Chained Princess

Chapter 3: Babygirl

K I A R A ‘ S P. O. V

My heart stilled in my chest, and my stomach recoiled with the urge to throw up becoming increasingly imminent. This was everything I had wished to avoid but apparently the big guy up there was watching me with some sort of cosmic amusement.

I lifted up the sleeve of my sweater slightly and pinched myself. The sharp pain did nothing to make the man before me disappear. The very sexy, hot man walking straight up to me.

I was expecting shock, anger, yelling but instead all I received was a bright smile. A genuine f*****g smile. I knew this man like the back of my hand and a smile like that was definitely new.

"Oh god it really is you." Engulfing me into a bear hug, he spun me around twice, before letting my frozen body go. I quickly recovered and stumbled back slightly, only to be steadied by his large hands. "I can't believe you're here. Two years...wow, you look great by the way. As beautiful as always."

I flushed, as I usually did in his presence. I studied him for a moment, trying to find a single flaw in his otherwise perfect sculpted face. He looked exactly the same, well expect for the...

"Is that a nose ring?" I was utterly shocked by the piece of silver jewellery sticking out of his nose. This time, he blushed and looked away from my obvious stare.

"I wanted something new, a change. Hey, it ain't as bad as that time you dyed your hair blue though? I felt like I was dating that little mermaid." I couldn't help but laugh.

"The little mermaid had red hair."

"Oh yeah, how could I forget? You made me watch it at least ten times baby girl, or did you forget?" Tristan winked, and I marvelled at how green his eyes had become, almost as rich as a shiny new emerald.

"Seems like you're the one who's forgotten."

"Maybe we should watch it again some time, make a real date?" I felt my eyes widen and my body stiffened at the suggestion. A date? Was he serious right now? "I'm joking." He laughed, and I smiled awkwardly, wishing I had never left the house. "I was about to get a coffee, wanna join me?"

There was nothing I wanted less but the man always got his way. All he had to do was flash me that mischievous grin I had fell in love with back when I was sixteen.

"Sure, but only a quick one I have to get back."

"Oh, you're staying with your parents?" s**t.

"No...well yes...kinda..." Just tell the man the truth and stop rambling on like an i***t. "Yes I am."

"That's great, they've probably missed you." I nodded, and let him open the door for me. He instructed me to take a seat whilst he ordered our drinks. I sat down by the large glass window, only to realise I never told him my drink.

I moved to stand up when I found him ordering the drinks. He spoke so confidently and fluently, not a hint of hesitation in his voice. The fact that he still remembered my order caused my heart to flutter inside my chest. It shouldn't have, but it did.

He glanced back and sent me another cheeky smile, one that resembled Anastasia's completely.

Even though I never got a DNA test done, I knew she was Aaron's. Her hair, her eyes, her stubbornness and attitude were all his. Everything else was practically mine.

However, I couldn't help but think, what if? What if she wasn't Aaron's? What if her black hair and blue eyes were inherited by fluke from some random ancestor? What if Tristan was her father?

"So, what you been up to?" Tristan startled me, setting our mugs of piping hot coffee onto the table and taking a seat. "Last time I saw you, you were getting onto a plane."

I fought hard to forget that day. To forget that day Aaron broke my heart completely and destroyed any last hope I had for our relationship to be salvaged. Relationship? Who was I kidding? We barely had that.

"I'm working now, I have a job. I'm a waitress, I mean it's not much but I'm studying when I can for my degree."

"Oh, what are you doing?"

"Business. It's simple and I understand it."

Business could get me into most places. My dad took business, my mum, and all my brothers. It become a sort of family tradition, even though the prospect of working behind a desk for the rest of my life was enough to make me wanna quit.

"What do you want to do career wise?" I shrugged, as I did whenever anyone else asked me that question. A deep laugh reverberated from his chest and eyes bore deep into mine, almost as though they were trying to reach my soul. "You always used to do that baby girl, whenever anyone asked."

"I still do."

"Some things never change." My tongue peeked out slightly to wet my lips and I caught him staring.

"Sorry." He shook his said and muttered something under his breath, as though chiding himself for it.

"It's okay, this is strange right? I didn't expect to see you...ever."

He exhaled a long sigh. "Me either. This is weird right, I mean it shouldn't be. We broke up, you moved on...I moved on?" He posed it as a question. Why the hell was he posing it as a question?

"Yes, we did. We're friends, it's just the suddenness of it all and you know, it doesn't help that I still find you extremely attractive." We laughed, and for moment the dark cloud looming over us was gone.

I couldn't deny my obvious attraction towards him. Tristan was sexier than ever before and the nose ring was definitely working for him. I loved him, but that didn't mean I was in love with him. There was a clear difference and for once, those line weren't merged so close together that I couldn't tell them apart.

"You're as beautiful as the day we met."

Blushing, I smiled over my mug. "Thanks, so what about you? What's going on with you?"

"I'm with someone, well kinda." That statement reminded me of Aaron, but there was no way I was opening that can of worms right now.

"What's she like? I want details." He smiled, a beautiful smile and I knew instantly she was special. His eyes lit up as he told me all about her and how they met. The way she understood him, and helped him through his insecurities of being in a relationship with someone else.

"She's not my girlfriend yet, we haven't made it official."

"Well you should, she sounds amazing. I'm so happy for you." Silence filled the atmosphere, despite the bustling noise of chatter around us.

I stared at the etchings on the wooden table, tapping my foot restlessly against the floor. I could feel that there were a million things we both wanted to say and yet, the two of us were both too much of a coward to say it.

"He changed after you left him." My head snapped up as I stared at him with a pleading look in my eyes. Don't. He ignored me. "I didn't know Aaron had a heart to break and I saw it break and it was...terrifying."

"Please, don't." I murmured but he continued anyways.

"He's done and is doing s**t that he never even would have considered before you left. He's turning crazy slowly and he's taking it out on everyone around him. I tried to track you down so many times, just to save him."

"I can't save him, I can't save anyone. I'm barely living as it is."

"That's his problem too. The both of you are living like zombies when you know how to fix yourselves. You need each other..."

"Stop!" I screamed, slamming my hands on the table. The people around us turned and began to stare, babbling s**t about me being a crazy woman behind my back.

"I'm sorry," He exhaled, taking a long breath. "It's just killing me, seeing my friend like that everyday..."

"Wait what? You guys are friends now, since when."

"The day you left, we actually hung out right before we found out you were leaving. We bonded again, talked and then after you left, we both needed to talk some more. We were the only two people in New York to have ever had the pleasure of falling in love with you." A fragment of my heart shattered, causing a tear to trail down my cheek.

As it splashed onto the table, I quickly wiped away the one that followed it and gave him a stoic look. "He didn't love me, that was the problem."

"I know, he's told me did a million times over. Doesn't mean I believe him though?" My breath hitched in the back of my throat. Aaron loving me? That was completely out of the equation. I was staying away from him for Anastasia, not for me. "Anyways, then I bumped into and you just looked so..."

"So, what?" Curiously peaked in my voice.

"So sad. The Kiara I knew would have planned her own welcome home party by now."

"Well I've changed. I'm the not the wild party girl anymore."

"Why not?" I stilled. I couldn't exactly tell him it was because of my daughter.

"It doesn't matter, what does is that I'll be gone soon." Nodding curtly, he picked up his mugged and downed the last remains of his coffee.

"How long will you be in town for?"

"Until the wedding is over." From the single nod, I knew he knew about it, just like the millions of New Yorkers reading about it in People's magazine. "Then I'm heading home."

"Which is?"

"You're friends with him, I can't tell you that."

"You don't trust me?" The hurt was evident in his voice but I couldn't risk it.

"I don't trust him, not anymore, and I couldn't ask you to keep it secret. He'll know I'm in town, that's a given from the wedding, and if he does ask about me tell him to leave me alone, tell him not to talk to me or touch me, tell me that if I meant anything to him he'll respect my wishes."

I stood up, letting my chair scrape wretchedly along the floor. Tristan stared up at me, eyes serious and hard as ever as he watched me walk to the door.

"That won't stop him, you know that?" He called out and I froze. Placing one hand on the door handle, I turned back, and a sad smile broke out on my face.

"I know." I doubt I ever meant anything to him. Opening the door, I walked out the shop, leaving him behind in the past.

***

A a r o n ‘ s. P. O. V

I walked down the street, shoving my hands deep into my black trench coat. I know, right? What the f**k was I doing wearing a trench coat?

I have her to thank for that. Even gone, she found ways to change me. Even gone, she still had a tight hold on my heart, controlling me...punishing me.

When she left, I was broken. A shattered image of the playboy reputation I had built for myself.

It started off but drinking. I drank and drank and then drank some more. Most days I woke up, after passing out in my club, other days I was in my apartment with no memory how I got there. On the worst days, I woke up in some random chick's bed.

Then the drugs came. It was the only way I could feel something...anything. The only way I could latch onto the image of her, and play pretended. I knew she wasn't there, and yet it felt like she was. I slept with other women, and yet saw her. An obvious hallucination but it felt so f*****g real.

Caitlin became forgotten in the haze. She was no longer my priority. Forgetting her was.

I didn't care, not until my Aunt came for a visit, found me passed out in the garden still drunk and high from the night before and threatened to take her away. I couldn't let her do that, Caitlin was my little sister. She was the last bit of hope and light left for me in the darkness that plagued my mind.

So, I had to clean up my act. I traded my leathers in, and became the image of a pristine gentleman, someone you would actually want to do business with. The drinking became work instead and the drugs became non-existent.

Okay, occasionally I have a joint every now and again and if Caitlin is away for the night a little coke but that's it. Scout's honour.

Don't get me wrong, the leather jacket is still hanging in the back of my closet, waiting for the dust to be brushed off. The suits I wear now still itch and I fight the urge to strangle myself with my tie at least twenty times a day but I'm surviving.

The only way how is through my newest addiction. f*****g random women. Any woman will do, they just have to be willing.

It's how I blow off steam and how I envision her. The only time I'll let myself think about her. I'll f**k those women, but I'll see her.

I'll see her smiling up at me, moan my name, beg me for more. I'll feel her scratch her nails down my back, tighten her hold around my body, kiss me...I can still hear the sound she makes when she comes. And it's beautiful.

When I c*m though, she's gone. All that's left is some sweaty, desperate w***e lying underneath me, asking if she can spend the night. The answer is always no.

Rounding the corner, I head to the coffee shop I know Tristan always likes to spend his lunches at. For some reason, I feel this urge to go there too. I don't want to be alone, I want to talk. f**k, when did I get this pathetic?

I find him sitting by the window, his mouth moving passionately as he talks to the person opposite him. Because of the f*****g lamppost in the way, I can't see his companion, but I edge in a little closer.

The last thing I want to do is disturb the guy on a date. He really needs to get some.

My smirk dies away as the person stands up, anger radiating off there body. It's a woman from her ample chest hidden behind her blue sweater and f**k, she's gorgeous. Well, her body is at least.

She's turned away from me and storms to the door, giving me the perfect view of her ass. A rush of familiarity hits me for a moment, and I wonder if I've ever seen that woman before, or her ass at least.

Tristan's eyes dart down to it too for a spilt second, but then he's looking back up at her and says something that causes the woman to stop.

From the way his head drops down, I know she must have said something to have upset him. The woman storms out, only to drop something onto the floor outside. She bends over to pick it up and then flips her hair back, revealing the face I've been waiting to see.

Dark eyes, brown wavy hair with a majestic bounce in it as she walks, the most pouty lips you have ever f*****g seen, tight jeans showed off curves she never had before and cupped her ass that looked slightly bigger.

No wonder I felt like I had seen her ass before. I had, I had seen it a million times, covered in jeans, a tight dress, a lace thong, bare.

She was here. My Princess was here, she was back in New York and she was...having coffee with Tristan.

Her head snaps towards me and I quickly sink into the shadows. She glances around, almost as though she can feel my stare watching her. Shaking her head, she steps off the road and walks away.

Don't worry, I'll find you again Princess.

I watch as my best friend stands up, leaving behind his empty coffee mug and walks out, walking in the opposite direction to her. At least they didn't go home together.

Rage fills my body entirely, and old feelings of jealously and envy of the bond the two once shared come to light. I raced back to the office, letting my anger fuel me, slam the door behind me.

I sink into my chair and let out a long sigh. An image of Kiara, I had snapped in Paris, was sitting on my desk. Just torturing me. I slammed it down, wincing as I heard glass shatter. Remind me to get a new frame.

A knock sounds on the door and then it opens anyways. Only one person would dare to do that.

"Hey man, I got you a coffee and a bagel. They only had cheddar, sorry I know you like Swiss..."

"Why the f**k were you meeting with Kiara Romano?" I seethed, my anger boiling over. Sighing, he pulled back one of the chairs opposite me and sunk down into it.

"How did you know?"

"I saw you. Now speak." My patience was wearing thing and he didn't want to find out what would happen when it was all gone.

"We bumped into each other, I know that sounds like a lie but it's the truth." I studied him until I knew he wasn't lying and then sighed.

"What the f**k is she doing back?"

"She's here for the wedding." The wedding. Of course. Kalen and Tessa's wedding was the

wedding of the century. Yet somehow, my invitation must have gotten lost in the mail.

"Did she tell you where she's been these past two years?" I searched for her. I searched for months.

Anytime I found some sort of lead, it would disappear the next day and there was no guessing who's doing that was. Ryder Romano had one of the best hackers in the world by his side and somehow managed to hide away Kiara from the world.

A part of me was pissed because I wanted to find her and the other part of me was glad for it because it meant she was safe.

Romano Co-operations started to pull away from my business. They no longer helped out with deals, bought my product but we still had contracts in place. They still had obligations in place. Ryder was forced to meet with a rep once a month, meaning I didn't see him. Or Gabi, or Kiara's brothers. It was best for everyone. I owed them nothing but Gabi was kind to me. She showed me warmth when she shouldn't have.

Kiara was back though, and that changed everything.

"No, she didn't." A bitter laugh left his throat. "She guessed that you would do this. That you would find out and then grill me about it until you got it out of me. She's smart."

That she is, and gorgeous too.

I watched Tristan, I stared at the soppy love sick look on his face. "You're not still in love with her, are you?"

He recoiled instantly. "Are you kidding me? I'm with Mia."

"Mia? Our Mia," Mia was the only woman in the gang. She was strong, smart, powerful and had a hell of a right hand.

"Well, my Mia actually but yeah. We're talking." I grinned, knowing how Mia would kick the s**t of Tristan if he ever hurt her.

"Good look with that. Anyways, I better get going then."

"Going where?" He commented as I shrugged on my jacket.

"To the Romano house, I want answers." I needed to see her, talk to her, touch her. I needed to say a million and one things to the woman that broke my heart when she left.

"You can't. Aaron...fuck she doesn't want you too."

I smirked. "Of course she doesn't." That wasn't going to stop me.

"She said you would do that. Look, she's upset right now. She told me to tell you that if she ever meant anything to you, then you have to leave her alone."

"She meant everything to me! You know that?"

"Yes, I do but she's hurting. If you really want to see her, then I suggest you wait."

"How long?" My entire body was itching with the desire to talk to her, but if she needed space then... "I'll wait then. I'll give her time."

Tristan seemed taken aback, and nodded with a mischievous smile. "You know there's a ball on Saturday. It's to celebrate the engagement."

A ball meant Kiara in a sexy dress.

Pressing my finger on the intercom button, I called for my assistant to come in. He rushed in immediately, glasses slightly crooked and his face flushed red.

"Yes, Mr Black."

Smirking, I rested my palms flat on the desk. "Book me an appointment with my tailor, I've got a ball to get ready for."

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A/N: Ahaha how did you like Aaron's

P. O. V?

What do you think will happen at the ball?

Btw the next chapter is my favourite!!! Get ready for the reunion you've all been waiting for!!