The Threat.

The cool evening air enveloped Elena when she opened the balcony door and led Marcus out. The man did not at all resist her unexpected behavior and obediently followed her. The smile on his face indicated that he even liked it.

"Darling, if you decided to seclude yourself with me, then there are more isolated rooms in this building where no one will disturb us," he grinned when the woman let go of his hand.

"I'm not in the mood to listen to your jokes, Marcus," Elena grabbed her hands on the railing of the balcony and took a deep breath. Away from the noisy and crowded hall, her mind gradually calmed down, and she could at least somehow analyze the current situation.

The man did not respond to her harsh comment and only smiled slightly. He silently took a small metal cigarette case out of his pocket and took out a cigarette.

With lateral vision, a woman noticed a beautiful object, apparently made of silver or platinum and decorated with a scattering of diamonds that shimmered with a bewitching brilliance under the moonlight.

Marcus, noticing her astonished gaze, silently held out his cigarette case in the direction of Elena. "No thanks, I don't smoke," she answered.

"I am not inviting you to smoke, I just thought that you wanted to see this cute little thing from a closer distance," his eyes narrowed in a slight grin, he barely restrained the urge to tease her even more.

Elena again looked at the cigarette case, for some reason, this thing attracted her attention, and she really wanted to take a closer look, but the woman chose to keep this desire to herself. "Thank you, but I'm not interested."

Marcus shrugged and put the little thing back into the pocket of his jacket, after which he raised a palm to his face, snapped his fingers and lit a cigarette.

Elena was staggered, "Um, how did you do that?" she asked in a surprised voice.

"You mean, that?" The man opened his hand, and a small light flashed in its center to the tone of the sounds of music coming from the audience.

He threw the light up, waved his hand, and the flash scattered with golden sparks through the air, before turning into a small heart.

Elena raised one eyebrow and looked at Marcus in disbelief.

"What? I thought it would be nice," the man folded his hands in the shape of a heart, his offended look would have competed with the eyes of a little kitten, "Don't girls like such things?" he asked with a genuine resentment in his voice.

'What is wrong with this man?' Elena thought to herself and rubbed her temples with tension. The more she was next to Marcus, the less she caught the meaning of his actions and intentions.

She took him away from the audience, far from prying eyes, hoping to have a constructive dialogue, and was sure that David would certainly be here any minute, and, most likely, together with Armand. But the way Marcus behaved alongside her did not fit into any framework of what she had imagined before.

Elena has already begun to think that maybe this person had a split personality?

"You know, you're acting weird for a villain," she muttered in response, watching the man slowly take a puff.

"Who said that I'm a villain?" Marcus asked and let out a few puffs of smoke from his mouth.

"You said it yourself ten minutes ago," Elena frowned slightly as the smoke from the cigarette moved toward her with a stream of wind, "You said someone should be a villain. So you decided to take this initiative? What for?"

Marcus, noticing the reaction of the woman, pulled a cigarette from his mouth, put it out on his palm and threw the cigarette stub to the side, with his speed of regeneration it was a trifling matter. Then the man began to wave his hands over the girl's head, trying to drive away the remnants of smoke.

"W-what are you doing?! I'm trying to talk seriously!" Elena was indignant, it began to seem to her that this man did not take her seriously and only deliberately fooled around her in order to unbalance her.

"Do you even understand the consequences of what you do? I understand that it was not easy for you and Armand, but this is all in the past. We just need to talk together and resolve possible disagreements, let's not—" Elena jumped in surprise and could not finish her remark when Marcus clapped his hands loudly in front of her nose.

"Stop. Enough, young lady," a man's voice sounded as cold as ice. Elena looked from Marcus's palms to his eyes, and goosebumps ran down her back.

The man straightened up, an aura of impregnability and total submission hovered around him, Elena swallowed a lump, approaching her throat, but did not look away.

"The fact that I am currently loyal to you does not mean that this cannot change at any moment," he said, and the tone of his words hit the girl's chest as if she had been struck with a hammer.

She did not understand why, but she did not like it when he spoke to her in this way, this speech caused her an inexplicable feeling of resentment and sadness.

"My patience is not unlimited, but the limits that I don't let other people break at all costs, are even smaller," Marcus said in an even voice.

"Watch your tone when you are talking to her," David went up to his wife and stood between her and Marcus.

"Oh, somehow you are a bit late, didn't you find us right away?" Marcus smirked and took a step back, the man leaned on the railing of the balcony in a lazy pose and looked indifferently at his brother and David.

"Marcus, are you out of your mind? Wasn't that enough already what our father has done to us? Have you decided to take it out on innocent people? If you do this, you will be no better than him!" Armand said with contempt and offense in his voice.

"And here you are mistaken, dear brother. I am much worse than our father," Marcus straightened up, adjusted his jacket and looked at his watch, "Time flies very quickly, and who cares if you and I know about this, huh, Armand?" The man turned his gaze to David. This guy was even that annoyance even in Wewelsburg, to say nothing of today's time.

"I'll say it only once so that in the future this will not be a surprise for you. Marc Technologies products have now begun to be actively introduced in more than ninety-eight percent of countries, in the next two months sixty percent of the world's population will live with my chips. If you want your loved ones not to fall under my hot hand, I advise you not to meddle in my business. This especially concerns you, David.

Unfortunately, I can't promise that your business will stay alive, but if you somehow interfere with me, you don't have time to blink your eyes when you are at the bottom," Marcus buttoned his jacket button and turned toward the exit.

"However, if Elena agrees to give me this little thing, I can reconsider my decision," the man added and pointed with his finger to the pendant hanging on the girl's neck.

"No way!" Elena answered without a second's hesitation.

Marcus tilted his head to the side and grinned, "I did not expect another answer from the daughter of Amelia Teser. As stubborn as your mother. That's just... she ended badly."

"Is this a threat?" David growled, covering his wife with his body; he did not want to give Marcus even the opportunity to look at Elena.

"The threat? No, this is just a friendly warning," the man laughed in response, "By the way, do not forget to call me when you need my help."

"I will never ask you for help neither in this life neither in the next ones," David hissed, refusing such an absurd offer.

"But I wouldn't be so sure of that," Marcus said, sparks flickered in his eyes, and David did not like this look. The sense of anxiety that appeared in his chest some time ago intensified even more.

But now he knew for sure that whatever had happened, it would have Elena involved in this without a doubt.