Page 129 of Wanted
Today wasn’t the day that Valentina finally opened up.
Unable to repress my curiosity, I slid the door open just enough for my head to fit through. I examined the room. Bad air filled my nostrils, and I felt the urge to open the window. Valentina lay on the bed. The sheets were on the floor. She was in the same shirt and sweatpants as the day before. Even in her sleep, relaxation was nowhere to be found. I couldn’t see her eyes, but her puffy face revealed enough.
Her belly was rounder than before. I found myself staring at it, praying that the little one was doing okay. We tried to get Valentina out of bed, but she had submitted herself to bedrest she didn’t need. When she didn’t sleep, she spent her time up here, closed off from the rest of Katantia.
She barely ate. Jordan had to come here and force her to eat for the baby. The rest of us couldn’t do it because we were too close to her. I didn’t even know if she ever showered. There was an attached bathroom to this room, so at least she didn’t have to get out.
I cleaned up after her, picking up the sheets from the floor. I’d wash them downstairs, and I’d bring her new ones. I also went into her bedroom to get new clothes for her, but she never wore them. She only responded to sweatpants and shirts from Alex’s team. In her grief, she picked up on clothes of comfort.
She trembled as if she sensed me in the room. Her eyes fluttered, and for a moment, I felt like I’d been caught.
But I hadn’t. Valentina didn’t open her eyes. She let out a small whimper instead.
I gulped down a sob, and I hurried out of the room with the sheets in my arms. Gently, I shut the door behind me.
Descending the stairs, I headed for the washing room. The staff was gone, and they weren’t coming back. Valentina didn’t want them here, and Weston was content learning how to run a household on our own.
I ran into Weston on my way out of the washing room. He asked, “How is she?”
“The same,” I blurted out. I couldn’t stop the tears. “I-I don’t know what to do. It doesn’t get any easier. I worry about the b-baby. I know Valentina doesn’t want to feel this way right now. S-she loves the little one.”
“We can’t do much right now,” Weston said. His arms wrapped around me, holding me while I wept. “We have to sit through this. It’s only a bunch of weeks, and then she can give birth.”
“These things don’t get better once the baby is out. She might go through post-partum. What are we going to do?” I asked.
Weston didn’t respond. We both knew what it felt like to lose a parent.
There was no cure to it.
†Doesn’t Exist†
Did I enjoy destruction and distress?
I sure did.
The South Side of Katantia had been devastated the most. The family homes weren’t habitable anymore, and business lost their properties to the ocean’s cruel water. The death toll was relatively low because the systems warned inhabitants to leave for the inner city relatively early.
The floods destroyed properties across the coastlines of the island. Beaches were turned upside down, the schools in ruins. The results of the tsunami that hit Katantia two months ago weren’t seen on television. You could only see them up close if you were unfortunate enough. The roads were closed off, and electricity hadn’t been reinstated yet in all of Katantia.
The palace hadn’t suffered because they had taken appropriate protection measures. The palace wasn’t built near the beach. There was a footpath to the beach, but it took a couple of minutes to reach the water. That had saved the royal properties in time of emergency. They had generators just in case there was an emergency. Travis Cross had thought of everything in his career as Aram’s royal servant and leader of security.
Tensions had been rising before. After Kamila’s departure, Katantians started doubting Aram’s bullshit. Kamila’s return flustered the citizens, but it didn’t take away their wrath. Their precious princess had been wronged. Her brother was in the hospital, struggling to stay alive.
Aris Wraith was still alive. Barely, but he was breathing. The more days he spent in a coma, the less likely it was for him to return to his former glory, but he was worth more living than dead. Especially since he had a baby on the way.
And now, here we were. Katantia’s government had been exposed for the negligence of its people. Two months ago, most deaths were women left behind by their employers in their time of need. Since the rescue response was unbelievably lazy, bodies were being discovered every other week. Most of whom were unowned women who had drowned. Some had been crushed by the walls of their workplaces. Others had been trapped in ruins, unable to get out.
Katantians did a lot of shady shit. One death could be overlooked. Two… Well, accidents happened. But three was too much for the horny fuckers.
It had started about six weeks ago. After the death of Travis Cross was announced, Katantians urged their government for help. They needed something, a financial relief, counseling. Earthquakes weren’t unusual in the area, but the tsunami that followed was one of the worst to hit Katantian shores. Aram Wraith didn’t deliver the help his citizens needed. He’d been stripped of his power. Spencer Rawlins had taken over, and he celebrated nature’s wrath upon the sex island.
Spencer Rawlins saw this as an opportunity to demolish the family-friendly South Side and turn it into an even hornier version of the inner city with its Hole Stores and Crack & Nut. He had ideas for the future, and he couldn’t wait to earn dirty cash from his endeavors.
There was a tiny problem, though.
A block of five hundred Katantians was stationed outside of the palace’s gates at all times, yelling out anti-Katantia slogans for the royals to hear. Over the day, the numbers sometimes rose to five thousand protestors assembling to speak their piece of mind.
International news outlets were stationed outside, awaiting the next big move of the palace. I heard the helicopters in my sleep. We were all being watched by the world. The disaster had drawn more attention to Katantia than any of its sex scandals ever had. Kamila and Aram fucking wasn’t even close to a news bite.
