Annalise had barely been able to register the ruins that pooled at her feet when the door at the back of the stairs opened quietly and her husband stealthily walked out with a gun pointed at her head.
She froze, her large eyes widening as she stared at him. Nicolás ran his hand through his hair frustratedly before tucking his gun into his pocket.
"What the hell!" He cursed as he stared at the shards of glass on the floor.
"I…" She opened her mouth to speak but no words came out and she instead turned back to the TV where a man whose face had been blurred was in handcuffs and was being led by the police.
Nicolás's face tightened when he saw what she was looking at.
"Turn it off." He said and Annalise obliged immediately, grabbing the remote and pressing down on it, hard.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to… I had seen the news about an arrest and thought…"
He approached her, his lips lifting in a half attempt at a smile.
"Why? It's common knowledge now, some asshole had snuck into the Senator's home last night and had him murdered." He simply said, placing a harmless hand on her arm.
Annalise stiffened at his touch.
"Or do you know anything else about what had happened?" He asked maintaining his smile and Annalise winced slightly as his hand on her arm tightened.
She shook her head. "No, I don't."
"Were we ever with him alone?" He asked an eyebrow raised questionably.
Annalise fought the tears that threatened to fall from her eyes, his fingers were now digging into her skin.
"I'm not going to say anything, I promise. I know about all the… Well, I have background knowledge about the things that go on in our world and I just, believe me, I am not going to say a word about what had happened last night." She finished off breathless.
His hold waned as he moved closer until her face was directly on the same level as his chest, his tall figure towering and intimidating.
"Pray Laura, do tell. What exactly had happened last night? Other than the fact that Nicolás Moreno had been in attendance with his beautiful new wife." As he spoke, his hands trailed gently past her collarbone sending a jolt of electricity through her.
"... And he hadn't been able to keep his hands off of her so they'd stolen away from everyone else, found some room to themselves, and done what newlyweds do best." His hands had settled on her stomach now, caressing ever so slightly.
His warm breath fanned her ear when he spoke into it. "Want me to show you what newlyweds do best?" He asked in a husky tone that had her heartbeat accelerating so much, she was almost sure he could hear the pounding from her chest.
"What are you…" The rest of her words died off when she felt his lips on her neck, soft almost like a whisper and just that simple contact caused every single part of her to burn with untoward desires, she released a low sound of pleasure.
Nicolás pulled away immediately, retaining his smile.
"Do remember to include your feelings whenever the detectives come knocking, our host last night had seemed to enjoy it immensely." And he walked away, back into the room he had come out from as though he hadn't been in her presence at all, leaving Annalise all hot and bothered in ways she had never known herself to be.
The rest of the morning passed by in a blur and when Annalise finally got a hold of herself, she decided to go shopping, Nicolás's pantry was really empty and she wondered how the man hadn't died from starvation so far.
**** **** **** ****
NICOLÀS
He buried himself in his basement with paperwork, he had redesigned the space into an office, it helped him focus more and shut out the outer world. He was still aware of outside, he knew when Laura had gone out of the house which was over two hours ago and he was…
The sound of his cellphone ringing interrupted his thought.
"Good day Sir," He said as he put the phone to his ears.
"Black, my boy, you've outdone yourself this time, haven't you?" The pleased voice of Sir Amante greeted from the other end. Nicolás said nothing in response.
"And the manner in which you'd killed him, almost seemed like you had your personal vendetta against the man eh?"
Nicolás's voice came out cold. "As I said, I never mix relationship with business, you wanted him dead and now he is dead."
A bitter taste lingered in his mouth, it was the aftertaste of telling a lie. He hadn't needed to be so brutal to Sir Frederick, his creativity with killings was maintained for people who had done him or his family's business wrong, but something had snapped in him at the way the old bastard had shamelessly been attracted to his wife.
Nicolás felt nothing for the woman, but he hated it when people went after what was his, and whether he gave a fuck or not about Laura was his business… She was his regardless, and when it comes to his possessions, Nicolás found out had the out-of-control tendency to kill.
"Ahh, you don't have to remind me that you could kill me in a second regardless of our close relationship." Sir Amante said laughing.
"You are important to me," Nicolás said.
"And how about when I no longer am? When you've milked me for all I have to give?"
Nicolás fought the urge to groan, Sir Amante was acting like a jealous lover and he knew exactly how to deal with jealous lovers.
"What do you have for me this time?" He asked reverting to strictly business. Sir Amante was useful now and until he wasn't anymore, Nicolás had to tolerate him no matter how repulsive he found him.
"It'll be delivered tonight, and say hello to your beautiful wife for me. You are quite the man." Sir Amante said laughing heartily as he hung up.
Nicolás was barely done with the call when he heard the sound of the doorbell reverberating through the whole house. He clenched his fist in irritation, his wife hadn't been stupid enough to go out without the keys now, had she?
After futile minutes of trying to ignore the sound, he finally got up and marched out of the room back out into the living room. He made his way to the door, unlocked it, and swung it open angrily.
"What are you? A fucking dimwit…" He stopped himself when instead of Laura stood her sister.
She smiled at him and he recognized it immediately as the sensual one women usually used when they attempted seduction.
His eyes ran over her outfit, she was dressed in a red figure-hugging dress and black stilettos, her lips were painted a bright color of red and she batted her eyelash at him.
"I don't think we've been properly introduced." She said stretching out a well-manicured hand to him, "I'm Annalise, your wife's sister and it's my greatest pleasure to meet you."
He ignored her outstretched hand and simply walked away leaving her to come in if she wanted, he didn't have time for this.
Nicolás headed back into the basement, Laura's sister could wait for her for however long, she should've known to call before coming.
"Wait, Nicolás." She said stopping him. He paused and sent a backward glance her way to see her approaching him, her hips swinging suggestively with every step.
She reached him and placed a hand on his chest gently, trailing it downwards.
"You see, I'm a woman who never beat around the bush." She said.
Nicolás cocked a brow at her, a small smile on his lips… Now, this was interesting.
"If you let me," She began in a slow, enticing voice. "I'm going to show you how much of a terrible decision you made by marrying the wrong Armillo sister."