'Oh no .... No, no, no!'

Ryker's mind was racing. He barely heard the patter of children's footsteps as Liam disappeared from his field of vision and went off searching for treasure. The small red box in Eve's hands caught his gaze and made him gasp heavily. He could feel his hands getting damp. Cold sweat broke out on his forehead as the color drained from his face.

'What the hell! I'm going to rip his head off!'

He forced himself to take a deep breath before reaching for the wrapping of the surprising gift to take it. He struggled to keep an expressionless face as he turned the box in his hand and examined it more closely.

The box felt rough in his hands, worn. The darker, dented corners confirmed the first impression. But it wasn't this that sent a shiver down his spine and fueled his panic after his initial curiosity.

"Ray?" he heard Riona's voice, looking at him curiously. "Are you okay?"

Blinking, he lifted his head and looked at the young heiress of the cottage. He hadn't even noticed her following his movements as he turned the box in his hands. Riona's question had also drawn Eve's attention, and both women were now giving him a strange look.

His gaze slid back and forth between the cousins for a heartbeat before a slight smile came to his lips.

"Yes, don't worry," he assured them. "The box just seemed strange to me, too. But I'm sure it's nothing."

However, he kept his concerns and his following thoughts to himself: the package must have been left at the back door while he and Liam had gone out the front door. It seemed deliberate to put it at the back, where Riona and he weren't constantly running in and out. That was no accident. It was planned and thought out.

In front of him, Riona and Eve exchanged a look that even he couldn't interpret. They didn't seem to know anything about the package or its contents - luckily for him.

"Well," he started and felt his smile slip a little. "We don't need them now, do we? I'll throw them in the bin."

He turned away almost a little too hastily, directing his steps away from the kitchen and the two women, whose glances he felt at his back for a moment before the door slammed again behind him.

He stopped on the terrace. The smile on his lips vanished in seconds with the click of the lock, and the corners of his mouth dropped like a wounded soldier. His gaze glanced searchingly over the rows of trees behind the cottage. He was searching for a silhouette, a movement in the shadows.

Nothing.

Furious and annoyed, he frowned and almost narrowed his eyes. It was as if winter had descended on his face and taken away all kindness and warmth.

Anger coursed through his veins, quickening his pulse and heartbeat as if he were running for his life. He hastily tore the lid off the box and turned it over to take another look at what he had found. As if to make sure he hadn't made a mistake.

"Have you lost your mind, Dylan?" he hissed quietly, looking at the crimson inside of the lid. In one of the corners, so that it could barely be seen, a single word was written in curved, carefully crafted letters:

>>𝓗𝓞𝓜𝓔<<

The message was clear: she was to return home.

Ryker crushed the box in his hands and turned it into a crumpled cardboard ball. The former soldier stared at the rows of trees with an icy, angry expression. He was almost sure his comrade's fool had to be there somewhere. What had gotten into him? Was he trying to get his wife to turn back? Or was he trying to threaten her indirectly? Ryker didn't understand, but whatever it was, it was a shitty thing to do, and he wouldn't tolerate it!

If he really wanted his wife and son back, he should grab his balls and show up like a man - in person!

It was a silent warning, which Ryker underlined by tearing up the miserably crumpled cardboard box again. With long strides, he left the terrace to destroy the pitiful remainder of the unwelcome 'gift'...

"So, back to the subject: what did you want from me?" Ryker asked as he stopped in the hallway to take off his shoes. He had taken more time than necessary to dispose of the box. Not without reason: he had needed to take a moment to calm down before returning to the interior of the boarding house.

It would have been stupid and unprofessional to confront the two of them while he still had the anger inside him. Too much was at stake, and Ryker couldn't explain to himself why this stupid gift made him so angry. Dylan had hired him to find her and look after her until he could take care of everything else. Ryker had thought it was about the divorce and custody if there was any doubt that Dylan wanted to talk to her again. But this? It just didn't fit and was inappropriate in more ways than one.

So he used the minutes to take a deep breath and loosen his shoulders before returning to the kitchen and crossing his arms in front of his chest. His body sank naturally against the edge of the dining table, which reached straight up to his bottom. In his office in Echo Bay, Ryker would have sat on the table. But here, with the boy in the house, he instinctively refrained from doing so because he didn't want to be scolded by Eve again and be a role model for the boy.

Liam had not yet returned from his adventure. Only now and then could they hear quick footsteps on the floor above them, a rustling or rattling, and the childishly careless slamming of a door.

The atmosphere in the kitchen was still tense but changed after the two women exchanged a look that caused his eyebrow to rise questioningly.

Rio grinned mischievously like a wolf. On the other hand, Eve lowered her eyes and began twirling a strand of her hair between her fingers. She often did that, as he had learned over the last few days. Sometimes when she was thinking, but mostly when she was nervous. So she wanted something from him, and it was difficult for her to ask him for it.

Again, the thought that it was sweet suddenly occurred to him - at the same time, he immediately flinched inwardly from that thought, like from a hot stovetop. Damn it, he couldn't think about Eve like that.

His chest tightened again as that indefinable, strange feeling crept into his chest, and his eyebrows twitched, and a dull silence spread through the room.

"Ray ... could you maybe look after Liam on Saturday night?" After what felt like an eternity, Eve finally asked so quietly that he barely heard her as she avoided his gaze.

Was he mistaken, or was there a slight blush on her cheeks at her words? Was she ashamed to ask? Why?

And why did she have to look so... look so adorable? Shit.

He didn't even notice how he tilted his head. His hands closed a little tighter around her toned upper arms and the fabric of her shirt, making tiny, barely visible folds in the material.

"Of course, I can look after the little one," he raised, his eyebrows furrowing questioningly. It wasn't in keeping with Eve's previous behavior to ask him to keep an eye on Liam. So far, especially after the incident at the lake, she had hardly left her son's side. So, this request caused a strange feeling in his stomach.

"You see, Eve," Riona suddenly interrupted him with a whisper, clapping her palms together in delight. "I told you Ray would look after Liam if you asked him to."

His gaze wandered briefly to Ri, but she didn't pay him a glance and continued talking while her lips curled into a mischievous grin. "Now you can't avoid it anymore! Ray can babysit, and we can go out without worrying."

Ryker's eyes jumped back to Eve at these light-hearted words. He saw her flinch momentarily and grimace as if she'd bitten into a lemon. But he was too preoccupied with himself to wonder what that meant.

'Wait a minute ... Going out?'

Not for the first time that day, the smile on his lips faded. He felt a slight tug in his back and arm as his muscles tensed.

"Is that really... okay for you?" Eve asked, her eyes glued to him as if she was hoping for something from him that he didn't understand.

It was just a heartbeat in which his mask began to show tiny cracks, and the spectacle of the uninvolved, disinterested craftsman began to falter dangerously. A heartbeat in which he couldn't entirely control his emotions. His facial expression collapsed like a house of cards. But the moment passed quickly, and with the next >>tack<< of the kitchen clock, his facial expression had already firmed up again, and the gray-blue irises shut out any emotion behind it.

"Yeah, no problem," it came strangely pressed from his lips. It was a lie that lay in his stomach like a stone that could not be pushed away, no matter how hard Ryker tried. "I'm happy to take care of the little whirlwind."