.two.

Luke watched her with a scowl.

Expensive jewelry adorned her neck, brass bangles on her arms. She was beautiful and slender, her hips rising from the curve of her waist like a small bell. She wore the most expensive clothing in Sydney--in all of Australia--and her two piece swim suit clung to her like a second skin, seaweed from the tide wrapped around her legs and feet. And even then she appeared like a Goddess to him.

His eyes were forever drawn to his beloved Katherine. She could enter a room, and he would lose focus in a split second, his mind moving wherever she went. His spirit walking in the echoes of her footprints, wishing he could hold her hand and go wherever she were going...even if only, to another room.

"Move her, now." Luke ordered sternly, signaling a nearby body guard, dressed in an expensive black and white suit, gun ready and tucked away by his side to defend his boss from any threat. So sad to be them, Katherine thought to herself as she watched the guard approaching her, only following orders like everyone else around her. So sad to stand knee deep in so much beauty, never to actually enjoy it. Her husband was cruel like that. Cruel to everyone...including her.

The body guard grabbed Katherine by the arm with a gently force as though she were a porcelain doll and pulled her to her feet. Another had walked over quickly and pulled the seaweed from her ankles, as though she were a crystal doll to be handled and treated with utmost care. But neither of them ever looked her in the eyes or even touched her anywhere other than her arms. None of Luke's employees were able to look or talk to her without his permission. He liked to keep her hidden away from the rest of the world. He liked to be the only one who got to see her, talk to her, touch her.

Her head tilted up and Luke turned away before their eyes could meet one another. He seldom met her eyes anymore, he couldn't bear to see the emptiness, desperation and hatred he found in them. Hate that only appeared when she looked at him, at him and no one else. Katherine gave him a resentful stare as she fingered the jewelry around her neck. Jewelry she had fastened about her happily at one point, believing it to be a gift.

But as it turned out, it wasn't a gift at all. It was something that came with a heavy price--her freedom. The necklace given to her by her husband contained an electrical signal embedded in some of the stones and that prevented her from leaving the castle--as Luke liked to call it. It was their home, a grand mansion in the countryside near the outskirts of Sydney. It prevented her from moving beyond the garden.

Luke hadn't meant to hurt her. He simply didn't want her to leave him, he could not even bear the thought. Without the necklace he knew that she would go far away and never return. She would devastate their children, sacrificing their happiness for her own. It wasn't that she didn't love them, it was the fact that she hated him just that much. Enough to leave her own children behind just to escape--or that was what he thought, that she would be capable of leaving their kids. But somehow--in the back of his mind--he sensed she couldn't. Thinking him a murderer of innocent people. Which in reality, it was exactly what he was, he thought, the blood in his veins running cold.

He slowed in his stride, allowing her to walk past him, nose in the air as she ignored him coldly. So bitter, he thought to himself, his heart breaking at her indifference towards him. And there was nothing he could do to change things. Nothing he could do to change what was already done. What did she want from him? Did she want him to be the one who died instead of being the one doing the killing? He thought he did what he had to do in order to survive. Why couldn't she just understand him and move past it? But she always had to be on the side of justice, no matter if it was him she was against.

The twins pushed past him as well, racing to their mother's side, each taking a hand. Kristian whined then tugged the side of her gown. She pulled him from the ground to rest on her hip, while Kristiane hurried behind her mother, reaching just the same, longing to be held too. Kristiane wasn't the only one.

Luke raced ahead, scooping the small girl into his arms. Despite the children being mostly afraid of him, his daughter was the one who usually warmed up to him first. Of the three, she was the one who most loved him. Kristiane calmed down, brown eyes on the brink of tears. He turned to Katherine and saw her shoulders stiffen at his close proximity. Again, there was a prick in his chest at her cold response.

His lips tightened as he mentioned to her, his voice a bit unsure. He never really knew how to approach her anymore. "I'll be leaving for a few days tomorrow."

"Good." Came her short reply. Murderer, her brown eyes accused him. She still could not let go of the past.

His shoulders fell in dismay. He was clearly upset at her words. But the hurt quickly turned to anger. which was what mostly fueled his heart for some time now. "Don't fall asleep. I'll be visiting your bedroom tonight."

"As you wish." She coldly mocked him. "King Arthur."

That was typical of how their love making started on most nights. He'd warn her some hours ahead to mentally prepare herself for his visit whenever he had needs. He would arrive, she'd wear cold cream on her face, or some other appallingly disgusting mixture or toxic smell, if only to cause him more annoyance at her. He would order her to remove it, and she would come back to bed, fresh as an ocean breeze. He would hold her, kiss her, love her.

And Katherine would pretend she was dead. At least until it was over.

Then Luke would back out of her room unable to tear his eyes away from the soft image of her body sprawled beneath the stream of moonlight that shone through her window. But alas, there was product to sell and manage, there was people to kill, and a kingdom to run. He couldn't linger there forever, wanting what he would never have again.

-

so i cut the first two chapters in half because they were way too long, and like i mentioned before, this was one of the many things that bothered me about this story. the first chapters were too long, and then the rest were either too short or moderate length. but i'm going to fix this too as i go along. 

thank you all for reading and supporting this story. it means a lot to me. 

i'll try to go through the corrections i have for this story as quickly as possible. originally, this story was seventeen chapters. but with additions and new information i will write for it, i hope and i anticipate that it will be about fifty chapters when it ends.

-clary