She looked so beautiful while fast asleep. Her little snores soared throughout their room and as always she had already yanked the blanket to her side of the bed. So typical of Mikaella!

He wiped away the stray strands of hair from her face, tucking them behind her ear. The pinkish and purplish part of her skin on the neck made him ashamed. Hurting her was the last thing on his mind last night. The sudden urge to make her his yesterday was great.

Maybe the possibility of losing her anytime soon for a mistake he did drove him to insanity. He would protect his family come what may. He once more stared at the hickey on her neck. The mark of his bad behavior was inflicted on her neck and even though she didn't know it everything he did last night, every single act of pleasure on her was to mark her. Claim her as his because he could sense a storm brewing.

A storm that would be brought by Marcus Pierce.

He leaned his head towards her face watching her nose scrunch and her beautiful eyes flutter open.

"W-what time is it?" She asked with a yawn.

"Good morning too baby. How'd you sleep?"

Snuggling closer to him she drew circles on his chest and traced her fingers on his pecks.

"Like a princess,"she smiled and that sure made his day. Sleeping naked with her in their bed, waking next to her was like living in a dream that he didn't want to wake up from.

Yesterday was special and he had in every way tried not to act like a caveman. Seeing her firm breasts, hearing her moan his name awakened the beast in him. And she had loved every minute of it. She had loved every minute of him inside her. Gosh if only they would do that every night, every day, every hour. Mikaella was his core and having made love to her last night proved that he didn't want to lose such an amazing woman.

The phone buzzing against the nightstand, Roman picked it up with Mikaella cooped between his arms.

"Oh come on, it's nice to hear from you Chloe. Pretty soon you'll be part of the family and I guess I have to accept that. A ladies' day out? Why? She has work, I don't think she'll make it. Oh is it a sin now, to want my wife close to me? Fine. Fine"

And he hung up. Mikaella looked at him questioningly,

"What did Chloe want?"

"Something about inviting you to a ladies' day out"

Pulling away from him, Sha smacked him with a pillow,

"And you told her I couldn't make it? You jerk!"

"I thought you didn't want to go" Roman raised his hands in mid air chuckling.

"And why would I not want to? She'll be part of the family soon and like a sister to me"

"I can be your sister and anything you want me to be"

"Get off me, jerk!"

With a good morning of Mikaella blushing at his comments and locking him out from entering the bathroom plus having breakfast with his son, he was off to work.

"Collins I need you to follow her, make sure that she doesn't see you and report to me anyone who comes close to her other than Chloe and her friends "

"Yes sir"

And all he could at the moment was sit back in his office chair concentrate on work and hope that the psycho by the name of Marcus Pierce wasn't as bad as he thought of him to be.

Minutes turned into hours, every board meeting excruciatingly boring to sit in, every interview for the various financial department heads exhausting. Why did he have so much work? Was it the fact that his brother had taken a leave to prepare for the wedding? Leave it to the Cervantes brothers to rush a wedding.

He chuckled a bit coming to terms that within a week, Kevin would be a married man. Another thought came to mind. Was it wise to tell him about Marcus? About his wife? The very thing they had tried to forget for so many years.

No, he couldn't risk it. They would both end up in jail. Kevin would lose his shot of happiness if he were to tell him that the past was back to haunt them.

With his thoughts in disarray, the buzzing of his phone against his huge glass desk brought him back. It was Collins.

"Sir, a man just joined Ma'am Mikaella and her friends. By the looks of it, they know each other"

"Describe to me how the man looks"

"Tall, scruffy brown hair, broad shoulders looks like a cop"

"A cop? Text me her address"

Damn it! He was right in one thing, Marcus knew what he was doing and getting Mikaella was a way of getting back at him and he wouldn't allow it. Not in this life or the next.

Half an hour later, he was standing outside a small boutique having escaped a forty five minutes traffic. Like some crazed man he parked the car infront of the shop got out of the car and practically ran in.

The shop itself looked like a remake of Kimberly's old room. The white shimmering dresses enough to make a man puke, the five inch heels so delicately placed in every rack like fragile glass, the old ladies seated on the L chairs watching other young women he'd presumed to be their daughters trying every gown in the shop and yet no sight of his brunette.

Come to think of it, he was the only man in the room well him plus the weirdly dressed man coming towards him.

"Can I interest you in anything, Sir? Shoes? Gowns? Bridal gowns, Sir? I have the perfect dress for your significant other,"and he touched Roman's shoulder rather oddly.

While he stood there confused by what to say; second guessing the address Collins sent; her laughter hit his ears and he turned around in search of her.

Mikaella was definitely there. With a final look around the room, he spotted her. Laughing while seated at one of the chairs. He spotted Beau, one of Chloe's friends far from where Mikaella. And the rest of Chloe's gang of friends, stood by the shoes aisle gushing over how stupendous some stupid heels were.

His gaze travelled to her bare shoulders. The shoulders that Marcus had his hands on so casually like he owned her. He seethed with fury and without a minute to spare he took long strides to where they sat.

"Roman. W-what are you doing here?"

Mikaella stood up and Marcus stood right next to her.

Their proximity only made him mad. The evil grin on Marcus' face spiked both fear and dread in him. The fear that in just one minute he would do something terrible to her.

"We are leaving. Come on," he grabbed hold of her wrist making her take quick strides on the floor with her heels.

"What?," She sounded behind him. She yanked her wrist from her husband's hold.

"I can't just leave, Roman. Chloe, she needs my help with the gown. What's all this about? If it's about Marcus..."

"Who? That Marcus? The same Marcus that left me on a hospital bed? The same guy I keep on telling you to avoid? That Marcus?!" He shouted and everyone in the boutique stood still and stared at him.

"I-I'm sorry. For yelling. Can we just leave?"

"I'm not leaving Roman"

She huffed, her eyes shaken by his outburst. God knows he didn't want to hurt her. God knows that he was infact protecting her from his mistakes. From his enemies.

"Don't be stubborn, Mikaella. We. Are. Leaving" he said between gritted teeth and while Mikaella opened her mouth to say something, someone beat her to it.

"I think it was clear when she said she doesn't want to leave, Mr Cervantes,"Marcus spoke coming infront of her like some hero.

"This doesn't concern you, deputy"

"Aah, but am afraid it does,"and he got closer to where Roman stood whispering in his ear so much that Mikaella couldn't hear what he was saying,"whatever you feel right now, it's nothing compared to what I fucking felt. I'm not just gonna leave her bleeding in a car on some road, no suree, not even close. Maybe I'll chop her little fingers one by one..."

And not bearing to hear any more of his threats, Roman pounced on him like a wounded tiger. Both men were on the ground Roman throwing the first two punches on Marcus' jaw and Marcus toppling him over again.

"Roman! Stop! Both of you, stop! Marcus, stop!" Mikaella cried helplessly until the security guards came to stop the fight.