41

We waited a while for the girls, who then each stepped onto the terrace with a different facial expression.

While Keeva looked at Rian admonishingly, Chiara smiled amusedly at Odran and Mandy seemed lost in dark thoughts that I just wanted to help her out of, at least for a few hours.

Just as I was about to take her hand in mine, Keeva reached out next to me and angrily knocked the cigarette out of Rian's mouth, who then stared at her in disbelief. We all held our breath, too, and our full attention was on them both while Keeva put her hands on her hips.

"Are you okay?! Now that we have a beautiful daughter, do you think you'll have to take death by instalments?!"

I felt Mandy's hand clasping mine tightly and when I looked over at her, she was tensely watching the situation in front of us. She must have had respect for Rian, but she didn't know that... Rian hadn't stood a chance against Keeva for a long time. He was too in love for that and she was too strong-willed.

Rian's gaze met ours briefly before grinning stupidly and grabbing Keeva around the waist and tossing her over his shoulder.

"Excuse me, but you don't deserve it any other way," he laughed and ran ahead of us to the beach with her, who protested loudly.

"I didn't know he could smile too," Mandy whispered to me and I immediately returned her confused expression.

"It rarely happens."

With a smile on my face I pulled her closer to my side, put my arm around her back and looked past her to Odran, who walked alongside us holding hands with Chiara and told her about his fondness for savory muffins.

Yes, that's how you can definitely conquer women's hearts...

"Stop it!!!!", we heard Keeva scream, but Rian was already standing with her at the water and took off his shoes to continue walking into the water despite his suit pants, which made Keeva kick on his shoulder and made us laugh.

With a strong tug he threw her into the waves and after she got up and angrily took aim at him, shortly afterwards you could see the amorous sparkle in her eyes that only flashed when she looked at him.

"You'll get that back!"

"I don't think so."

While the two chased each other like little kids and romped around like lovers, I dropped onto the warm sand and pulled Mandy by her hand between my legs, where she immediately leaned her back against my chest and turned her face to mine on my shoulder.

"Is it always so peaceful here?" she asked softly and took my hands in hers, creating such a pleasant feeling in my stomach that I gratefully kissed her forehead.

"Unfortunately far too seldom," I admitted wistfully and glanced at Odran, who had stripped down to his boxer shorts and watched Chiara as she ran to the water in her short shorts and light-colored top. "But I think it could happen more often in the near future."

Looking back at Mandy, she too was staring at Odran and seemed thoughtful, which piqued my curiosity, so I squeezed her hand lightly, demanding her attention. After all, I certainly couldn't keep up with Odran, at least in terms of his fit body and perfect tan, but apparently Mandy was thinking about something else.

"Where did he get the scars on his face from?" she asked when she noticed me looking at her and just as I was about to explain that he had a gluttonous cat back then that would just keep popping him out of nowhere at night face cracked, Keeva walked up to us, out of breath.

"That was Rian," she said to Mandy's question, which made me stare at her in irritation and I immediately felt Mandy tense up.

"What?" I spoke to her confused and looked past her to Rian, who was just coming towards us. "What makes you think that? Why should Rian do something like that?"

"What should I do?" Rian interrupted mine and Keeva's exchange of views and Keeva didn't seem to understand what was going on at all anymore.

"Well, it was you, with Odran's face," she turned to her husband and crossed her arms while waiting for a confirmation, but Rian just grinned stupidly and shook his head almost imperceptibly.

"That after all this time you still think I'm capable of something like that," he retorted amusedly and she rolled her eyes theadrally.

"You also just shot a Russian in the head and shredded half of Jake's hand, so yeah, I still thought it was you with Odran."

"Oh god," I suddenly heard Mandy's trembling voice and we all looked at her as she suddenly turned deathly pale and stared at Rian like he was the devil himself.

"Sorry Mandy, I didn't mean to scare you," Keeva blurted out, kneeling in the sand in front of Mandy and looking at her apologetically. "There was a reason for that, after all, Jake danced with me and the Russian wanted to make Rian make out with a hooker, but she's already been shot, so that's fine."

"Are you kidding me?" I replied to Keeva's words because somehow she seemed to scare Mandy even more instead of reassuring her.

"Are you talking about Elena?" Odran joined the conversation and casually stood in front of us while Chiara hung on his back like a spider monkey and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Yeah... well no," Keeva answered him, pointing at his face. "Mandy wanted to know where you got the pale scars from."

"Why?" said Odran and looked at Mandy, who was staring at him with wide eyes.

"Sorry!" she stuttered, avoiding his gaze to look at Keeva. "I didn't mean to be curious! It's none of my business!"

"That was Rian," Odran then explained despite her statement and Keeva nodded in agreement while I frowned at him.

"What are you talking about!? That was that fat cat you once ran into," I refuted his statement and he just rolled his eyes and looked at Rian.

"Seems like we've been blown."

"It lasted long enough, our lie," Rian replied and turned to Mandy again, who was still sitting between my legs, intimidated by everything that had been said. "And you," he addressed her and she reluctantly looked up at him as she squeezed my hands even tighter. "Apparently you're my brother's girlfriend now, so you don't need to be shy or afraid. Our family will protect and defend you in every situation, believe me."

The smile that Rian gave her on his announcement was really real and in no way played and I felt on my chest how Mandy breathed more calmly and generally relaxed again.

"Thanks, Rian," she murmured, slightly embarrassed.

"And me?" Chiara suddenly burst out, looking excitedly back and forth between all of us on Odran's back. "Am I part of the family too?", she grinned and immediately Odran let her off his back to pull her waist in front of him.

"If I protect you, you don't need the other lusche here," he grinned and immediately Rian took aim at him challengingly.

"I misheard, didn't I?" he asked with a raised eyebrow, but before he could get a reaction we heard one of the guards scream excitedly, so I got up with Mandy and stared at the stairs behind us, startled.

"Mr. Gallagher!!!", the guy with the white shirt and the bald head called excitedly and stopped right in front of Rian to take a deep breath. "Someone was in the house!"

"What!?" Keeva said, cupping her heart in one hand and glancing at Rian. "Esme!"

She was about to run when the guard caught her arm.

"Esme and Nero can't be found!"