35

RIAN POV

"Fuck!" I yelled, slamming the door behind me to immediately make my way to my B.

All this shit triggered the worst thoughts in my head and I tried to see something clearly, but I couldn't. This sheer jealousy ate into every cell of my body and it felt like I would never regain my sanity.

How coldly she lied to my face. It sent a shiver down my spine. And a sentence later she spoke of trust....

Serious!!!!!

Wasn't lying the reason you couldn't trust someone anymore???

I threw myself into my BMW in a rage, started the engine and pulled out of the driveway at full throttle, then sped down the streets as the sun began to set.

The houses passed me and I no longer noticed that other drivers honked at me, because my thoughts revolved around only one topic.

Keeva...

Odran said I was blind, but wasn't it obvious?

Juri's goofy grin on camera, along with Keeva's brazen lies. How nervous she seemed when I asked her what she was doing...

And I'm supposed to be blind???

I had seen it often enough with my father, how he cheated on my mother at every opportunity and she was naive enough to trust him blindly... What was the point of that? Nothing...

Arrived at a gas station I got out and was immediately smiled at by a blonde who straightened her hair as soon as I filled up.

You were surrounded by bitches...

I gave her a cold look and walked past her to the gas station to buy cigarettes and a bottle of whiskey and then got back into my BMW, ignoring this woman again.

After driving back a bit, I parked on the side of the road and got out of the car to light a cigarette while I grabbed the bottle and headed towards the beach.

The only question that bothered me... What did he want with her?

Yuri was in constant contact with his security guards... If he wanted to see me, he could have called me or one of his people. So he probably knew full well that I wasn't there...

He had absolutely nothing to do with Keeva let alone clarify, so what the hell was he doing there?!

"Bloody shit!" I cursed, flopping down on the sand to get my phone out.

I dialed Yuri's number and dragged on the cigarette again, impatiently waiting for him to answer.

" Oh, hello Rian. Longing?"

I think I'm going to kill someone today!

"What did you do with Keeva?" I asked straight out, hoping he would just say he wanted to see me, but he lied, as did she.

"I was in bed with a whore all day. I wasn't with your wife, what should I do with her?"

You stupid prick!

"Juri," I growled into the phone again on 180 and flicked the cigarette away. "Dare you lie to me again and I'll-"

"You should now be very careful what you say! I wasn't with your wife, maybe you should fuck someone else to calm down. That works wonders!"

Hung up... That bastard just hung up!

Who were they kidding?!

Talk about trust and lie like your life depends on it!

I did not understand the world anymore !

All I knew was that I wanted to trust Keeva. Inside I knew she would never hurt me and I felt ashamed for hurting her so much today, but I just couldn't figure out why everyone seemed so brazenly lying to me. That wasn't my imagination! I had it on video.

"Oh, Hey Ryan."

That just couldn't be true!

I rolled my eyes and looked up straight into Pirina's. Was she a fucking stalker?!

"Piss off," I replied, opening my bottle, which she immediately took from me to take a sip herself. Then she eyed me curiously.

"You're smoking again? What happened?"

She sat down next to me as a matter of course, while I was still wondering why she had suddenly appeared here...

"You can talk to me," she then added and handed me the bottle.

"Talk to you? You wanted Yuri to cut off my balls," I reminded her of this fact and she just laughed softly.

"Oh, Rian. Jealousy. You know that."

Oh yeah, now I know...

"So, what's up?"

I caught a glimpse of her face and really thought it might be a good idea to have someone to talk to about all of this.

Odran and Senan wouldn't understand me anyway, so maybe she was just the right person to talk to.

"Did you ever cheat on me while we were in some sort of relationship?" I asked then, taking a long gulp from the bottle.

"No. Not even. Why? Did she?"

"I dont know..."

We drank the whole bottle while watching the sunset, smoking and I told her this whole absurd situation, only to then digest everything again in silence with her.

"Well, I rather think that Yuri has something in her hand," Pirina then said and I stared at her in amazement.

"With what?"

"Yeah, what do I know. The guy is crazy!" She rolled her eyes and took another cigarette out of the pack.

"Besides, Keeva seems to have made it very clear that she loves you. Why would she sleep with that idiot when she has you?" she added, looking deep into my eyes, which immediately made me think avert my gaze from her.

"Yes, but the fact that they both lied to me speaks for itself," I said more to myself, but Pirina suddenly put her hand on mine.

"If someone were to take a picture of us right now, this situation would speak for itself, and yet it's very different from what it would probably look like in the photo. My God, Rian. I would love to take advantage of this situation, yes I really care about you and I want you to be happy. This girl seems to love you and Yuri is just... well, Yuri. Just trust her and at least give her a chance to explain."

She took her hand back and puffed on her cigarette while I pondered her words.

"And if she did cheat on you, you know where to find me," she laughed, and after I glared at her briefly, I laughed and shook my head.

"And where should that be? Here?"

Suddenly she pointed to a villa behind us.

"I'm staying with my boyfriend. He's 78, filthy rich and treats me like a queen."

I grimaced in disgust and received a gentle slap on my arm from her.

"Well, go home now! Of course I hope that will clear things up and if not, come over. He doesn't have it with his eyes. We could fuck all over the house."

OK, I really should go.

"Well then, I really hope I never have to come to this house," I said with a grin and got up from the sand to help her up afterwards.

"Hope dies last."

76

Frustrated and overwhelmed, I was still clearing away the broken pieces of my suitcase, tears streaming down my face, slightly blocking my view.

Odran had already put my clothes back up and although I insisted on taking them back to Rian's room, he just didn't do it. He probably already knew that I wouldn't be able to get out of my room anytime soon.

But not with me!

He just had to trust me. Whether he wanted it or not!

I knew myself how it all had to look like, but he couldn't seriously believe that I would even touch something like Yuri with gloves...

Never! Not just because it was Yuri, I wouldn't touch another man either. Rian was my husband, my dream man, my first and I also hoped with all my heart that he would be my last. And no one could take that hope away from me. No matter how pitiful Odran looked at me while I was sitting on the floor in misery.

"Things are all up," he let me know, bending down to gently wipe away some of my tears with his thumb while I just felt like shit.

"Odran," I whimpered, looking at him sadly. "I really haven't done anything."

"I know," he said immediately, carefully taking my hands in his to pull me up to my legs. He held me tightly in his strong arms and rubbed my back soothingly while I felt slightly uncomfortable even with him. I just didn't want to get close to any other man, whether it was for love, comfort, or whatever. I only wanted to be happy with one of them and unfortunately we could only do that when this stalker was finally dead... And I had to keep my word to Yuri, no matter how much everything was torn apart.

Once that was done, I could tell Rian the truth and everything would be fine.

"Maybe you should-"

"What's going on here?" I heard Senan, who just came down the stairs and yawned and scratched his stomach.

"Did you sleep?!", Odran asked immediately and let me go again.

"Well, a nap. Been a busy day."

Senan shrugged and Odran just shook his head annoyed.

The two then discussed what had happened while I bent down to Nero to stroke his fur and smiled. He could tell I was shitty because he kept nudging me lightly and licking my cheeks with his tongue to wipe away the tears.

"I'll go out with him," Senan then said with his sympathetic gaze on me and I reluctantly got up and nodded.

"And I'll lie down," I explained to both of them, putting my hand on my arm, which still hurt a little.

With my eyes lowered, I took the stairs up and stopped briefly on the first floor to look wistfully at Rian's room, but before I could continue my way upstairs, I suddenly heard the front door slam.

"Where have you been? Have you been drinking?", I heard Odran and when I then heard Rian's voice, my heart was beating wildly and although everything had gone so wrong, a loving smile spread across my lips.

"Yes, with Pirina."

Oh my God!!!!

My eyes widened in disbelief and then I thought about what he might have done. But what should I do now? After all, I was asking for his complete trust, so I couldn't really accuse him of anything now, could I?

Shortly afterwards, when I heard someone coming up the stairs, I wanted to run up the stairs quickly, but I slipped my socks on one of the steps, held on to the railing and fell step by step on my ass back down, to arrived at the bottom step to look directly at Rian's shoes.

Damned!

"Keeva?" he addressed me and I looked up at him, cheeks flushed.

"Yes?" I said sheepishly and was about to pull myself up on the railing when he grabbed my arm. It was exactly where a bruise was bound to appear, so I winced slightly and held my breath while he helped me up.

I stopped right in front of him, immediately feeling his breath on my face and then, strangely enough, realizing that he smelled strongly of cigarettes. But that didn't matter to me at the moment.

Full of curiosity, I looked up at him and tried to see something in his expressionless face, but he didn't allow any facial expressions.

He didn't say a word either, just stared at me and I did the same until he suddenly let go of my arm and took a step back.

"Please be careful on the stairs."

And then he just turned away from me.

Are you serious?!

I watched him walk down the hall and then thought that maybe distance would be just the thing. Whether he was with Pirina or not. I trusted him and he deserved it.

But I couldn't leave it like that.

"Rian!" I then called without thinking and ran after him while he turned around and gave me a questioning look. "Please stop looking at me like that."

"How?" he wanted to know and I tried to grab his arm for the third time that day, which he allowed this time. I ran my fingertips lightly over his shirt and when I reached his hand, I laced my fingers through his and immediately noticed this pleasant, fuzzy feeling in my stomach.

"So blank," I retorted, and he immediately cupped my chin, forcing me to look at him.

"I just don't know what to believe anymore," he said with a pain in my face that made me take a deep breath.

I immediately let go of his hand and cupped his face in my hands to close my eyes as I stood on my tiptoes and rested my forehead against his.

"Believe me, please. I would never hurt you like that and you know it. Juri confided in me and put me in a shitty situation. I can't tell you what it's about and you don't believe me, sorry me," I tried to explain everything reasonably and I hoped he would just understand.

He pulled his forehead away from mine to look at me with an expression I couldn't explain.

"Shit man," he breathed suddenly and ran his fingers through his hair, while I suddenly had the bitter thought that he must have slept with Pirina, so nervous as he suddenly seemed. "Keeva, I'm so-"

Stunned, without letting him finish, I took my hands from his cheek and reached out to slap him, the hiss echoing around the walls over and over again.

"You fucking asshole!" I yelled as he just looked at me in total confusion, clutching his flushed cheek.

"Are you completely crazy now!", he asked upset and when he wanted to say something again, I turned around and wanted to run away, but he tried to stop me. However, as I pulled my arm back, I stumbled across the stupid red carpet and fell to the floor while Rian tried to hold me but fell to the floor too.

With pain in my knee, I rolled onto my side and looked him straight in the eyes while he suddenly started laughing, which only made me angrier.

"How funny!" I mumbled and started to get up again, but in a flash he leaned over me to hold my hands together over my head and to position his so pretty face right over mine.

"What was the blow for?" he really wanted to know and I pressed my lips together angrily.

"For Pirina," I hissed angrily and tried to free myself from his grip, but no chance.

"It hurts, doesn't it?" he added and I just looked up at him questioningly. "That fucking jealousy."

"So you didn't have anything with her?"

"Of course not," he said aloud, seeming completely surprised that I had any doubts about him at all.

But he also had them on me.

"Then what did you want to apologize for?" I asked and he let go of my hands to get up and carefully help me up.

"For not trusting you. I only saw Yuri and you and although it still gnaws at me, I still want to believe you."

"You can do that too," I explained again and briefly rubbed my aching knee while Rian held his arm.

At some point we would actually accidentally kill each other.

"But I still want answers. If not from you, then from him."

When I thought about him asking Yuri about all this, I widened my eyes in panic and looked up at him.

"Rian, please. It's about Anjelika's death and money that was stolen from him," I said to placate him, which only made him frown.

My God!

"You know what. You trust me, so I trust you too," I said, breathing heavily, nervously playing with my fingers.

"You should, too. I'm your husband, after all."

"I now, with my trust, place the lives of my loved ones in your hands," I began, nervously padding on my feet while he took my hands and tried to calm me with them. "Yuri knows who the stalker is, but I shouldn't tell you because he has a score to settle with him and doesn't want you to act rashly."

"What?!"

He looked at me wide-eyed and didn't seem to be breathing for a moment until I started again.

"And he wants me as a decoy...."

RIAN'S POV.

For three fucking days she continued to get on my nerves and just wouldn't give me an answer as to who this insane stalker was!

Keeva as a decoy?!

Did they still have all the cups in the closet? My fingertips tingled all the time, not just driving to Juri and him alone for even considering something like that, shooting his fucking cock away.

But Keeva had asked me to trust me. For me that meant shutting up and swallowing the hatred. Still, I certainly wouldn't let them serve as a decoy.

Somehow I would get it out of her who he was and then nobody would be able to stop me.

By now it was late in the morning and while she was again sitting across from me at the table and seemed to be secretly drawing me, I was answering a few emails from our business partners and still had to think about how I could cancel dinner tonight.

Actually, it was too important for my career not to be able to show up, but Keeva wasn't wanted there, so generally no women, but I didn't want to leave her alone here.

"Would you like some more coffee?", she tore me out of my thoughts with her calm voice and when I looked at her, she smiled timidly at me.

She knew full well how angry I was at her silence, but I just couldn't keep my cold expression on my face at the sight of her. I shook my head, smiling stupidly, and she immediately turned back to her pad.

How I hated it all!!!

I wanted to kiss her, fuck her, drive her crazy, but I certainly wouldn't give in until she gave me that name. She could keep rubbing against me at night. I would stay strong...

Unfortunately for my balls, but they had to go through it too...

"What about tonight anyway?" Odran spoke to me, who was standing behind Keeva and just wanted out with Nero.

"I have no idea," I replied, still ignorant, and got a questioning look from my wife.

My eyes darted fleetingly over her collarbone and even further down over her slightly open neckline, but I immediately turned my gaze back to the monitor in front of me.

"What's up tonight?" she then asked and I eyed her with a provocative smile.

"Unfortunately, I can't tell you that," I said back to her, the same words she kept returning to me when I was asked who the stalker was.

"Oh, how grown up," she hissed slightly angrily and turned to Odran, who was already taking a deep breath when he realized that he was being drawn into our argument again. "Would you tell me what's tonight?"

I glared at Odran sternly and I knew that Keeva was probably just putting on her doggy look to win this duel. My brother seemed to be considering what to do next, fidgeting nervously with Nero's leash before looking down at Keeva.

"A dinner with Mr. Porter and others."

"Are you fucking serious?!" I blurted out angrily and when Keeva then turned to me with a triumphant smile, I had the feeling that she was the mafia boss here and not me anymore.

"Sorry, but she's the one who makes my breakfast every day," Odran said dryly and I immediately ran my hands over my face while hearing Keeva's giggle, which made me even more angry.

"You think that's funny?" I spoke to her and then watched Odran for a moment as this rat grabbed a muffin and disappeared through the patio door. Apparently you couldn't get loyalty with guns anymore, the best thing would be to sell the brothels and open bakeries.

It all had to be a bad joke!!!

"No, but you're just being over the top," she retorted, and immediately I got up from the chair and walked over to her, yanking her chair out of the way so I was leaning right over her and she was looking up at me, wide-eyed.

"Over the top?" I repeated. "You wake up every night because of that fucking masked wanker and even though I could have blown his damn brains out long ago, you don't tell me his name!"

"But only-"

"I know why and you know what?! I shit on Juri! We'll blow his skull off too! The main thing is that I don't have to live in constant fear!"

She gave me a wistful look and put her hands on my cheeks, causing me to crouch in front of her and look up at her.

"Keeva, I can't do this anymore, ok? I'm even scared to move sometimes because all I see is this picture of Anjelika and all the time I'm constantly thanking God it didn't happen to you! That's exactly what I never wanted to do I hate loving you now and having this constant fear on my back!"

"Rian," she murmured my name, tenderly stroking the back of my neck as I laid my head sideways on her lap and thought about how soft she had made me....

Actually, I should tie up Juri and beat the fucking name out of him, but I couldn't because I didn't want to play with her trust.

What a crap!!!

"You don't need to be afraid for me," she said into the silence and I lifted my head slightly to be able to look at her.

"Oh no?" I gave her back exhausted and got up again. "That's right, you're always playing the decoy of a crazy Russian. I had completely forgotten how harmless that is!"

She was about to roll her eyes, but I took her chin and gave her a warning look. "Don't do that! You know I hate that."

"Excuse me, but can't we just let this topic go," she breathed suddenly, also rising from her chair to stand on tiptoe. "I know so many things that would be more fun than this constant discussion."

She whispered these words so seductively that I could already feel my arousal slowly growing...

But no! Not with me!

"No name, no sex," I breathed back, smiling, realizing how frustrated she was at this. But I knew my wife by now, she didn't give up that easily.

"Then I guess I'll have to do it myself," she said confidently, but I saw the blush on her cheeks and found her shyness so sexy that I almost gave in.

"Keeva, I'm warning you," I admonished, but she raised her eyebrows provocatively and unbuttoned the top buttons of her blouse to slowly walk backwards to the stairs.

"I'm going to take a shower then. Take a shower," she said with a dirty grin and I took a deep breath at the thought of her naked under the warm water and tried not to go crazy.

"Have fun," I smiled, hoping I looked as unimpressed as I wanted, but inside I was fighting giants!

"I will have!"

She turned her back on me and ran up the stairs and just when I really thought I had to just follow her, luckily Odran came back.

"I was on the phone with Dad."

Very good! My excitement was blown away!

"And?" I asked, sitting back down in my chair to study him.

"We're supposed to be there at 8 p.m."

"I'm not leaving Keeva here alone!", I explained to him immediately, but Odran just pointed to the stairs.

"Senan is here."

Senan... It's very reassuring...

"So?"

I took a deep breath and really had to admit to myself that unfortunately I had to go there, whether I wanted to or not...

"We go..."