Chapter 26

Kia I looked at the man who was laying just beside me. He was sleeping on his back, giving me a clear view of his well-sculpted body. His abdominals were ripped to perfection. His chiseled abs and thick biceps gave off the impression as if he had been working as a Calvin Klein model. A strand of hair had fallen over his brows and I felt a powerful urge to brush it away from his beautiful face. When he was asleep, he looked just like an angel. Who would believe he was the cruelest man on the Earth?

I had offered him my body to stay here. I had slept with the man who had killed my family. He was supposed to be killed by me. I hated the fact I desired him. I had offered him sex shamelessly. This was disgusting. This should not have happened. I would have to kill him before he could send me back to my place. I couldn’t fail my mission. I couldn’t forget who I really was and why I had been living here.

I quietly slipped out of bed and wrapped my body in a robe before walking out. I had lost my knife, so I made my way to the kitchen for another knife. The whole mansion was dark except for the moonlight filtering through the glass door. I stepped into the kitchen and looked around, searching for a knife. My eyes spotted the metal slot which was placed right next to the stove. I grabbed the sharpest one among them. It would not take time to slice his neck gracefully.

I stepped silently, listening to my heartbeat. My hands become clammy around the metal. It was almost slipping through my hands, but I clutched it tightly and swallowed hard. As I went nearer to his room, my nervousness grew wider.

I entered his room and shut the door behind me, stepping silently. I was ready to kill the man who had killed my family. I was ready to slice his throat and let him bleed out. No one could help him until the morning, and he would bleed out to death. I wanted to kill him the same way that he had killed my father and brother, but I didn’t have enough time and resources.

I crept to the bed and breathed quietly. My eyes caught the frame on the nightstand. It was the picture of Harley, and I felt a twinge of guilt for her. She would become an orphan after that. I quickly shook away this thought and brought out a knife, moving closer to him. “Goodbye, Vivian,” I whispered, and placed a knife right against his neck. You can do it, Kia.

“Bella,” he murmured, and my heart was almost jumping out of my chest. Fuck. Before I could do anything, his arm wrapped around my waist. He pulled me closer to him and crushed me against his rock-hard body.

He murmured his wife’s name once again and smiled sleepily. God, he was dreaming of his wife. Why doesn’t he join his wife? When his hand moved further near to my hand, immediately I left the knife out of my clutch and it fell, hitting the floor.

His eyes snapped open and set on me. He stared at me with confusion across his face like he had expected his wife instead, but a moment later, “What’s that sound?”

I held my breath, thinking about the right word. “Umm, your wife?”

He frowned.

“You were murmuring something like Bella,” that was the right choice of word because his mask disappeared, and sorrow spread across his face. His eyes were expressing many things, but the next moment, his mask was back, and he stared at me coldly.

“Go back to your room,” he ordered me and slipped out of bed, and walked into the bathroom naked. I quickly grabbed the knife and made my way to my room. Killing this man was tougher than I imagined. I had only a week, and I had to figure out a way to kill him. Where the hell was Lucian?

***********

I went downstairs and entered the kitchen. “Good morning, Kia,” Rose greeted me with her forever warm smile.

“Good morning, Rose” I inhaled the aroma of delicious cheesecake. “What are you cooking?”

She checked the temperature of the oven. “What would you like to eat, Honey?” She always asked me this question.

I sat down on the kitchen island. “Can I have cheesecake too?”

“Since Harley is not here, then you are the only one whom I’ve baked for,” she said sweetly.

“And what about me?” Suddenly, David appeared out of nowhere and took a place beside me. “I also want cheesecake.”

Rose glanced at him. “How could I refuse my grandson?”

I looked at her with wide eyes, “Grandson??!” And then turned back to David, “What is the relation between you two?”

“I’m his grandmother,” Rose reached us with two cups of coffee, “When he was twelve, his parents died in an accident, and ever since he has been living with me.”

I looked at David, who was fixing his gaze through his cup. “This must have been so hard for you” I knew the pain of losing someone.

“Not at all,” she said, ruffling her grandson’s hair lovingly.

“Stop it, Nonna,” he snorted while smoothing his hair back. “Don’t do this in front of anyone.”

He said Italian. “Italian, huh?”

“Yes, his father was Italian, and my daughter was American,” Rose replied.

“That means he is Italian too?” I glanced at him, “Do you know how to speak Italian?” Italy was one of my favorite countries and no doubt I was in love with this country. David didn’t reply to me, and I didn’t expect him to reply to me, so I quietly ate my food, ignoring his silence.

“Come stai?” David spoke unexpectedly and surprised me. I quickly looked at him. I knew the meaning of ‘Come stai: how’s it going?’

I let out a shy chuckle. “Molto bene, grazie. E tu?” I replied to him in the same language. ‘Very well, thank you. And you?’

He laughed at my Italian pronunciation. “Bene.” He sipped his coffee. “Do you know Italian?”

“I love to speak Italian” I pushed my hair behind my ear. “You speak fluently.”

“Yeah, I had been there for twelve years,” his grey eyes fell into sadness while his mind thought of his childhood memories.

I didn’t talk to him after that and focused on my breakfast. What was wrong with me? When did I become that frank to the people?

After finishing his coffee, he stood up and went to the sink, putting his cup in, and came back to me leaning against the counter, “My boss has informed me you are going to dinner with him tonight, so be ready at seven. I’ll take you there.”

I took a few bites of my bread before responding to him, “Can’t he come to pick me up?”

“He has so much work to handle, so no, he can’t come.” He said coldly again, back to his cocky attitude. Rose glanced between both of us, and, with an apologetic look, she went back to her work.

“Fine,” I said forcefully.

********

David parked the car in the parking lot where many luxurious cars had already parked, “Where are we?” I glanced at the palace like a house that was decorated in golden and white, “Are we going to have dinner in this house?”

“Yes, this house belongs to one of the boss’s business partners. Today is his twenty-fifth marriage anniversary, so he has thrown a big party.” He adjusted his red-leather jacket before leading me towards the entrance. I looked down at myself. I had worn a red backless lace dress which ended up just above my knees. It wasn’t too short, but it was showing a large part of my naked back.

After walking a few steps, I spotted Vivian leaning against his black Mercedes and talking on the phone. Even after working for twelve hours, he looked, as always, gorgeous in his three-piece suit. When he noticed us, he hung up the phone and gave me full attention. “You look beautiful, Kia,” he said without checking me up and down.

I threw my fake smile. “Thank you.”

He wrapped his arm around my waist, “Let’s go” he looked back at David, “You are also coming with us as Kia’s bodyguard.”

“First you wanted me, her driver and now bodyguard? What the hell is this? I’m not coming...” He stopped in midair after seeing Vivian’s dark expression. He shrugged his shoulders and looked away, “Okay, I’m coming.”

Without another word, we entered the house. Various people were gathered there, chattering and laughing together. God is too noisy here.

“Mr. Miller, it’s good to see you here.” The mid-aged couple approached us, and their faces plastered with wide smiles. He shook Vivian’s hand. “She must be your girlfriend.”

Vivian pulled me closer to him. “Yes, congratulations to you, Mr. Andrews.”

“Thank you. Please have a drink” he said and guided us inside where special arrangements had been made for us, “I have kept in my mind the taste of your joy.” he gave a knowing look to Vivian and then pointed to the end of the hall where a big-busty woman was waving her hand to our direction.

Vivian glared at him. “I have my woman right beside me,” he motioned to me, and I raised my eyebrow in surprise.

After that Mr. and Mrs. Andrews excused us and walked away, “Your woman, huh?” I mocked Vivian. “I hate that woman,” I said while looking at that sexy woman.

“Are you jealous of her beauty?” He teased me.

“Beauty?” I scoffed. “She has nothing good except for her surgical busts” I heard David laugh from behind.

“Surgical busts? What does it mean?” David asked innocently like he knew nothing.

Vivian scowled, “Shut up, David!”

David shrugged his shoulders. “I’ll get my drink,” he said and walked away.

“Hello, Mr. Miller,” a male voice said from the other side, “It’s been a while.” He was stout and a middle-aged man wearing a grey suit.

“Gryphon, I didn’t expect a coward like you here,” Vivian snarled, and his body tensed next to mine.

“It’s bad I’m right here in front of our mafia boss,” Griffin said, and his eyes ran down my body. “You have brought none of your whore to social events. Then what’s new in her?”

For a moment I had urged to punch him right in his face, but seeing Vivian’s expression, he was already on the verge of the burst. His jaw tightened and his fists were clenched.

“Finally, you let go of your dead wife” Griffin’s lips twisted into a sneer, “No doubt she had cheated on you. All because you let her whoring around the city....” His words died when Vivian lunged at him, grabbing him by the throat and slammed against the wall at the same time. He squeezed his throat harder, turning off his breath supply. Few men gathered around them, but nobody dared to step close to them.

Griffin’s face turned red, and blood flooded through his eyes. He fought for his life by kicking and beating him, but in response, Vivian became more brutal. I could see his different personality. He looked dangerous. In the end, Griffin choked on blood and his body went limp. He was dead and I was frozen at my place, swallowing the lump in my throat.

Vivian had killed a man with his bare hand. I could hear the shallow breathing of people due to fear. When he turned to us, his face covered in blood, he reminded me of a hungry tiger. “I won’t leave a single fucker who dares to insult my wife.” He said threateningly and crossed me without a single glance.

“Where is he going?”

David’s face is too fearful. “He needs to calm down. He is not in the right state of mind. The man is angry.

“He can’t kill people around just because he can’t stand his wife’s insult.” We went out.

David’s face darkened with a scowl. “Never say these words in front of him, otherwise he will kill you.”

We sat in the car, “Will he kill me?” He would kill me after knowing my reality, “He fucking around other women. Do you think he still loves his wife?”

He gripped the steering wheel. “It’s not like he is still in a relationship. He can fuck whoever he wants to fuck. Love and sex are different things, Kiara. Love connects the soul of two people and sex connects the body.”

Ugh! “You are talking like a saint” I never expected he could ever talk like that. Again, my mind settled on Vivian. “Does he love his wife that much?” I couldn’t imagine how much he had been in love with his wife. He had strangled a man to death just because he had insulted his wife.

“So much.” He replied but didn’t bother to give details.

I didn’t like to feel this way, but I was feeling jealous of his dead wife. “I can’t believe a man like him is capable of love.”

“Have you never fallen in love?”

“Love makes people miserable. You have seen your boss recently. He has killed a man brutally just because he can’t stand his wife’s disrespect because he was in love with her. I mean, he loves her.”

He chuckled, “I think you should fall in love.”

“Are you flirting with me?” I shot up my eyebrows while giving him a dead look.

“Come on, I don’t flirt with a witch.”

I glared at him coldly, “Shut up if you don’t want me to break your nose!”

He grinned boyishly, “You can’t.”

For a moment, I considered showing him a demo. But I ignored him and fixed my gaze through the window.

*********