"How bad was it?"

"Well she yelled at me and hasn't spoken a word to me since we got home"

Don't! You do not get to say you were jealous. Roman, there's something called trust. Marcus is my friend. My friend! Say it with me 'F R I E N D' No! Don't apologize. You always do this. Today was supposed to be my day. My day of being with Chloe, getting to know her better but noo leave it to my husband to do what he does best. If you say sorry one more time, I swear I'll smack you and those bruises on your face will be the last thing to worry about.

He recalled her scoldings word by word. She was pissed, so much that the drive back home was silent. After the fight earlier, both Chloe and her friends as well as he, Mick and Marcus were banned from the store. Nonetheless, the bastard got what he deserved. Mikaella was angry at him for the moment but as time went by she would get over it, he at the moment was concerned about his family.

The idea of leaving LA crossed his mind but what would he tell Mick once she started asking questions? He had been restless since he found out that Ruby Grayson was Marcus' wife. The dude wanted revenge and he clearly wasn't going to back down until he got it.

"No wonder the tuna casserole was salty"

"Yeah I felt it too but I couldn't complain since she was in a mood,"Roman said stretching his legs on his son's bed.

"When she gets like this, the best thing is to woo her. This one time, I ate the chocolate cake she had baked for her bookclub meeting and it didn't end well. I didn't eat chocolate for days"

"What did you do to fix it?"

"I wrote her a card with my crayons, telling her she is the best mom ever then she got emotional and lifted the no chocolate ban in the house"

Roman chuckled, finally seeing that Seth was more like him than Mick. Getting advice from his son seemed like the best thing to do at the moment. There was no way he could rush to Kevin and tell him that the past was back to haunt them. Again there was no way, he could tell a single soul about how his brother had murdered an innocent woman.

No way, that secret was his to keep and he would pretty much take it to his own grave.

"Ok time to sleep. You got school tomorrow"

"Since you and mom are fighting and I gave you some tips, is there a way I could maybe skip school tomorrow?"

"Nice try, kiddo. Sleep" He stood up from Seth's bed slowly covering him with the duvet and ruffling his hair.

"Is that a yesss?" Seth whined and Roman left the room shaking his head unbelievably.

The kid was growing a lot more faster than he had realized.

Gulping the air he needed, he sauntered down the hallway stopping outside his bedroom door. An angry Mikaella sure scared the shit out of him. He turned the door knob, noticing that the lights in the room were off and at the same time thanking God that she was still in their room and not in the guest room.

Getting under the covers, he stared at nothing in particular in the eerie darkness. God! He hoped that she wasn't mad anymore. Scooting to where she slept so soundly, his right hand lay on her waist while her back faced him. Burying his head in her hair, he smelled it loving the aroma of the new shampoo she recently bought. Was it strawberries or raspberries?

xXxXxXxX

"I-I can pick Seth from school today,"he offered tightening his cuff links while watching her seated at her vanity table doing her makeup.

"You don't have to do that. I'll pick him up myself, Raquel's got everything handled and I think I'll get off work early today"

She was being difficult. Wooing her with small things as such wasn't going to work.

"But I insist"

Then silence engulfed the room.

"Fine. Four pm sharp and if you won't make it, James will pick him up like he always does"

God. Women were so difficult, he thought. A simple gesture from him and she couldn't as much as give him a glance. Didn't she know how much watching her applying nude lipstick to her lips enticed him. Her applying lotion to those inviting long legs seduced him. He had a feeling she was punishing him and God damn it, her plan worked. His throat bobbed, every tiny action arousing him.

"How? How long are going to torture me like this?" He asked watching her face in the vanity mirror.

"Till you learn a lesson"

Nearing her, he lay his hands on her shoulders,"Well I've learned my lesson, baby. I'm done being jealous"

Jealous. He was never jealous of Marcus to begin with ok maybe a little bit. Fear was his driving force. He feared Marcus and to what extent he would go just to avenge his wife.

"Words aren't enough to get out of this one. I need to see that you trust me completely"

"Fine I'll do anything. Anything"

"You could start by getting your ass to work"

Still giving him the cold shoulder, putting on his big boy pants he went to work prepared to woo her back come what may.

Work was exhausting as always. Hours and hours of signing documents, handling complaints, again signing documents, skipping lunch to meet with the shareholders and yet with everything done there was still another meeting with the foreign investors.

Roman sat there with a bunch of old geezer checking his watch now and then. Of all the days, this had to happen today. A meeting with men who spoke a language he didn't understand and the hired translator bailing at the last minute with an excuse of getting the flu. Thirty minutes later, a new translator entered the meeting enabling the one hour meeting to proceed.

Convincing the old geezers was tough, they took a further twenty minutes to determine whether the contract itself was legal and binding.

"It's a pleasure doing business with you," Roman concluded taking his phone from his pockets and switching it on.

Five missed calls from Mikaella, an SOS message from her also, three missed calls from Kev and the others from his parents. His heart beat rapidly warning him of something tragic.

Calling the first person, he stared breathless at his screen waiting for her to pick up,

"Mick. W-"

"It's Seth! R-Ro. I- I can't. I simply can't l-lose him," and the screeching noises followed with Mick's cry in the background,

"Bro" Kevin took the phone from Mikaella.

"Kevin. What's going on!"

"It's Seth. Your little man is missing, they haven't asked for ransom yet"

"What do you mean missing? Ransom? My son's been kidnapped?"