with purpose.
Employees hurried between meetings carrying tablets, folders, and cups of coffee.
Reina suddenly felt underdressed.
Which was ridiculous.
She was wearing the exact same uniform as every other housekeeping employee.
Still, she found herself smoothing her shirt as she approached the receptionist's desk.
The woman smiled politely.
"Can I help you?"
"I'm dropping off a maintenance issue report."
The receptionist pointed down the hallway.
"Last office on the left."
"Thank you."
Reina adjusted the folder in her arms and started walking.
She'd spent years thinking of La Paloma as something larger than life.
The truth was, it was just a business.
A successful one.
A family one.
Looking back, she realized she'd probably seen members of the Leone family dozens of times over the years.
Holiday parties.
Charity events.
Business dinners.
She'd seen David around family events for years.
She'd simply never paid much attention.
She was halfway down the hallway when a conference room door opened...
David Leone.
Reina stopped walking.
For a moment, she simply stared.
Seven years seemed to vanish in an instant.
She was twelve again.
Sitting beside her father in the lobby.
Watching a young hotel manager patiently help an elderly guest.
Listening to Vidal tease her afterward.
The memories came easily.
Warm.
Familiar.
Safe.
David Leone.
The first real crush she'd ever had.
The man she'd spent years wondering about whenever La Paloma crossed her mind.
She had always imagined running into him again someday.
She just hadn't expected it to happen like this.
The easy confidence she remembered was still there, but adulthood had sharpened it into something quieter and more commanding.
He wore a dark suit that probably cost more than everything in Reina's closet combined.
His dark hair was shorter than she remembered.
His features stronger.
More mature.
The young hotel manager from her childhood had become someone who looked completely at home running an empire.
More serious.
More confident.
Less like a young manager.
More like someone used to running an empire.
For years she had imagined what it would be like to see him again.
Sometimes she pictured him recognizing her immediately.
Other times she imagined awkward introductions.
Entire conversations had played out in her head over the years.
None of them looked anything like reality.
Because David didn't even glance in her direction.
He continued speaking with the people beside him, completely unaware of her existence.
The realization should have hurt.
Instead, it felt strangely logical.
Of course he didn't remember her.
She had been twelve years old.
Just another little girl trailing behind her father through a busy hotel lobby.
Why would he remember?
The group continued down the hallway.
One of the executives said something.
David smiled.
The executives continued walking.
David didn't.
He lingered behind for a moment, speaking quietly with one of the department managers.
The conversation appeared serious.
The manager looked frustrated.
David listened.
Asked a few questions.
Then said something Reina couldn't hear.
Whatever it was, the manager visibly relaxed.
A moment later, the man walked away.
David remained standing alone in the hallway.
For the first time since she'd seen him, nobody was talking to him.
Nobody needed anything from him.
Nobody was watching.
He loosened his tie slightly.
Rubbed the back of his neck.
Closed his eyes for a brief second.
The gesture was small.
Ordinary.
Human.
And somehow it caught Reina completely off guard.
For seven years, David Leone had existed in her mind as something almost impossible.
The prince from La Paloma.
The young manager who had treated everyone with quiet kindness.
The man who always seemed calm.
Always confident.
Always in control.
Yet standing alone in the hallway, he looked tired.
Not weak.
Not unhappy.
Just tired.
Like someone carrying responsibilities nobody else could see.
Reina found herself watching longer than she should.
Not because he was handsome.
Though he was.
Not because of the childhood crush she had spent years trying to outgrow.
Because the man standing in front of her didn't match the memory she'd carried all this time.
He felt more real.
More complicated.
More dangerous.
Someone called his name.
David looked up.
Reina immediately dropped her gaze.
Her heart skipped.
For one horrible second, she thought he'd caught her staring.
When she finally looked back, he was already walking away.
A few moments later, he disappeared around the corner.
Gone.
Just like that.
Reina released a breath she hadn't realized she was holding.
"Miss?"
She blinked.
The receptionist was looking at her.
"You okay?"
Heat rushed to her cheeks.
"Sorry."
The woman smiled.
"No problem."
Embarrassed, Reina hurried toward the office and delivered the reports.
The entire interaction took less than two minutes.
The walk back felt considerably longer.
As she rode the elevator downstairs, she couldn't stop thinking about how absurd the situation was.
For seven years David Leone had existed only as a memory.
A childhood crush.
A symbol of a happier time.
Now he worked in the same building.
Walked the same hallways.
Attended the same meetings.
Somehow that felt far stranger than seeing him again.
When she returned to housekeeping, Violet immediately looked up.
"There she is."
Reina placed the empty folder on a nearby desk.
"Hi."
Violet narrowed her eyes.
"You were gone a while."
"It wasn't that long."
"Administration kidnap you?"
"No."
"You sure?"
"Pretty sure."
Trina didn't even look up from the cart she was organizing.
"They don't kidnap people."
"How do you know?"
"Because that's illegal."
Violet sighed dramatically.
"You take all the fun out of everything."
The familiar argument settled something inside Reina.
By the end of the shift, she found herself thinking about David less and less.
There were too many rooms to clean.
Too many tasks to finish.
Too many things to learn.
Life had a way of demanding attention.
That evening, after dinner, she stood in front of the bathroom mirror brushing her hair.
Dark curls fell over her shoulders.
A few freckles dotted her nose.
Her eyes looked tired from the long day.
But they also looked older.
Stronger.
Nothing like the shy twelve-year-old who had spent an entire birthday staring across a hotel lobby.
A small smile tugged at her lips.
Maybe growing up wasn't about finding your prince.
Maybe it was about realizing princes were just people.
Flawed.
Human.
Ordinary beneath the fantasy.
David Leone hadn't remembered her.
For the first time in years, she realized she didn't need him to.
The memory still mattered.
But the man standing in that hallway wasn't the prince she'd imagined all those years.
He was simply...
Human.
The memory of her father.
The memory of that trip.
The memory of a time when life still felt simple.
Reina switched off the bathroom light and headed for bed.
Tomorrow would bring another shift.
More rooms.
More lessons.
More laughter from Violet and complaints from Trina.
And somehow, that sounded perfectly fine.
What she didn't know was that seeing David again was only the beginning.
Some stories have a way of finding you again...
Just when you think they've already ended.
- Writer
