The Tattooed Prince 2

101.

It was the second time Sophia and I had a fight, last time, by the end of the night we apologized to each other. However, this time was different, she was mad to the point she avoided me. I wanted to apologize to her, Tony and her were worried about me, and I acted like a complete jerk. She was right, if having Sebastian around meant drinking his memory away at the end of the night, I needed to stay away.

"She will come around," Santiago assured me as he cut into his medium-rare steak. The tension in the house was causing me to have anxiety attacks, so I left and came to dinner with Santiago.

"I am afraid I pushed her too far," I confessed as I played around with my chicken Alfredo. Santiago looked up and sighed.

"Sophia is loyal to you, Adalyn. To her, you continue to be Queen Adalyn—" I shook my head.

"Sophia always saw me  as who I was—human," I responded. "She has every right to be mad,"

"You are a grown women as far as you are concern, you do not owe anyone an explanation to who you get to be with,"

I grabbed my wine glass and took a sip, "sadly, the thing is, I do not know who to be with."

"Well, I always did say being single is the best life," he chuckled.

I rolled my eyes, "I am guessing you are back to being a bachelor?" I winked.

He nodded, "relationships do not seem to be my friend," he chuckled quietly. "this one decided sleeping with my cousin was the way to make it to the top,"

"Ouch," I frowned. "at least you know blondes are not your type?" I shrugged, trying to make him feel better.

"Possibly. My point is, stay single, work on you and stop dealing with Sebastian problems,"

I am attached to Sebastian and  the palace; could it be when Sebastian warned me the palace doesn't get fond of anyone—I should've ran. Now, I am chained up in Spain while I am in Los Angeles; at this point it doesn't matter how far I go, I will always drag the palace with me.

"I am not good with letting go," I confessed.

"No one is. You have to try though, if not you will never make anything work with anyone," he reached out and grabbed onto my hand. "you are a strong independent women, always have been. It seems as if it might be time for you to start a new chapter where your are the main character, not Sebastian,"

I squeezed his hand, "and how can I possibly start this new chapter if the palace does not let me go?"

"Stop hoping Sebastian is going to chose you..." He looked away from me and furrows his eyes brows. "I think you and I know the palace will always be his first choice,"

"Maybe..."

He cut me off, "No more excuses,"

"Okay," I whispered.

"The only person who you continue to lie to is yourself,"

I have been a good liar, then again, I did learn from the best. I didn't expect for Santiago to give me all my life answers, however, I wish he'd tell me what is the right thing to do. He seems to be on the same boat as Sophia—Sebastian is not worth me spending more of my energy on.

"You should take the position I offered you?" Santiago said, taking a sip of his drink. "We still want you as the head board member and you seem to need a distraction,"

"I appreciate the offer but I do not hold the same power I did. Anything involving Spain, I cannot handle. It was part of my departure agreement,"

Santiago rolled his eyes, "I had not offered you the position because you were the Queen, you had the qualifications and characteristics needed for the position. Although I doubt Sebastian would allow anyone to harm you in anyway in Spain, I can personally take care of Spain's involvement, if you agree to go with me to New York to see one of the new foster homes,"

"I do not know, Santiago." Sophia is the one who goes over contracts with me and let's me know if agreeing is a positive outlook. What Santiago does for these kids is amazing and I want to be a part of it, but anything involving Spain, it is best for Sophia to see if I won't be getting myself in deep water.

Rachel and Carlos might not want to do me harm; it doesn't mean the Royal Counsel feels the same way. I left many people unhappy with my sudden departure and it caused a bit of a commotion in the palace. Luckily for me, leaving Spain as fast as I did, didn't give anyone a chance to try to hurt me. Like I said before, nothing behind the gates is what it seems. In the pit of my stomach, I know Sophia tries to keep me away from Sebastian for my own safety.

"How about I send over the New York file? You can sit with Sophia talk it through? If you agree, I leave Wednesday afternoon,"

"It will probably be the best for you to do that," I admitted. It gave me a reason to sit down with Sophia and hopefully apologize for the way I acted.

"I will have my secretary have the file delivered to your house tomorrow morning," he responded as he typed away on his phone, I assumed giving his secretary her first assignment of the day for tomorrow.

"Sounds good to me," I smiled. "You know, I think it might be time for me to seek professional help,"

Santiago looked away from his phone and nodded, "it wouldn't hurt to try it out. You don't have to get yourself admitted but talking to a therapist can help you build a steady and secure walkway for yourself,"

"Let me guess, you see one too?" I raised a brow.

He nodded, "two times a month, maybe more if my schedule allows. You know, for kids who grew up with money, we all sure lacked love. Makes me wonder why I would want to bring a child into this world if all I have known is to work all the time. I wouldn't have time for my kids or a wife," he sounded sad about it. I didn't blame him though, when Sebastian and I were trying to conceive, for many nights I thought about the life our child would have.

Sebastian assured me he was going to give our baby the attention and love his parents lacked on. While I wondered if we were going to have any time to be a parent; our duties have higher authority than anything in our life. I can't imagine missing my child's first crawl, walk, or not being able to take them to school. Santiago was right though, all we were taught was to stick to our duties and nothing more. How could we possibly be good parents?

"I guess with seeking professional help, Sebastian beat me to it," I chuckled softly, continuing to play around with my food.

"He was an alcoholic-" he trailed off, biting down on his lower lip, trying to find the words to say what was on his mind. "...you can not compare his addiction, to the mental abuse you endorsed as a child,"

I dropped my fork, making it clatter against the glass plate. Santiago quickly cleared his throat getting ready to defend what he said, but I spoke over him. "You're right. Sebastian was an alcoholic and my mother did mentally abuse me, maybe it is time for us all to get the help we desperately need," 

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