Forces of Destiny
by A. Akinosho
Series: Shackles of Royalty
Genre: Fiction/ Romance/ New Adult
Release Date: October 31, 2018
Tola grew up as an only child in the suburb of Chicago. Gloomy days was all Tola could see ahead of her as financial woes slowly crept into her life with the death of her stepfather and the imminent death of her cancer-stricken mother.
Unexpectedly, the father she never knew she had appears. His royal destiny becomes hers. How will it change Tola's life? Will she find the shackles of royalty too much to bear?
In her search for comfort she chances upon a love so powerful she's willing to gamble everything and change her destiny. The fight to secure both her love and her crown will demand more than her love and her family are willing to give.
Chapter 2
Tola/Aly
Two weeks earlier
After checking in at the lobby, I went upstairs to the apartment. A motherly looking lady, possibly in her fifties, opened the door with a bright smile.
“Hello, I’m Mrs. Romana, but everyone calls me Mrs. R.”
“Hi, I’m Aly, the nurse’s assistant.” I showed her the laminated badge Leah had made for me.
“Yes, please come in. Mr. Ellis is sleeping right now.”
She welcomed me in. I walked into the modernly decorated room definitely a bachelor space, no doubt. I looked around the wide living room with large windows and fantastic view.
“Come with me. I’ll show you your room and around the house.”
I nodded and followed her. She led me into a simple-style bedroom, and as I placed my bag on the bed, she showed me the connecting bathroom. I followed her around the house as she showed me the other bedrooms and Mr. Ellis’s office.
“Please don’t go in his office unless he calls you or sends you there. He’s very particular about that.”
I nodded my understanding.
Once back in the kitchen, she showed me his medications and instructions. He’d just come home from the hospital earlier that day from an outpatient surgery of his knee. He was going to need someone in the house with him.
I listened carefully as she explained his routine. She’d be here for a few hours during the day to clean and prepare his food. My job, as she explained, was to care for him when she wasn’t there.
“Since you are here during the day, why does he need me here full-time?” I asked.
“Well, I may need to go out during my hours here to complete errands, and I also cannot spend the night. Besides, I agree with his mother that we’ll all feel better knowing someone is here all day to help him without having to worry about hours.”
I nodded my understanding.
Mrs. R. was very pleasant, and she made me feel at home for the first time since my mom had died. I hadn’t realized how I had missed the motherly attention.
She was starting to talk about simple stuff. It was nice talking to her about school and everyday life. She made me lunch, and we laughed together at funny stuff. We had just cleaned up our plates when I heard a deep voice interrupt our conversation
“Mrs. R, I need my meds, please.”
“Coming” she responded. She turned to me after grabbing the pain meds and bottle of juice. “He’s a big baby. Can’t take medicine with water unless it is flavored. Come with me so you can meet him.”
I followed her, heading to his room. She knocked gently; then entered. I had no expectation of him—after all, there wasn’t a picture of him in the living room, and I hadn’t stepped into his office. All I knew was he was young and fresh out of knee surgery. Nothing could have prepared me for the earth knocking me off my axis when I laid eyes on him.
I was no virgin. That part had gone out the door in my eighteenth year on Earth. Even with my dad’s overbearing love, I had kissed a few frogs in college. Not a relationship; just a few un-princess worthy moments in the sack.
But this one with his left leg resting on pillows and his knee wrapped in bandage, leaning his upper body on the headboard in a crinkled white undershirt and board shorts, his muscular, sculptured arm revealing some of the toned body and tan hidden by the shirt, his short black hair roughened from sleep… As my eyes fixated on his masculine face, the sexy gray eyes with full lashes that shouldn’t be on a man-captured my eyes. Clean-shaved face with lips that looked like they were begging me for a kiss. Time stood still as I gazed at him.
Mrs. R spoke, making us break our gaze of each other. “Kyle, here is your Motrin.”
Only then did I notice she had moved around while my eyes had been fixated on him. He accepted the meds, swallowed them, then returned his eyes to me.
“Meet Aly, your nurse’s aide. She will be helping you when I’m not around,” Mrs. R said.
My three easy weeks had just gotten downright messy. Three weeks with him was going to be very dangerous for my mind and body. I would have introduced myself, but I stood, tongue-tied, not sure what to say to him.
“Ms. Aly,” he expressed in an icy tone.
“Hi, Mr. Ellis pleased to meet you,” I responded.
His tone snapped me out any crazy fantasy of us I might have had.
“Aly, make sure I get my next set of Motrin in four hours. If I’m sleeping, wake me. I can’t stand this pain, and I hope Mrs. R has filled you in on my expectations.”
“Yes, she has.”
“Would you like to eat now, Kyle?” asked Mrs. R.
“No,” he replied.
Mrs. R began adjusting his pillows as she spoke. “You know, not eating isn’t an option for me. Unless you want me to start feeding a grown man like you,” she said in that motherly tone that gave one no option.
“Fine. Bring me what you have,” he grumbled.
“Now that is more like it.” She turned to me. “Come on, Aly.”
Ade Akinosho resides in Schaumburg IL, after living two and a half years in Dubai, with her husband and four children. A move she says gave her the opportunity to meet interesting and amazing people. By day, Ade considers herself Mom/house driver taking care of her children and by night she lets her imagination run wide writing romance novels where she feels she is literary seating in the room with her characters.
Ade is a Linguistics and English major who went on to the business operations world with an MBA. Now back to her original passion for writing, something she started doing at the age of 10, Ade describes herself as a voracious reader, lover of the art of words and a traveler. She is known to scribble on just about anything that comes away when the words fill her mind. Publishing her first novel Falsified is a dream come true for someone who has always had a passion for writing and love for reading.
When she is not busy driving or fulfilling an activity for her children, you can always find her reading a book, binging on chocolate or checking out interesting places in the world.
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