Chapter 6
**There is no escape**
‘Looks like you're perfectly fine mother'. His voice was hoarse as her hug was starting to squeeze too tight to the point of choking him hard—he missed it, her warm hugs and the smell of warm lilies and chocolate pudding. King Gerard cleared his throat, signaling his wife to let their son go which she did immediately but still held onto his arm.
Adonis tried his best to keep calm but every passing minute and he felt like he was going to smash somebody's head against the huge stone statue of his grandfather in the living room. Once again, his father proved to him how much he couldn't be trusted but he still forced a smile all because of his mother.
‘How was the flight?'.
‘It was great'.
‘Ohh.....', Gerard was at a loss for words at the moment, he could see the anger in his son's eyes, ‘A lot of changes have been made to the palace, would you like to see??'.
Adonis frowned deeply, he knew his father's tactics, ‘I won't be staying for lo—'
‘You aren't going anywhere Adonis'. Gerard cut him off.
‘What does that mean?'. Adonis squared up to his father which made his mother sigh deeply. It felt like old times again, the fights between the king and the future uninterested heir to the throne—and then there was her in the middle, trying to placate the tension every single time.
She placed a hand each on the chest of the two men, ‘Enough with the quarrels the both of you', she turned to to face Adonis, ‘Let's just celebrate your return and then we can settle our differences later'.
Adonis sighed deeply as he nodded, making a mental note to leave at the first light of dawn. There was no way he was going to settle his differences with his father, not after throwing him into a cloud of worry all for it to be a false alarm.
*******
It was nighttime when Liliana woke up from her slumber, she was so angry and frustrated that she didn't even know when the jet-lag set it. A yawn escaped her lips as she got up from her face, she strode towards the window and the magnificent view of her mother's garden made her feel a lot better—memories of how she always played hide-and-seek with her father started to crawl in and made her feel a twang of pain in her heart.
It was all good though, she thought, in the morning she would take the first flight back to Fiji and never return again. Megan walks into the room and smiled seeing the plastered scowl on her daughter's face by the window, years gone and Liliana was still the prettiest daughter she was proud to have birthed, ‘You know your father loves you very much Lili....he really does'.
‘It's Liliana Mom, I'm not a child'.
‘You are still Lili to me', her mother placed a hand on her cheek and the smile on her face died down immediately, ‘Lili there's a reason why your father tricked you into coming home'.
‘Apart from tricking me what else—'
‘You're getting married Lili'.
She blinked in confusion, ‘What?'.
Megan sighed deeply as she clasped a hand over her daughter's, ‘You are getting married Lili.....it's time we tell you the truth'.
She bursted into an immense amount of laughter, surely her mother was playing a preposterous joke on her. Marcus walks in seconds later only to see the bamboozled look on his daughter's face and the perturbed on his wife's—he already knew what was coming, Magaret must have told her the reason why she was brought back to the country and he prepared his ears for the tongue lashing that was to come.
Liliana kept on laughing at the joke until she saw the stern faces in front of her, they weren't joking, she thought and her cackling died down immediately, ‘Please...pl....please tell me it's a joke...you're joking right??'.
‘Lili....', Marcus tried to reach but she stepped back which made him frown deeply, ‘Liliana you're not getting any younger as I am, your mother and I have put up with your escapades and we have let you roam the world doing whatever you like. Now it's time for you to take up your duty as my daughter and as a Brynn—You're getting ma—'
‘That is just utter bullshit!!', she yelled at the top of her voice, ‘You guys never let me do anything which was why I left in the first place and cut the crap about me roaming about Dad', she raised her hands in mock surrender as she couldn't believe what she was hearing, ‘I have a job and an important one at that, I am almost twenty four years old and you have no right to marry me off to some old man!!'.
It was all going out of control, Megan regretted her decision immediately as she wasn't her daughter to go into a full angry mode, so she stepped forward and placed a hand on Liliana's shoulder trying to calm her down. Liliana took a deep breath as she stared into her mother's eyes, she was moments away from a panic attack and it brought back memories of how her mother would calm her down when she was raging.
Marcus's teeth gritted as an awkward silence befell the room even though it had tension written all over it, it could probably ruin his relationship with his daughter but he had no other choice—A deal was made, one that could ruin his empire if she get married.....she was stubborn of course, which was why he made certain precautions.
‘I'm leaving tonight'. She muttered, sniffling loudly and made for the door but was instantly blocked by a mysterious bodyguard by the doorway.
‘You're not going anywhere Lili', Marcus said, ‘There is no escape'.
She laughed hysterically again, still finding it hard to believe and tried to push through the gigantic guard in front of her all to no avail. He grabbed a hold of her hand instead and gently shoved her back into the room, her father left shortly and she turned to face her helpless mother who shrugged also before leaving—It wasn't a joke anymore, she was actually trapped in her home with no way of escaping!.