"Anisa..."

Tahir was about to rush towards her up until he noticed two men. He assumed they were Abbas's men since their uniforms were different than JSS agents. If he were to go up to her now, he'd risk her life. If he wanted to go and attack them, he'd risk his identity and the entire place would become a war zone.

He was stuck in a tough decision. He didn't know what to do. He looked around for anything that could help him or anyone. That's when he spotted doctors rushing towards him and stopped one of them and asked, "Let me borrow your coat."

"What are you talking about sir?" she looked confused

"Please, it's a matter of life and death. I know who you're after. I'm trying to save the same person," He was begging at this rate. He couldn't afford to lose Anisa again.

The doctor saw the genuine sincerity through his blue orbs and quickly started taking off her doctor's coat. He put it on immediately and rushed towards Anisa's body that was weak and fragile. She was barely able to open her eyes as he grabbed her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Anisa," he whispered in relief after feeling her in his arms, "Anisa, bear with me."

Anisa had begun to lose her vision. It was blurry but the arms around her waist felt similar and she felt a sense of trust with them. She began to lose consciousness and Tahir expected this much. Knowing her, she probably resisted everything given to her by Abbas.

Tahir turned behind him and told the woman, "We need to get her to a hospital without the public finding out about this."

The woman nodded and as they began to move, Abbas's men stopped them and one of them said, "I'm afraid I can't let you do that. Strict orders from Mr. Abbas himself."

"She's on the verge of dying!" Tahir growled, frustrated by their audacity to prevent them from getting her someplace safe.

"Sir, You're holding the princess in your hands. It's not a decision someone as low ranked as you can make," the man took a step forward, blocking their path.

While Tahir dealed with matters on the inside, Saif was in the courtyard looking for a solution to get to Abbas. Since this was being broadcasted live, it was a difficult task since their identity was at risk. They could easily play out the authorities card but the actual authorities would show up and expose their cover.

As he blended in with the crowd that flooded the courtyard, a car pulled up from the back and it didn't even properly park. Saif's eyes widened as soon as he saw who came out of it. Both Layla and Yasin came rushing towards the podium where Abbas stood.

Abbas cursed under his breath as he paused his speech, annoyed that the royals were interfering.

The crowd paved way for the two and everyone's attention never left sight of them. Layla finally spoke up as she glared at Abbas and announced, "Everyone, the man that is standing before you is not who you think he is. This man is after the throne and has kidnapped the princess."

Gasps were heard throughout the crowd and Saif couldn't help but smile. He was proud of Layla atoning for her mistakes. She wasn't so cold-hearted and self consumed as everyone thought. But, he wasn't fond of her being in a dangerous place. How did she make it past the guards at the palace who were strictly ordered not to let anyone out?

"What are you talking about princess? Anisa and I both made the decision -"

"My sister would never want to be with a man like you!" Yasin cut him off and growled.

"Now, I think there's been a misunderstanding here," Abbas stepped off the podium.

Afterwards, he did the unthinkable and pulled out the gun from his back pocket and shot up at the sky.

The crowd panicked and screams were heard from every corner. Saif rushed towards the Prince and Princess and Layla was taken back by the sudden gesture of defense. He held his arm out so she stayed behind him and Yasin was surprised to see that other guards had put up their guns all pointing to Abbas.

Abbas's men were behind him, all of them pointing their guns towards the other side and Abbas broke silence once he felt that the public all fled.

"How interesting. The royals never cease to impress me, truly," he began, "But, I don't think you guys have thought everything through."

"Tell your men to put their guns down and I'll do the same" Saif growled as he pointed his gun at Abbas.

"Oh, it's not that simple. You see, I don't recall ever meeting you." Abbas walked sideways, almost as though he was contemplating something.

"You're about to find out who I am if you don't order your men to surrender," Saif said.

"Like I said, it's not happening. And I beleive you rudely interrupted the princess," Abbas smirked

Saif turned to give Layla a quick look while he scolded her.

"Why did you come here?" He said

"I wasn't going to sit and watch him become king!" She snapped back

He sighed in annoyance and brought his full attention back to Abbas.

"I suggest you move and let me handle my business with the royals, not a mere bodyguard as yourself," Abbas told Saif.

His statement only made his blood coil even more. He tightened the grip he had on his gun. Just as he was going to respond, Layla placed her hand on his shoulder which caused him to pause and look back.

"Saif, move out of my way. It's an order," Layla said.

He scoffed while looking at her. He thought that he might be able to convince her not to go through with whatever she was thinking of doing through eye contact, but Layla stayed firm on her decision and took a step forward.

Abbas motioned for his men to drop their guns while he did the same. Saif told his guards to do the same but he remained ready for anything to happen.

"Where is my mother?" Layla began to ask

Abbas let out a short chuckle, "You wanna know where your mother is? Let me tell you, she's already ran far away, completely abandoning you."

Layla felt as though she was shot with a bullet to her heart. Her mother was the one support she had all her life aside from her father. Now that they were both gone, she felt helpless and for the first time, felt a sense of loneliness.

"Why did you do this?" She asked

"It's very simple. I just wanted to be in charge and needed the throne. In order to do that, Anisa was my best option," he smirked at the thought but his expression changed in a blink of an eye in which his eyes were filled with rage and disappointment, "but you ruined it."

With that, his gun was lifted and he pulled the trigger directly at Layla. Everything happened so fast but for Layla, it was as though everything else around her had stopped and she saw the bullet coming for her. But, she wasn't able to dodge it in time before it went into her side.

"NO!" Saif gave his men a sign in which they were free to shoot and knelt down to take a look at Layla's condition.

"Stay with me, you can't be next to leave," he said out of breath.

Yasin rushed towards them and got Layla from his arms.

"Layla! Layla! Can you hear me?" Yasin panicked.

Layla felt weak and somehow, her vision started to fail her. Her vision was blurred and her will to speak had been weakened.

"Yasin...."she began, "I feel so dizzy,"

"It's just temporary, ok," Yasin reassured her, "You're going to be fine."

"What if I'm not? If this is my last few moments -"

He cut her off and yelled, "No, it's not going to be!"

Tahir felt someone tap his shoulder. He had fallen asleep for a nap and hadn't realized it until Dr. Maryam woke him up.

"Is she alright?"

That was the first question he asked as soon as he opened his eyes.

"She's going to be. We've been giving her vitamin supplements through an IV and have treated some of her wounds. She's been through a lot. But, the thing is, she's not hurting physically. Not from the bruises, not from the hunger. But, she's hurting badly in the inside. It's as though she's refusing to wake up."

Tahir turned to look at Anisa who was unconscious on the hospital bed. She was hooked up to multiple machines and was pale than he had ever seen her. She lost weight and she lost more than her physical aspects, judging by what she went through.

"Don't tell me that -" Tahir started

"No, nothing like that is going to happen. She won't die, god forbid. But, if she decides, out of the mental impacts the situation has had upon her, it's possible she'll end up in a coma," Dr. Maryam sighed.

Tahir didn't want to believe those words. Anisa was stronger than she seemed. She was able to overcome anything that crossed paths with her. She was resilient. She even had the ability to make him weak and that's something no woman has ever been able to do.

"What are the chances that that might happen?" He asked anyway.

"I'd say it's a half chance. It's hard to tell to be honest," Dr. Maryam replied.

Just then, there was a knock on the door and Yasin entered, grabbing the attention of both Tahir and Dr. Maryam. Dr. Maryam knew what to do and excused herself as she walked towards the door.

"I've got more patients waiting. I'm hoping Anisa wakes up soon."

She smiled before leaving through the door and making sure to close it. Yasin on the other hand took a seat right beside Tahir and let out a heavy sigh.

"How is she?" Yasin asked

"She'll be fine," Tahir simply said.

"Listen, I know that we got off on the wrong foot. I'm aware that what I did might've been the start to all the unfortunate events that are taking place right now. But, I'm just trying to make things better and right now, the least I can do is explain things to you," Yasin began.

"I lost baba. I lost my mother. I almost lost both my sisters. Thankfully, Layla was able to successfully undergo surgery. They removed the bullet in her body. But, Anisa hasn't shown signs of consciousness ever since she got here," Yasin explained, "All of this isn't easy to juggle. Somehow, to me, it's as though I can trust you."

Tahir kept looking at the ground, unable to say anything. He didn't know where Yasin was going with this. Niether did he want to think of anything or anyone else, except Anisa.

"The day I found out her pills got poisoned, I hated myself. But, I couldn't believe it was my mother. I could've told Anisa sooner. I could've continued to investigate my mother under the right legal circumstances. Either way, I didn't do what was right. Niether did Layla. She brought an outsider who infiltrated our system and shared important documentation with other organizations," Yasin continued.

"In conclusion, we're both a burden to this family. Nothing we've done up until this point has benefited the country or its people. We only were fed out of golden spoons from the moment we were welcomed to this world because that was our mother's motive. Now that she is gone and baba left us, it leaves us no right to continue. So, I'm deciding to remove ourselves from the royal family registry," Yasin ran his fingers through his hair and picked his head up.

Tahir turned to look at him with a questioning look and that's when the door opened once again. This time, their attention turned to see Mr. Amin standing right in front of it which prompted Yasin to stand up from shock, with wide eyes.

"Mr. Amin..."

A/N:

Hi everyone👋🏼

Here's a very much needed update in such a long time. You guys are aware that I'm usually fast at updating unless something is going on and life intervenes. So, with that said, I had and am still having changes going on with my life. But, don't worry, they're good changes inshallah and Alhamdulillah everything will go well☺️

Anyways, let me know how you feel about this update by hitting that star button and commenting wherever you'd like! I read every single comment and they do make my day if I'm being honest 😇

Thank you so much for the continuous support 🌼