~Aurora~
The morning of the next day was quite better than I expected. Markus stayed with me all the morning, we had our breakfast on the balcony and even managed to find some free time to discuss everything in the garden. Markus promised me to take a tour and answer all the questions and explain what happened between him and Kristof, which made him forbid me to return to his mansion and interrupted the trip.
For the first time in a while, I wore simple, yet comfortable clothes, a pair of white skinny jeans, a white cross wrap halter top, and Markus's black jacket. For the shoes, I decided to take black flats for today and let my legs rest a bit from the stilettos. I put on the makeup quickly, brushed my hair, and tucked it into a bun, then went out of the bedroom and straight down to the garden, where Markus was supposed to be waiting for me.
"Sorry to keep you waiting," I whispered in his ear while hugging him from his back. Markus has dressed today also, not as he was dressing usually. He had a white shirt and gray jeans on himself, but his favorite Oxford shoes were on him. I smiled.
"There's nothing to say sorry for," he turned to me with a bouquet of dark pink peonies. He held it to me, then kissed my cheek, and held me in his elbow. I gently took the peonies, squeezed his hand, and inhaled the flowers' smell.
Those peonies were the same I saw deep in the garden, so I knew where he took them, but I'm so grateful. This is such a simple but touching way to say "I love you".
Markus went a step ahead, holding my hand and showing me the beauty of the garden. We were walking on the same yellow-brick path we were walking with Luke a while ago. Suddenly, in a second, a mood in my head switched as if someone turned on the lights.
"What's with Luke? I haven't seen him for a while?" My question made Markus stop, turn to me and for a second his cold onyx eyes met with my warm blue eyes, then his look warmed up as if from just one look at me.
"He was recovering, then I gave him a few days off. He's going to be back to work from tomorrow," Markus answered, then finally stepped closer and wrapped my waist with his hands. I melted in a second after his hands touched my body.
"I want to see him when he'll be back to work," I said, noticing Markus's lips twitch into a smile.
"You'll be seeing him pretty often. From tomorrow, he'll be your assistant. Well, call him in a way you want, he'll be just working on you. He will do whatever you need him to do, drive a car, serve a table, help to choose an outfit, or have a walk in the garden. Also, he'll be your guard. I sent him to training on the meanwhile." Markus pressed me to himself and kissed my lips, "Are you happy?"
For the first few seconds, I couldn't believe his words were true. I don't know why, but I felt Luke is just like me, and I'm sure if we have met each other before, we would be best friends.
"Thanks, Markus! Yes, I'm so happy!" I hugged his neck and kissed his face from the forehead to his lips, then hugged him tighter. He just chuckled, and hugged me tightly, then burst his nose in my hair.
"I like the smell of your hair. So refreshing," he whispered, stroking my hair with one hand, still having the other one on my waist. I closed my eyes and tried to enjoy the moment as much as I could.
In a few minutes, we were walking on the yellow-brick path along with the clearing with different roses types and colors. Markus was telling me the most interesting facts about this garden in the meanwhile. He said, that if to look at this clearing from the library, I would be able to see the big rose flowers those bushes are making. It was a trick of a gardener who made the clearing a few centuries ago.
"I wonder, how old is this mansion?" I asked Markus, taking a sip of orange juice and looking at the colors of the roses. There were so many contrasting colors that I don't have any doubts the gardener was a genius.
"A few centuries as well. The mansion is as old as this garden," he answered, looking at one particular bush of roses, that was in the center. It took me a few minutes to understand where he was looking and why. The rose bush in the center had flowers of the same onyx colors as his eyes. It was noticeable even from the distance, as it was the only black rose among all of them.
"Can we take a look closer?" I pleased, and he nodded, showing me with his hand the same yellow-brick path as we were standing at. He took my hand and led me to the center of the flower made from rose bushes, while I was looking around and breathing deeply. The smell here was astonishing, the smell of all roses was mixing up with each other, filling the lungs with such a sensitive smell that I was melting as if from Markus's hug.
"This bush was made by selectors of the previous century in honor of my father. It doesn't have the smell as it's a hybrid, but it's unique due to its color." Markus explained, and turned to me, looking at the rose bush with his onyx eyes. "It was the only onyx rose bush on the whole Earth for a long while. However, once we understood that if the rose bush would die, we'll lose the honor that was made to my father. I found the best selectors, and they're now making more of those hybrids. We're planning to share them with the world."
I was looking at Markus, and while listening to him, I had only one question in my head.
{Is he really a mafia boss?}
It seems this name was no longer applicable to him, he was someone who was much more powerful than the mafia boss. However, the question wasn't only in the power. Markus was doing so many things an ordinal mafia boss won't do, however, that's from my ex-police knowledge. He was making new blood to take care of all kinds and levels of vampires, he was making hybrids of a unique onyx rose bush to not lose the memory of his father. {What else he is up to?}
Suddenly, a touch of cold lips on my warm skin made me wake up from my thoughts. Markus kissed my hand to attract my attention, then turned with his back to me and pointed to another clearing in front of us.
"That's where the peonies grow. Wanna have a look?" after my node as an approval, he led me back to the main road, then closer to the clearing with peonies. Markus made a stop near the same bush from which he took the flowers for a bouquet for me, and turned to me. "The reason for my recent behavior with Kristof lies in the fact that after those girls started writing the names of the police rats among the mafia they know, Kristof completely changed. He was behaving completely differently from what I had expected. Moreover, that behavior made me think that either he's the rat himself, or he knows the rat and hid it for some personal reasons. That made me stop believing everyone, except you."
"That's quite ridiculous, Markus, if to take into consideration the fact I was a police officer a month or so ago, isn't it?"
"I'm sure in my love choice. I chose you," he moved the look of his onyx eyes from me to the same rose bush near us, "I was never sure in anyone as I'm sure in you. And your police past makes me believe you're not a rat."
"Can I have more details on why my police past makes you believe I'm not a rat?" I put my hands on his shoulder as well as my chin and started staring at his gun tattoo again. Markus chuckled and put his hands in his pockets.
"When I told you who I am, you haven't resisted going with me, following my every step and taking my hand for support. You haven't hidden I'm attracting you, and that was the thing that made me believe you then, and I haven't lost my trust in you." Markus turned his head in my direction, and kissed my forehead, "Tomorrow I'll leave you with Luke."
"Haven't you said you trust only me?" I asked, then added, "And where are you going without me?"
"I do trust Luke. He was raised by me," Markus said, then looked at his watch, which made a vibrating sound, "I'm going to visit the head of the police, and yes, on my own. I'm not taking you not only for you being pregnant. I want you to stay out of that mud."
"I understand," I kissed his cheek and straightened up, "I wouldn't join you in that case even if you'd ask me to."
We exchanged looks, and both of us smiled from our own thought.
He was grateful I'm not willing to go for this murder with him, and I wasn't thankful he was not forcing me to.
Markus led me to the fountain, where a table was served for us. He had blood in his glass, while I had a fruit bowl in front of me and some fresh juice. We took our seats, but Markus hasn't let go of my hand, slightly stroking my skin with his thumb. I took a piece of pineapple into my mouth, while he started talking.
"And Kristof… His behavior recently is too strange. I started to have doubts after I asked Mallory to have a walk with you in the garden while I'll talk with mum, and instead, he stole her for sex. I'm not against their relationships unless it brings danger. And their absence brought danger to you, Aurora. You could have been…," he stopped talking and hid his face behind the glass with blood. I stared at him instead of eating the piece of apple I had in my hand, and blinked several times, expecting him to continue.
However, he kept silent, pretending he was drinking blood.