HIS PRINCESS

CHAPTER 7

Kiara sat curled up on her dorm bed, staring at her silent phone. The afternoon sun streamed through the large windows of her room at Chorcolate City High - the fanciest school in town. She only got to study here because she won a dance contest run by the Harris family when she was 13.

Her roommate Viola sat hunched over her laptop at the desk, fingers flying across the keyboard. Viola wore ripped jeans and a high-end band t-shirt, her short hair dyed bright green at the ends. While other girls at school cared about clothes and makeup, Viola loved computers and hacking -- she had this quirky personality.

"Stop worrying," Viola said without looking up. "Your sister's got this."

Kiara picked at a loose thread on her blanket. "I should be there with her."

Viola spun her chair around. "You're here because she wants you safe." She pointed to Kiara's uneaten sandwich. "And you need to eat."

Kiara's dance shoes sat untouched by the door. She'd skipped practice all week.

Viola suddenly sat up straight. "Hey, I've got an idea." She turned her laptop toward Kiara. "Let me see what I can dig up online about your dad's case."

Kiara's eyes widened. Viola was the best hacker she knew. If anyone could find hidden information, it was her.

They hurried down the quiet hallway to the computer lab. The room was empty this late in the day. Viola plopped into a chair and cracked her knuckles.

"Okay," she said, opening several windows at once. "Let's see what we can find."

As Viola typed, lines of code flashed across the screen. Kiara watched over her shoulder, hope flickering in her chest for the first time in days. Maybe she wasn't completely useless after all.

Viola's fingers flew across the keyboard, pulling up company records and news articles. After twenty minutes of searching, she leaned back with a frustrated sigh.

"Nothing useful about your dad's case," she said. "But this is weird." She pointed at the screen showing Cross Enterprise's employee records. "Your dad's operations manager, Daniel Collins, has been meeting some mystery guy every Fridays for months."

Kiara squinted at the grainy security camera stills Viola had pulled up. The second man always wore sunglasses and a baseball cap. "Can you make out his face?"

Viola zoomed in. "Nope. But look at this." She opened bank records showing large transfers from Collins' account right after each meeting. "That's not his salary amount."

Outside, students laughed as they walked to the dinning hall.

Kiara chewed her lip. "I should tell Ariana about this."

Viola shook her head. "This could be nothing. Just some side business." She closed the laptop. "Let me dig deeper first."

They left the lab as the dinner bell rang. Kiara's stomach growled on their way to the massive dinning hall.

---

The digital clock on the nightstand glowed as Kiara pushed her half-eaten dinner tray aside. The dorm room smelled faintly of the chicken pasta Viola had brought back from the dining hall. Outside their window, students shouted goodbyes as evening activities began.

Viola sat cross-legged on her bed, laptop balanced on her knees. "Still nothing useful about that man," she said, scrolling through documents. "Just more of the same meeting records."

Kiara stared at her silent phone. Days worth of unanswered texts to Ariana stared back. She took a deep breath. "I need you to hack my sister's phone."

Viola's fingers froze. "What?"

"I know it's wrong," Kiara said, standing abruptly. "But she's hiding something. I can feel it."

The laptop fan whirred in the quiet room. After a long moment, Viola exhaled sharply and turned the screen. "Give me her number."

Viola scrolled slowly, her brows tightening as the chat opened. Ariana’s messages were short and rebuttal. Sebastian’s replies were colder—straight to the point.

Then Viola stopped.

“This is it,” she said. “He offered her two hundred thousand dollars per month.”

Kiara blinked. “What?”

Viola nodded, her eyes still on the screen. “She would be placed on a monthly allowance for five years. But listen—he clearly said it doesn’t cover your dad’s legal fees or your grandfather’s treatment. Just...the $200,000.”

Kiara’s mouth fell open. “Are you serious?”

“He's done this before with most of my celebrity acquaintances,” Viola muttered. “He pays his girlfriends by rank. That amount? Two hundred thousand? That’s the bottom line. The lowest rank. The better you satisfy him—especially in bed—the higher the pay.”

Kiara stood up, shaking her head. “He’s a scoundrel,” she spat. “A filthy, heartless bastard.”

Viola said nothing, but her jaw clenched. Her fingers tightened around the phone.

They both knew Ariana wouldn’t say yes to that deal.

Kiara's hands clenched into fists. She yanked her backpack from the closet and began stuffing in clothes. "When's the next train?"

Viola checked. "7:45 from the station. But—"

"I will text you." Kiara threw in her toothbrush.

"You'll get expelled!" Viola grabbed her arm. "Think about your scholarship!"

Kiara shook her off. The clock read quarter past seven. She zipped the bag with a sharp sound. "My grandpa is dying, Viola."

The hallway was quiet as she left, her sneakers squeaking on polished floors. The evening air was cool when she pushed through the dorm doors. Behind her, Viola called her name once, then fell silent. Kiara didn't look back as she broke into a run toward the dorm exit.

The train arrived at Central Station exactly ten minutes later than the agreed time. Kiara hurried through the crowded terminal, her backpack bouncing against her shoulders. Outside Ariana's studio, a black sedan idled at the curb, a driver holding a sign that read "Miss Ross."

She smoothed her hair and approached. "I'm Ariana Ross," she said, keeping her voice low.

The driver nodded and opened the door without question. The leather seats smelled of lemon polish as Kiara slid inside. The car pulled away smoothly, heading toward the wealthy outskirts of town.

They arrived at a secluded villa forty minutes later. A stone-faced housekeeper led her through marble hallways to a dimly lit bedroom. The air carried a faint scent of sandalwood.

Sebastian heard the door open softly behind him. He didn’t turn right away.

He knew it was her — or at least, that’s what he was supposed to believe.

The footsteps were light, but measured. Slower than he remembered. That alone made him pause.

He stood by the window, watching the city lights flicker far below, but his mind was no longer on the skyline. It was on her. Or the version of her that had just entered the room.

The first time they met, she had been bold — not loud, not dramatic, but firm in her every statement. Sharp in her stillness. There was no doubt in the way she sat across from him, no hesitation in the way she spoke or held his gaze.

Tonight… something was different.

The energy was subdued. Cautious. As though she was watching for his reactions, not meeting them.

He considered turning on the light. He even reached toward the switch. One flick, and he'd see her face clearly. One question, and he could test her voice.

But his hand stopped.

Something inside him didn’t want to.

It wasn’t fear — not in the usual sense. It was something slower. A quiet voice in the back of his mind saying: If you look too closely, you might not like what you find.

And that unsettled him more than the suspicion itself.

He let his hand fall back to his side and continued watching the city.

"You're late," Sebastian's voice came from the shadows near the window. His silhouette remained still. "I assumed you'd changed your mind."

Kiara swallowed, mimicking Ariana's measured tone. "I needed time to think."

"Understandable." The bed creaked slightly as he shifted. "There's a bath prepared. Clean up first."

Kiara nodded, though she doubted he could see the gesture in the dark. The adjoining bathroom's golden light spilled onto plush carpet as she stepped inside, closing the door behind her with a quiet click. The massive tub steamed with rose-scented water. Her reflection in the mirror showed wide, determined eyes - so different from Ariana's usual steady gaze.

She turned on the faucet to mask any sounds as she pulled out her phone. One bar of signal. Enough to text Viola: "I'm in. Let this stay between us."

Kiara turned off the faucet when the tub was full. She sat on the edge, fully clothed, listening to the sounds from the bedroom - the rustle of fabric, footsteps moving away, then the distant sound of another bathroom door closing and water running. Sebastian was equally taking a shower. What did that mean?

She splashed some water on her face, careful not to smudge the minimal makeup she'd applied to look more like Ariana. The rose scent clung to her skin.

When she heard Sebastian return to the bedroom, she took a deep breath and opened the door. The bedroom remained dim, lit only by a single lamp across the room. Sebastian stood by the window, his back turned, wearing a dark robe. The city lights twinkled faintly in the distance.

"You took your time," he remarked without turning around.

Kiara kept near the bathroom doorway. "Yes, I did."