Royalty Overnight

16: Changes

"Nakita, wake up."

There was something special about waking up to the sound of Maalik's' voice, the gentle way he squeezed her and nuzzled against her neck.

"Good morning."

"Good morning, Maalik..."

She snuggled closer to Maalik to make myself comfortable. She was exhausted, Nakita let out a quiet yawn, Maalik kissed her head and stroked her cheek affectionately.

Nakita wasn't sure if she should be happy with how things were now. She had always wanted a family; a caring husband and children, and she got that. Perhaps she was afraid all this would just end.

The wails of a child interrupted their moment.

Nakita abruptly sat up from the bed. "Babette." Quickly, she grabbed a robe to wear and headed to their baby's room.

Babette was already 10 months old. Time has flown by fast, especially with a child.

And as for Vanessa, thankfully she had already gone back to her house months back, and even visited less often due Maalik being too busy to even talk to her. Her and Nakita were still on bad terms; Nakita still believed she was bad news and her intentions were not pure.

Maat was having none of it, Vanessa had shown no signs of doing any harm, which was true, so Nakita had to drop the topic.

Once Nakita brought the child into their room, she started to wiggle around in an attempt for the mother to drop her. Nakita eventually dropped her on the bed and she began crawling to Maalik.

A whisper of a smile touched his lips as he pulled her into his arms, and he noticed tears already soaked her rosy cheeks.

"Oh, honey. How long were you awake?" He kissed Babette's bubble cheeks.

"Long enough to start crying when no one came for her."

Then there was a knock on the door, Nakita opened it and saw Etta there who had a wary look on her face. She suddenly had a bad gut feeling.

"Madam, Lady Relish is here."

Vanessa. That woman.

"She refused to speak until his grace was present."

Nakita turned to Maalik who was already looking at her. He had heard everything that had been said.

"See? I told you. That woman has bad intentions."

He said nothing, but let out a sigh. With the baby in hand, Maalik left the room and Nakita followed suit.

"Oh, Mik! Good morning."

Nakita cringed in annoyance with the terrible nickname.

"What are you doing here?" he said, eyeing a few suitcases by her side.

"My dad knows you'll be asking that. So he gave me this to give it to you." She then brought out an envelope from her purse and handed it to him.

Maalik read the letter, and Nakita watched as his expression darkened. "We have to talk." His gaze moved to hers, and she knew something was up.

Maalik then left for the bedroom, and she decided to ignore the way Vanessa was looking at her, a triumphant smile tugging her lips.

They both went back to their room, and Maalik began to speak.

"She will be staying."

Nakita's eyes widened in shock. "What?"

"I understand how you feel, alright? This was an abrupt emergency. There was a robbery in her parents' house, and it set the home on fire. Her father didn't want her to stay there for the time being until the security had been strengthened and other things had been renovated."