Chapter 52

Liam remained standing, Susan walked with Aurora towers still holding his gaze. Something Aurora said on the island clicked in his mind about Susan.

She was the one with whom Aurora wanted to hook me up. Too bad, the girl was not to Liam's taste and Liam was certainly not a 'B' man.

He could sense that the girl gazing at him with calculating eyes felt responsible for Aurora but he didn't know till what extent and he was soon to be found out.

"I thought you came alone, Aurora,won't you introduce me to Mr…"

"Ya!" Aurora muttered, "Mr Knight, she is my friend cum sister, Susan and Susan mee our boss, Liam Knight."

Susan's brows jerked up. "Ah! The same Liam knight who asked for your hand…" she drawled And Aurora stiffened, fearing how it must have felt to Liam and cursing herself, the way she told her friends about that incident was like a story of a comedy film. She glared at Susan, gesturing not to speak further about it but Susan wouldn't be Susan if she did it.

"The Very same," Liam said with a forced smile, he offered his hand to her and Susan accepted it. Still, her eyes were on him, they left each other's hand and she turned to Aurora.

"Mr Knight is right, Aurora. You should go and try it on. It will look perfect on your curves."

Aurora gulped. She recalled how Gabe used to tell her that short dresses made her look fat and she should try to wear long and loose clothes to hide her belly. Aurora tried to make him understand that she has a perfect figure but gradually she started dressing up the way he wanted. Yes, after taking off his ring she started wearing clothes of her choice but still, she felt Gabe's disappointed gaze when she used to wear short body clinging dresses.

Liam handed her the dress, "try it." He ordered her.

She took the dress from his hands and went with the attendant to try it.

When she was finally out of their Vision, Susan turned to Liam, "you are still interested in her, right?" She asked, with a sharpening gaze, crossing her hands to her chest.

Liam was impressed. The girl was courageous and now he understood why Aurora talked so highly about her. "Maybe," he replied, "or I could have some ulterior motive. Anything was possible," he played with her mind.

At that, Susan took a step forward, fixed him with a look of sheer protectiveness towards Aurora. "Then I suggest you stay the fuck away from my girl because you have no idea to which level I can stoop to save my girl. I have done it before and I will do it again, so be careful."

The beast inside Liam raised his angry head ready to pounce on her but he ordered it to remain calm, now was not the time to show either of these friends what Liam Knight was capable of doing.

Liam's lips tugged downwards, he nodded his head. "Understood, Miss Susan and I like this protectiveness you have for Aurora And to answer your question," he said with a calm and serious face, "I am always interested in Aurora. She needs someone who can understand her. She is like a butterfly and I want to see her fly."

She can fly all she wants but the sky she flies is going to be mine. She can flutter her wings however she wants but she would be able to do it only when I want.

Because I am going to own her, mind. body. soul.

Susan sharpened her eyes and was about to speak but then her eyes went to. Aurora's a walking figure who looked glamorous in that red sparkly dress. Liam followed her haze and was stunned to see Aurora.

His breath stopped seeing her in that dress, her golden blonde hair pulled up in a bow complimenting the dress. "Fuck!" He whispered, lost in her beauty.

"How is it?" Aurora asked. I assured them about herself in that dress, she turned around and Liam's heart thumped loudly. He was just lost in her beauty!

Meanwhile, Susan's eyes sparkled when she saw a glimpse of old Aurora in her eyes today. It was just her confidence that was missing. She missed how Aurora used to smile while trying new clothes but today her eyes were holding questions and that questioning gaze gave Susan the reason to kill that son of a bitch, Gabriel.

Before she could even reply, once again Liam beat it to her. "You look breathtaking but there is one thing missing," Aurora frowned, before she could ask what he meant, Liam pulled the hairpin out of her and her hair fell on her shoulders. "Now it's perfect."

Aurora kept staring at Liam's beautiful face. Lost in his dark eyes, "Shall we move on?"

Liam chuckled when her brows jerked together, seeing the confusion on her face he touched a lock of her golden hair and nudged it lightly on her shoulder, "you said you have to shop for makeup, jewellery, shoes and so on. If your dress is final we can move on to other stuff," he went near her ear and whispered softly, "Mrs Knight."

Aurora took a sharp breath, her eyes settled on Susan who was looking at everything with a sharp gaze. Aurora pushed Liam a little, aware of Susan's scrutinised gaze who was looking at them with raised brows.

Liam's lips pulled in a wide grin when he noticed her flushed cheeks and that intense look in her

"I think I can accompany her now, Mr Knight. You are a busy man, I am sure you must have other urgent matters to look at."

Before Liam could speak his cell phone started ringing. He pulled it out of his pocket and checked the caller ID. It was Ryan, it could be something important, still, he didn't accept the call.

"I know what's important for me, Miss Susan. I have my priority set and Aurora is on top of everything else." He replied looking straight into her eyes, indirectly telling her to not cross her limits.

And Aurora's heart flipped hearing Liam, as the memory of Gabe always choosing his work over her hurted her to the core but she always told herself that his work was more important. And today Liam choosing her over his work was too emotional for her.

It was not only Aurora who was impressed by this, even Susan was impressed by this act of his. "Let's go," Liam said while Susan moved forward and stepped beside Aurora who walked with Susan with a heavy throat as they moved towards the cosmetic part of the store.

Once again, Liam shocked both the friends when he suggested that Aurora should wear something dark on her lips while she chose a light shaded lipstick. And once again, the memory of her wearing a dark shade with Gabe's disapproving gaze hit her. She recalled how he told her that she looked like the woman of the world in this shade and here Liam was asking her to try a bright red lipstick.

Liam kept watching her while she applied the lipstick on her lips. Bright red. The colour of blood, the colour which Liam liked the most. Aurora gulped, she glanced at Susan who nodded in agreement as well.

"You look confident in this shade, Aurora," Susan commented while Liam swallowed the heaviness in his throat. The look she had in this bright red lipstick could make any man fall on his knees in raw need.

Aurora was happy. She felt like herself with Liam and why not. She didn't have to behave in a certain way while she spent time with him. No restrictions on her clothes, makeup and most importantly she could speak the way she wanted contrary to the way she used to behave with Gabriel. It was not like he forced or asked her to behave in a certain way, no he never did that but she felt obliged to do it, anyway because she wanted to make him happy. She wanted their relationship to be perfect but in doing so she lost herself and now, Liam was asking her to do things that she always liked doing anyway.

Liam's phone buzzed one more time, he glanced at the caller ID. This time it was his brother, something clicked in his mind. He could sense that there was something wrong. His brother and father called in a span of half an hour.

Aurora saw that he was not accepting the call but she could sense that the call was important. "Take the call, we are done with shopping anyways."

"If you insist," saying that he accepted the call and walked a little away from them. "Is there something important, Ralph? Dad called and now you?"

"An attack on one of Ethan's warehouses. Five hundred million of gold was stolen away and ten people were killed. Ethan is raging, he called dad and they had this talk. Friend or not, he wants you to work your magic on his daughter…"

"Ralph, I am not his slave he could order around. I respect him and his friendship with dad but that doesn't mean I would accept everything he speaks. Tell him, he has spoiled his daughter for good and now I am bearing the consequences of that."

Drawing a sharp breath, Ralph speaks. "He is in a dangerous position, Liam. We both know Ethan, he is a brutal fucker but when it comes to his daughter…"

"His daughter is not in Churchill but here in Vancouver, with me, Liam Knight and it should have been enough for him to calm his mind and he should be thinking about introducing me as his heir in the mafia jury," Liam rubbed his head, inhaled sharply and asked, "Who attacked? any information?"

"Who else! The Mexicans. I don't know but there is something we don't know, Liam. All these attacks seem more personal?"

Liam sighed. "I don't have time to talk more, I will talk with Ethan tonight and what about the meeting I asked you to set with the Italians? Any success there?"

"In talking with them, I think I would be able to make it," Ralph said while checking the account details of one of his clubhouses

"See to it," saying that he ended the call and turned towards the girls. He walked back to them. " If you got everything you wanted, shall we leave then?"

Aurora nodded. "But we have to take the shopping bags from the counter, first," she reminded him.

"Let's go to the counter then," he whispered and they both walked towards the counter to get the shopping bags.

Susan stared at their walking figures of Liam and Aurora. She didn't like Aurora with Gabriel. When Aurora first introduced him to her she was fine with him but slowly she noticed this change in Aurora. The girl who was confident about her body started wearing clothes which she never liked. The big foodie starts eating food which she didn't like and the most disturbing thing was how she used to behave around Gabriel, always trying to impress him as if he was the king of somewhere and she was his slave who needed his master's permission to do anything.

Today she noticed how Liam didn't choose work over Aurora and if it would have been Gabriel instead of Liam he would have accepted the calls and left leaving Aurora on her own.

Liam also matched Aurora's status. He could give her the lifestyle she was habitual with unlike Gabriel who wanted to mould Aurora to fit in his world.

Susan glanced at both of them, Aurora being like her old self in his company. Happy. Funny and most importantly confident.

Liam Knight, if you are what you show, you could be the man for my Aurora. One last test and I will help you win the heart of my girl.

💕Chapter 54

I heard it's your birthday, Zvezda. Allow me to take you for a birthday dinner," Alexandrios said, slowly, sensually.

Emily gulped the heaviness in her throat and closed her eyes, sighed deeply and then went around in the elevator which was occupied by them only. It was a private elevator for Alexandrios. "And why would I allow you that, Mr Kyshchove? Who are you to me?" She snapped?

Alexandrio chuckled, "I am your admirer, your lover!" He whispered nearer. Emily's gaze met his intense stare. Alexandrios touched her soft lips with his thumb and Emily left a throaty moan. Alexandrio smirked, he knew that she was affected by his moves but being the stubborn headed girl she was, she just didn't want to accept what she felt for him.

"Let me make the day special for both of us. I have prepared a private meal for us at my place where no one can disturb us…" he whispered, his thumb still stroking her lower lip.

Suddenly, the memories of the past returned with such friction that it turned everything upside down inside Emily. She recalled how Victor broke up with her after she slept with him on her birthday. She said the exact same line, no one would disturb us!

It was his plan from the start to ditch her after sleeping with her and he did it with such brutality that Emily's life became a laughing stock. She would have gone back to her small village but it was Aurora and Susan who didn't let her. Aurora, especially, made sure that Victor didn't disturb her in any way again. It was not difficult for her, she was Aurora King, daughter of Ethan King after all.

For Aurora friendship was a lifetime promise and if she asked someone to be her friend it means she was giving that person a place in her life. That's why she doesn't have many friends, her friend circle was small but it's all she needed. They were best friends forever.

"Why? So that you can try to take advantage of me…" she accused him and that was the last stroke Alexandrio could take. He grabbed her hand and pulled her closer to himself. "Don't you dare accuse me of something this horrible. If I wanted to take advantage of you, Madame, I would have done it when you were begging me for it, drunk and horny that night on cruise. It was me who took care of you and didn't take that so-called advantage you were accusing me of."

He left her hand with a jerk, turned around and raked his hand in his hair. "Fucking hell!"

Emily has heard him cursing for the first time. She clutched the strap of her bag tightly as her emotions were rioting at this moment. She gulped and waited for the elevator to reach her floor so that she could get out of it as soon as possible.

She was praying to God when suddenly Alexandrio turned around and grabbed her hand one more time but this time, his hold on her hand was so tight that she closed her eyes and gasped in pain.

"Why are you giving me this attitude? Who are you? A mere girl who works for me? Hm! Girls like you roam around me all the time, dying to get a simple smile from me and here I am giving you importance by asking you to date me and you are giving this so-called attitude of yours!"

Emily's mouth opened in disgust hearing his words. She pushed him with all her strength, he jumbled back and the next thing knew was her hand struck his cheek and his head jerked back.

Alexandrio was furious. No one ever dared to raise his eyes in front of him and this girl just slapped him. "I didn't ask you to give any importance to me,I don't want you alright so you can go and do whatever you want to do with all those girls for all I care but stop harassing me," she said, her voice shaking in emotions and her eyes sparkling with unshed tears.

"I am not a toy you can play with. I am a human and I have emotions, don't play with them please!" She cried, not giving a damn about her tears.

Victor broke her from inside, her confidence as a woman. If it's as not for her friends she didn't know what's he would have done. Yes, she was funny, jovial but behind her smiling face and jovial nature she hide a lot of painful scars. Scars she didn't want anyone to see but today their glimpse was in front of Alexandrio.

Before he could speak the elevator oingedans she was out of the elevator instantly, running with shaking legs.

Alexandrio was stunned by her actions but more than that he was shaken by her words. He was a man of the world and he knew that there was something wrong with her. It was like the girl he met on the cruise and the girl now were two different personalities. The girl who user to flirt with him seems to be a completely different girl from the girl now.

What are you Zvezda? What is it that stopping you from dating me? What…

Meanwhile, Emily took a sharp breath to stop herself from crying. Her back touched the wall behind her while she sat on the floor. All those shady memories returned, she hates celebrating her birthday it was her friends who always try to erase her bad memories with their efforts but they didn't understand on can't erase something which became a part of one's soul.

And that day, that memory has became a part of he soul now. She couldn't forget the taunts, the laughter of people, the smirk of Victor's face still fresh in her mind. She could still hear the words he called her.

A gold-digging whore, who slept with him to raise her social status.

"Don't let your past affect you, Emily. He was no one. He we no one…" she reminded herself but what should she just couldn't get that memory out of her mind. It was stuck in her mind and soul. She gulped, wiped her tears and stood up. Her legs still shaking but she put on a smile on her face. She couldn't to let her friends see that she cried. No, they invested a lot of their time and efforts to make her smile again and she would not let them down.

Emily would smile for them even if she had to hide her pain her behind her smile.

On the other hand, Susan glanced at Aurora from the corner of her eye and noticed a small smile playing on her lips. She could see that Aurora was affected by him. Susan needed to know to which level she was affected by Liam.

"He is handsome," she started the conversation and Aurora frowned. "Who?"

"Liam Knight, woo. That hot look he has and that man wanted to marry you," she whistled. "I just imagine how hot he would be in bed."

Aurora raised her brows. "He still wants to marry me which make him off limit from you to know how hot he would be in bed."

Susan chuckled. "Ooo! Miss King is being possessive for Mr Knight!!" She teased Aurora who rolled her eyes at Susan. "Stop it!" She said shaking her head.

"And I am not being possessive for Liam. I am just saying it to tease you."

"Aurora King I know you since we were in kindergarten so stop lying to me. I know you have hots for him… Lucky you that he wants you as his wife, I wonder about his stamina…"

"Okay, stop it now. You and your stamina obsession," she said but recalled his intense kisses. The firey moments between them on the island, how close she was to lose herself in his strong arms.

Susan could sense the change in her voice. Aurora darling, for the first time in months you are affected by something or I, would say someone good. Liam Knight is perfect for you. He is the right one for you, unlike that man who broke your confidence and wanted you to give up on your dreams. He was forcing his lifestyle on you because he knew he would never be able to give you the same lifestyle you were born into. But Liam has everything you need and most importantly he would be able to give you what you deserve. Happiness! The man is mad for you. I will make sure that you see him as your knight in the shining armour.

Once they reached their home, they both decorated the whole living room with colourful balloons and sparkling paper. The cake was placed on the dining table in the middle of the living room, gifts on the sofa and the food, candies everything else on the table beside the cake amd most importantly the liquor bottles in an ice basket to chill it.

"Shut the lights and hide behind the wall," Susan ordered and Aurora did as she was told to do then they both waited for the birthday girl.

Emily stepped out of the cab, paid the driver and turned for the door. She knew that her friends had prepared the whole surprise birthday bash for her. So she slapped her cheek to colour them and opened the door.

As she expected a loud Happy birthday sounded and she smiled heartedly. "Oh my God!" Her friends jumped on her and hugged her tightly from behind. A happy birthday song played in the background as Aurora kissed her head while Susan squeezed her in her arms.

"Why do you always bother so much? A simple happy birthday would have been enough for me girls."

Both Aurora and Emily looked at her with raised brows. "Shut up Em!" They said it at the same time and they all ended up laughing because Emily said the exact same words every year and her friends still do the same things every year on her birthday.

Finally, Emily cut the cake and offered it to Aurora first as she was the would of their group. Aurora took the cake and fed it to Emily. "Happy birthday Em! I love you girl."

Emily had tears in her eyes. She smiled emotionally, tears rolling down her cheek. She found a sister in Aurora. Then turned and offered the cake to Susan who fed it to her first just like Aurora.

"Happy birthday, Em," Susan said with a warm smile.

"Alright, let's eat our junk food and then let's get wasted tonight!" Aurora interrupted them and they both looked at her as if she was some experimental organism under the microscope of their eyes.

"No!" They both said at the same time. "Alcohol and you are a bad choice. Wrong things happen when you get drunk." Susan scolded her.

Aurora pouted. "Well, it's not my fault that my friends didn't take care of me when I got drunk. And let's be serious Susie, Em, did bad things when she got drunk."

"At least I don't bang police officer's car or get lost in the sea!" She retorted teasingly.

"That was a low blow, Em!"

"I have the right to punch low blows today…"

"Alright stop it both of you," Susan said then she turned to Aurora. "You can drink but not more than you can't handle and once you have your fill of liquor you are going straight for your bed. Deal?" She asked Aurora in all seriousness.

"Deal."

They sat around the fireplace, dressed in their soft PJ's with liquor bottles and glasses. Susan opened the bottle and filled their glasses.

"To Emily and her happy life…" she toasted.

Emily shook her head. "To our friendship…" she said and they clung their glasses in a toast and then gulped the hard liquor down.

Exactly after half an hour, all three friends were completely wasted. "You know he is hot!" Aurora giggled while Emily nodded,"I know he is hot!"

"Who is hot?" Susan asked.

"Alexandrio."

"Liam."

Both said at the same time and giggled.

"Same pinch!!" They chirped and pinched each other. "Awww!" Aurora cried in pain as she snatched her hand away and rubbed where Emily pinched her.

"It hurts, Em!" She cried and giggled. "Gurlzzz, we are wasted!" Susan interrupted slurring and then giggling like a schoolgirl.

"You know he still wants to marry me…"

"And he still wants to date me…"

Again they said at the same time. "And I am still alone!!!" Susan screamed. "No Man for me I think I want one for myself."

"Hey, who is hotter? Liam or Alexandrios?" Aurora asked. "Your man or mine?"

"He is not mine but if you are asking about the hotter man I think Alexandrios is hotter…" she slurred.

Aurora frowned. "Nope! Liam is. Have you seen his abs?"

"No, but I have seen Alexandrios abs so I know he is hotter than Liam."

Susan was trying to keep her eyes open but couldn't as her eyes dropped and darkness engulfed her leaving Emily and Aurora awake in a drunkard condition.

"Noooo! Liam is hotter, Em. Wish I could show you his abs!!" Aurora whined. Emily patted her finger to her chin. "You have his number, ask him to send a picture of his abs."

Aurora giggled. "Yup! I can do that wait, I am calling him," she slurred and picked her phone and speed dialled Liam Knight!