Royal Doc's Secret Heir Page 13

  “You didn’t. You say you have to do what they say, but you don’t always.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You became a doctor, you joined the royal guard. You’re freer than you think.”

  “How would you know? You weren’t here and you’re the reason why I became reckless. Losing you destroyed me!”

  “And you don’t think it hurt me?” she asked, her voice trembling.

  “No one died because of you. I killed my brother and his wife. You were free. You had a family who loved you. I have no one.”

  A tear slid down her cheek. “That’s right. You have no one. Take me back to my team in Huban, Maazin.”

  He nodded. “Of course.”

  There was no point in arguing any further about this. She had her orders and she had to obey them.

  She had a duty to her new country, just as he had a duty to Kalyana.

  * * *

  They collected up their things in silent tension. There was no convincing Jeena to understand his point, and she had to leave Kalyana anyway. She had to go back to Canada and he was going to get to the bottom of this. He found it very odd that his father knew who she was and that he knew about Syman.

  As they headed outside there was a flash of light, several flashes that blinded him, and Jeena screamed as Maazin realized that it was paparazzi.

  She turned towards him and he held her close, shielding her from the photographers. He didn’t know how they had found them here.

  Maazin got Jeena safely into the Jeep and pulled away as their vehicle was swarmed by photographers.

  He sped away, leaving them far behind in the dust.

  “What the heck was that?” Jeena asked, breathlessly.

  “The popular press and the tabloids,” he said in an undertone.

  “How did they find us?”

  “I don’t know, but I do know one thing. If this reaches Canada, everyone will know that Syman is my son.”

  “This is why I shouldn’t have come. This is why I should’ve just kept my distance from you and not told you about Syman! This is not what I want for him.”

  “You think I want this for him?” Maazin asked. “I don’t want this life for him, but sometimes we have no choice.”

  “Yes. I understand that too well.” Her voice shook and she didn’t say more. He didn’t know what to say to make it right either.

  You know what to say.

  He drove up to the Canadian consulate and thankfully there was no paparazzi there.

  Jeena looked at him. “Please don’t come to see me off tomorrow.”

  “Why?”

  “This is going to spread everywhere and I just want to leave without drawing attention to my team. Or at least any more attention than is already being drawn. I want to leave Kalyana with my head held high.”

  “You can come back to Kalyana. I promised to give your father his plantation back.”

  “Come back to Kalyana and do what, Maazin? Have my son marked as an illegitimate son of a prince? Have the press hound me and Syman?”

  “Jeena, please. I need you.”

  “You don’t need me and you can’t have my heart. Not until you stop blaming yourself for your brother’s death. Not until you realize that it’s your life to live. You may be a prince, but Kalyana doesn’t own you as much as you think it does.”

  “I’m a prince. Of course Kalyana owns me and I owe my country everything,” he snapped. “You don’t understand what I give up for this country.”

  “You’re right I don’t fully understand, but I do understand what you’re giving up. I won’t put my heart in jeopardy. I did once before and it nearly destroyed me. I’m not the same person I was all those years ago.”

  “Jeena—”

  “No. No. Goodbye, Maazin.”

  She slipped out of the Jeep and up the steps of the Canadian consulate, leaving him heartbroken.

  Alone.

  She was right. Even if her family got back their plantation there was nothing really here for her or for Syman except shame and pain. Even though Jeena hadn’t broken up the engagement the world would soon think she did.

  He wouldn’t be able to have Syman in his life.

  Unless you tell your father you’re done.

  And that was what Maazin was going to do. He was going to drive back to the palace and tell his father. He wanted Jeena and it didn’t matter if that meant his own banishment. He wanted his son and a family with Jeena. Only Jeena. Like he always had.

  He wanted her by his side. Always and forever.

  CHAPTER TEN

  “THIS IS OUTRAGEOUS!”

  Maazin could hear his father raging from the other side of his bedchamber door. And he knew exactly what it was about. He knew that the press and the photographs of he and Jeena had come out.

  Maazin knew this because he’d seen the headlines himself.

  Seen the pictures of he and Jeena on the balcony, kissing and embracing. There were also photos that he hadn’t been aware they’d taken, their stolen moment on Patang and when she’d stayed over at his place when they’d suspected they might have contracted dysentery.

  Maazin didn’t even knock when he opened the door to see his father propped up in bed and holding one of the trashy tabloid magazines in his hand.

  “Father, you really shouldn’t be over-exerting yourself.”

  His father dropped the magazine and glared at him. “What is the meaning of this?”

  Maazin approached the bed and glanced at the magazine. It wasn’t the only one that carried the story. Maazin and Jeena’s faces had been plastered all over the national papers as well.

  The headline was something along the lines of him betraying Lady Meleena. Still, they’d promised Lady Meleena that they wouldn’t announce that the engagement was off for another month.

  He’d broken that promise, but he was tired of taking on other people’s problems. He was tired of keeping all these ridiculous secrets to avoid scandal. He was tired of blaming himself and of doing what made others happy.

  Jeena was right, he had to stop blaming himself for Ali’s death. He’d been so consumed these last ten years over losing her and then Ali dying that he was living in this perpetual hell of his own making.

  He had to live his own life.

  Ali was not coming back.

  “I think you understand the meaning, Father,” Maazin said calmly. “I’m sorry that the world knows I’m not marrying Lady Meleena before everything could be smoothed over.”

  His father waved his hand dismissively. “I don’t care. That was her father’s request. So we lose some trade deals. I have more important things to worry about. What I don’t want is you returning to your old foolish ways.”

  “What foolish ways?”

  “Sleeping around. Not taking care of yourself.”

  Maazin smiled. “I’m not, Father.”

  “Aren’t you?” His father pointed to the photo in the tabloid. “This is my surgeon! The Canadian surgeon, yes?”

  Maazin nodded. “I love Jeena Harrak. And I have for some time.”

  “What do you mean, you love Dr. Harrak?” Uttam asked, confused. “You’ve only just met her.”

  “Father, don’t be obtuse. You know exactly who Jeena is.”

  His father frowned. “I know that she was the Kalyanese Canadian who performed my procedure and that she had a son who likes hockey.”

  “How do you know about her son?” Maazin asked curiously.

  His father waved his hand in annoyance. “I always ask for the dossiers on my physicians. It’s part of their security clearance. I was intrigued by the notion of ice hockey and I was pleased that someone from Kalyana had returned to help. I was making polite conversation.”

  “Father, do you know why Jeena Harrak left Kalyana.”

 
“No.”

  Maazin scrubbed a hand over his face. “Jeena and I were involved in a romantic attachment ten years ago, before Ali died.”

  Uttam looked completely lost. “What?”

  “She is the daughter of a vanilla plantation owner and we were in a romantic relationship for months. Then she left and I never knew why, until she came back to Kalyana. She left because she was pregnant with my child and believed Lady Meleena when Meleena told her I didn’t want her, that we’d take away her child as he or she would be illegitimate.”

  “She had your child?” Uttam asked, shocked.

  “Yes. I have a son. My son the ice hockey player!”

  Uttam leaned back against the pillows, shaking his head in disbelief. “I have a grandchild? I would never have forced Meleena on you had I known Jeena was pregnant or that you were with Jeena. I would have allowed you to marry.”

  Maazin nodded. “That is good to know, Father, but too little too late. Her parents sold the plantation and took her to Canada, where she gave birth to my son, Syman. My son, who I didn’t get to know. My son, the ice hockey player.”

  “I can’t believe you have a son,” Uttam said quietly.

  “I do. One who was stolen from me because of Meleena’s meddling. Do you ever wonder why I started drinking so heavily during that time? It was because Jeena had left me and I had no idea why. Maybe if she hadn’t left we’d be together and I wouldn’t be blaming myself for Ali’s death. Maybe Mother wouldn’t hate me so much for killing her favorite son!”

  Maazin heard a gasp and turned to see his mother standing behind him. He had no doubt that she’d heard every word he’d said, but he didn’t care. It was the truth.

  It’s how he felt.

  It’s how she’d made him feel for the last ten years and he was tired of letting her make him feel this way.

  Maazin turned on his heel and left his father mulling all that over.

  Right now he had to get to the airport and stop Jeena from getting on that flight to Canada. He had to tell her that he chose her and that he’d finally stood up for her. That he wasn’t going to abandon her again. That he wanted her.

  Farhan was pacing in the entranceway when Maazin came down the stairs.

  “What was going on up there?” Farhan asked. “I heard all this loud talking and thought it best not to go in.”

  “It was for the best,” Maazin said quickly. “I told Father about Jeena. And I also told him about Syman, my son with Dr. Harrak.”

  Farhan’s eyes widened. “Wow. I’m sure he took that well.”

  “Well, it certainly shocked him. I have to get to the airport. I have to stop her and tell her how I feel. I can’t let her out of my life again.”

  “And if she doesn’t want this life, this life of protocol?”

  Maazin sighed. “I’ll give it up for her. I’ll live in Canada. I’ll just disappear like Bhaskar did.”

  Farhan groaned. “That won’t help anyone.”

  “I know and least of all you. I never told you that I’m sorry that you’re in this position. That it was my fault you are now next in line to the throne.”

  Farhan took his arm. “I don’t blame you. Even though you’ve been blaming yourself for ten years, I don’t blame you for what happened to Ali. He made the choice to go and get you. It was a terrible accident. You have to stop blaming yourself for his death. You have to live your life.”

  Maazin clapped his brother on the back. “This is what I’m trying to do. I have to stop her from going back to Canada.”

  “You’re too late,” Farhan said. “I just saw the flight off. She was on it.”

  Maazin’s heart sunk. “Well, then I need to clear this whole thing up and then I’m going to Canada to get her back.”

  * * *

  Jeena knew that her team had seen the tabloids and the newspapers. They were friendly enough with her, but they were keeping their distance on the long flight home and that was fine by her. Even though Maazin and Meleena’s engagement had ended some time ago, the world didn’t know that.

  In the world’s eyes she was the other woman.

  She was nursing her heart, which had been wounded again.

  When she’d gone back to Kalyana, the last thing she’d wanted to do had been to let her heart be hurt again by Maazin, but of course that’s exactly what she’d done.

  She’d been a fool and the worst part of her being humiliated was that the press had caught wind of it all and it was everywhere.

  When she’d talked to her father when they’d landed in Abu Dhabi to refuel, she’d found out that the press had located her parents’ place and that they had been photographing Syman. Now Syman was afraid and confused.

  He didn’t know what was going on.

  Her heart didn’t matter, but Syman’s heart did. This was not what she wanted for him. Her parents were disappointed and she was disappointed in herself too.

  She craned her neck and could see Calgary airport coming into view. Her stomach clenched and she hoped that there wouldn’t be any press there, but she didn’t have high hopes of that. They would be around.

  She just hoped her father wasn’t being followed or harassed.

  The plane landed and she closed her eyes, hoping and praying that she could just get home and be with her son.

  Jeena hurried to get off the plane. She could see that there were people staring at her as she made her way across the airport and she could see from the corners of her eyes that her face was plastered everywhere.

  Oh, God.

  She went to the baggage claim and tried to ignore all the pointed stares. She picked up her gear bag and then spotted her father.

  He gave her a sad, worried half-smile and then took one of her bags as he leaned over and kissed her.

  “Father,” she whispered. “I’m so sorry.”

  “None of that. Let’s get out of here. There is press waiting so your mother is doing circuits and is coming up again to pick us up.”

  “And what about Syman?”

  “He’s staying with his friend Thomas for the night. Thomas’s mother will bring him back tomorrow morning. Early, to avoid anyone seeing him.”

  Jeena’s stomach did a flip-flop and she tried not to be sick. She hated this.

  She followed her father out into the bitter cold. Jeena kept her head down as photographers snapped pictures and she realized that this was the first time she’d had to keep her head lowered in her new country.

  For the first time since she’d come to Canada this was the first time she couldn’t hold her head up high and she hated that. She was the other woman here too.

  She climbed into the car and tried to hold back the tears that were threatening to spill. This was the worst.

  Her mother drove away and for a few moments they didn’t say anything.

  “Tell us what happened, Jeena,” her mother said. “The press is saying a lot of things, but I want to hear it from you.”

  Her parents exchanged a worried look in the rearview mirror as Jeena tried to explain what had happened between Maazin and herself, and how Lady Meleena had lied to them all.

  “You are in love with him,” her mother said. “It’s understandable. The heart is forgiving when it’s in love.”

  Jeena nodded. “I didn’t want to forgive him. I didn’t want anything to do with him, but we kept getting thrown together and it happened. The King knows about Syman.”

  “I had no doubt that he did,” her father remarked. “Especially after the Bhaskar disappearances years before. The King keeps tabs on things. At least with Princess Sara that Bhaskar mystery was solved. It was a worry in Kalyana for so long and it did, eventually, have a happy ending.”

  “Well, I won’t be going back to Kalyana. Maazin made it very clear that duty comes before the heart.”

  What she didn’t say
was that Maazin blamed himself. He thought he didn’t deserve anything. Maybe he didn’t want it and he was using his guilt as an excuse.

  She didn’t know and she didn’t care. She was tired of caring.

  Her father nodded but didn’t say anything, and that was for the best. She was exhausted, both physically and emotionally. She’d thought she’d found her Prince Charming, but she hadn’t. There was no happy ending for her after all.

  There was no prince waiting to sweep her off her feet.

  There was nothing but a heart that had healed and been broken all over again, and she had no one to blame but herself for that.

  All she wanted was to see her son, but she was glad he was safe with Thomas’s family.

  That gave her some time to figure out what she was going to tell him about his father, the Prince.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  “WHAT DO YOU MEAN, you told everyone your engagement to Lady Meleena has been off for some time?”

  Maazin winced as he heard his mother snap that across the room.

  “It’s simple, Mother. I told you that it’s time to come clean so Jeena’s name can be cleared. She’s not the reason the engagement ended.”

  Queen Aruna took a deep breath. “I do understand that, but do you realize the embarrassment that you’ve caused us? They think you’ve gone back to your playboy ways! We paid off a lot of people when Ali—”

  “I know, to cover up my indiscretions.”

  “No!” Uttam said. “To protect you from those papers. To protect Ali and Chandni’s memories, but now they’re saying all these awful things about you, Maazin.”

  “Yes. I’ve seen the tabloids.”

  His mother frowned. “The world should know it was Meleena who had the affairs. It was Meleena who drove off Jeena. All these years. We were all fooled.”

  Maazin was stunned. “Sorry, what did you say? Are you saying that you’re angry with me because I did throw Meleena under the bus, as it were?”

  His mother sighed. “I believed Meleena when she told me Jeena wasn’t really pregnant by you.”