22

"How could you? How dare you?" Zayed asked through clenched teeth, his eyes spitting fire.

"How dare I?" Ava asked back in a deceptively calm voice.

"How dare you come here and look at me like a wounded animal after all what you have done to me?" Ava asked, her voice rising with each word.

Zayed was momentarily entranced by the fire in her eyes, the up and down heaving of her chest and the angry reddish colouring spreading across her smooth as satin skin.

"You are not needed here, Zayed. You may leave," she said pointing at the door and Zayed was fuming.

How dare she?? How dare she ask him to leave now that he has found out about his kids

"You hid my kids from me for the past six years. And you are asking me to leave?" Zayed asked in disbelief.

"You are a commitment phobe Zayed. And babies are the biggest commitment in the world. You may as well leave when you have the chance. And I won't let anyone hurt my kids. Not even their father," she said with absolute conviction.

"If you think I am going to turn my back on my kids, then you have another thing coming, Aveline." Zayed said and Ava narrowed her eyes on him.

"Just leave, Zayed."

"If I am leaving, I am taking my kids with me," he said and Ava looked at him in horror.

"What do you mean?"

"I am taking them with me for the next five years. And after that we can come to an arrangement of shared custody," he said without any remorse.

"How dare you. You ba****d!! You can't take my kids from me. Do you hear me? You can't." Ava said, poking his chest with her index finger.

"Look who's talking. You have stolen the first five years of their life from me, Aveline. And nothing you say or do will compensate for that."


"You are a cold hearted vindictive woman. You not only deprived me of my kids, you deprived them of having a father." Zayed said.

All these years he had believed her to be a gold digger and now he wished she was a gold digger. Then she would have approached him about the pregnancy at least for a paycheck. And he wouldn't have missed the first five years of their lives.

"I am cold hearted? I am vindictive?" She let out a humorlessly chuckle.

"You have got some nerve to say that. If I had come back to you saying that I was pregnant, you would have accused me of being a gold digger. And now that I had brought up my kids on my own, you
accuse me of being cold hearted. Have you ever wondered that you are a man impossible to please? That the problem might be you." Ava asked looking at him with pure contempt.

****

You are a man impossible to please. That the problem might be you.

The words kept ringing in his head even after he reached his penthouse.

He is a father!

Lord! He is a father for a set of triplets and he had no idea.

Triplets!


Two sons and a daughter!!

Zahir, Zian and, what is the little girl's name?

He cursed under his breath.

He doesn't even know their names. What kind of a father he is?

He had been a lousy husband and he is being a lousy father.

And he can't even differentiate between the boys.

God! Which father can't? Only him!

He smiled remembering the three little munchkins. It was like looking at the mirror, only seeing the miniature versions in the reflection.

No one would ever say that they are not his.

It's splashed across their face, Zayed Ahmed's production.

Frogs in the fridge!! Is that what Aveline dealt with on a daily basis?

How did she manage alone?

And the way the boys stood on either side of Aveline, with their chubby hands fisted and their little eyes glaring at him.

Oh god! Definitely mine! He thought with pride surging through his veins.

He is a father.


God!! He couldn't stop smiling.

How did Aveline manage! He can't even imagine.

Being a mother of three at the age of nineteen!

Only Aveline would come out of such a turmoil unscratched!!

He felt a sense of grudging admiration for her even though she kept their existence from him.

She must be an amazing mother if the kids were ready to fight a man five times their size to protect her.

His little warriors!!

He can't stay away anymore.

He had to change her perception of him. Make her understand that he would be committed to the triplets.

As for winning her over. Trying to charm her over to be his wife wasn't likely to work. The blazing hazel brown eyes of her would shoot down every move he made in that direction.

So what would work?

"""""

"Who are you? What are all these things?" Ava asked as a few people were carrying several things, which are not hers, into her home.

A small truck had been parked outside and things needed for a small office were being carried inside.

God!! Can't she even have a peaceful weekend once in a while, she groaned.

"Sir asked us to set all these things in the spare room." A boy in the group said.

"Which Sir? There is no Sir here. Take all these things out. Now."

"Darling," Ava stiffened as she heard the sexy drawl of his voice.

"You? What are you doing here?. And what are these things?" She asked, gritting her teeth.

"Oh these are things for my home office. You guys carry on," he said and the boys continued their work.

"What the hell are you playing at Zayed?" she asked, glaring at him.

"Come let's go to our room. We don't want an audience of our conversation, now do we?"

"Our room? It is my room!" She stated but he ignored her protests and dragged her to her bedroom.

"Now talk," she asked, crossing her hands across her chest.

"I live in a penthouse here. And there is no backyard for the kids to play around. So I thought it would be better if I moved in with you," he said, flicking her nose playfully.

"You don't have any right to be here. I want you to leave. Now."

"I have every right to be here. With my wife and my kids," he said shrugging.

"Ex-wife, Mr Ahmed." Ava reminded him.

"Haa. That's where you are wrong my darling. You are still very much my wife," he said grinning at her.

"That's not possible. I signed the divorce papers."

"That's the problem. Only you signed the divorce papers. I didn't. And the divorce papers are safe in my cupboard in the Ahmed Palace. They never reached the court." Zayed said with a triumphant smile.


"What? Why the hell didn't you?"

"I might have forgotten," he said, shrugging as if it's no big deal.

"You forgot? Are you crazy!"

"Am I?" He asked playfully.

"It doesn't really matter right? According to the Zidra laws, the members of the royal family can marry and divorce as per their wish without their partners consent right? So when you said you are divorcing me, our divorce must have happened. Just like how you married me." Ava said scornfully, reminding him of the archaic rules that still exist in Zidra.
Zayed sighed. Aveline was right to express that scorn. Though, no one anymore follows these rules, according to the Zidran constitution, male members from the royal family have the privilege of pretty much doing anything they want.

Centuries ago, if a royal man wanted someone to be his wife, all he had to do was declare the woman to be his. And the relationship will be made legal.

He had married Aveline using the same tactics, because he had misunderstood her wanting to marry the Marquis, and be a homewrecker.

"You are right. It would have been legal, had there been a witness to when it happened. Considering I declared the divorce without any witness, it became null. Making our marriage still legal." Zayed said.


"God!! What if I have gotten married to someone else in the past six years. That would have been bigamy!" Ava cried out.

"But you didn't! Did you Aveline?" Zayed asked, his voice turning a note husky.

She scoffed.

"Where do you think I get time for dating in between my studies and caring for three little ones?” She asked, rolling her eyes.

"Is that only because you didn't have time, Aveline," he asked, taking a step closer.

"Of course," she said without meeting his eyes.


"Liar." Zayed chuckled.

"Your heart beat increases only when I am near you. Isn't that right, Aveline??" He asked placing a finger below her chin to tilt her head upwards.

When did he move close? Ava wondered.

"Your breathing wavers only when I touch you. Isn't that right, Aveline??" He asked and her breath hitched.

"Your eyes darken in passion only when I do this. Isn't that right Aveline??" He asked tracing his thumb along her lower lip.

"It has only ever been me. Isn't that right, Aveline??" He asked and his mouth descended on hers before she could reply.