Arlington City

Arlington City, a place Nathaniel De La Rue thought he would never lay eyes on again.

He watched the skyline of towering skyscrapers glisten in the sunlight as his plane passed above.

"Mr. De La Rue, we have begun our descent," his bodyguard informed him. Nathaniel simply responded with a nod.

Arlington was not one of the richest or flashiest cities. It was not particularly important either.

At best, it was the biggest city in its state, excep, the thing was, Franklin was a small state.

To be honest, Arlington was not a place that a business executive like Nathaniel would bother to visit. But it could pull him in the way no other cities, no matter how wealthy, could.

It was his foundation, his origin, the place where he was truly himself.

Here he found his true friends, people who made him into the man he was today. They had no idea about his accomplishments, and he loved them more for it. It was a place where he found sanctuary as he ran from the pressures of being the heir to the De La Rue Family.

It was also the city where he found true love.

He could only hope that she still held a flame for him after all these years.

"Sir," Clark, one of his assistants, called out as he approached him. From Clark's expression, Nathaniel could already tell that he had bad news. Clark stood with his head down, his forehead creased into a distressed frown.

"Out with it!" Nathaniel commanded as he continued looking out the window, seemingly unconcerned.

"It's a complicated matter, sir—"

"Please be seated Assistant Clark," an air stewardess said as she gestured towards his seat. "We are about to land."

The assistant nodded and quickly sat down next to his boss fumbling on the seatbelt as he anxiously waited for what Nathaniel would do next.

"You were saying?" Nathaniel asked as he scrolled through the messages on his phone.

"We scanned through the notable events in Arlington City for the week, and we noticed that today there is a reservation for Miss Maya Miller's engagement."

Nathaniel remained silent, but Clark had been working for him long enough to know that despite being peaceful on the outside a tornado of thoughts now flooded his boss's mind.

Clark didn't dare speak another word until they landed on the tarmac; he didn't want to die an early death.

As soon as the doors opened Nathaniel disembarked, not bothering to even tell the people around him where he was headed. This was Arlington City, he knew it better than his assistant did.

Clark and the bodyguards quickly made a move to run after him, making sure to be ready to do as their boss commanded at a moment's notice.

"Did you hire a car for us?" Nathaniel asked as he quickly walked through the airport, he knew that his assistant and bodyguards would be close by.

"Yes Mr. De La Rue, it's this way." Clark said as he gestured for Nathaniel to follow him.

At that same moment, the officials of the Arlington City Airport were informed of a very important individual arriving at their airport.

Those that were on location quickly rushed to the VIP arrival area to meet him.

"Where is the car?" Nathaniel asked in a deep voice as he brushed his hair through his blond hair and tapped his foot on the ground impatiently.

"The driver said he is stuck in a sudden traffic jam." Clark informed Nathaniel as he furiously typed on his phone, trying to get a car to take Nathaniel to the engagement ceremony.

Clark knew based on his boss's reaction how important this woman was to Nathaniel De La Rue, and Clark did not want to be the reason why he missed the engagement.

Nathaniel looked around the airport, most of its infrastructure had been updated, but everything was still in its old place. He knew that he could move faster if he left his people behind.

"Take my things to the office and the penthouse, I will follow." Nathaniel said as he quickly rushed off, leaving his bodyguards and assistant.

Clark and the bodyguards all made a move to follow, but unfortunately, the officials had already arrived and cornered them. Stopping them from chasing after him.

Meanwhile, Nathaniel raised his hand to hail one of the only cabs around.

"I'm on break!" The cab driver was not in the mood to deal with customers no matter how much they pestered him.

"I'll pay you 500 dollars, take me to Primus Hotel." Nathaniel said as he handed a couple of hundred dollars to the taxi driver.

"No, as I told ya I'm on break!" The taxi driver grumbled.

"How much?" Nathaniel was desperate.

He needed to tell Maya Miller, the woman he loved, the truth. He needed to tell her why he ran that night. He needed to get to Primus Hotel before she got engaged.

He needed to tell her that he was still alive.

"A thousand." The driver was grinning, he knew that there was no way that this man would even agree to pay him that much money just for a ten-minute drive.

"Done!" Nathaniel declared as he quickly jumped into the car.

The driver was too stunned to do anything.

"Drive!" Nathaniel said as he glared at the driver.

The man felt a sudden chill in the car and quickly buckled his seatbelt and drove off.

Nathaniel looked out the window as he took in the changed image of the city. It had grown so much over the past few years just like he did.

Soon they were pulling up to the driveway of the hotel, Nathaniel handed the driver the one thousand dollars he had asked for and jumped out of the taxi before it could even fully stop.

"Good morning sir, are you here for the engagement—"

"The engagement party, where is it?" Nathaniel asked, not even waiting for the man to finish his statement.

"Ballroom," the valet replied.

As soon as Nathaniel heard his answer he quickly sprinted into the hotel, not bothering that he had bumped into several people from his past.

Right now his focus was to stop the engagement.

He had to make sure it didn't happen, he needed to tell her he loved her.

Maya Miller needed to know that he was still alive.

She needed to know that he didn't leave her by choice.

"Nathaniel!" Someone shouted, but Nathaniel ignored the person.

He quickly charged into the ballroom, pushing the doors open, not bothering with the fact that he had just crashed an engagement party.

The sudden commotion at the door made several guests turn around.

Nathaniel didn't care about the confused and angry stares he was getting from the guests, they weren't the reason he had come.

She stood at the other end of the hall, her hand in another man's, someone Nathaniel didn't recognize.

Could she have met him after Nathaniel left? Would he be the one standing with her if he had stayed?

It was futile to even ask that now. The past was in the past, there was no changing the past. What he could change, however, was the future from this moment on.

"Maya!" he shouted as the remaining guests turned to look at him.

"Who the fuck are you?" the man to whom the woman was getting engaged asked as he let go of Maya's hand and charged toward Nathaniel.

It was only natural that the man was furious–Nathaniel just crashed his engagement party.

Despite the imminent threat to his safety, Nathaniel's attention was drawn to the woman in front.

She was dressed in a red gown, with her blonde hair cascading behind her. Odd, Nathaniel never thought she would even consider dying her hair, Maya loved her long black hair.

'She seems to have gained some weight, but I will still love her all the same. She is still my Maya after all,' he thought to himself as he dared take a step closer to Maya.

"Maya, please, I didn't mean to leave you," Nathaniel begged as he ignored the man that had come up to him and tried to shove him away.

"What the fuck?!" the man shouted as he fell to the ground. "Who the hell are you?"

Nathaniel ignored the man on the ground and quickly pulled Maya to his chest.

"Who the fuck—" the woman began in an angry tone, but the moment she gazed at Nathaniel her expression softened. "Well, big guy, are you single?"

Nathaniel quickly let go of the woman and stumbled back.

The bride was not Maya Miller.