Seducing The Chef (18+) (Billionaire Series #2)

1. Tiramisu

Chapter 1:

"Was your dad a king? He must have been, to make a princess like you", Marcus Alberto said smirking at me. He must think he is all that just because he bothered to Google 'royal pickup lines'.

"Uh... my dad was a prince actually. My grandpa is still the king", I deadpanned.

"Ah yes. Too bad he passed away because of the brain cancer. Hey is it true that your mom was a stripper and your father got her pregnant? I read that somewhere" He asked.

That's it. I wasn't going to bear anymore of his nonsense. If we weren't at a charity with grandpa at a ten mile radius from us I would have slapped that smirk off Marcus's face. "Is it true that your mother was a playboy model? I read that somewhere". I can see that I irked him by asking him that. Well I wasn't planning to but he was just asking for it.

"No that's fake. She was a sports illustrated model actually", he said sounding offended but immediately recovering himself, which I realized was because he was smiling at a girl behind me. This is the fifth time I saw some duchess staring at Marcus, he would flash a 500 megawatt smile at them and they would falter. I wish it was this easy for me. But unfortunately I knew how much of an ass he really is.

No way was I marrying the pompous Marcus Alberto, son of billionaire Benjamin Alberto and not to mention the fifth most good looking billionaire in the world (I didn't know this until Marcus took the liberty of informing me). But my grandpa's words reverberated in my mind. Marrying Marcus means Benjamin Alberto will bring business to our country. This will ensure employment in rural areas of Eswana, it will even boost the country's fuel production as they are known to turn sugarcane into fuel and our country has an abundance of that. As a princess it's your duty to put your people's needs before yours. And besides Marcus seems like a charming person.

Yes he is as charming as a stick.

My phone beeped indicating an incoming text, "Excuse me", I said to a preoccupied Marcus, busy with impressing the ladies. I turned around sliding my phone open. It was from Terence, a small smile played on my lips. I opened the text.

Terrence: Hey babe. Missing me? ;)

His text was followed by another notification, my smile immediately turned into a frown.

@PrincessEleanorasucks just tweeted!

Great another scandalous tweet about me.

Princess Eleanora is getting married to Marcus Alberto just for his money. In reality she has a secret lover hiding out in New York.

@PrincessEleanorasucks is a twitter account with over 100k followers and as I had mentioned it's sole purpose is to tweet mean things about me. Most of which are true and I can't even deny them. I don't know where they get all the information from. Terrence thinks I may have been hacked but after numerous password changes and security measures it doesn't work. Heck I don't even have any social media accounts anymore. Well I do have a twitter but its under a fake username so that I can keep tabs on what @PrincessEleanorasucks posts. I must say they make a lot of money out of tarnishing my image, they even have Princess Eleanora sucks merchandise.

My phone beeped again indicating I had another message.

Gustav: I saved some tiramisu for you. Come to the kitchen after the event.

The text cheered me up instantly. Gustav is our head chef at the palace. His tiramisus are to die for, in fact they remind me of my mother's tiramisu, which she used to make for me every weekend. My mother died when I was sixteen in a car accident, after that I was mostly on my own. I lived with my aunt and her six tabby cats for a while. Aunt Matilda took better care of her cats than she took care of me. Its true my mother was a stripper but she quit after having me. She didn't even have a choice, her family wasn't well off. She came to New York with only fifty dollars in her hand running away from her step dad. She wanted to get into college and get a proper education. Being a stripper meant she could afford college and a house to manage other expenses. But she couldn't fulfill her dreams after she got pregnant with me. She quit being a stripper and stopped attending college to become a full time mother.

I always felt like a burden to my mother because she had to give up on her dreams after having me. She denied that. She used to say how having me was the best thing that happened to her. I love her and I miss her every day.

My life changed at the age of eighteen when one morning when I was at the bus stop waiting for Terrence to pick me up for school, I was kidnapped by a bunch of men who were straight out the movie "Men in Black". They had the black suits and dark shades on with an intimidating look on their face. Well not exactly kidnapped, they asked me to get in the car as I was being summoned by the King of Eswana. I said no since my mother taught me to never interact with strangers. At that point they picked me up and placed me inside the limo as I tried my best to fight them but it was of no use. Now that I think about it, they did kidnap me.

I was brought to Osha the capital of Eswana and told that I am the daughter of Anderson Montcroix, Prince of Eswana and I am the successor of the Eswanian throne. My whole world turned upside down. I even asked for a DNA test to prove it to me. Unfortunately it came out positive.

At first I used to think being a princess meant trying on new dresses and marrying a prince to live happily ever after. But boy was I wrong. It is a series of attending events, meeting boring people and taking lessons from your grandpa on how to say 'Can you please pass me the salt?' in thirty five languages.

"Did you leave the charity ball just to eat my tiramisu?" Gustav asked in a amused tone, quirking an eyebrow at me. Even though I was sitting on the kitchen counter he was still towering over me. He is in his early forties and my only friend here at the palace. Since moving to Eswana I didn't have many friends left. It's not like I had a lot of friends in school either. Terrence was my only friend in school, in high school he asked me out, we have been dating since then. He is been amazing; after all these years we haven't grown apart. He has always been supportive regardless of anything. My grandpa knew nothing about my relationship with Terrence. But I know his response very well, he will never approve of this.

"No its because I am terribly ill and in no way can I continue to attend the event", I replied wiping my mouth with a napkin after finishing the tiramisu. According to my physician I have to be under a strict 1600 calorie diet which meant I had to sneak out to eat Gustav' s delicious food and it was worth it.

"What happened?" Gustav asked in a worried tone.

"I am suffering from GTDS".

"What's that?"

"Gustav's Tiramisu deprivation syndrome". Gustav laughed.

It was past dinner so all the waiters were busy serving drinks, and when I heard the kitchen door open I was alarmed. If I get busted my grandpa will kill me. The door opened to reveal Alex, I sighed in relief.

"Nora what are you doing here? Grandpa is looking for you", he said with a worried expression on his face. Alex is my adopted brother. My father Anderson Montcroix was a reckless man, who only loved partying and didn't care about the throne. He got my mother pregnant, but he would send money to us every month which was enough to cover my expenses. That's how grandpa found me actually. Six years ago he was diagnosed with brain cancer so then he decided to adopt my brother Alex. But he didn't live long as he died two years later.

"I have an announcement to make", Grandpa said grinning ear to ear. Everyone had his attention on him. It was rare to see grandpa this happy to be honest I was wondering what he is going to say. "Today I am happy to announce the engagement of my granddaughter Princess Eleanora De Ville Montcroix Anderson to Marcus Alberto. In fact they will be getting engaged today".

Oh no.

Everyone was clapping and cheering for me except Alex who had a sullen look on his face who knew I didn't want this. This cannot be happening. I was frozen to my spot but somehow I made my legs move to go up to the stage. Marcus was looking at me like he has finally achieved his conquest, we exchanged rings and the cheering of the crowd got louder.

This can't be happening.