Chapter Twenty six

"Oh my gosh, he came to pick her up by himself," Rita whispered to Kirsten as they watched Chad and Tiana.

"I know, don't they look beautiful together?" Kirsten asked Rita.

"This is my first time seeing Prince Chad this close, he is so dreamy." Rita's eyes flickered and Kirsten slapped her playfully.

"I am having a body ache because of you hitting me every time," Rita complained and Kirsten giggled.

Chad kept on staring at Tiana and she was so shy, she could not stare back at his sea-blue eyes.

"Are those your friends?" He asked her and she nodded.

He raised his head. "I'd like to borrow Tiana from you guys this evening," he told them and Rita almost fainted.

"It will be our pleasure, you can spend as much time as you want with her, your highness," Kirsten said flashing a smile and Chad chuckled.

"You can take her and do to her whatever you want to, don't even bother returning her to us," Rita added and Kirsten glared at her.

"Don't mind the lack of manner of my friend, your highness," Kirsten slapped Rita's shoulders again and bowed.

"Call me Chad...you're Kirsten, right?" Chad pointed at Kirsten and she nodded. "And you are Rita, right?"

Rita's head nearly exploded because Prince Chad called her name.

"Yes I am Rita...how did you know our name?" Rita stammered and Kirsten was surprised, this was the first time she had seen Rita like this.

"Tiana tells me a lot about all of you. What about Victoria?" Chad asked.

"She's not here," Kirsten and Rita answered in unison.

"Extend my greetings to her." He took Tiana's hands into his. "We will be taking our leave now." Chad bowed and left with Tiana.

"He is so polite and handsome, I never expected him to be this nice and well-mannered," Rita said sighing. "Did you hear how he called my name smoothly? It gave me butterflies in my stomach," Rita skipped around joyously, and Kirsten facepalmed.

"All I can say is that I don't trust him that much..." She paused. "I pray Tiana will be happy with him." Kirsten said and heaved a sigh.

"You look so beautiful Tiana," this was the hundredth time Chad was telling her, and she could never get used to it. "If I knew you were going to dress this nice, I should have worn something nice too, not a black shirt and black jeans, maybe something more cooperate."

"I'm sorry, I can go back home and change my outfit," Tiana muttered and Chad chuckled.

"Why are you feeling so bad for me? It would be quite difficult for you to go back home and change, I know that it took you a lot of time and effort to put this dress on." He paused and gave her hand a gentle squeeze. "I won't let your efforts go to waste."

"I...I...care for you so much, Chad and I will do anything to make you happy...I like you so much, Chad." This was what Chad wanted to hear all this while, he grinned and stopped walking, he came in front of her and tucked a loosed strand of hair behind her ears. A chilly breeze blew which made Tiana shiver a little.

"I care for you too and I always want you to be happy your Highness," Chad muttered and Tiana stared at him with her cheeks almost turning red like burning coal.

"Why are..." He placed his fingers across her lips, knowing what she wanted to complain about.

"You're my princess, so I can call you your highness there is nothing wrong with that." He flashed a smile revealing his dimple. "Where do you want us to go, Tiana?"

"I thought you have a place in mind?"

"A place in mind?" Chad chuckled and raked his hair with his hand. "Come." She followed him. It was quite hard and uncomfortable for her to walk in her long dress and Chad noticed it. "What's the matter, dear?"

"Uhm, it's nothing," she lied and a frown crept into his face.

"I know something is wrong, Tiana," He paused and then placed his hands on her shoulders. "I asked because I care for you and I don't want anything to disturb you."

"It's just my dress it's too long..."

"Tiana?" A voice said from behind and Tiana was familiar with the voice. She turned around slowly, with her heart pounding against her chest and her body throbbing, her eyes met with Jack's eyes and she froze. She did not know why she was scared, she remembered that she had promised to go out with him today.

Chad grinned, this was according to his plan, Jack walked to them slowly, and with an impish smile on his face, he came closer to Tiana and whispered to her. "You have to do something about our boy, Jack."

Tiana's eyes shone wide as Chad mentioned Jack's name, she started hyperventilating, and her throat felt dry. She turned her head slowly towards Chad, and her eyes met with his lifeless sea-blue eyes.

"Do it." He muttered, "There will be a reward."

Chad went away from her as Jack got closer to her. Chad walked to a street light which was thirty meters away from Tiana and leaned on it. He watched as Tiana turned Jack down with a devilish smile on his face.

Jack came to Tiana with a worried face and Tiana could not bear to stare at him, she was embarrassed and was deeply in thought about what Chad said, it was as if he was telling her to do away with Jack if she wanted to keep him and she did not want to lose him.

"Tiana, why are you doing this to me?" Jack asked with a lot of sadness in his voice, for he had been waiting for her for hours now.

"I'm...sorry, Jack." She mumbled.

"It's more than that Tiana, I waited for you for hours and you didn't show up, I sent you a lot of texts and even tried calling you to know where you are, but you didn't reply to my texts and you didn't answer my calls. I was worried I thought something bad had happened to you so I decided to come to your house to check on you and then I'm seeing you here with him." Jack said referring to Chad. "That's his royal highness Prince Chad right?"

"Yeah." Tiana squeaked.

"Tsk. I see... So that's why you couldn't show up?" He asked her and she nodded. Tiana was still thinking about what Chad said, it was hard for her to tell him that she likes someone else, she liked him but she liked Chad more.

"I'm sorry..."

"It's alright Tiana." Jack said with pain in his voice, Jack was very handsome, well built and well mannered, most of the time it was girls that fell for him, but now he was the one falling for a girl--Tiana. "It's alright."

"We can talk about it in school right?" Tiana asked him hoping that he would be willing to talk. Jack frowned.

"I do not want to talk about any piece of shit." He told her bluntly and walked away. He passed by Chad and for a moment his eyes met with Chad's eyes. Chad's lips curved into a wicked grin.

"Know your place," Chad told him with his voice barely above a whisper. When Jack became out of sight, Chad walked to where Tiana was standing and he met her sobbing.

She sank her head into his chest, and he held her waist.

"I'm horrible, Chad, I'm

horrible." She said in between sobs, and Chad started rubbing her head with his hand.

"You're not sweetheart, you're one of the sweetest people I've ever met," Chad muttered and Tiana continued crying. "It might be hard for you but everything will be okay, you have me by your side."

She continued crying and he cupped her cheeks with his hand and raised her head.

"Please, Cheer up, Tiana, I feel deeply hurt seeing you this way," Chad muttered, wiping away the tears on her cheeks with his thumbs and she sniffed. "I want you to smile."

Tiana sniffed and wiped her tears off with a hanky.

"Cheer up, sweetheart, feeling devasted will ruin your health." Tiana tried to force a smile but it was not working. Chad sighed. "I guess I have to cheer you up myself."

He brought his head closer to her neck, placed his mouth on her neck and suck the skin on her neck gently. Tiana could not help but laugh for that was her tickle soot.

"Stop it," she said giggling and Chad stopped.

"Ah now your smiling, that's great," he chuckled and Tiana giggled. They continued walking and Chad took her hand into his and gave it a gentle squeeze. "You know you look beautiful when you smile?"

.....

"We are leaving this castle tonight, if we stay here any longer we might die," Megan told Anita and Jennifer dreadfully.

"I can't believe such a thing happens here, it is so sickening," Anita said gritting her teeth.

"And yet they act as if nothing like this happens in the castle, that's so horrible of them." Jennifer spat her words out.

"We won't be leaving the castle together, the castle has three main gates and three other gates, we will use the main gates to escape," Megan said grinning, Anita and Jennifer were surprised that Megan was asking them to escape through the main gates but they knew she was up to something.

"Haven't you guys noticed, since the day I met prince Chad in the library, the castle security has increased and lately I have been closely watched," she paused and chuckled. "This proves that we are right, these damn royals are bloody murdering bastards."

"You are right and I can't stand them anymore," Anita said with disgust.

"They expect us to leave the castle through the other gates since it has less security than the main gate, so it will be logical if we leave through the main gate." Jennifer reasoned and Anita and Megan nodded.

"But the problem is, the gate at the entrance, the gate that leads to the main gate." Anita said sighing. "It's over three miles from the main gate and it is heavily guarded."

"I guess James is going to help us," Jennifer muttered. James was Jennifer's fiance, he was a top bodyguard in the castle, and he was going to help Anita, Jennifer and Megan to escape from his position, they all trusted him and he trusted them too.

"James will help us pass the main gate and the entrance gate, he will also help us to turn off the CCTV cameras," Megan said and Jennifer and Anita agreed with her. "Have you guys packed the bags containing some of our clothes, some money and some food?"

Jennifer and Anita nodded yes.

"This will not be easy, trust me, but we have to try," Megan took in a deep breath. "Let's go."

They packed up their bags and exited their rooms. They walked cautiously so that they would not be noticed by anyone, James switched off the cameras and distracted the guards who were guarding the servant's quarters.

They finally came outside, it was a cold and starry night and the moon was full, the moonlight illuminated the castle's compound.

"That was easy," Jennifer said laughing.

"We still have the main gate and the entrance gate, nothing will be easy about this." Anita said rolling her eyes.

The main gate was half a mile away from where they were it would take them two to three minutes to reach there.

"I guess this is where we part ways," Megan said with a tint of sadness in her voice.

"Why can't we just escape together? What's the whole point of splitting up? No one is going to catch us." Anita tried to convince Megan but she was adamant, she had already planned to die this night, she could not live another day knowing that her best friend was gone, and this was the only way to make this plan successful.

"It has to be this way, they know that I know something about the killings going on in the castle but they don't know that you and others know about it, so it won't be good if they catch all of us, what we know will die with us, and I do not want that to happen!" Megan explained with her hands folded into fists. "I will be going through the smaller gates."

"But the smaller gate is heavily guarded, how are you going to go through it?" Jennifer asked, she was not ready to let Megan go on her own.

"Trust me I have a plan, I will meet you guys outside, we will leave this place together." Megan lied.

"Is there not another way?" Anita muttered her question.

"This is the only way, either of us has to make it out alive." Megan told them.

"Why can't we just wait till we are on vacation? Why does it have to be this way?" Jennifer asked with tears threatening to fall from her eyes.

"If we wait we might die," Megan pulled both of them into a hug. "If you get outside and you do not see me, don't wait for me leave as soon as possible follow the directions I gave to you and wait for me outside, I will surely meet you." 

"Okay, we will." Jennifer wiped off her tears with the back of her hands, this was not the time for her to cry, she should be bold if she wanted to make it out of there.

"There is no time to waste, let's start going." Anita urged Jennifer and ran off and Jennifer later followed her after she hugged Megan for the last time. When they were out of sight an uncanny smile crept into Megan's face and she ran in the opposite direction, heading to the smaller gates.

What do you think will happen to her?