Count to Three.

Meanwhile, Daniel sat on the bed in Ashley's room and sat the girl on his lap, "Now, princess, tell me more about your secret."

"My dad came to visit today when I was sleeping and told me to say hi to you," the girl repeated once more with undisguised happiness on her face, "I even introduced him to Riri!"

"Did you? Wow," Daniel stroked the little girl on the head and took her hand in his hand, "Honey, can you close your eyes and remember how it was?"

"Of course!" Ashley immediately closed her eyes, and the man plunged into her mind to see for himself what she was talking about.

But after he saw everything, he was even more confused. When meeting with Corey, Rick clearly had memory problems, but now there was not a hint of it. What could have happened in less than a day? Why has the man's behavior changed so dramatically?

"Ashley, go downstairs and ask your mother to come up to your room in five minutes, okay?" The girl nodded and flew out of the room like a little tornado.

Daniel lowered his head and rested it on his palms, the man closed his eyes and sighed heavily, "Damn, will there ever come a moment when I will not feel this uncertainty?" He has never had such fears and problems with any girl in his life that he had to overcome while being close to Corey. On the other hand, he did not like any of these girls as he loved her. If at all, he loved anyone before meeting her.

The egoism awaking in him required radical measures. To go and erase the memory of that person from both Cory and Ashley, to bury it so deep in their subconscious that thoughts of him would not bother them anymore. But he could not do this.

"Did you call me?" Corey went into her daughter's bedroom and saw a man whose eyes were full of thought.

Daniel silently held out his hand to the girl, and she realized that he was asking her to sit next to him. "Did something happen?" For some reason, it seemed to her that he looked a little sad.

The man grinned and shook his head, he focused his attention on her neat fingers, playing with each of them with his own fingers, as if this was the most fascinating thing to do in the world.

"You know, I told you last night that I won't let you go no matter what, but now I understand that for me it will be too selfish. I want to honestly win this battle, on my own, without any tricks and deception. I want you to be near me because you sincerely want it yourself." The man turned his head and looked at the girl thoughtfully.

"I could not show you this and erase this information, and you would not even know about it, but I want you to decide what you will do, knowing about it." He covered the girl's eyes with his hand and in Corey's head, as if she was watching a movie, there were scenes where her daughter was happily hugging Rick.

The girl recoiled from Daniel, she looked completely confused, tears appeared in her eyes. The man stroked her cheek with a finger-cushion of his thumb, "Well, I think I need to leave you so you can gather your thoughts."

He got out of bed and took a step toward the door, as Corey grabbed his arm and stopped, "Don't go. Don't." She followed him and stood next to the man.

All her life she was distinguished by the fact that she had difficulty making any decisions, but now she knew that in the case of Daniel, such behavior would only hurt her loved one.

The girl raised her head and looked into his eyes, a determination that she had not experienced before, filled her mind, "Thank you for showing me this. I don't yet know how I feel and think about all this, but with full confidence I can state the following..."

Daniel raised his eyebrows, in his eyes she was so charming when she tried to look serious, but he decided to remain silent about this.

"What I told you yesterday is all true," Corey took a deep breath, the man's heart froze with tension and expectation of her next words.

"Daniel Anderson, I love you."

The man blinked several times as if the neurons in his head were jammed by a power surge, but the brain nevertheless managed to absorb the information received, and a smile slowly appeared on his bewildered and surprised face. It seemed that the corners of his lips reached his ears, proudly opening his snow-white teeth.

"Say that again," Daniel replied with such intonation as he had just received a treasured gift from Santa Claus.

Corey shook her head, this big child was begging to pamper him. She wrapped her arms around his neck, stood on her toes and whispered to the man in his ear, "I love you."

At that moment, the man's hands grabbed her waist like strong tesks, Daniel lifted the girl up in the air and circled the room, she grabbed his neck even more with surprise.

"Ahaha, what are you doing?! I'm not Ashley! Put me down!"

"Well, I will not! I am so happy that if I don't pour out energy now, I will scream at the whole house how much I love you," Daniel purred in response, "Then David will definitely kill me that I woke Sean."

"Then maybe, you'll show me?" In the girl's eyes cheeky lights flashed, the man immediately stopped and lowered her to her feet.

"With great pleasure, my queen," Daniel leaned to her lips, and they both knew that this kiss would be special.

Elena grinned as she watched the couple descending the stairs. Corey's cheeks were as red as tomatoes, as if she had just finished running the Olympic marathon, while Daniel was shining like a Christmas tree in the city center, his smile would overshadow the brightest billboards in Vegas or New York.

"Auch, my eyes! Too bright! I see, you spent the last twenty minutes productively, huh?" The girl pricked them.

Corey shyly looked away, and her partner said with a proudly raised head, "She said she loved me!"

Elena looked from triumphant Daniel to her girlfriend, 'Hmm, Corey, you are so in trouble.'

"Say thanks to the wonderful me that I cooked Ashley a hearty breakfast and she did not bother you while you were... what were you doing there?"

"El! Et tu autem, Brute?! [1] Does your little family enjoy embarrassing me?" Corey howled, she often found herself thinking that her best friend was becoming more and more like these eccentric brothers. Ehh, Elena Lee, my favorite book worm, rest in peace. Apparently, you are lost forever.

"Ahaha, okay, okay. Come to the table, David, too, must come down soon," Elena waved her hand, giving a sign that the couple should hurry up.

Ding.

The doorbell distracted them from the conversation. "It's open there! Come in!" Elena shouted to the guest.

Ding.

"Since when has Armand been so modest?" The girl shrugged and headed for the door, while Daniel was already circling around Corey and putting her favorite sushi on a plate.

"I said it was open. Why don't you-?" Elena opened the door, a tall young man was standing on her doorstep, about the height of David, with a youth cap on his head, his gaze directed downward.

The guy raised his head, and Elena's heart skipped a beat when she saw his face. 'Holy Guacamole! Stop, Elena, you are a married woman! Why are you staring at a stranger guy?!'

The guy, noticing the girl's confusion, winked and smiled, "Hey."

Headshot.

To say that he was attractive was like to say nothing. The Anderson brothers were very handsome, okay, super handsome, but this... This one was just incredibly attractive and to some extent... sweet?

"Hey," Elena answered, barely audible as if standing in front of her beloved idol.

"Wow, you got even cooler!" The young man grabbed the girl by the waist and squeezed tightly, lifting her into the air, as if they were the best friends who had met after a couple of decades. Then he just as quickly put her back on the ground and... smacked on the lips.

Elena was standing on the doorstep and looking blank at the speed of the events, while an unknown visitor was already squeezing into the house.

"Phew, what a cool little place you got here!" He whistled, looking around, "Oh, hello, Dan! How's life?" He waved at Daniel, to which the latter looked at the guy as if he was some kind of an idiot. Who is this at all?

Elena turned on the threshold and went into the house, on her face was the same misunderstanding as on the faces of her friends.

The young man approached the girl and put a hand on her shoulder, "You have a nice house here. And where are the little ones and Dav?" As soon as he asked this question, confident male steps were heard along the steps of the stairs. "Oh, there he is. How about a little tease?"

The stranger winked at Elena and smiled, and, seeing his smile, she could not restrain hers. Damn, why did he seem so cute to her? She wanted to pinch him on the dimples on his cheeks. But especially his eyes captivated her, bright and blue, like the most beautiful bays of the Adriatic.

As soon as he entered the house, everything around was subject to his influence, and no one dared to ask who he was to continue to observe this unidentified object.

"Hey, Dav! And your wife has become even more beautiful!" After these words, the guy pulled Elena to him and kissed her on the cheek.

Corey dropped the sushi chopsticks, Daniel choked on coffee. And only David was standing like a formidable stone titan and looking at the guy with a murderous look.

Elena looked at Corey, who froze in horror, waiting for the impending Apocalypse among this silence.

Elena looked at Daniel, who pressed his lower lip with his teeth, trying to restrain the laughter from the sight of his younger brother.

Elena looked at the unknown guy, who grinned and whispered in her ear, "Count to three."

Elena looked at her husband.

God damn it.

Three seconds later, David's loud roar broke the living room, like a sound wave from an atomic bomb explosion,

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!"