Raavi - When The Crowned Princess meets The Mafia King.

Fareb

"Sooo cute." Grace says, looking at the picture of Rory. "Now, you have to invite me so I can meet him." She says as I nod.

"Sure. Let me just ask Alex once." I say keeping the phone back in my bag. "Now, do you see his car?" I say looking around and walking towards the main road, since Alex took my corvette and Richard is supposed to pick me up.

I'm not supposed to drive because of my dizziness which comes as a gift. I'm lazy to drive, as such. "I think he forgot about you." She says and I laugh.

"As if that's possible. We are done early, plus Christmas is close and the roads are jammed. It's the holiday's season. Plus we're free early." I say as she shakes her head.

"Christmas? For final semester research students, it's just pure torture. I wish I could be home." She says, as I remembered how it was Gurupurab day after tomorrow. The biggest festival to be celebrated in our kingdom to celebrate the birthday of our first Guru. Everything would be bright and lit up. There will be this radiant positive energy in the gurudwara back home, firecrackers in the air, Hercules by my side and lots and lots of langar sevas, or community kitchen where we serve and people of all ethnicities and class sit together in one line on the floor to eat.

The unity of our kingdom, and the love of our people. This was the festival season, and for the first time I'm not home.

"I'm sorry." She adds, as I shake my head.

"It's okay." I say with a smile and the next moment I feel a tingle up my spine. A small red dot on my chest slowly travels up my neck towards my forehead. I stay still sucking in a deep breath and estimating the distance around us. If we miss one, there's another bullet and with no hiding spot around. That moment, I heard a familiar engine rev.

"Grace, bend immediately on 3."

"What?" She asks, as I look at Richard's car coming towards us while the dot stops moving. I feel it stationed on my forehead.

"1. 2. 3." I say as we hear a gun shot that passes over our heads and Richard's car comes to a stop infront of us, acting as a shield.

Two more shots were fired as they barely put a scratch on the bulletproof glass of the car. "Get in." I tell Grace as Richard goes for his revolver. I get in after her and shut the door. "Call for help, if they follow us. Let's go. Now." I say as he holds his revolver with his one hand, and driving with the other.

I take out my phone with shaking hands and call Alex. "Hey babe, I'm rushing into an urgent mee."

"Someone tried to kill me." I say as Richard had a phone to his ear, barking orders and one hand on the revolver, other on the steering.

"What? Where? Are you okay?" he asks, as I nod and then realise he couldn't see me.

"Yes. Yes, I'm fine. We are in the car. Richard is here. Just... Just... Please come home." I say and feel my eyes rotate involuntarily in skull and a wave of dizziness rushes through me.

The next moment, I saw black.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I felt a wave of nausea and acid rushing up my gut as I open my eyes and feel someone in the way, pushing them aside and running to the toilet.

I feel a hand in my hair, holding it away from my face and putting it into a soft bun as I did my business. I rinsed my mouth and turned to face him.

"I'm sorry." I say, as he frowns.

"Why would you be sorry?" He asks, as I hugged him tightly as he kisses my forehead.

"I supposed to fight and not faint." i murmur as he shakes his head, and holds my chin making me look up in his eyes.

"I'm sorry to not have protected you better. I'm sorry that I put you in a place where you had to fight." He says, and kisses my lips.

"Eww.. I smell of puke." I say as he chuckles.

"Yes, you do. Go brush your teeth and don't be guilty. Grace is in the guest bedroom downstairs, resting." he says as I nod and then look up at him again.

"Do we know who it was?" I ask, as he shakes his head.

"I'm on it. And Rory will be back from the vet soon. Wash your face and brighten up. I'll handle it." he says, as I nod hopeful at the thought of meeting Rory.

I freshen up and brush, tying my hair with a scrunchie as I change out of college wear into a pair of comfortable tshirt and sweatpants. I didn't find Alex in our bedroom as I make my way out to his study. I could hear his tensed voice from the corridor.

"Anything else on the site?" He asks, as Richard's answer was unclear and inaudible as I keep walking. "You... Think it's her father?" He asks, as my breathing slows and my feet halt outside.

"Sir. I... I took a different, longer route from usual as I still had time. And I passed the side of the building, where our shooter was located. I saw... Ajax's car there." he says as I hear the sound of breaking glass.

"So, It was my father?" I hear him say as my hand goes to my mouth and I muffle a surprised sound.

"Raavi, are you there?" He asks, as I take in a deep breath and enter. I nod and go to him, picking his arm and sitting on his lap. I hug him tight and place my head on his chest.

I didn't know what to say. I just wanted to comfort him.

"Richard, I want more information within the next hour." He says, his hand softly caressing through my hair, falling on my back.

Richard leaves us and inhales calming himself, as if taking in my scent. "Are you the same girl that hated public kisses?" He asks, as I look at him and nod. I sat in his lap infront of his guard.

"What could have gone wrong, has gone wrong. There's not much we can do to change it. What I can do is, make it clear that I'm here for you, Rory and the... Twins. No matter what." I say as he looks up at the cieling, his arms holding onto me for dear life.

"I love you, Raavi." He says, as I smile looking at him.

"I love you more, Alex." I say as he looks lost for a minute. "What's wrong?" I ask as he looks away from the ceiling and towards me.

"Can you... Can you not tell your family about... About what happened today? How I failed to protect you and how I was soo... close to loosing you?" he says with pain evident in his eyes.

"I wasn't planning on telling them either." I say, as we hear a bark outside and hurried tippy tap of paws running towards us.

"Rory..." I say, but before I could get up from Alex's lap he jumps on me as I pick him up and place him in my lap.

"He thinks he's a lapdog." I say refering to the over one year old dog who looks at me with perked ears clearly offended as Alex chuckles.

"And you think you're 5'2"." He says, by the way I had squeezed myself in his lap.

"How dare you?" I say ready to get down with Rory, as Alex holds onto me tighter.

"Don't. I have barely 7 months until I'll be unable to hold all my family in my lap." he says, placing his chin on my head and his arms around me in place. I relax in his arms and smile.

"You'll always hold us in our hearts and that's what matters but also... It's Our family." I say as he smiles.

"Our family." He says correcting himself and kissing my forehead. We had the sense of doom over us but right now, his father was not what we wanted to worry about.