Princess: Nuance Of Love Book 1 (44 page)

"Yes, Pangeran, she left since around
ten o'clock this morning."

"She should have known better to not go
out by herself, we still haven't found out who was trying to kill
her yet," Ali mumbled. "Mak Noor, the driver to get the car ready
and have Captain Bagas meet me up front."

* * *

They drove to the café written on the
notepad. Ali entered and talked to the cashier, he showed her the
photo of Paramita he had in his wallet. "Did you see this woman
here today?"

"Ah yes, I remember her, it's the woman
that was here this afternoon. She came to meet another woman. But I
don't think they were friends though, after talking for some time
the other woman started crying and insulting her, what a rude
woman, not only did she not bother to take off her dark sunglasses,
she was screeching and yelling loudly at the your friend. Then the
woman in the photo came here to pay the bill and left." She took
the photo and showed it to her friend a young man in his early
twenties. "Have you seen this woman?"

"This is the woman I told you about,
some guys attacked her a few blocks from here. Wow, she was cool
she kicked their ass. I saw her get into a car with an older man,
he had a gun at her."

Ali's heart sank, "Do you know who the
older man was?"

"Yes, he's one of the older Princes,
the one who used to be the Minister of Defense."

"Are you sure it was her?" Ali asked
again to confirm the situation.

"Yes, I swear I recognized her from
somewhere, but I can't really remember where."

"Maybe she was an actress or model."
The girl at the cashier gave her opinion while the young man nodded
in agreement.

"Thank you for the information," Ali
said leaving them.

Once he sat in the passenger he gave
the order, "We need to go to Pangeran Bashir's residence. There was
a witness who saw her being forced at gunpoint to go inside his
car. Here take my phone and call for back up." He said while giving
his mobile phone to Captain Bagas.

"Sir, according to the report from the
Royal Guards, Pangeran Bashir's Palace has been vacated. All his
family and domestic staff moved to his villa in Tanah Ujung."
Captain Bagas reported after speaking on the phone. "But they do
know that there is a high presence of armed men there, who are not
members of the armed forces."

"What is he planning?" Ali thought to
himself.

"Sir should we wait for instructions
from the Royal Guard commander?"

"No, my priority is to save my wife.
Pangeran Bashir has tried to kill her over and over, so I don't
intend to sit around and wait for the worst to happen."

* * *

"I don't understand, why do you want to
kill me?" Paramita said confronting Pangeran Bashir.

"It's nothing personal against you, I
just can't have both your mother and father think that they can
make a fool out of me without paying the price for it."

"So, you think that by killing me,
you'll hurt them? Huh, think again. My father has five other
children, and he barely knows me, and my mother, well my mother
would be sad, but her life will go on as usual."

"Killing you is just a small bonus in
my goal, insignificant to my greater plan."

"Great! Then you can let me off at the
corner there. I'll just hail a taxi and head home."

"Be quiet you insolent brat! Your death
is insignificant to my plan, but it doesn't mean I won't enjoy
seeing it."

"Goal, plan, what is your plan anyway?
Whatever it is, could it be as dumb and stupid like the plans you
put in place to kill me? How many times have you tried to do it?
It's like watching the dumb criminals in the old batman TV series."
She said provoking him on purpose to get information.

Pangeran Bashir growled and looked her
with hatred. "I am the rightful Sultan, not your father. He stole
everything away from me with his scheming and treachery. I'll
return the favor, I give my support to the group that will make him
lose his absolute power and leave him as a puppet sitting on a
fancy chair."

"The Parliament movement." She said.
"And that's your evil plan for revenge? Huh! You must be living in
the middle ages."

"You stupid girl, you don't know the
magnitude of the effect that it will bring towards the
monarchy."

"Well, of course it will bring a huge
impact towards my father's power over the country. But the world
has changed now, now an absolute monarchy just as dictatorship is
outdated and doesn't fit in well with the ever-growing awareness of
democracy. Power over the fate of a nation should not be in the
hands of just one man. Besides, I was deeply involved in the pro
parliament movement when I was living in England. I voted yes in
the referendum" She said agreeing to him, then bluffed. "Think
about it, why would my father choose a young man like my husband
who's publicly acclaimed for his critical view of nepotism and
corruption as his successor, if he wasn't looking to take the first
step in changing the governmental structure?"

"Bang Ali is the Sultan's successor,
the Crown Prince?" Dewi asked her face turned pale.

"What? Don't you watch the news?"
Paramita answered to annoy her. Then she added, "You know uncle if
you weren't trying so hard to kill me you would be my hero for what
you're doing for the people of this country I didn't think that you
had the same political view as I do ."

He didn't say anything more, feeling
mocked he just looked at her with despise. The car slowed down,
drove through what Paramita guessed to be a driveway and then
stopped in front of a huge palace.

The door opened. This time Pangeran
Bashir's men were prepared, they had their guns pointed towards
her, they signaled her to come down from the car. Paramita decided
that it was a good idea to comply with them.

She stepped down from the car followed
by Pangeran Bashir and Dewi. She observed her surroundings. There
were several men porting guns and rifle around the perimeter.
Apparently Pangeran Bashir had built a small army for
himself.

They motioned her to enter the palace,
Paramita felt strange that there were no domestic staff inside the
palace, just men with arms. She wasn't surprised to see Jonathan
Tan there.

"Why Uncle Joni," She said, "Why am I
not surprised to see you hand in hand with my Uncle
Bashir?"

"It's nothing personal Puteri, just
business. I really didn't want to see you dead after you were
actually married to my step nephew, because that will deeply hurt
my big sister and the last thing I want in this world is to make
her sad. But since you didn't die because of the drug, and we've
gone this far already, there's nothing else I can do."

"I don't get it, I know why Pangeran
Bashir would want to kill me, and hell, I can understand this
woman's reasons, but you. What's in it for you? What do you stand
to gain by all this?"

"Like I said, just business. I have to
prove to my father I can win a big contract with the government,
otherwise Hafiz will end inheriting everything."

"But the contract for Extemiva is not
that big...."

"Ah, so I see you know about
Extemiva....But this is not that, Extemiva was a stepping stone
that turned out to be a failure, we wouldn't have gain much from
that product. But we lost a significant amount of money and
reputation. So if I'm able to successfully gain a high-profile
contract for Holy Mountain, I will be leading more than just its
record company."

"What high profile contract can he
offer you?"

"Enough! Take her to the library!"
Pangeran Bashir ordered. "Dewi, good job, come with me and get your
recommendation letter for your citizenship."

"So that was the plan all along."
Paramita frowned. He had Dewi lure her alone out of the Lotus
Palace so they can capture her in exchange for a stupid
letter.

They brought her to the second floor
and pushed her into a room. The door was closed behind her, she
turned around to the door and tried to open it, but she noticed
that it had no knob. "Damn, this door can only be opened from the
outside." She said to herself.

She observed the room. There was an
empty book-case Paramita checked the big desk which had also been
emptied out. All the luxurious furniture were still
there.

She paced back and forwards for some
time, when she heard the door opened and Dewi came in.

"What do you want now?" Paramita asked
her in a curt tone.

Dewi closed the door behind her and
entered the room. "You're not getting out of here! There's no way
out, this door could only be opened from the outside. Pangeran
Bashir hates you, imagine that, you must be such a marvelous person
with a marvelous family, that even your own uncle hates you and
wants you dead."

"Well aren't you the smart one? Do you
have a death wish?"

"When you die, somebody has to be by
Bang Ali's side to help him get over the grief."

"Yep, yep, no chance it's going to be
you, because guess what? After I croak, my father will start
looking for a new wife for him and it would probably be some
Princess from a neighboring country, fit to be the Queen of Jothar.
Not some Pop singer like you. Most likely you'll remain a concubine
for life, just like my mother was for my father. In the end, he's
not going to be yours anyway." She paused then smiled
sarcastically, "But that's if you make it out of here alive. If you
had half a brain, you would know that if this door only opens from
the outside, the idea is to kill me by trapping in here. Dear old
uncle probably wants to gas me to death or burn me
alive."

Paramita started pacing back and
forward again to continue looking for an escape route. She wasn't
considering to give Pangeran Bashir an opportunity to use her for
his revenge. She shook the railing on the windows to see if it
would barge, but it just wouldn't

"Move out my way!" She pushing Dewi
away from the front of the door.

"He is perfect." Dewi said sitting
still and ignoring Paramita, "He is the perfect boyfriend, loyal
and understanding. He always respected me, he never had any
indecent intention towards me even though we were often alone
together. Every time I'm in Jothar he's always ready to go with me
to events, or if we go to a restaurant he always let me choose his
meal. He is sophisticated, high-class and so mature. A very elegant
and serene man. We were happy together, we belong together, we suit
each other, we're different from the likes of you."

"Listen, I didn't steal anybody from
anybody. And the man you're talking about I don't know him."
Paramita replied without stopping her attempt to find an escape,
she observed all sides of door.

"I'm talking about Bang Ali! About
Burhanuddin Ali."

"Ah......Well you see, the Burhanuddin
Ali that I love, my lawful wedded husband. Is a man who has a vast
collection of comic books, he collected them since he was twelve. I
love to read comics. He likes to cook, I love to eat. He has the
ability to laugh at himself, I do too. We joke a lot, and tease
each other all the time." She paused, "We go to events together
because we have to, but what we like to do on weekend nights is
stay at home and watch his Star Trek First Generation collection on
VCD. Do you still think he and I are not compatible? "

"You're such a shameless woman! Not
only did you use your position and status to steal him away from me
you also threw yourself at him and seduced him. He doesn't love
you! I'm the one he loves, me!"

"Didn't I just tell you that I
never......oh never mind! Listen here, sister! I know you're upset
that your boyfriend left you, but if a guy easily walks out on you
and marries another woman, that means he doesn't love you enough!
Get over it and just move on already!" Paramita said beginning to
feel desperate that she wasn't able to find any openings. She
grabbed a table and threw it at the door. There was a loud bang as
the table bounce back a few centimeters from them, hit the floor
and then shattered to pieces.

"Are you crazy?" Dewi
yelled.

"Lady, you have no idea!"

The door opened suddenly, Pangeran
Bashir entered, "There's no point in destroying things...... Dewi
what are you doing in here? Didn't I say that nobody is allowed to
enter here?" He roared.

Seeing that he was alone, Paramita took
the opportunity and kicked him on the stomach and jumped up while
slamming her elbow into is back with the full weight of her body as
she landed. Not expecting the attack, he fell forward. Paramita
took this chance to jump over his crouching body and ran out the
door.

Paramita wasn't familiar with the
situation of Pangeran Bashir's Palace, but she knew that since she
was held on the second floor, her best escape route was to go
downstairs. She spotted the staircase and slid down the railing.
She landed on her feet on the floor.

Pangeran Bashir got up, still holding
his stomach, "Catch her! She's escaping! Catch her!" He yelled. The
guards at the front door ran inside, spotting Paramita who was
standing in the Palace's lobby. He looked at Dewi angrily, he
lifted his hand and slapped her, "That's what happened when you
dare disobey me!"