Party (8)

After the meal had finished, Abigail, leant over and whispered to Rebecca "I need to get out of here."

Rebeca turned and said, "Do you want me to come with you? You know Sara will try and target you is you are alone."

Abigail shook her head and said "No. She wants to chase me away, and honestly, I am not going to let her do that tonight. Grandfather is happy and so I just want a little aid and will come back in five to ten minutes. I want you to stay and enjoy yourself, so unless I am gone for longer than fifteen minutes, do not worry, and do not bother to come and find me."

"I think I need to come with you, if only for your protection from whatever scheme she has planned."

"Rebecca, do you think with the president here she would even try something? She is not that crazy to target me badly why he is here."

Seeing that there was no arguing with Abigail, Rebecca calmly said "Fine, but at least let me go to with you outside the door as if the two of us are going to the toilets."

Laughing, Abigail nodded.

As they went outside the room, Abigail waved to Rebecca as she left.

Rebecca looked around, and noticed someone in her grandfather's guards she recognised, and quickly headed over and said "My grandfather can kill me, but I need a favour. Just have someone follow my friend who I was just with to make sure that she is alright."

Nodding the guard said "Yes Miss Rebecca. But know that we have no option but to tell your grandfather that you asked us to do this."

Sighing Rebecca said, "I know, but I need her to be safe."

With that Rebecca moved and headed into the nearby ladies room.

Meanwhile, Abigail after asking for direction from the hotel staff headed outside to the sunken garden, which while having sufficient light was not so well lit to feel that it was blinding. As she sat on a bench, she sighed and said quietly to herself, "That was torture…"

At that moment there was a hand on her shoulder, and she jumped in shock, before she heard "It should not be. I promised you that you would be safe."

Turning, Abigail saw Daniel standing there for a few seconds, before he moved around and sat down beside Abigail, taking her hands in his. "What is going on in your head?"

Raising her shoulders slightly Abigail stated "You know she was targeting me, when she drew attention to me sitting with you, making me a target"

Daniel laughed before saying "She cannot do that Abigail. You are my wife. It does not matter how that happened today, but that is the truth, and I will not let anything happen to you. And honestly, if I wanted a relationship with any of those women, she is trying to have target you, it will have happened, and I would not have agreed to your grandfather's request. You have to stop letting her make you the victim."

Shaking her head, Abigail said "But…"

Daniel reached over and touched his finger to Abigail's lips saying "Stop doubting yourself. You are a bright, intelligent woman, who just needs the support to become the person you will have. Your grandfather believes that, and I promised him when we talked about things this morning that I would do that for you."

A tear escaped Abigail's eyes, and she said, "You do not believe that?"

Daniel, using his hands slightly turned Abigail's head before saying "Be honest presnetly Abigail. I do not know every aspect about you, and your grandfather is the same. I believe there is a real part of yourself that you are hiding from everyone, to protect yourself. I hope you soon come to trust me to tell me what that is. And you know I have only had limited interactions with you, so I can only make judgements based on those interactions. But those interactions are such that they have told me you want to achieve, and I know your ranking in your year. It not only takes a bright and intelligent person to be at the top of the class, but it also takes the same person every test to score a score that is the exact same amount lower than another person."

Abigail's eyes opened in shock, and Daniel calmly said "Do not think that I am blind. I see things you likely do not believe I see. Now, while I would love to sit here talking to you for as long as you want to, I suspect you do not want to be found talking to me, because Sara will use it against you. It is up to you, but I have booked for us a two-bedroom suite and had the hotel staff move your things into the second room, because staying in the room you were allocated, will just have them target you tonight."

Daniel touched his fingers again to Abigail's lips and said, "I told you what happens between us is up to you, but I will protect you."

Removing his fingers, he leant over, and gave Abigail a light kiss on her lips, before saying "Now go back inside before Sara sends people to look for you, and we will talk about a lot of things when you are ready."