People rode on horseback, cyclists sped by, joined by joggers enjoying the open air while many visitors strolled, soaking in the greenery through the 350 acre park nestled right in the middle of the city. Jasmine and Sammy wandered close by the lake where groups of beautiful swans passed by them along the edge. The trees were large and as green as the landscape while every once in a while, squirrels closely approached them to only dart quickly away as if playing a game. Children laughed as they enjoyed feeding the little critters as they came up close to feed off of the peanuts provided them.

"Henry the VIII used the park as a hunting ground sometime in the 1500's." Jasmine informed him as they continued at a slow pace with her hand in the crook of his elbow. The sun was warm and the day promised to be a scorching hot one that early afternoon as they moved along soaking in the the serenity and beauty it offered and admiring the landscape. "During the 18th century duels took place here too. Could you imagine noblemen with swords drawn ready to duel to the death over their honor?" She continued.

"I wouldn't mind a couple of gorgeous, rich hot men fighting over me." He responded with a smile. "I can just imagine women in big ass skirts, fans drawn and fluttering as they watched their men fight to the death."

"Men and women often courted here with their chaperones who oftentimes watched from a respectable distance. Sometimes, I can imagine horse-drawn carriages–pretty ladies sitting beside their love interest–dressed in tight corsets and bonnets, laughing flirtatiously in hopes to gain the males attention and shackle him into marriage. At least that's what I've read about in historical romances." Jasmine revealed with a sigh as she looked on into the distance as they wandered beneath clusters of trees.

If one looked closely, wild parrots could be seen hiding in the thickly covered branches.

"Don't tell me you're a bookworm like your sister." Sammy didn't try to hide his mild annoyance. "I swear on every Louboutin heels I own, it took me forever to get Camelia's nose out of a book and talk the first time we met."

Jasmine nudged his side playfully. "Hey, reading is like vitamins for the brain. I love a good book. It enlightens ones perspective. To live in another's life and experience firsthand their emotions is quite an experience. You should try it sometime, especially in the profession you've taken on, you'd be surprised how much in-depth information you can learn about people, their emotions, intentions. . . "

"Honey, I'm years too late for that. I went to school for God knows how long to learn about people and what goes on in their brain. Besides, I prefer a good magazine like VOGUE to exercise my brain. It teaches me about fashion, hair, and tons of make-up tips. That's all the knowledge I need fill up on." He replies with a lips and snapping his fingers three times in a zig zag.

Jasmine smiled.

"My mother encouraged us to read. We have an entire library back at the mansion. Some books date back to when we were children."

They stopped in front of the lake and stared at their reflections.

"Damn don't I look fine." Sammy mutters, smoothing out his hot pink blouse pairing it with distressed jeans.

They both had their sun shades over their eyes as their reflections swam in and out of focus as ripples appeared across the water.

Jasmine sighed having the urge to roll her eyes and stared at her own reflection dressed in a white cotton skirt and sleeveless electric blue silk shirt knotted at the middle of her waist. Her customary high heels were replaced with kitty heels strapped at her ankles. Her hair was swept in a side braid and shone brightly in the sun. Her features swam in and out of focus–a cross between her mother's and father's.

Remembering them tugged at her heart.

"I miss my family so much. Especially my mother and Camelia. Zayn named us the three musketeers. We would often times go out and they'd think we were all sisters." She reminisced. "We'd go along with it and let people believe what they wanted. It was our little inside joke. And now we're separated in different parts of the world. It's difficult not to miss and worry about them."

Sammy whistled loudly. "Mama St. James is one tough cookie and the queen of fierce! That woman could freeze water into ice with that stare she gives people. It freezes my ass for sure sometimes! Don't even get me started on your sister. Never ever underestimate the quiet ones. Camelia looks like this delicate gazelle, prefers to keep to herself and wouldn't hurt a fly but she got claws sharper than vampire teeth! But you, I'm still trying to figure out." He says pointing an index finger in her direction.

Jasmine turns to him with a bewildered look. "Me? Camelia is sweet and kind, Zayn the bad boy–business tough guy and I was once considered the bolder, spontaneous one of the family."

Sammy gives her an odd look. "The only thing I see in common with you three girls is the stick shoved up your asses. And don't get me started on your stuck up brother. If he shoved that broom stick farther up his ass he wouldn't be able to walk!"

Jasmine gasps, lowering her shades slightly ready to argue.

"Hold it right there, Jazzy." Holding up his right hand. "Don't get me wrong, it's posh and all but you, Camelia and your mother act too guarded around people and it comes off a tinny bit standoffish."

"We don't mean to act like that, it's just we're careful about how we handle ourselves in front of people we don't know. We are raised to be proper, well respected ladies." She explains as they continue along the path further down the sidewalk. "I used to be the one that does all the things they lack but working in such a high position has made me mature."

Sammy makes a face. Jasmine nudges him in the ribs this time.

"Ow!"

"People come to me for guidance and instruction." Continuing to explain to him. "I'm seen as a leader and that position requires restraint and control although exhausting. I don't have time to have fun or be myself anymore these days. I always have to put on this show of a refined and professional lady around my employees which for the most part, are much older than I."

Sammy releases an exasperated sigh. "Booooooring." He sings. "What are you twenty-three? What made you want to go into business and run a hotel chain at such a young age?"

Jasmine shrugs. "I love what I do. I don't know if it's the control or the power it grants me, but I love it. Dad had Zayn and I in boardrooms by the time we were old enough to sit still. Eventually he tired of traveling back and forth between the states and Europe over the years. The people he left overseeing the businesses just weren't up to par so he needed people that he could rely on and offered Zayn and I the opportunity. We jumped at the prospect. I've been interested in business and helped whenever I could as I grew up and so the decision was made to take on my father's hotel empire here in Europe while he oversaw the ones in the U.S. It's a lot of work but satisfying."

"Whatever you say, girlfriend."

They moved along the crowded walkways, stopping at popular areas taking pictures–mostly selfies beside unusual statues and sculptures scattered around the park. They walked along the paths until they stopped at one of the best brunch spots in Hyde Park–Serpentine Bar and Café. They were escorted to an outside seating area in the busy restaurant and quickly given menus.

The popular restaurant was lively with chattering from voices from around the world surrounded them as they sat at a table with two chairs an umbrella shading them from the sun's harsh rays. They quickly order their drinks–a martini for him and a ice lemonade for her.

"Come here often?" Sammy asks after waiter leaves them to place their order.

Jasmine placed her menu on the table and redid her braid which was starting to become undone. "I haven't been here in months. It's beautiful when it's sunny but with the weather being so cold and rainy most of the year, I visit mostly in the spring and summer times."

"Why does that girl insist on taking so many selfies for? We already know what a cunt looks like." Sammy remarks, lifting his shades from his eyes and staring out into the distance.

Jasmine shifts in her seat to see what he was talking about and spots a woman fixing her hair and pouting her lips as she snaps selfies of herself with the lake as her backdrop. She was wearing a pretty floral summer dress and sun hat. Her long black hair cascaded down her back and her lips were so red they put to shame a red rose. Her arms, shoulders and back was bare revealing smooth tan skin.

The woman was exotically beautiful, she thought uneasily. She does several poses before she turns to loop her arm into the man standing beside her with his back turned.

Her view of the man was obscured by the long, black-haired woman's sun hat.

Jasmine could only shake her head at Sammy's rude comment and resumed scanning the items on the menu. "I've tried almost everything on the menu, and it tastes amazing." She murmurs, happening to glance at Sammy. "Is there anything you prefer? I'm having–"

"Hey girl, isn't that. . ." He interrupts, pointing a finger towards the direction of the lake and trails off. Jasmine traces the direction he pointed to. "It looks like–

She stiffened. She couldn't believe her eyes. It was him. Her gaze shifted slightly and caught the shift of movement and found the same young lady standing beside him with her sun hat in her hands. They were deep in conversation as they moved slowly along the lake.

"Mother-fücking Cristiano Russo." She finished with a sharp bitterness.

Sammy's eyes rounded double in size. "Did you just cuss?" His tone sounded rejoiced. "Finally a St. James that speaks my language!"

"Shut up Sammy, he'll be able to hear your high pitched voice from this distance!" She whisper shouted, trying to cover her face behind the menu and taking covert glances.

Although she didn't mean to, her frozen stare stayed glued on the tall and handsome man. He was just as dangerously beautiful as she remembered, she thought, sighing out loud.

Something shifted inside her chest at the sight of him as she absorbed his figure and she unconsciously rubbed that very spot. The inward wrench, a tug born of something she could not recognize. Jasmine frowned and glanced down at the hand in the middle chest. It was a feeling she could only relate to as flutter or clenching. But it was so feather-like it was as though her very soul was touched.

And she found she hated the feeling.

Was the girl his love interest? His latest conquest?

"Jesus! He's fine as fuck!" Sammy whispered, leaning his upper body over the table and fanning his face with his folded menu. "What in the name of the Queen is he doing here of all places?"

"I was thinking the same thing." She lied, shifting her gaze to Cristiano once again.

"The man looks like he makes charm bracelets out of the teeth of his haters!" Sammy continued in a hushed whisper.

Jasmine released the grip she had on her shirt letting her hand fall lifelessly into her lap and fought the strange feeling in her chest.

Watching him above the top of the menu while keeping her face hidden as much as possible, she stared earnestly absorbing everything about his tall form from broad shoulders dressed in a beige blazer to the dark slacks as though made to fit his figure. Sunglasses shaded his eyes and his thick black hair was slicked back perfectly accentuating the beautiful hard plains of his face. The top few buttons of his shirt were unfastened revealing a gold chain around his neck nestled against his chest reflecting brightly in the sun. He did look dangerous. He looked like a man no sane person would approach.

Her lips parted.

He was such a beautiful man, she thought, too bad the man on inside wasn't so lucky. Her chest compressed with emotion again to the point of pain. She winced in discomfort hating the feeling she couldn't describe into words.

Her eyes wandered back the his chest as the selfie girl laid her hand there, caressing the V of his skin where his shirt lay open. The next move she did practically made her heart stop. She pressed her body, molding every inch of her torso as she could against him, stood on her tiptoes and brushed his mouth with a kiss and snapped another picture with her phone.

Cristiano pulled back quickly from the lady in question and forced a smile.

"You seeing what I'm seeing here?" Sammy asks, interjecting her thoughts. "Look at that pussy cat practically begging to be pinned to some wall wanting to get screwed! What a hussy!" He continued muttering behind the menu watching the couple intently.

Without warning he blurts out, "Have some decency people, kids are present!" He bellowed out across the short distance.

Jasmine nearly jumped out of her chair.

In the next instant, she paled feeling the blood run cold in her veins. Absolute, stone-shocked silence filled the air. Most of the customers were enjoying their meal or engaging in hushed conversation and paying them no attention until his outburst. She looked around her, utterly humiliated. Even the chirping birds went mute, uncomfortably aware of every pair of eyes on her and Sammy–the source of the disturbance.

He completely exposed them and their location. The couple were close enough to see them if they looked in their direction. In her shocked state, the menu slipped out of her hands and softly landed on the ground beside her chair. She could literally kill Sammy if she wasn't so surprised and still in shock.

Out of the corner of her eyes customers frowned disapprovingly before softly snickering and returning to their meals. Never in her life had she felt such embarrassment and fear jack-knifing at the same time as she did at that very moment. Jasmine was ready to bolt out of her chair and hide inside the restaurant catching sight of Cristiano and the lady in his arms turn their heads, looking for the source of the commotion.

Her heart leapt and for the first time in her life she wished she had the magic ability to disappear into thin air like a sorceress. Quickly she whipped her head to the opposite side and shifted her body, showing them a view of her back in hopes Cristiano hadn't spotted her.

Out of the corner of her eye she noticed Sammy looking liking someone stole his handbag. "What the hell where you thinking!?!" She whispered angrily, the words said tightly between her clenched teeth.

"Dammit!" He cursed, shifting in his seat, his back facing the park while fanning his face dramatically with the menu. Sammy had the decency to cross his legs to her growing anger. "I didn't mean for it to come out as loud as it did!"

"Damn you Sammy!" She whispered, ready to strangle him. "If he comes over here I'm going to kill you!"

"Keep your panties on! There's no way he'd come over here. No way!" He practically screeched. "If you don't stop stressing me out, I'm gonna start to sparkle!"

"Sparkle? What the hell does that even mean?"

"It's a nicer word for 'sweat'." He explained naturally with a little shrug.

"I'm leaving." She says abruptly, ready to stand and hide in the safe confines of the restaurant. Because if she didn't leave right that second she was going to reach over the table and literally strangle Sammy until he turned blue in the face.

He reaches over the small table and grips her wrist. "Don't even think about it." Sammy takes a quick covert glance over his shoulder. "If you stand he's going to see you." He cautioned. "He's still looking this way. Straighten your back and look at ease or he's going to zero in on us. Your body language is going to give us away!"

She felt torn between running to the bathroom and flipping the table over in anger. Jasmine's hand tightened into a fist. She shook her head and inhaled deeply as she tried to compose herself.

"This is all your fault!" She says, made the effort to relax her painfully tense shoulders as her spine stiffened, pretending to act calm. She couldn't even sit comfortably back in her chair. Her hands were shaking so badly she couldn't trust herself and grab the menu left on the ground. "My blood pressure is through the roof! Never in my life have I felt this amount of stress." Taking a deep controlled breath through her nose and closing her eyes in hopes of controlling her speeding heart, Jasmine fought the urge to turn her head and see if Cristiano moved on and ignored the outburst.

Oh, did she wish she had a fairy godmother watching over her and she'd appear at that moment, grant her one wish and help her disappear into thin air. Jasmine rubbed her temples, she's watched too many Disney movies.

"I'm sorry dammit! I was just so pissed and kept replaying what occurred between you two and the shitty things he said, I just lost it!"

Jasmine cut him a hard look.

"Don't look right away but check if he's still there." She requested not being able to trust herself.

"What I'd like to know is how the hell is he here when you are? Is it purely coincidence or. . . " He stiffens. "Oh shit." He says without an ounce of emotion, the menu he used as a fan stopping mid-air as his eyes follow something moving above her head.

Jasmine's eyes widen in terror and her body tenses like a stretched rubber band ready to snap.

Please don't let it be who I think it is. Please.

She was afraid to turn.

"What?" She barely whispered passed her numb lips feeling an impending doom descend upon her. Sammy didn't have to explain, the distressed look on his face said it all and Jasmine had the urge to vomit.

They were silent as they sat there silently, neither one of them daring to speak as if it helped them become invisible. The restaurant customers were oblivious to the distress passing between them continuing to converse. That horrible feeling people got in their gut just hit her like a stab wound. Goosebumps spread across her arms and shot fear down her stiff spine.

"He's coming this way. Time to move." Sammy announced calmly slipping off his perched sunglasses from his head and covering his eyes again. "He just tipped the host and pointed to the outside seating area."

Jasmine came to stand, the sounds of her chair scraping loudly against the tiled floor sounded like nails scrapping down a chalk board. Sammy pulled money out of his handbag and deposited it on the table before standing. Her legs were ready to collapse from beneath her, Sammy caught her arm and dragged her behind him, keeping her close.

"He's gonna be walking straight towards us. Keep your head high and act like we just finished our meal." Sammy ordered, tightening his grip on her arm reassuringly escorting her back into the restaurant–the only exit out was through the front entrance. The same entrance Cristaino was approaching.

When things couldn't get worse, they just did.

"I don't want him to see me!" Cautiously entering the air conditioned restaurant. "We need to do something."