Chapter 1 Prologue

★Exempted From The Chapters★

Kyle took a closer look at the bangle again and was surprised to see the same bangle he hand knitted and gifted to his pregnant friend years ago in Ariana's palm.

"How did you get..." Kyle paused to think for a while. "Don't tell me you're...Dylan is..." He couldn't even form a sensible statement from the excitement he felt as Ariana just shaked her head in approval of Kyle's incomplete statements.

"I thought I would never see you again. And the baby too." He said joyously.

"I thought so too. I didn't even know your name back then. I even told my son about you. I only stopped putting on that bangle when I-I...started self-loathing..." She gushed in bewilderment until Kyle shut her up with a thoughtful kiss. She melted into his kiss as he leaned towards her while she relaxed on the couch, pulled him closer and wrapped her hands around his manly shoulders. He looked closer at her face as if he wanted to look at her long and hard to compensate for all the time they'd spent apart.

The heat from his body so close to hers made her feel lascivious and could smell his body giving off a cranberry scent. His body felt warm as she slowly unbuttoned his shirt and traced her hands down his burly chest.

Slowly the pace of the kiss became faster and filled with so much lust as they craved each other's arousing touch. Their minds were clouded with desires and longing to be closer and closer so he lifted her from the couch and had her legs wrapped around her as he walked into his room.

A FEW MONTHS BACK

TULE SPRINGS, LAS VEGAS

Ariana Lee danced across the clubhouse filled with different kinds of personalities dancing to the rhythm of the music being played. Her gaze skipped over a group of clubbers sniffing some white substance (hard drugs) as they danced. Having been familiar with them, she danced towards them and collected a few stuff to sniff herself. She was rapidly intoxicated as she was under the influence of the mood-altering drug she had just taken. She continued to dance, notwithstanding the effect the drug was having on her. A few of her clubmates who were also intoxicated by the drugs surrounded her on the dance floor, doing all kinds of crazy dance steps that perfectly suited the kind of booming music they were listening to. They danced throughout the night and by 2 am, Ariana and a few of her clubmates decided to walk back home since they were too high to drive home.

The jiggling sound of Ariana's cellphone woke her up from her deep sleep. She picked the call and the scolding she received almost made her drop her phone.

"Ariana, this is already past noon, and as a part-time staff member, you are still not at work. Don't bother coming again because you are FIRED." The woman scolded and without waiting for Ariana's response, she ended the call.

Ariana was unmoved by the woman's threat. She dropped her phone on the bed, yawning she said, "Oh God, my head hurts like crazy, I can't believe I took those yesterday like some retard addict."

She sluggishly stood up from her bed and rubbing her hands roughly on her face, she went into the restroom to freshen up. After almost an hour of being in the restroom, she came out with a towel wrapped around her waist down to her knee cap, with water dripping down her body as a result of the bath she took. She walked past her calendar, halted, and walked back to confirm what she had just seen.

"I need to get to work.....oh shoot, I just got fired. I'm finally doomed, and in the next ten days I am going to be homeless if I don't pay my rent." She exclaimed. "I need to go look for a new job, but before that, I need to put some sense into that woman.." She said and immediately got dressed in search of a job.

Ariana walked into the Garies Mall with her face tightened like she was going for a fight. She tapped a woman who was busy picking out goods for a customer.

"I already told you that you are fired, so what the hell are you doing here?" The woman asked.

"I know, I only came to give you your part of the scolding. Come to think of it, you only exploited me because I was in need of money. Which other mall pays their part-time staff $20 per week. It's not like I wasn't brave enough to tell you this before but I only respected you because you were my boss. To hell with you and your mall. I have no time to waste on you any longer, I need to look for a new job." She scolded her boss, causing a ruckus at the mall. She left the woman dumbfounded as she was too embarrassed to talk back to her.

Ariana roamed around the whole Tule Springs in search of a new job but none seemed to be available until she came across a café on the ground floor of The Kings Holding Enterprise. She walked into the café and inquired about the notice which was pasted outside.

"Yes, we need a part-time waitress as one of our staff is currently not available." The Chief Barista of the café said.

"I would love to apply for the position," Ariana said, handing out her resume.

The Barista collected the resume from her and told her that they would get back to her before the next day.

KINGS PALACE, SUMMERLIN NORTH.

Kings Palace is the highest building in the whole of Summerlin North with fifty floors and a penthouse at the top. The ground floor(The Lobby) of the building included a security post office and also a meeting area for the residents and non-resident of the building with a very large fountain situated at the middle of it which sometimes served as a site of attraction or tourism for residents of the building. Only high-profile dignitaries could live in the building because of its outrageous rental price. In this building, the level of your social status also determines the floor you live on. That is; the richer you are, the higher the floor you can purchase and live in, while the owner of the building owns the penthouse.

Kyle Kings, a resident and also the owner of the Kings Palace, walked into the building after a tiresome meeting at work. He was greeted by some of the residents who were on the ground floor by the time he arrived and he had to respond with a handshake even though he was tired to look modest and humble. Immediately he entered the elevator, he stretched out his hands and his personal secretary immediately added a hand sanitizer to his palm and also gave him a small towel to wipe it off.

As the elevator stopped in front of his penthouse, he stepped in and paused to give a thorough look at the house before going in. He lightly scrubbed the doors with his hands and sneezed hard because of the little dirt he found on the door.

"Inform the cleaning lady that she's fired and get me a vacuum cleaner," Kyle said and immediately removed his tie and folded his long sleeves in preparation to clean his house to his taste. Lucas Jones, who was his personal secretary quickly obliged to avoid infuriating him further.

After a thorough cleaning of his house, he finally decided to rest but before then he had to ask his PA about his schedule the following day.

"You would be having a meeting with the board members by noon and after that a Dinner with the CEO of PE Holdings by 5 pm," Lucas explained.

"Cancel the Dinner, my sister is coming over tomorrow," Kyle said.

"Okay Sir, but do you know how long you've been postponing your meeting with her now?" Lucas wondered.

"Do you want to meet with her in my stead?" Kyle asked.

"Why would I? Lucas scoffed. "Wanna eat with me before I leave, I already ordered something," Lucas suggested.

"Why don't you get a girlfriend to eat with? Do I look hungry to you?" Kyle said.

"I would take it that you don't want to eat now and have the food delivered later," Lucas said as he walked towards the door. "See you tomorrow, and don't keep me waiting." He said as he walked out of the penthouse and into the elevator.

"Look who's talking." Kyle scoffed. He went into his room and took his bath before finally heading to bed.