31

I was really glad Keeva called me until she suddenly told me things that threatened to shake my whole world.

Of course I was aware that Fiore kept hitting me, but not how far he would really go... Add to that the fact that I had accused Senan of throwing himself straight at the next one and well, I cried listen to what this beast had done to him.

"I'll be by later," I whispered into my cell phone and hung up quickly because I could already hear a car pulling into our driveway outside. I crept to the window and saw Fiore, who sat in his car for a while and seemed to be on the phone.

That asshole!

I quickly erased my call log and pulled on my white cardigan to grab my purse from the table and head to the front door. Now it was time to keep calm.

"Hey, where are you going?" He smiled as he met me in the driveway and I mock-politely pointed to my BMW.

"I have to go back to the office. Sorry," I let him know, but before I could get past him, he roughly grabbed my arm and pulled me back into the house behind him.

"Fiore!" I admonished him and after he closed the front door, he grabbed my chin and looked at me so hatefully that an uncomfortable shiver ran down my spine.

"Where do you really want to go? Back to your slutty sister to leave me alone for days?" he whispered menacingly, gripping my chin a little tighter.

"No!" I retorted firmly, really having to pull myself together from just breaking down and crying now that I knew he was in cahoots with the Russian.

"I have to go to the office."

"Okay, then I'll drive you," he said with a smile and gave me a kiss on my forehead. Now I had to come up with something else.

"Okay, thanks," I replied, and when he let go of me, I took a deep breath and closed my eyes for a moment.

"I'll change my clothes, then we can go."

"All right," I called after him and when I heard our bathroom door slam shut, I sprinted outside without thinking. I knew that I would probably never be able to come home again because he would probably kill me for doing this, but I just had to see Senan.

With trembling hands, I yanked my car door open, threw my purse on the passenger seat, and immediately started the engine while suddenly Fiore came out of the front door in front of me with only a towel around her waist.

Startled, I put the car in reverse and almost hit the neighbor's beautiful rose bushes, which didn't seem so bad to me in view of the situation, and then drove away at breakneck speed. My heart was beating in my throat, but even a heart attack would have been worth it to me.

I didn't know what this tattooed beau had triggered in me, but it was so much more in a short amount of time than I've ever had the privilege of knowing before.

I could still feel his kisses, hear his breath, and have that scent of his perfume in my mind as I drove faster than usual down the streets.

Until I suddenly slowed down shortly before his villa and I had real doubts...

I had accused him of bad things, even slapped him in the face and just walked away. What if he didn't even want to see me.

Also, the worst thing that could happen to a human happened to him. Shouldn't I give him time to recover first?

"Oh, man... What are you doing?" I whispered to myself and parked a little to the side of the villa to get out and take another deep breath.

Eyes shut and go for it...

After I arrived at the villa after a few minutes, the security guard greeted me kindly and asked where I was going.

"To Senan," I said shyly and he immediately picked up his cell phone, but he hung up on the phone as soon as this giant, who scared me a bit, came down the driveway. He was really tall and so muscular and tanned. In theory, it could have been printed in a bodybuilding magazine.

Probably someone who pays a lot of attention to diet and exercise.

"Mandy, come in," he said and the gate opened and I politely thanked the security guard to follow the big guy inside, who introduced himself as Odran.

"Hey," Keeva greeted me warmly, and although I didn't really like physical advances like that, she was immediately very comfortable. She was such a friendly, open person that you couldn't help but feel at ease straight away. "I told them both that Senan is ill," she whispered in my ear, unnoticed by the others, and when my glance fell to Rian and Odran, who were sitting at the table and seemed to be examining me, I just smiled prettily and slowly pulled away again by Keeva.

"Okay. I'll be upstairs," I told her politely, walking past the table while feeling this Rian seem to be analyzing me. I knew guys like him through my job. This was a man who wanted to be in control of everything. In fact, he probably hated not knowing my social security number now that I was practically free about his house.

Taking my mind off of him and arriving on the first floor, I knocked shyly on Senan's door, quickly twirling my tight bun so I wouldn't look too buttoned up until I remembered what he'd been through and I suddenly felt really bad for thinking about my looks.

"Senan?" I called softly through the door and his pleasantly dark voice immediately rang out, whereupon the door opened immediately and I couldn't hold back my tears when I saw him.

I immediately wrapped my arms around his neck and snuggled up against him, not knowing if I was doing it for him or for me, because I'd missed him terribly, even though I didn't want to admit it.

He pulled me into the room with you, closed the door behind us and after I explained to him that Keeva had told me everything and that I wanted to apologize to him, he suddenly crouched down in front of me and said I didn't have to apologize for anything, but I did it anyway.

When I next asked how he was, he looked deep into my eyes and replied, "Better now," to which I was so flattered that I immediately felt the heat in my cheeks and avoided his gaze in embarrassment.

"And how are you?" he asked, sitting down next to me on the couch.

"Better now," I replied, and it wasn't until our eyes met briefly that I realized how good-looking he was and what a classy guy was behind all the tattoos and dark eyes. Such a person didn't deserve all this and when my thoughts wandered to Irina and also what she had done, I started to cry again and felt even more ashamed.

Actually, I wanted to be there for him. At least give him some comfort or at least someone to talk to... And now I was sitting here looking miserable...

"We'll manage," he said reassuringly and I nodded at him.

"We will," I smiled, really wanting to hug him at that moment, but I didn't want to overwhelm him after all.

We probably just sat there for several hours and tried to process everything somehow, until he eventually fell asleep and I covered him up to sneak out of the room.

Just arrived in the hallway I switched on the light and suddenly saw Odran, who was coming towards me with at least 5 muffins on a plate.

"Don't even think about it," he said dryly and held the plate to his other side to disappear past me into a room while I almost wet my pants from fear.

I quickly ran down the stairs where Rian was sitting at the table and Keeva seemed to be reassuring Esme. The clock already showed 2 a.m., which only showed me again that new parents really didn't have it easy.

"How is he?" Keeva asked immediately and I felt Rian's curious gaze on me again.

"Well... Yes.. Headache," I said, stuttering and then wanted to say goodbye, but Rian suddenly got up and came towards me.

"I'll drive you," he said, and even when Keeva gave him an irritated look, he didn't let himself be deterred.

Help.....

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