A/N

Hello, my lovely readers! How're y'all?
^_^
I had a crazy week - the Holidays starting to kick in, everyone's taking a break from work, and you realize you're gonna be the only one left working! ;
:'(

Alright, I'm stopping there, no more ranting.

BTW, that's Jacket right there on top of your screen. Isn't he cute? Who likes dogs here?

Lemme know! ;-)

*****

Vee's POV

I don't know what came to my mind when I slept in the tub for more than two hours. I only woke up when it started raining hard and I heard clapping thunder which I hated as a child.

When I rose from the tub, it was only then that I realized I had no clothes to change into. I haven't asked yet for Jordan's extra clothes which he said were in his jeep's trunk, so I decided to just get it from the other room. Assuming that he was still awake due to the noise which the thunderstorm was making, I decided to waltz into his room. The connecting door wasn't locked, so I didn't bother to knock. So impolite of you, Vee.

The room was dark, but I think I saw Jacket look up at me when I entered, and then he quickly disappeared into the shadows probably beside Jordan's bed. Looking around, I saw some shirts on the desk right next to the connecting door and I again assumed that those were the ones Jordan would lend me. I casually took one of the bigger sizes, turned around, and was about to leave when I heard Jordan move from his bed. Not wanting to disturb his sleep, I hurried to my room but I collided against the desk and a pig figurine crashed. I cursed as I tentatively turned to Jordan's direction to see if the noise woke him up. I think I saw him bolt upright and slide towards my direction as Jacket turned the lights on. I was half expecting him to be mad for being disturbed, but when I saw him pointing a gun at me, I froze.

I don't know what happened next - I was in a state of shock. That was the first time I ever found myself at gunpoint, and it shook my entire being. Staring at the gun as it travelled from Jordan's hand to the desk, I tried not to breathe, for fear of hearing the trigger being pulled if I made the slightest movement. When Jordan touched my hands, I thought a bullet just went through me and I broke down.

"It's okay - don't cry, I'm not shooting you. I'm so sorry..." I heard Jordan's voice trying to make me calm down as I sobbed. I was still tightly clutching his shirt; the bath towel wrapped around me now loosened, and my hair which was dripping wet, hugged my arms and back. I felt myself lifted off the floor and strong arms took me to my bed. There, I curved like a ball, shoved myself against the headrest and refused to look at Jordan. I cringed when he touched my chin and made me stare into his eyes.

I could see worry and regret in his eyes as I stared through my tears. I could still hear him saying calming words but I was too shocked to listen. I sobbed all the more when he straightened and towered over me, since it made me feel like he was going to attack me again. I saw him pinch the bridge of his nose in frustration, and watched as he ran his fingers through his dark hair while cursing.

"Venera - please don't take it against me... I'm really sorry - I thought it was - I..." I watched as Jordan moved back and forth, trying to find words to explain what happened. I think he realized that his words weren't doing any good to me since I just can't stop sobbing. I know I somehow looked like a helpless deer caught in headlights, but I didn't care. I was too shocked to compose myself and be well-poised. 

"Venera, I have to do this - I'm sorry." Jordan finally stopped moving around and approached me again. Fresh tears fell from my eyes as he leaned closer, his furrowed eyebrows highlighting his fierce stares. I watched as he bit his lower lip and my eyes followed his Adam's apple as it bobbed up and down when he swallowed. I felt my chin being tilted as his face drew closer and closer until our eyelashes met. The intense glow of his eyes made shut my own, and the next thing I knew, he was already kissing me. 

Jordan's warm lips somehow made me remember how to breathe and stop sobbing. I noticed that I felt a little safer, and the movement of his lips was like a calming drug. But something made my heart beat fast again. I knew that it wasn't shock which made my adrenaline rise this time, and I could also feel my stomach flutter. I even realized that I was responding to his kiss - eyes closed, my hands were starting to touch his chiseled jaw, broad shoulders, hard chest, toned arms...

"Gerroffme!" I shouted, suddenly pushing Jordan off my bed and rubbing my lips while giving him dagger looks. He looked a little fazed, but his facial expression quickly switched to relief. "What was that for?" I snapped, consciously pulling the covers up my chin to hide my almost naked body. I saw him smile - a genuine one. 

"I was trying to get you back to your senses," he told me. "I'm glad the kiss worked." I don't know if he intended double meaning with that, but I felt like he meant both. I refuse to admit it - and I wouldn't - but I liked our kiss. It was exactly the same way he kissed me while we were on national TV, but it was longer and a little more passionate. I felt comfortable warmth and his eagerness to make me respond was evident with the way he lightly bit and licked my lower lip.

I watched as he sat back on the edge of the bed and took my hands into his. Gauging that I was back to my senses and no longer in a state of shock, he started explaining what made him draw his gun. He looked at me with an unreadable expression as he explained why he was on his toes, and what was the development of Frank's research on the person who attempted to plant a camera on me. He also reminded me not to be afraid of his firearm since it should be an expectation that a soldier and field agent would be licensed to carry at least one. He apologized and mentioned that it was out of worry that he decided not to let me know yet what was going on. I sighed with all the looming complications. 

"So..." I said after clearing my throat, "that means I have to expect that we would always be followed around?" He shrugged his shoulders with the possibility. "Do you have an idea why people would want to know what we are up to?"

"That's what I've been meaning to ask you," Jordan replied. He stood up and turned his back on me, reminding me to wear his shirt before we start talking again. I blushed, completely forgetting that I was naked underneath the covers. I quickly put his shirt on, and I'm glad that it was long enough to reach my thighs.

"Is there any information - that could be valuable - which you are hiding from people, like the police?" Jordan asked. I tried to remember the things I've deliberately kept from the investigators of the Yates-Gallagher car accident. There was one, which I have not been able to disclose even to Conan yet, since we never got the chance to talk again before he decided to escape for a vacation and go missing. "Yes, there is," I told him.

I took my mobile phone from the bedside table and browsed through my saved video call recordings. I let Jordan watch the last call which Viktor made - the one which was made a few seconds before the car crash, and where he instructed me to never let the police check his and Dad's bodies. I also let Jordan listen to the saved voicemail of my Dad where he also instructed me to follow Viktor's words, and to wait for his Will.

Jordan hit the replay button several times before he put my phone back on the desk. He paused for a while then looked at me thoughtfully, looking half-pleased and half-worried.

"You've never told anyone - even your friends - about this, right?" He asked, and I nodded. I watched as he beckoned Jacket closer, and tilted the dog's head so he could stare into its left eye. "We need to take that left eye out, Jacket." He told the dog, who barked at him as though saying "yes." 

Wondering why he suddenly thought about taking out Jacket's eye, I asked Jordan to explain. He told me that Jacket had been operated on when he got shot while serving as a K-9 and an artificial eye was implanted to replace his blinded one. Jordan's Dad decided that it would also make Jacket extra important by entrusting him to carry a special orb which was a Gallagher heirloom.

Since I still must have looked at him with confusion, Jordan took my phone again and showed me Viktor's video. He paused it at thirty seconds timestamp and zoomed in. "Here," he pointed at my brother's fingers which were caught in the frame. "Notice how he keeps touching his jacket - his left collar, to be exact - and he's making an 'I' sign" My jaw dropped, not really having paid attention to that detail. I may have seen the gestures, but it wouldn't mean anything to me. "That's a message... Jacket's eye... And with him saying that their bodies shouldn't be examined - there's more to that. Haven't you asked yourself why?" I shook my head. "Your Dad, your brother, and my father - are somewhere other than the cemetery."

The declaration made me gape at Jordan in disbelief. My eyes followed as he started walking back and forth again, his hands on his trim hips. I swallowed when I realized that he wasn't wearing any shirt. His well-toned chest muscles and biceps tensed as he moved around while explaining. I tried not to get lost with his bare trunk and forced my eyes to look elsewhere so I could comprehend what he was trying to tell me.

"...we have to find out as soon as possible. Jacket could be checked by a K-9 vet at the camp who could extract the orb and I presume we would have our next clue from there." Jordan was saying. "If my deductions are right, that car accident was staged - we have to find out why it was, and where your brother and our Dads are now." 

I found it ridiculous, and I told him that. "Why would they stage a car accident?" I cried out. I simply refused to believe that something that big could be set up. The show must go on. My Dad's motto reverberated in my head again. I shook my head in fear of losing my sanity with all the baffling discoveries. Looking at Jordan's poker face, though, I wondered how he could easily bear such aberrations. 

*****

Jordan's POV

I've treated Conan's sudden disappearance also as a clue to what my father really wanted me to find out. It's true that Conan recorded himself and Alannah when they announced my taking over the family business, but I've never seen or heard from him in person since he filed for an indefinite leave. The only assurance I got that he was safe was when the recorded message gave me a sign that he was somewhere untraceable by whomever it was that he needed to hide from. I couldn't understand, though, why Dad would instruct Conan to "hibernate" while our elder sister and I are out. 

"Marco and his men could take care of me and Angelique," Alannah once told me. I knew that her billionaire husband would never let a fly touch her and his daughter, and it made me a little assured of my sister and my niece's safety. What I was more worried about was that it seemed Conan was one of the important reasons why the whole thing happened in the first place. He has his own group of bodyguards but the soldier brother in me wanted to see him real safe under my watch instead of him going missing. Add to that the fact that Alannah always regarded Conan as a little brother no matter how powerful he was, and I could imagine how stressed she would be if I told her that Conan might be in grave danger. I'm not saying that she doesn't care for me, but my sister never really worries about me being "in danger" except when it comes to dating. Maybe she feels that my being a martial artist makes me invincible. Her constant voicemails were enough to prove her concern, but I'd rather she stuck by her husband and be in his fortress than her being in the country, listening to my upsetting deductions and worrying about Conan. We both knew that Conan was perfectly capable of keeping himself safe, but mine and Alannah's

overprotectiveness was just striking. Exactly the way I was feeling towards Vee right now.

I glanced at the young lady at the passenger seat whose long tresses were blowing against the wind as she decided to roll down her window. Her face was bright, having had complete eight hours of sleep the night before, after forcing me to watch over her as the thunderstorm rolled by. I never could have figured that she hated thunderstorms - with all her regal and spoiled demeanor whenever we were together. Seeing her worried eyes made me realize that she was still human. Well, plus the fact that I was the cause of her great shock when she saw me pointing a gun at her, I felt that it was just right to look after her. 

She was a little hostile with my pistol, though. The moment she saw it that morning, she asked me to throw it away and to never see it again in my possession, and it took several explanations before she accepted that guns would protect her, too. I found it amusing when she searched my shoulders and torso to ensure that the gun wouldn't suddenly say "hello" to her, so I had to use my ankle holster. Now she occasionally gives my right leg a disgruntled look, knowing that her enemy was safely tucked there. I chuckled inwardly, recalling how her full lips would twist and pout in annoyance. 

My reverie was interrupted with Frank's text message which was nothing urgent. I could definitely wring his neck the moment I see him to stop him from endlessly teasing me to start getting on third base with Vee. There isn't even a second base, I heard a defiant voice in my head. Not that I was hoping for one - I always remind myself that Vee was a lot younger than me, and it would be inappropriate to hit on her while we were faced with complications. I've already told Frank about it probably a million times, but he just keeps pointing out that Vee and I are going to get married. And that soon, we would have to consummate the marriage. Bloody pedophile. 

Trying not to let my eyes be tempted to feast on Vee's creamy thighs which were exposed after she decided to wear just my damned oversized shirt, I focused on looking out for some signs that we were being followed. For some reason, Lucas Connor stopped tailing us and we have been worry-free for the past two hours. 

"D'you think we could stop for some quick shopping?" Vee suddenly asked, turning to me in a careless manner, accidentally exposing more of her silky smooth thighs and even her gray undies.

"Bloody f-!" I stepped on the brake as my mind just went haywire. It was the worst move, since she got off-balanced and the goddamn shirt got tugged by the seatbelt. So yes, I saw more of her gray undies. Finally realizing that she was exposed, she quickly tugged the shirt to cover her thighs - to no avail. Jacket's head poked between our seats and he was biting one of my shirts. Vee took it and covered more of her thighs. "Yes, we're going to buy you some decent pants, and make sure not to get any of those sweatpants like the one you discarded." I mentally cursed as I recalled how her sweatpants emphasized her round behind and how she managed to rip it off while showering that morning. If I hadn't known her prior to seeing how clumsy she could be during thunderstorms, I would have thought that she was deliberately trying to get less clothes on her to seduce me. I saw her blush and even heard her apologize. 

"What for?" I asked, unsure if I was still following her train of thought.

"I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable," she squeaked, while looking out the window. "Growing up as a model made me think that people wouldn't care even if I wear almost nothing." She started picking on her hairstrands, visibly displeased with herself. 

"I'm..." lost for words. I didn't know how to react to that. Modelling was her passion and I didn't want to say anything bad against it, and at the same time, I didn't want to say I was uncomfortable - she might think that I wasn't appreciating her body. Well - not that I was ogling her or anything, but...

Frank's mischievous smirk crossed my mind at the most inappropriate time, and I couldn't help but acknowledge the fact that Vee really has a nice body. Someone I'd love to take to bed and make love to all night. I felt something agree with me from my nether region. For the second time, I slammed on the brakes and pulled over to get some air. Getting off the jeep, I instructed Jacket to look after Vee and I walked a bit farther into the woods along the highway to clear my mind. 

She's going to be your wife. Alannah's words came to me this time, and it made me feel worse. I didn't want to feel something for Vee just because we were betrothed, and I didn't want to think about making love to her just because she was hot. I guess having too many women in the past is now haunting me and I just can't feel right about getting involved with Vee. And Dad - who had always reprimanded me for not settling down sooner - must have had this in his mind all along. 

I went back to the jeep after a few minutes and felt like something wrenched my guts when I saw Vee staring out the window with lonely eyes. I wondered if I was causing her more pain than intended, but I really don't have any idea how to treat her. A part of me wants to forget about our age gap and just take her into my arms, but another side me says that I should keep my distance. I'm not even sure if her heart already belongs to someone else. And I don't have a clue if she likes me or not. This is the first time I ever doubted how a lady feels for me.

I found myself blocking Vee's view with my face. "Hey," she blinked several times before I came into focus. "We could stop at a mall in a hundred and fifty miles then you can buy any clothes you want." I heard myself say, in the hopes of making her feel better. She simply shrugged, and her pretty eyes stared through me and beyond the woods. I kind of felt like cupping her face so she could stare only into my eyes and nothing else. Resisting that idea was a little challenging, and I had to drag myself back to the driver's seat. 

"We'll arrive at the camp in an hour and a half," I told her, while desperately trying to keep a decent conversation with her. The idea of taking her into my arms and kissing her passionately was still looming in my head as she continued looking somber. I don't know how I survived the rest of the journey not talking to her or forcibly kissing her, but we finally reached the camp. I waited as she put on some pants which I bought a few miles away, and I'm glad that she didn't reject the pair of jeans I got. She fell asleep while I was driving, and since I didn't want to wake her up, I decided to get the first pair I saw in the closest boutique that I passed at the highway mall. I congratulated myself for being able to gauge her measurements correctly when she came out the car looking fabulous wearing the skinny jeans and in one of my oversized shirts yet again. I wonder why she didn't wear the tank top which I bought along with her jeans. Her nice bottom caught my attention again, and I had to tear my eyes away from her in order to think straight.

One of the rarest moments when I liked Frank's sudden appearance is now that he came to meet us. He looked dead serious and was all about business as he led me and Vee to the K-9 clinic with Jacket trailing after him. I could hear him saying that the resident veterinarian is all set to operate on Jacket again, to take the orb out. We had to wait for almost an hour for the operation, and I was relieved when I was told that Jacket did great and he was moved to the recovery room. Frank handed me the orb once we were settled in our office. 

The golden orb looked nothing special as I held it against the light, but it did have a tiny hole. Using a magnifying lens, we all concluded that it looked like a keyhole, although it was too tiny to figure out whether we could possibly have a key to it. While Frank and I discussed our deductions, Vee peered into the orb and tried to see if she could figure something out. 

"Maybe we could cut it?" She asked, looking at me sheepishly. I felt a strong urge to kiss her lips which were twisting in obvious discomfort. "Yeah." I heard myself say. "Cut it..." I got a skeptical look from Frank, who, I knew, was thinking that the orb shouldn't be dismantled in any way. I found Vee appealing, though. I mean, her idea. If we didn't have a key, might as well try and see if we could cut it open.

A few minutes later, we cut the orb in half, its keyhole more exposed than earlier. As we examined it behind the lenses, we noticed that the keyhole formed a funny shape. I perceived it as a map, and Frank agreed. Vee saw it differently, though. 

"It looks like the painting in my Dad's office," she said, again looking like she was greatly embarrassed that she even talked. This time, Frank beat me into agreeing with her. "Your father's painting might be telling you something." He said, nodding. "Tell us what the painting was like."

Vee recalled that the huge painting was behind her father's desk. It was an abstract, painted in charcoal by an Irish artist, and titled it Chéad Mhac. "I can't be mistaken," she added. "Dad once told me that it was his favorite." 

Frank gave me an affirmative stare as I decided that Vee and I would head straight back to the Yates Executive office to find out what the painting will tell us.

A/N

I know... It was tooooooo looooooong.....
I'm sorry :-D
I'm trying to keep them shorter so you won't have to stare too much at your screens. I'll do my best in the next chapters or so ;-)

Again, let me know how you liked it! Thanks! :-*