"Thank you for what you did back there but you shouldn't have, we cannot afford to spend money frivolously"
Daniel scowled at her, "even though our marriage is just on paper, you are still my wife and I won't let anyone look down on you"
"But the money..."
"I might not be a billionaire but I earn enough to take care of my wife" he snapped
"I thought you were a broke ass" she muttered underneath her breath but her words filtered into his ears and he glared at her
"Still going by the rumors huh"
Daniel asked but got no reply from Bella. Bella had stopped and was hungrily staring at a shop where they sell meals, the aroma of it had waved through her nostrils and her stomach responded by growling furiously, reminding her that she hasn't eaten anything since she woke up. She contemplated using the twenty dollars Joana had thrown at her since she didn't use it to buy clothes like she had wanted to.
"Let's go and order for something" Daniel said from her side and held her by the arm. He led her into the restaurant.
"Hmmmm" Daniel stared at his wife as she ate like her life depended on it, she coughed and hit her chest with her fist, "come on, people will think that I have starved you for years, eat slowly, will you?"
Two spots appeared on her cheeks and that was the only indication that she heard him otherwise, she just kept gulping her food. He made a face when she licked the sauce off her fingers, damn, this wife of his was embarrassing him in front of everyone, people were staring already, it seems like she has forgotten that this is a public restaurant. Daniel made no effort to eat his as he just folded his arms and watched her eat.
"How old are you?" He asked and she glanced up at him as she finally licked the last morsel of sauce off her plate
"I am twenty-three"
"You are still very young but you're not a child you know" confusion etched her forehead as she stared at him, "you eat without reservation and wipe those food stains off your mouth will you" he growled and again, two spots of color jumped to her cheeks
"I...I... I'm..."
"Save your stuttering" he cuts her off and gave her a napkin
"Where do you come from?" He asked once again, this time, he has the intention of getting to know a bit about the woman he married, it's odd that his very efficient manager could not get anything on her, more like she wiped off her slate off the internet
"Excuse me" Bella asked as she shifted uncomfortably in her seat and wiped her mouth with the napkin that he gave her
"I think you know what I mean"
"Er..I... I'm from far away" she replied shortly, the lesser he knows about her the better. She can't tell him that she murdered someone and that the police might be looking for her neither can she tell him about Jeremy
He leaned closer and stared deep into her eyes, "faraway, I see, and may I know the name of this faraway place?"
"Why are you suddenly asking me questions?" She retaliated, hoping that her feigned vexation will make him drop it
"I am asking you because you are my wife, I need to know the woman I married"
"Our marriage is one of convenience, it is just on paper and nothing more, wasn't that what you said to me?" Now, it was Daniel's turn to frown in confusion
"What has that got to do with anything?" He asked coldly, wondering if she is hiding something from him
"It simply mean that we shouldn't care about each other's personal life, I won't ask anything about you and you won't ask anything about me"
"So far a man doesn't pop out from the blue claiming you are his"
"It goes both ways"
Daniel shrugged and signaled to the waiter so that he could settle their bills, he couldn't help feeling a little annoyed by her brush off. She is smart enough to use his own words against him, their marriage is just on paper and no need to start asking questions about each other's personal life.
*
*
Daniel's cell phone rang just as he was about to enter the house, a glance at the caller id assured him that it was a call he couldn't ignore, "go in, I need to answer this call" he said to Isabella and moved away from her before tapping on the receiver
"What is it Aaron?"
"Boss, Rollo has been found"
Daniel gritted, clenched his teeth at the hearing of that name, then clenched and unclenched his fist, "Where is he?"
"He was hiding in one of his uncle's house but he is now in the moon house, Marcus has him"
"Good job, I am on my way" he snapped as he hung up.
The moon house is where he always takes criminals like Rollo to deal with. Apart from being a billionaire businessman, one thing people do not know about Daniel is that he is the king of the underworld. In the underworld, he goes by the name Nikolai Klaus and at the mention of that name, every mob in the underworld trembles, none had actually seen Nikolai Klaus' face, they only hear about him and rumors have it that those who actually gets to see his face never lived to describe him.
He runs his business anonymously and he likes it that way, apart from Aaron and Marcus who knows he is a multi billionaire the owner of many multi international companies and also the most feared king of the underworld, no one actually knows him and those who know him as Daniel thinks he is a broke ass jerk. And both Aaron and Marcus would rather die than to reveal the identity of their savior.
Daniel once rescued Marcus family from the hands of a loan shark who vowed to wipe off the whole of his family if Marcus didn't pay him the money he was owing, quite a huge amount of money anyways, but try as Marcus would, he couldn't get it before the due date and both his pregnant wife and little girl has been taken by the loan shark, Marcus was shot to on the leg and left to bleed to death but he tried to follow the vehicle that carried his family and ended up passing out on the road and Daniel was the person who found him in that state, treated him and helped him get his family back, his wife delivered a baby boy on the day that she was rescued and for that, Marcus has pledged loyalty to Daniel. As for Aaron, Daniel was not quick enough to save his family but he had save Aaron when he was just about to commit suicide after his wife and son had died in a hit and run accident, he was devasted and didn't want to go on living but Daniel made it possible for him to overcome that traumatic pain and helped him seek revenge on the hit and run driver who killed his wife and son, since then, he had stuck to Daniel's side like glue and see him as his god.
The moon house is situated in almost at the end of the world and impossible for just anyone to locate it, Daniel eyes narrowed as he got to his hanger where he always parked his private jet, time to fly over, he can't wait to get his hand on that bastard who dared to steal from him.