In the space of a heartbeat, she found herself running towards the pool, already pulling her slippers and her dress off, on a mission to help save him. She was a very good swimmer and she damn well hoped he was too.

Now clad in just her black lace bra and panties, she resumed her running towards the pool, when suddenly she stopped.

He was smiling.

The fucker was laughing, and smiling, in a water full of life, hungry sharks. No one did that, except they had a back up plan, or a way to escape.

So she forced herself to a stand still, and with her breath held, forced herself to watch, the entire action play out. She hoped to God, that her guts were right about this, and Dominikov Machiavelli was not in fact in any trouble. If not, she'd be watching him get ripped apart by sharks, and not doing anything about it, to help save him.

And for some strange reasons, even with all he'd done to make her life miserable, she didn't want to see him die.

With a sharp intake of breath, Vivienne realized that Dominikov wasn't just a good swimmer, he was a damn expert! With keen eyes, she watched him skid over too sharks at the same time.

All the sharks had surrounded him now. His only move now, was to swim under them, Vivienne guessed, and watched as he did exactly that.

He dived straight down, his side brushing against that of another shark as he decidedly turned left, successfully swimming under them, and then heading back up, as he left their vicinity. Before the sharks could react to the fact that their prey was no longer within their sights, Dominikov had come out of the water.

His sides brushing against that of the sharks, had got to hurt, Vivienne thought, but he didn't seem fazed by it, as he walked towards her.

She briefly wondered at what point, he'd noticed her there, watching him. Because all his focus and concentration had to have been on the sharks, if he didn't want to become shark food.

She was more than left speechless though, at the surprising show of brave effrontery, coming from him.

"Hello Vivienne, why the surprised look on your face? You look like you've seen a ghost" he inquired, the same time he walked up closer to her, until he was finally within the vicinity to pull her shocked body in, for a very long much needed, drugging kiss.

When his lips left hers, it was as if the lid had been lifted from her stunned mouth, and all at once, questions began spewing out.

"What was that? No, even more importantly, where the fuck are we?" She asked incredulously, her mind still not comprehending what had just happened. He truly never ceased to amaze her.

Putting an arm possessively around her waist, he led her over to the pool. The same pool that was filled with sharks, that he'd just come out from

"We're in my home, and we're still in Italy. This is the Italian Machiavellian mansion. In all the Machiavellian mansions around the world, it's one of the biggest and most beautiful."

By the time they reached where the water was, Vivienne had to ask.

"The sharks..." she started

"Are personal pets of mine" he finished off.

"Those things didn't look like pets a few minutes ago. No. these were cold-blooded predators out for your life" she exclaimed out. She was more than shocked, that he could joke lightly about it.

"They simply love to play dirty sometimes. Go on Vivienne, get into the pool. I'm right behind you. I want to show you just how entirely harmless, they are" he encouraged, coming to whisper at her ear, holding her waist from behind.

"you're crazy" Vivienne blurted

"maybe" he answered simply, shrugging against her, and then so unexpectedly, he pushed her into the pool.

"Arrrghhh...!" the only thing she could get out, as her face hit the pool surface.

The sharks immediately surrounded her.

"How's that for crazy now? I'm the leader of the world's leading organization, the order of Machiavelli. So I'm allowed to be a little crazy no? he asked rhetorically, putting on a teasing smile.

"D...Dominkov?" she whispered, not sharing in his joke at all. She was scared out of her mind. Humans, she could handled. She's always handled. But animals? And not just any kind of animal. The predator kind? Was way out of her league. Especially when the battle field had to be water, even though she prided herself on being a great swimmer.

She forced herself to be still, and calm, trying not to make a damn movement in the water. Incase one of them decided the ripples she made in the water looked like those of an actual fish, and decided to eat her instead. She so wasn't buying what Dominikov said, about them being harmless creatures.

"They're curious that's all' Dominikov offered. He broke into a smile. He couldn't help it. The utter distress on her face, was worth smiling over. She, Vivienne Fitzman, all mouth and sass, was actually scared shitless. The look was priceless!

He guessed, now, he knew one of her weak points. She hated animals, especially wild ones. Anytime they were in Italy, and she dared defied him, he definitely knew where to bring her now.

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Author's Note

Alright guys, so this is the first chapter, since like....forever. A really long time...

Hope you guys know that we're about to enter the book 2 of this book? And that it's going to be on a separate book, called THE MACHIAVELLIAN CREED?

I'll let you guys know, when this book is finshing however, and when we're entering the second book. Enjoy the rest of the week...