Canaan's long fingers tapped lightly on the arm rest in the jet. He wasn't sure if Nurna ever met Lili, but she knew that he worked for her.
"Don't worry, I won't tell her about my identity and our relationship," Lili said as her fingers brushed his.
Getting to the villa, everywhere was deathly silent. The maids stood far away, watching the figure crumpled on the ground at the entrance of the mansion. Her hands bled from holding the shard of glass window she had broken in her burst of rage.
Seeing Nurna's white tee stained with blood, Canaan's throat constricted as he quickened his strides.
"She died because of me. If only I was there," Nurna lamented, beating her chest, not letting go of the glass that is now deep into her skin.
"Roe, oh, Roe," she lamented.
Canaan was close enough to hear what she said. Hearing her mention Roe made his heart skip a bit.
"Nurna," he called out carefully.
Hearing Canaan's voice, Nurna raised her head.
Her pupils were dilated and her eyes red-rimmed. More tears pooled her eyes, blurring her vision as she looked up at him but failing to extinguish the fire burning within her.
"You murderer!" Her hoarse voice came out as a weak bellow filled with rage and bitterness, as she raised the glass in her hand against him.
He took her hands gently and drove it right into his chest, over and over again.
Nurna's eyes grew larger and unblinking as she let out a gasp, her breath caught in her throat. She was in fury, but she didn't plan to cause him any harm.
That was one of the causes of her constant strife with her father. Despite her combustive nature, the highest evil she could do is put her feet on the way to make you fall. She couldn't kill; she couldn't hunt.
"It would have been a shame if I missed this," Lili said, rolling her tongue inside her mouth, as a naughty smile hung on her lips.
"Stop!" she panicked, but Canaan didn't stop. Though he winced in pain, he didn't say a word, but his eyes... they spoke more than a million words. She had never seen anything as sorry as his eyes. His hands trembled over hers as his eyes became dull, almost dead, with the weight of guilt in them.
"Stop, you're hurting me," she cried out, hoping that would work, and like magic, he stopped abruptly.
He held her hands, and when he saw the deep cut from the glass she held, he scooped her up with great care.
After the incident when she broke her bones, he had converted one of the little houses in the villa into a mini-clinic. In a matter of days, despite the difficult protocols around opening health facilities.
Soon, he reached the clinic.
"Take her into the OR. There's a cut on her palm and close to her wrist; she has lost a lot of blood," the once quiet room echoed with Canaan's panicked instruction.
"Sir, you're also in danger; we should also treat you."
"Don't worry about me. Take her and make sure she survives or you all will pay with your lives!"
Everyone in the clinic was appalled. Who is this woman that can make the quiet and sophisticated Mr. Canaan speak so vulgarly?
"I'll take him with me," it was Lili who spoke. Lili held his hand and dragged him out of the clinic towards the villa.
"Where's your room?" she said as she dragged him across the corridor, Butler D and Canaan's personal maid, following closely behind them.
"Allow us to take care of Master, your highness. I'll take you to your place," Butler D said.
Lili glanced at the duo behind them, her phoenix eyes settling on the old maid for a little longer.
"Madame Bevie knows best how to take care of Master Canaan," Butler D said, meaningfully. With that, Lili followed.
"I will take off your clothes now," the old maid in her 60s said respectfully, to which he gave a grunt of approval.
She took off his clothes, exposing his toned chest. One would expect him to have a lean stature, but he was well-built, with broad shoulders and expressive abs. The muscles of his shoulders worked as the woman cleaned his body with a wet napkin.
"Hurry," he grunted.
"It would be best if you wait in your suite for a while; you don't want to arouse suspicion," she said as she wiped his bare chest. There was no cut or any sign of injury!
"What happened when I left?"
"We don't know what exactly agitated her. Her maids broke into the room when they heard the loud noise of glass breaking. According to one of the bodyguards, her hair was glowing and whipping everyone out of her way. It was only after a while that she broke down in front of the mansion as she bled, but no one approached her so as not to agitate her further."
"Why wasn't I informed immediately?"
"Butler D gave the order."
"Then Butler D will find you a new job. Leave," he said coldly, his voice devoid of emotion.
Madame Bevie gave a brief sigh as she closed the door behind her. She had always been careful in her 43 years of working with Mr. Canaan. He was only 20 when she started working with him. When she was told she couldn't leave the villa once she agreed to work with him, she knew he wasn't an ordinary person.
"Young mistress must be very dear to him," she said, stroking her chin. "Thankfully, she favors me," she said with a clever grin as she walked downstairs.
"Where does the young lady stay?" Lili asked as she scanned the interior of the house. It was one of the houses along the field, the most luxurious of them all.
"Inside the mansion, your Highness."
"With Canaan?" she questioned, her voice raised by a pitch.
"Yes, your Highness."
She had a mocking smile as she caressed a piece of furniture.
"Who else lives in the mansion?"
"No one, ma'am."
"Did he really have to make it so obvious?" she asked rhetorically with a derisive chuckle.
After a couple of hours, Canaan made his way to Nurna's room. He was called some minutes earlier that she was out of the operating room.
"Master, we found this strange book in her hammock where she usually lounges, but the pages are blank."
Canaan's hands ran over the cover of the book; it had reeds with blooming flowers for a cover, and the clear white page was devoid of ink or any form of writing.
"She's fine now; she would wake up soon enough when the anaesthetic wears off," the doctor informed him when he arrived at the clinic.
Shutting the door, he walked slowly and quietly towards the king-sized bed she was laid in the luxurious hospital room fit for VIPs. Her eyes were shut closed and her face pale; her hair flowed on the bed beneath her.
"I didn't mean for you to ever find out. No matter what I say, I am still to blame. It must have been hard for you," he said, caressing her face, slowly.
Lowering slowly until their faces were only centimeters apart, he leaned inward to give her a kiss.
"What do you think you're doing?" Nurna growled before her eyelids flew open, meeting his honey-brown eyes.