CHAPTER 5

Aurora finished packing the bag and decided to take a tour around the house since Lucian had disappeared earlier. While walking in the corridor she noticed that there was an open door so she walked towards it and stood there. She wasn't expecting to see it but Lucian was standing there half naked. She couldn't stop admiring that masculine body. Unfortunately he caught her peeping.

'Get in and close the door,' he said.

Embarrassed with herself she entered the master bedroom and closed the door behind her.

'I'm sorry I didn't mean to,' she said.

'I know you wanted to,' he said as he walked towards her.

To be honest she was excited and anxious at the same time. What if he toyed with her like he did last time? She wanted this man so much it would hurt to be rejected.

'I think I will leave and wait for you downstairs,' she said trying to leave but he caught her straight away.

'You think I will let you leave after you dangled yourself in front of me wearing only that?' he said looking at her.

She looked at herself and realized what she was wearing. Her t-shirt was huge but it still showed a lot of skin.

'I almost forgot and besides weren't you the one who insisted that I should come out this way?'

'Even if it was me, why would you still walk around a man while under dressed like that?'

'That is your own problem. It's not like you can be easily seduced. You don't even want me at all,' she said trying to escape from his grip.

Lucian pulled her against his body and she felt so hot with just a little contact.

'What are you trying to do?' she asked.

'I'm going to taste my merchandise. One way or the other you will still end up in my bed,' he said while his hand tugged her hair behind her ear.

'Are you saying we will be sharing this room when we get married?'

'Not only that but when you move in too, you will be sleeping with me,' he said as his hand brushed against her naked thigh and she moaned.

'We need t go back, Jewel is alone back home,' she said trying to get out of the situation.

'She is probably very happy right now. Stop running away,' he said and captured her mouth with his.

Aurora moaned as his tongue rolled against hers. She had missed this, wanted it so much and here they were. She linked her arms around his neck and kissed him back.

Lucian scooped her up, his hands holding her bare bottom; it tingled and made her blood hot. Lucian carried her to the bed where he laid her down on the bed and removed her lace panties in one go.

It seemed that there will be no foreplay at all and she didn't have energy to go though any torture. Aurora wrestled with Lucian belt and then his flyer and freed him out. His erection was huge and hard. She had never seen something like that before. Would she be able to take him? That question was answered the second Lucian penetrated her in one thrust and she cried out.

He was looking at her, his eyes were speaking to her and she loved what they were promising her. She held onto him and hooked her legs around his waist and let him take control of her. She could feel that she was close as Lucian thrust deeper and harder into her. His hand cupped her breast and she cried out and reached her first orgasm. His thrust increased as he was coming to his own release and she had another orgasm before Lucian spilled his seed deep down in her womb.

He groaned and fell on top of her and she held him there for a few minutes. Lucian then removed himself from her and she woke up. She didn't know what to talk about so she rolled out of bed, picked her panties and rushed to the bathroom. She cleaned herself and took a deep breath. She did it and she felt great; but would he resent her after this?

...

Lucian followed Aurora into the bathroom after he dressed himself and found her washing her face.

'Are you okay?' he asked.

'I am, thanks for asking,' she answered in a low tone.

'I didn't think I would get to see the day you speak like that but now that I have seen it, I don't like it. I prefer the old you,' he said and hugged her from behind.

'What are you doing?' she asked him.

'I'm hugging you. We can't hate each other if we are going to be a family Aurora.'

'So you won't bring up that blackmail thing again?'

'I will not but one day I hope I will hear personally from you why you carry around a gun,' he said and kissed her neck.

'One day I guess. We should return now,' she told him and he remembered that Jewel was still alone.

'We need to talk about the wedding.'

'Don't you have everything prepared?'

'I do. On Sunday let's have dinner with my family. My mother will be happy to arrange the wedding and I guess it will be ready in a few weeks time,' he said.

'It's okay with me. By that time I will be done with my things.'

'What things?'

'I need to resign from my workplace; I doubt you would want me to work in a café.'

'No, I wouldn't. If you want to work then I will open something for you. No wife of mine will work for another,' he told her and he was surprised to hear that he meant every word.

'I think I'm starting to like you old man,' she said and kissed him lightly on the lips.

'Are you telling me you slept with me and didn't like me?'

'It's not surprising. Sometimes we sleep with people for the sake of lust and nothing else,' she said looking deep in his eyes.

Was she crazy to utter something like that at her age?

'I won't argue more. Let's leave now,' he said and led her out of the bathroom.

Lucian led the way out of the mansion and back to the door. He still couldn't believe how much their awkward relationship had improved in just a few hours. He didn't want a decorative wife but a wife he would share his bed with and have kids with, no matter how much they hate each other. By having her by his side he would be able to uncover all her secrets and find the relationship between her and his deceased aunt. By then he will be ready to accept whatever comes to him as long as she wasn't his aunt's daughter which he doubted was the case. His aunt never had another child except for his young cousin Gloria who was already married.

He looked at her and she was sleeping, she looked peaceful and yet it looks like she was wrestling with some inner demons. What kind of life was she really leading to become who she was now?

Only time will tell, right now they were going to take it one step at a time.

....

Aurora looked one last time at her things, things that could make one crawl by seeing them and locked the room. She was hoping that she won't be using them ever again. Maybe one day she would be able to dispose them and let go of her dark past, a past that she wanted to reveal and bury at the same time. She only took a push dagger and put it in her bag. She left the warehouse and took a taxi.

It's been a few days since she started living with the Ladra's. It was a new environment for her and things were a bit complicated since she was hiding a lot of things. She couldn't reveal them until she was certain. The taxi took her back to the mansion and when she arrived the staff showed her respect. Apparently bit by bit she was becoming the young madam of the mansion.

Upon her arrival the first thing she did was to go to the master bedroom where she had been staying with Lucian and changed into something comfortable. Jewel was at school and Lucian at work. Since she wasn't working anymore she had nothing to do but get stuck at home.

She left the bedroom and began to finish the tour she left in the middle the previous day. The mansion was huge. It consisted of three floors. The master bedroom was on the second floor including Jewel's bedroom and two more bedrooms.

The first floor had a library, a movie room, a game room, a bar and two more bedrooms. The ground floor consisted of the kitchen, the lounge, the dining room, the sitting room and Lucian's office.

While taking a tour she ended up in the library and began to browse through the books. She found an old book and began to flip through it when an old photo fell to the floor. She crouched down and picked it and stared at it. Her heart began to thump loudly as she looked at the woman who was in the picture. The woman she was looking at was Lucian's deceased aunt, his mother's younger sister. She was also the woman who made her to infiltrate this family.

It was three years after her adopted parents died due to poisoning when she saw an old key among their things. It took her a month to find the safe for the key. When she opened it she discovered that she wasn't her parent's child; something she had known for a while but the papers proved it. There were some documents which showed the orphanage she was taken from and among those documents there was a picture of Lucian's aunt wearing the hairpin she once saw in her mother's possession. She then had a ping and thought that maybe this woman was her birth mother. She began to investigate the issue and realized that she was dead and there was no record of her ever having another child. So what else would she do to find out the truth behind her mother? She decided to come to Mereen and get closer. Just a simple closure would do her good. Just knowing who she was if she was really her birth mother would suffice. Doing a DNA test would do but it was difficult to get a sample from a dead person but there was someone else who was a relative; if she gets closer to Lucian she would definitely meet his mother and she can get a sample and get it done. Mrs. Ladra was a difficult person to see. She was an indoor person and the only way to get closer to her was through Jewel. She really felt bad for using her but it was important.

What she never expected was her feelings towards Lucian now. At first it was all fun and lust but now she was afraid that she was falling for him. Last time she fell for someone, he died and she didn't want to experience that ever again.

She looked at the picture and traced Lucian's aunt face with her finger. She was a beautiful woman, too bad she was dead.

She put the picture back into the book and returned the book onto the shelf. She continued looking through the books and found another interesting book. She was going to read it and keep herself busy while she thinks of some good ideas.

She left the library and went to the ground floor where she found the chief maid. She was a woman in her sixties and according to Jewel, she used to be Lucian's nanny. She was sweet and overprotective of the Ladra family. She could tell the woman didn't like her and she didn't care at all.

Aurora passed the woman and went to the kitchen. She was in no mood to fight with anyone. She picked a juice bottle and left. She went outside to the garden and sat in one of the garden chairs and began to read her novel.

She was done with ten pages when she received a call from her new phone. Lucian made sure she gets a new one to fit her new role as the wife of the great Lucian. She picked it up and it was him.

'What do you want?' she asked without greeting him.

'Is that how you answer your elders?'

'So you acknowledge you are an old man?'

'Don't do that. I just called to tell you my mother will be arriving there any second. She wants to see you,' he told her.

'Okay, I am home and I will behave,' she said.

'Don't embarrass me then,' he said and hung up.

She loves teasing him, he was old but he didn't look that at all. She resumed with her book when this other maid came to where she was and announced that Mrs. Ladra was waiting for her.

She took her book with her and began to walk back to the mansion. Outside a white Mercedes was parked and she just guessed it belonged to her future mother in law or maybe aunt. She walked inside and found her seated in the sitting room. She looked at herself and noticed she had worn shorts again. Will she attack her when she sees what she was wearing? She couldn't answer the question since the woman spotted her and she walked towards the sitting room.

The woman stood up and looked at her for thirty seconds before se said anything. Aurora stretched her hand towards the woman and said, 'Hello, I'm Aurora and it's nice to meet you.'

She thought the woman wouldn't take her hand but she smiled and took it. She felt warm all of her sudden and felt her eyes sting.

'I'm glad to see you, please come and sit down next to me,' she said and she followed.

Mrs. Ladra looked at her for a while the chief maid Alice brought a tray with some snacks and juice.

'You look beautiful,' she said touching her face.

'Thank you,' Aurora answered shyly.

'Don't be shy when you are with me.'

'I'm sorry Mrs. Ladra,' Aurora said as she looked up.

'Oh please, forgo the formalities. You are one of us now. Just call me Joan,' she said.

'But...'

'No buts.'

'Okay Joan.'

'So is he treating you well?' Joan asked her.

'Yes he is. I like them a lot.'

'I couldn't believe it when I heard from Jewel. Did you really meet because of Jewel?' Joan curiously asked.

'Yes we did. She invited me to her party and when I came Lucian didn't really like me. He thought I was here to seduce him or take advantage of his daughter.'

'It's just normal. All women around him always want something from him. It's one of the reasons why he never remarried until today.'

'It must be difficult for him.'

'It is. I came here to look at you and ask you a few questions.'

'Please go ahead,' Aurora said getting ready to say whatever comes to her mind.

'Do you love my son?'

'Do you want me to tell you the truth or flatter you?' she asked instead of answering.

'I always prefer the truth,' Joan replied.

'To be honest I don't know how I feel for your son. I like him and hate him at the same time. It's complicated.'

'It's the first time someone had given me such an answer. Why would you hate him?'

'Your son is quite a catch Joan but he sometimes he can be a jerk.'

'That I know dear but still I'm glad he decided to get married. Now we can finally have some peace. My other question was; why are you marrying him? What is really your angle?'

That was a touchy question but she needed to give the woman an answer she could be satisfied with without revealing her true intentions.

'I'm not marrying him for the money even though he has a lot. I have enough to support me from the beginning. I can say I'm marrying him because I like Jewel and like being around your son too even when he is much older than me,' she said.

'Age isn't anything at all. What matters is peace and harmony. You should click. It's good to know you like them both. Jewel just couldn't stop talking about you. It's refreshing to see her like that.'

'I'm glad to hear I left such a huge impression on her. It's very rare to hear that.'

'You did which is why I wanted to see you sooner. So are you prepared for the wedding?'

'Lucian told me that you will handle it. I have no idea about weddings.'

'I will help you. It will be your big day so be prepared.'

'I guess I will trouble you with everything. Anything is fine for me though. Just do whatever you think is good. I trust your judgment,' Aurora said.

'I am touched hearing that. I will host the biggest and grand wedding ever for you.'

'Thank you very much,' she said smiling and Joan looked at her oddly.

'Is something wrong?'

'No, it's nothing,' Joan lied.

'Are you sure?' Aurora asked despite of that.

'For a moment, you looked like someone I knew but that is impossible. I have something else to do. Let's meet another day for tea and dinner,' Joan said standing up.

Aurora stood up with her and escorted Joan out to where her car was.

'Have a safe journey Joan. I will visit you soon,' Aurora said.

'I will look forward to it. I have a wedding to prepare so I will be busy for a while,' Joan said with a smile on her face.

Aurora watched as Joan left the compound and she felt her tears coming. She felt very familiar with her as if she had known her the whole life. Feeling too emotional she took a walk around the mansion to clear her head.