Keiran
T HREE YEARS AGO
She was still in her dress when he carried her over the threshold of his modest two-bedroom apartment.
It wasn’t what she deserved.
The couch was secondhand, the lighting too dim, and the place still smelled faintly of sawdust from his last project. She didn’t seem to notice. But did. He wanted to give her chandeliers. Marble floors. A damn penthouse with her name on every deed.
And he would do so.
One day.
He would give her all of those things and more...once it was safe.
But until then...
All could do was hold his wife in a tight embrace as the innocence of her smile cleansed his soul.
“I can’t believe we’re married,” she whispered, eyes wide and awestruck.
Neither can I, thought.
She slowly reached up to touch his cheek. "And this . I can't believe I can touch you—-"
His kiss cut her off, with the sweetness of her words once again his undoing. Her lips parted under his without hesitation, her breath audibly catching as she felt him unzip her dress from behind.
It was a simple little thing, a silk sheath that followed her every curve. She had made an exquisite bride in it earlier, but just like this damn house, their hurried wedding ceremony was far from what his Cadence deserved.
One day, swore to himself. One day he would give her everything. But for now, all he could do was this.
A night solely dedicated to his wife's pleasure, and it began the moment gently laid her down on his bed.
He took his time even as desire raged inside of him. Worshipped every inch of her soft, tender skin with his lips. Ran his fingertips over her sensitive flesh like she was as precious and fragile as porcelain. Lavished attention on the pink buds of her breasts until he had her whimpering and writhing helplessly under his rigid form.
Only then did he enter her, his throbbing shaft piercing the flimsy barrier of her virginity, his mouth swallowing her gasp of shock as her body arched against his.
Her legs wrapped around his waist as he started to move. Her hips meeting his every thrust as he increased his pace.
Mine. Mine. Mine.
Never had he been possessive towards any woman...until her.
His Cadence was the only one for him.
She was his everything.
And when her dazed eyes lifted up to his—-
Yours.
I'm yours.
Always.
What little of his control was left snapped, and surged into her with only one thought in mind.
Mine.
Mine.
Mine.
He pounded into her harder and harder. Faster and faster. And so damn deep that he reached all the way to her womb—-
"!"
She sobbed his name out as she started to come, and he was right behind her, the sound of his name on her lips causing his big, hard body to stiffen just before orgasm took over, and he was filling her with his seed in powerful bursts.
His wife curled against his chest, and could not remember anyone making him feel this tender...and vulnerable.
"I love you."
She mumbled the words as her eyes drifted shut.
But just as he was about to whisper the words back, it was then he heard something.
And he knew then and there they were not alone.
waited for his wife's breathing to become slow and even before carefully slipping out of bed and arming himself.
Across his house stood a woman who looked glaringly out of place in his middle-income neighborhood with her cropped top, tattooed belly, and a leather miniskirt that could easily pass as her underwear.
He had never seen her before this, but when she saw him walking towards her, the woman's expression turned to one of longing.
Ah.
Rule #1 for concocting cover-up stories: keep it simple, stupid.
And was there any easier kiss than an affair between two people?
She handed him a phone without a word, and took it.
"What game are you playing at?" Viktor's tone was cold.
"I'm in love with your sister."
"Fuck you."
"I'll protect her with my life—-"
"You mean you'll try. Because you can also fail, just like you failed in protecting the old man who raised you like a son."
's hand tightened around the phone. "I learn from my mistakes."
"We'll see."
Viktor hung up, and handed the phone back to the woman.
"Any instructions from the boss?" she asked.
"None—-"
Fuck!
The woman had caught him off guard as she managed to land a kiss on his mouth.
"You know how this works," the woman said with a shrug. "No one can know who she is...or who sent me."
Damn her. Damn Viktor. And damn this world they were all born to.
took a shower and brushed his teeth thrice before he felt marginally better about slipping back into bed and pulling his wife into his arms.
"Where have you been?" she whispered.
"I thought I heard a noise in the living room. Nothing to worry about." He kissed the top of her head. "Go back to sleep."
He closed his eyes as well as he said this, and it was why he didn't see the way his wife's face turn ashen...because she had seen him through the bedroom window earlier.
Talking to a woman across his house.
And that woman kissing her husband like she had a right to.
She had seen him do all of these things, and that was why she no longer knew what to think...at the way he so had just lied to her so, so easily.