I sit back on the lounge chair in the corner of our bedroom watching Dani braid her hair absently. She looks deep in thought after just having a conversation with Torey and Brooks. I'd watched her facial expression as she spoke to them, her mannerisms. She'd continuously wrung her wrists which they couldn't see. I'd wondered if either of them knew that nervous, uncomfortable habit of hers.

Half of me wants to ask her about it and the other half tells me to mind my own business, keep my nose out of their relationship. What's between the three of them has nothing to do with me. Their dynamic doesn't involve me. I'm the fake fiancé. Anything between me and Daniela is superficial, at least it's supposed to be.

My eyes roam over her petite form, the subtle curves of her slim body clad in a thin silk night dress, and a deep frustrated breath leaves me. The crimson color against her olive skin screams seduction in the most delicate of ways. Because that's what Daniela is— she's delicate.

Playing house with someone like her became harder and harder each day. Our little game of pretend was more blurred with each passing one of them, with each and every night she spent in my arms. The times where she'd cry and find solace in my arms, cling to my chest like I'm a life raft, the only thing keeping her head above water, that made it especially hard not to actually feel something for her. Then the happy moments we had with Wolf that were filled with smiles and laughter. All of those things had planted a seed inside of me, one that I hadn't wanted to register previously, but like a creeping vine, it'd slowly found its' way into a place that it shouldn't, that it can't.

Daniela turns to me with a soft smile, those grey eyes of hers looking at me in the same manner, like velvet plush. It makes my insides churn in a way that it really fucking shouldn't. She strolls idly over to me, playing with the hem of her dress, an action that has my eyes wandering to it, more specifically to the skin of her naked thighs.

I want to push that lacy hem of her dress up as I pull her onto my lap, kiss her with everything in me. I want to feel her lips against mine, her tongue pushing into my mouth as her hands wander my body, touch me in a manner they never have. I want all of that and so much more from the woman who's now standing in front of me.

But I can't want that— her.

I swallow uncomfortably and make myself look away.

"You haven't dressed for bed yet, why's that?" I close my eyes at the sound of her voice because it does nothing but make all of that want come pummeling to the forefront of my mind. "You even have your suit jacket on still." She palms the lapel the runs her fingers along it before pulling away. It makes me want to snatch it back and pull her body into my lap. "Do you have plans this evening?" Not trusting my voice, I give her a brisk nod. "Oh." The noise sounded disappointed but that could just be me imagining things. "Tris?" My eyes flicker to hers in response to my nickname, one that she's gotten accustomed to frequently using. "Are you alright?"

I clear my throat before answering, "yeah, of course. Why wouldn't I be?" Her brow furrows slightly as she looks me over knowingly and then she shrugs. "I'm fine, Dani."

"Are you sure? You seemed kind of off after, uhm," she fidgets, doing that fucking thing with her wrists again, "after the, uhm, talk tonight." I purse my lips and shake my head in disagreement. Those greys look me over in a manner that let me know she doesn't believe me. "Tristan, what is it?"

I stand up and walk away from her with, "I've got to go talk to Malyssa." At least I was going to try and talk to her. Agelos hadn't mentioned anything about the prisoner to me other than the fact that there was one. The perpetrator had been caught. "I'll see you later."

"Do you want me to wait up for you?" The question was asked so honestly it hit me in a way it shouldn't. Regardless of not wanting to feel sentimentalities, I felt them all the same.

"No, I might be a while."

"Something is off with you." I try and give her a reassuring smile with a casual shrug, like I have no idea what she's talking about. It only makes her frown more. "I can tell something is off with you, Tristan."

"It's nothing you have to worry about." Perks of being in a fake relationship, I suppose. She doesn't actually have to give a shit. To be fair, neither do I. "Get some rest." I wrap my arm around her shoulders and give her a brisk hug before leaving.

I crack my neck on one side and then the other, trying to release all of the fucking tension in my body, at least some of it. All of the Daniela-related thoughts I push to the back of my brain. There's no room for any of that right now. My judgement needs to be the farthest thing from clouded.

Walking down the corridors that will lead me to where prisoners are kept I'm met with the lingering glances that I've become accustom to. Once I'm at the door I'm met with a guard who doesn't even question why I'm there. He just opens it up wordlessly. Being Daniela's fiancé, future son-in-law to Dedaj, had everyone treating me like I'm royalty. Royalty that scares the absolute shit out of people.

It doesn't take long to figure out which room holds Malyssa. Remy, Ram, and the boss himself are standing outside of it. "Tristan, what brings you down here?" I'm asked once I reach the three of them. "Want to get your hands dirty like the good old days? Or are you sitting too high up there on your pedestal?"

"Ram, shut your mouth. That's my future son-in-law you're talking to. One day he may well be your boss." That has the shit-eating grin wiping right off his face. "He does make a point though, Tristan. Why have you come down here?"

"Ram also made another point. It's been a while since I've been involved in any real action." Remy snickers under his breath but the death glare Dedaj throws at him has him shutting up. "Just thought I could be of use with the new prisoner is all. Do we know who it is?" He looks me over thoughtfully for a moment before a sinister smirk places itself on his face. "Someone important, then?"

"Malyssa Ricci." I make a face of mock surprise. "The foolish bitch thought she could just waltz her way in here and take my grandson. She's not the woman she once was, that's for sure." He pulls a rag out of his back pocket and wipes his knuckles that I'm now realizing are covered in blood. "Care to take a crack at her yourself?"

"I'd like nothing more than to look that cunt directly in the face. She fucking killed my family. Her and her partners." I spit on the ground to show my disgust. My automatic response is much to his liking, I can tell.

He clasps my shoulder with, "consider her death my wedding present to you. I can't think of an ending more fit for the bitch than being taken out by a Marling. Come, let us have a conversation with her." He opens the door and nods his head for me to take the lead. When I enter I immediately regret it because there she is, her underwear and bruises the only thing she's wearing, as she suspends in the air by her wrists. Her toes are just touching the floor. "I've brought a friend here for you." Her head lulls from side to side, like she's barely hanging on to consciousness. "This is Tristan Marling." Her eyes manage to find mine at that. They're a touch fiercer and colder than I'd expected a nearly unconscious person's eyes to be. "He's going to be Wolf's stepfather. Can you imagine that, Malicious, a Marling raising your kin?"

"I'll kill you." She manages to rasp around swollen, bruised lips. "I'll kill you both."

"I doubt that, darling." He walks up to her, patting her black and blue face much harder than necessary. "I'm going to let the two of you have a little chat." He jerks her head backward by her hair which has her crying out in pain. It takes everything in me to not look away from the sight. "Now be a nice bitch or he may not be as friendly as I've been." He brings his lips close to her ear and murmurs, "and he was trained by your dead son too." He lets her go, shoving her body forward, making it jerk against the chains. He leaves the room without another word.

It's quiet for a moment, her eyes just scanning me from head to toe. There's a strange look of satisfaction on her face. "You look nothing like a Marling." She's right. I look nothing like my mother nor does my brother. We resemble our father's side of the family, not that we know much of anything about the man. We weren't even named after him. "You do have a familiar look about you, from what I can see." Which says very little since one of her eyes is nearly swollen shut. "Interesting."

"Luke told me to tell you that he's furious with you." It was the first thing he told me to tell her. "Aside from that, he wants to know what you were thinking and why you deviated from the previous plan."

"Well, for starters, he told me about you. So, already having someone on the inside, was a key factor in this situation. Luke being Luke didn't want Denver or me to do anything reckless which lead to exactly that. But I have you and Dani." She's thoughtful for a moment. "At least I think I have you both."

"Elaborate."

"What was Dedaj on about with the stepfather thing?"

"Daniela and I are engaged." Her swollen eyes somehow manage to widen which has me holding up my hands in defense. "It's a fake engagement but real to those who want to believe it, for all intents and purposes." Excluding any of the previous things, feelings from just before coming here. "Luke and Denver are back in the states regrouping. They'll be coming back to Europe soon with Torey and Brooks. We need to know what the plan is, Malyssa."

"When I'd heard you were here I knew all I had to do was get in. We'd create a distraction, you'd free me somehow and then we'd find a way to get Dani and Wolf the fuck out of here." She coughs a few times, clearing her dry throat. The action has me wanting to give her something to drink. I look at the door and before I can even take a step toward the sink she says, "it's not worth you getting caught over. I've been in worse shape." I give her a nod of the head. "Dedaj has provided the perfect distraction to free you all."

"And what is that?"

She gives me a toothy, bloody smile, "a wedding."

A/N:
Now that we have the perfect distraction I wonder what the plan will be...

Happy Thursday!
♥️