A/N: Hi guys! I just want to thank all the people who bought their own copies of my book SHE'S MINE, EXCLUSIVELY MINE! I appreciate it. I hope you could recommend it to your friends as well. :)

HAPPY READING!

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MARCO's POV

I couldn't react right away and didn't know what to do either. She looked past me and her eyes grew wider in shock.

"W-What is this all about, Marco?" She asked, stuttering. Judging from her reaction, I knew that she already saw what was inside the room behind me because the door was still open. I didn't notice that she followed me all the way here. What is she doing here? How come I didn't notice her tailing me?

I was about to answer when one of my men came. He looked tense.

"I'm sorry, Unu. I didn't want to let her in but she insisted. I cou—" I lifted a hand, signaling him to stop talking and then motioned for him to leave us alone.

"Answer me, Marco." Maggie demanded quietly. I closed my eyes for a moment and then took a deep breath, unable to think any proper response. After a couple of seconds, I opened my eyes and was about to close the door behind me when she stopped me.

"Why are you closing that door? Do you want to hide what's in there from me?" I could hint the anger in her voice but she was obviously controlling her negative emotions as well. I met her gaze.

"Yes, I don't want you to see it. If it's possible, I would erase what you just saw from your memory because I don't want to involve you in this kind of things." Her lips parted as she tried to say something but no words came out of her mouth.

I slowly closed the door and then went closer towards her. I was about to touch her but I instantly pulled back my hand. After what I did just a while ago, I felt like I was too dirty to even hold her hand.

"My queen..."

"Tell me, Marco. What did you do to that guy?" She was staring at me as if I was a criminal or something and it hurt me inside. This was what I've feared for to happen. I didn't want her to stare at me like I was a monster that was why I chose to keep everything secret from her.

"My queen—"

"—I want to hear answers now, Marco! I've been very understanding and patient even though you've been keeping things from me from the start of our relationship. I didn't say anything and chose to understand you, hoping that you would eventually open-up to me but I was wrong. You still keep on doing things behind my back, and now, I finally grew tired of it. I followed you here because I wanted to know what was going through your mind. I was worried what you might do out of anger. Now, I want you to tell me what's happening here. Did you beat that guy up?" She said wearily and I felt guilty.

I've decided to be honest with her but I kept on keeping secrets from her because I was afraid. Now, she's hurting because of me. I don't want her to feel like this, but I guess, there are things that I can't control no matter what I do.

"I didn't beat him up. I came over here to make him talk. I wanted to extract the information that I wanted to hear from him myself and I succeeded. He finally spilled the beans." I inhaled and then exhaled before continuing. "I'm sorry for making you feel this way, my queen. I didn't mean to make you feel sad." I said apologetically.

Her face softened a little bit. "What is the information that you wanted from him?"

"I wanted to know who sent them to the restaurant to kill us." I answered honestly without any hesitation. Her eyebrows creased.

"Did he tell you who was behind it?" She asked and I couldn't answer right away, hesitating to tell her about it because I didn't want her to even think of Apollyon, but then, I didn't want to lie anymore.

"He said, it was Apollyon." Her eyes widened in shock.

"A-Apollyon? You mean—?"

"Yes, my queen. It was Keith." She was speechless for a couple of seconds.

"Is this really his true nature? Killing people without any hesitation just to achieve what his goal?" She questioned in disbelief. I shrugged my shoulders.

"I already told you before. His true nature is far from the Keith that he showed you every second that you spent with him. He's nothing but a greedy b*stard who worships nothing but money and power."

"Why did he have to do that? Your parents took him in, treated him as their own child. I don't understand how he could do all these." She said confusedly.

I released a breath. "Because he already knew that he already lost to me. He's surely furious by now because his plans are already ruined." Her eyebrows knitted together.

"What do you mean? What plans?" My heartbeat became faster again. I slipped. I was afraid to tell her everything because she would surely get mad at me. And worse, she might leave me.

I was about to answer her question when the door behind me opened and Falcon came out.

"Unu, Dui messaged me. He said that he's in an important mission right now. He said, he will call you tonight when he gets home." He informed me. Maggie shifted her gaze to him, stunned. Falcon was still topless and there was blood stains on his body. I wanted nothing but to punch him because he showed himself in that state to Maggie.

"Hi, Maggie. I didn't know that you're here." Falcon greeted which made me more furious.

"What happened to you, Falcon? What have you done to that man? Don't tell me, you already k-killed him?" Maggie asked in horror. He was about to answer when I interrupted.

"Falcon..." I uttered dangerously and gave him a sharp glare. He swallowed.

"I'm sorry, Maggie but I need to go back inside now." He said and then went back inside the room. Maggie looked at me in disbelief.

"Tell me, Marco. Did Falcon already kill that guy?" Her voice was trembling. "Please, tell me that you didn't kill him." She begged. I groaned inwardly. I couldn't take watching her with that kind of expression. It was killing me.

"No, my queen. We didn't but he will get what he deserve after this."

"What do you mean by that?"

"This is not the right time for me to tell you everything. Let's go, my queen. We need to go back to the hospital." I was about to hold her hand but I pulled back my hand when I realized that my hands were soiled. I groaned inwardly.

She gave me a confused stare but she didn't utter a word. She just shook her head!!!! In silence.

"Wait for me here, my queen." I said and then opened the door at the left side of the corridor. I went inside to wash my hands properly in the bathroom. I felt like I didn't have the right to hold my queen after what I just did.

I soaped and washed my hands thoroughly before drying them off with a clean towel. I wanted to laugh at myself. Even though I washed my hands properly with soap and water, that didn't mean that I already washed away all the dirty things that I've committed in the past.

"Why did you wash your hands?" I heard Maggie ask behind me. I swallowed hard. I didn't expect that she actually followed me inside. I slowly turned around to face her and then forced a smile.

"I just felt the need to clean my hands. Don't worry, we will not kill that guy. I know that you have a lot of questions right now and I understand if you get mad at me for not telling you everything but this is the best for the moment." I cupped her face and then stared lovingly into her eyes. "I'll stick to my promise to you, my queen. I'll tell you everything when the right time comes, but not now. I need to talk to my father first because I need to clarify some things so let's go back to the hospital." I pecked her lips with a kiss as I stared at her beggingly.

She looed at me in disbelief but then she sighed before slowly nodded her head. While we were inside the car, on our way to the hospital, Maggie remained quiet and I understood why. She already saw our headquarters, but she didn't ask any questions about it.

Even when she saw what was inside and all my men there, she remained silent. I should feel relieve but for some reason, her silence was scaring me.

"Are you still mad at me, my queen?" I hesitantly asked. She released a breath.

"Honestly, I don't know what to feel anymore. Yes, we're married and you're my husband now. I thought everything was perfect these past six months since we got married but I was wrong. I realized that you never trusted me enough nor opened up to me. I thought I already knew the real you but it turned out that I was wrong. What happened today proved me so." I could hint the sadness and bitterness in her voice even though she was trying to hide it from me.

"I've always been honest to you, Marco, and you know that. I don't like what's happening to us right now. I hate the fact that you've never opened yourself to me even though we're now married. When we started this relationship, I told you beforehand that I hated secrets." She continued as tears brimmed in her eyes.

I wanted to punch myself. I've promised her to make her the happiest and to be honest with her at all times but I failed to do so.

I took her hand and then kissed it. "Please, don't cry, my queen, because it hurts me double seeing you sad because of me." I begged.

She looked up, trying her best to blink back the tears. She didn't respond so I decided to maneuver the car on the shoulder of the road and then turned off the engine to talk properly to her. I caressed her cheek with the back of my hand.

"Are we going to stay like this, Marco? We're still in our sixth month of marriage but your secrets are already affecting me—us to the point that I had to stalk you just to know what you're keeping from me." She uttered with a small voice and then bit her lower lip as a lone tear fell from her eye. I felt like a heel hurting her like this.

"Shhh...Please, don't cry. Please." I pleaded. I cupped her face and then rested my forehead against hers. "I have a lot of things that I wanted to confess about me to you but fear always consumes me before I even start telling you about it. I know that I failed to do my promise but I won't let this happen again. You're right. We're married now so I should always be honest to you at all times. Just let me confirm something from my father first before telling you everything, my queen, please?"

She squeezed her eyes shut. "I don't know why but I feel like you're hiding something even bigger than all of these. I have this feeling that if you tell me everything, I would get hurt more than I already have, and I'm scared. For some reason, even though I want to know everything, something inside of me is telling me that it's better for me to not know it because I will just get hurt."

"You know why I couldn't tell you everything easily?" I asked tenderly. She shook her head.

"Because I knew from the start that you would get hurt if you discovered everything and I'm so scared. I'm scared that I might lose you if you really get to know the real me, my secrets and all the things that I've committed in the past before we even met. You're the best thing that ever happened to my life and I don't want you to leave me." I confessed emotionally. She opened her eyes and met my gaze.

"Please, my queen. Let me talk to my father once again before we continue discussing about this." I pleaded once again and to my surprise, she nodded her head.

"Thank you, my queen." I captured her lips with a passionate kiss. She closed her eyes and kissed me back. I felt relieved. I thought she would reject my kiss but she didn't. The kiss the full of love even after what happened.

"I love you." I whispered lovingly when our lips parted. Her eyes sparkled with happiness but there was sadness too.

"I love you too, Marco. So much that I don't know what to do if I discovered that you deceived me in any way." She bit her bottom lip and then looked down. My heart tightened, knowing the fact I deceived her without her knowing it.

After our short talk, we drove to the hospital. Just when we got there, my father woke up but the visiting hours already finished so we had to go home after that. I brought Maggie to my home for the first time.

"This is your house?" She asked in awe when we entered inside. I chuckled. At last, she finally spoke. She'd been awfully quiet after our talk a while ago.

I hugged her from behind and then rested my chin on her shoulder.

"Nope. This is our home, my queen, because I bought this house for us." I answered and then kissed the side of her neck. She craned her head to look at me.

"I thought this had been your house for almost two years already?"

I smiled. "You're right, it was but I bought it thinking that one day, we would live here as husband and wife, together with our children."

Her lips gaped in surprise. I planted a soft kiss on her lips because she looked so cute with her expression. At last, the atmosphere between us became lighter.

"You went to that extent even though you weren't sure if we would end up together?"

"I didn't think that way, my queen. In my mind and heart, I was already convinced that you were destined to be mine one day and it came true because you're now Mrs. Pearce-Alessi."

A small smile appeared her lips. "Hearing that made me so happy but for reason, I'm scared too." She admitted. My eyebrows knitted together.

"Why?"

"Because even though I love you so much, I still don't know the real you. I'm afraid that if you tell me everything about you, I might not be able to accept you." She answered in an almost inaudible voice. I was left speechless for a couple of seconds.

I buried my face on the crook of my neck. "You're wrong, my queen, because whenever I'm with you, I'm the best version of myself. This is the real me. You made me a better man. I was able to get out of the darkness because you came into my life. Please, don't ever think that you don't know the real me because that's not true.

"I know that you might have the hard time accepting me if you discovered the truth about me but I won't give up on us. I will do everything for you to forgive me because you're my sunflower, my happiness." Our eyes locked together.

"Please, always remember that I love you so much, my queen." I pleaded before kissing her lips. She moaned seductively and then turned around to face me. The kiss that we were sharing was full of love.

I scooped her up onto my arms and carried her upstairs, to our room. I deposited her on the king-sized bed, all the while staring right into her eyes.

"Love me, Marco. Erase all these negative emotions inside of me before I go insane." She breathed and I gladly obliged, knowing that after this, our relationship might not be the same again.

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What do you think will happen next?

If you were Maggie, would you get mad if you discovered that Marco hasn't been honest to you from the beginning? 

Could this be the start of the destruction of their Relationship?

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