Wordlessly they sat in the limousine, neither of them spoke anything. Saskia had absolutely no more desire for his explanations. She knew exactly where she was, it was just sex between them and she was so stupid to hope for more. What should he want from her, he could buy everything with his shitty money!

Deeply brooding, she sat facing away from him, hoping they would arrive soon so she wouldn't be so close to him anymore.

Lionel could hardly believe that Deane had supposedly found the missing Monet, he was eager to see the evidence. But as he looked to Saskia, a vague feeling ran through him and he felt sorry that he had been so unfair to her. When he put his hand on her thigh, she winced, which pained him. "I'm sorry Saskia, I didn't mean to be like this to you, can you forgive me?"

Slowly she turned to him and looked into his eyes, which seemed to look at her honestly. Saskia was torn, she loved him. But could she let him get away with anything because of that? But not forgiving him when he was already apologizing to her, she didn't think was okay either.

"You hurt me with your statement," she said, slightly reproachful.

"I know and I'm sorry," he apologized again while stroking her cheek.

She closed her eyes and enjoyed his caresses when she unexpectedly felt his tender lips on hers. This kiss was different from all the previous ones. It was tender and seemed to be full of love, but Saskia didn't want to believe it. Still, she couldn't help but lose herself in this kiss.

Lionel couldn't get enough of her tender lips and continued to deepen the kiss until it became more and more passionate. What was wrong with him? He didn't recognize himself anymore. He was already lusting after Saskia again, even though he had already slept with her today. Slowly he detached himself from her and looked into her lusty eyes, she was probably feeling the same way, he thought.

It was not far until they would arrive at the Shahbandar Media Group building. Saskia leaned against the lord for the remaining time, enjoying his closeness and the peace that would surely not last long. Lionel pressed her against him and gently stroked her back. It was unusual for him to let someone get so close. Usually he was not the cuddly type, but Saskia made him discover new feelings in himself.

For Sia's taste, they had arrived much too quickly and it was already time to get out of the limousine. As soon as they stepped out of the Rolls-Royce, they behaved as usual and you couldn't tell that there was more going on between them.

Shahbandar wanted Saskia to be present at the meeting with Harry Deane so that she could also learn everything about the missing painting. As soon as they arrived at the office, he used the stand telephone to call the art curator so that he would come immediately.

It wasn't long before the glass door opened and Deane stood at the entrance, his gaze lingering longer on Saskia, who looked at him questioningly as a result.

Lionel had seen the look on Harry's face and he didn't like it at all. "Come in and get right to it!" he said to him even more unfriendly than usual as a result.

Deane stood even straighter and cleared his throat briefly, not expecting to have to deal with more attentive ears. He would have preferred to meet the lord alone, but that plan had unfortunately fallen through due to the chubby girl.

"Well," he began his rehearsed speech, "I tracked down a certain PJ Puznowski. She supposedly has the original painting 'Haystack at Sunset' by Monet hanging in her home."

"What nonsense, Deane!" exclaimed Lionel angrily as he was handed the photograph and looked at it. "It's clearly a fake, why else would it just be hanging there, in a fucked up trailer," he added more sarcastically.

Harry tried to keep calm, after all, he didn't want to make a mistake now!

"But I already contacted Miss Puznowski and rechecked her ancestors! Since the war, this painting was considered lost and a relative of hers was supposedly involved in it," he tried to continue his strategy, "Puznowski is already on her way to England and she already has the painting with her. We can check it for authenticity."

Saskia thought Harry looked very nervous, but Lionel had also fallen silent by now and was staring at the picture in front of him. Slowly she approached and looked over his shoulder so she could catch a glimpse of it as well.

On this photo was a pretty blonde, with an old woman on the sofa. Above, on the admittedly really fucked up wall, hung a painting. It looked remarkably similar to the painting Lionel had in his gallery, except that the lighting mood was different.

"Well, have her come and we'll look at the painting together," he concluded the meeting with his curator. Saskia just looked up and thought she saw a triumphant glint in Dean's eyes, but it could have been pure deception.

Saskia took a deep breath, a vague feeling running through her as Lionel still stared at the photograph in his hand. Was he just looking at the painting on it, or was he staring at the blonde. She would probably never know.

"Well, I could use a coffee right about now," Sia said aloud to bring the old lion out of his trance.

Sure enough, he immediately raised his head and nodded in acknowledgement, which was more than enough for her to make her way to the break room.

Today she took extra time and dawdled a bit. Something wasn't right, she had a weird feeling about this whole thing. But probably she was just jealous that shortly this blonde would come. She chided herself inwardly and forbade herself further thoughts in this direction. She could never change the course of events anyway.

Professional again, completely focused on work, she walked into his office with the tray and set the coffee down in its usual place.

Lionel immediately got up from his office chair and walked with long steps to his sofa and promptly sat down with Saskia. He could not and would not keep his fingers off her and touched her leg again, stroking slowly up and down.

"Not here, old lion," she said to him softly, breathing heavily.

"Sassy, this is my company and I do what I want here..." he replied with eyes glittering with lust and lowered his lips to hers, forgetting the coffee before them.

Harry Deane had forgotten the photo in Shahbandar's office and was going to get it back. When he was about to knock, he looked through the glass and saw his boss making out with his assistant like there was no tomorrow....

His first instinct was to disturb them, but he thought of something much better...

He quickly turned around so that neither of them could see him. But probably a truck could have driven through and they would not have noticed it.