ROYAL SECRETS

CH 9

ROSE

I had to sit down as soon as I hung up my phone. I have never heard someone as distraught as he was. It broke my heart into a million pieces. And I wasn't sure I could be the one to help him. I was a mess myself, poor Demi's little heart was broken as well. I didn't think that she would get attached so quickly.

She was more like me than I thought.

I had decided I was going to take tomorrow off. I needed a day to recover from everything that had happened. What a whirlwind it had been, but I guess it was the same way when I met him. Thankfully I was the boss, so it wasn't going to be an issue. I just needed to make a quick phone call to Meredith to let her know.

I stopped and got us a pizza on the way home. It was mine and Demi's favorite, I knew it would cheer her up. It wouldn't be enough, but it was a start.

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"I brought us your favorite."

"Double pepperoni with extra cheese?"

"And a brownie pizza for dessert."

"Thank you mommy."

I sat the food on the kitchen table and got paper plates out for us to eat on. I got Demi her plate and made her a drink.

"You ok?" Adrian came up behind me, wrapped his arms around my waist and put his head on my shoulder.

"Not really, but I'm going to have to be for her." I whispered. He squeezed me hard, kissed me on the cheek then let me go and went toward the fridge. He grabbed two beers, opened them and sat them on the table. One thing we didn't do was drink in front of Demi, a glass of wine with dinner, once in a while, but that was it. Tonight was going to be an exception.

"Thanks." I sat down in my chair and grabbed a plate and some pizza, grabbed my beer and took a big swig.

"Hey Demi, how about we take a personal day tomorrow and we go do whatever you want?"

"Can we go see daddy?"

"Honey, I told you daddy lives very far away. We can't just go and visit."

"But he said I could." Her bottom lip started to pucker.

"He did and we can, just not tomorrow." She looked like she was going to start crying.

"Here let me show you something." Adrian interrupted and had his phone out.

"See we are here in New York and your dad is all the way over here in Russia. We would have to take a plane to get there. Then we would have to take a train, then drive the rest of the way. Even if we could, we wouldn't be able to see him tomorrow."

"How about we see if we can FaceTime him before you go to bed?"

"Ok." She said, but I knew she wasn't ok.

"So what would you like to do tomorrow?" I asked trying to distract her.

"Maybe the park."

"Ok."

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Me and Adrian were on our balcony nursing our beers. Demi had been asleep for a while now. Dimitri had come through and FaceTimed her. She was so happy to see him and he told her they could talk every night before she went to bed. It made my heart a little happy to see them interact.

We had been sitting in silence for quite sometime, I had something to tell Adrian I just didn't know how.

"I slept with Dimitri last night."

"I slept with Ivan last night." We both blurted out at the same time.

After the initial shock we both started laughing.

"You first."

"Not much to say. We hit it off and well after we left you three at the hot tub. We showered together, went to bed, and showered again."

"That's it?"

"What do you want the blow by blow? How big he is?"

"No, don't care what size he is?"

"Are you sure? It was quite impressive."

"Addy. Just tell me you used protection?

"I did. Did you?'

"No." I put my head down, I wasn't ashamed I slept with him, but maybe I should have used protection. Yes I was on the pill, I didn't use it for birth control persay, I used it to try to regulate my periods. I was also on them when I got pregnant with Demi.

"Rose."

"What? It's not like I carry condoms with me. I haven't had sex with anyone since I got pregnant with Demi and neither has he."

"Fair enough. So….?"

"It was just as amazing as it was the first time. We weren't meaning to, but it just happened"

"Please tell me Demi wasn't in the room?"

"In the next room, but we shut the door."

"Your whore." He laughed

"Pot calling the kettle black aren't we?" We just laughed at each other because if we didn't I had a feeling we would cry. My phone buzzed in my pocket and I thought it may have been Dimitri.

"Why is my dad calling?"

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Kiz

Baba, not that I don't want to talk to you, but you only call me this late when something is up

Can't I just call to tell my only daughter goodnight

You can, but you don't So what's up

I hear congratulations are in order for Dimitri

What are you talking about

I'm looking at a press release, heir to the Baia throne born

Oh that…

I know that tone of voice

Dimitri isn't the father

No shit, it's quite obvious. And if it's that obvious to me then it will be to others.

So what are you trying to tell me

I'm worried about the two of you

No one knows about Demi

Yet, you three were out in public together. It's only a matter of time

Your scaring me baba

I'm not trying to, but I told you when you found out about who Dimitri really was you had to be careful. When this gets out that he has an illegitimate child things will get ugly.

Please don't call her that.

That's what she is to them, he had her outside the sanctity of marriage.

To be fair she was conceived when he was just prince and not King and he wasn't engaged at the time.

True, but I've been looking into a few things since she was born. Looks like it is the first born to inherit the throne, which would mean Demi is technically the heir. Dimitri has an older sister that abdicated the throne so Dimitri could be king as their father wished.

So what does that mean

Not really sure to be honest. I just know that when this all comes out it's going to be bad and I'm afraid you will both have a target on your back

Thanks baba, I won't be able to sleep tonight

Not trying to scare you, I just want you to be aware and watch your back

Thanks. Just so you know I'm taking tomorrow off and keeping Demi home.

Good, maybe we can meet for lunch

Demi would love that

Be safe. See you tomorrow.

DIMITRI

"When we get off this jet you are going to act like an excited new father. You are going to act like everything is ok."

"Ivan, I don't know that I can."

"You can and you will."

"Ivan, look at me, I'm a mess."

"Fine then we will say it's because you missed the birth of your first son."

"I don't want to pretend anymore. I'm done, this is over."

"You can be done and you have every right to be. But for now you will fake it!" I put my head in my hands.

"Look at me. You're not doing this for yourself, you're doing this for Rose and Demi."

"But I left Demi heartbroken, she's never going to forgive me."

"She will forgive you, because this is only temporary, we will figure out how to make this work. You think I liked leaving Adrian, I've never connected with someone so quickly. I really like him, but I'm sucking it up and putting my feelings away for now. We have a lot of shit we're going to be dealing with when we get off this jet."

"My mom knows"

"What do you mean, she knows?"

"She knows he's not mine, she asked me point blank if he was."

"Well shit."

"Yep."

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Is there any way you could FaceTime Demi? She wants to tell you goodnight.

Absolutely, but it will have to wait till we land. Is that ok?

Yes, how are you doing?

Not good, but I'm doing a little bit better, seeing her face will help.

We landed in Moscow and I had asked my team to give me a few minutes alone before we departed the jet. I knew we would be bombarded as soon as I walked into the airport. We could have had a car pick us up on the tarmac, but I decided against it, I needed to face the press sooner or later.

Hey babydoll

Hey Daddy, are you really as far away as uncle Adrian says?

I am sweetie, I'm not even in Baia yet, I still have a train and a car ride.

When can you come back?

I don't know, but it will be soon I promise

Ok, can you call every night before I go to bed?

I can

Ok, goodnight daddy

Goodnight sweetie

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The airport was as bad as I thought it would be. Mickhail has to step in at one point to tell the press to back off. We were now on the last stretch of our journey.

I was sitting in the back of my SUV stressing about how this is going to go down when I got home. I was in one vehicle with Mickhail and Spiridon. Ivan was in another with Aleksandr. I always took two vehicles everywhere I went, one being a decoy. I kept noticing Spiridon checking his cell phone, normally I wouldn't think twice about it, but something just seemed off about it. I pushed that thought to the side, I had too many other things to worry about right now.

We pulled up to the gates of our property and my hands started to sweat. I have never been this anxious about anything in my life. I knew I had to fake it long enough to figure out how I was going to divorce Tasha. It wasn't going to be pretty when this happened and I hoped that I could keep Demi a secret till it all blew over.

Mickhail pulled up to the carport and parked the SUV. I didn't wait for him to open the door for me, we were at my house and protocol be damned. I didn't even wait for Ivan and his car to get here, but maybe I should have. My dad was standing waiting for me when I walked into my house. Which isn't like him, he never comes to my house and tends to stay away from me.

"Son, we need to have a little chat." He hands me an envelope and waits for me to open it. I did and my stomach dropped. It was pictures of me, Demi, and Rose.