Y/N'S POV

A Week Earlier.

I returned home from the Hargreeves' office, completely baffled. Diego wicked words kept reverberating in my mind. I couldn't help but doubt my choices. Was agreeing to his deal the right move? The more I dove into his world, the more evident it became that he was just as twisted as his brother.

For Diego it was revenge. His ambitions and desires. He wanted Hargreeves Enterprises Holdings, the families legacy, and everything else that belonged to his brother. Including me.

For me, it was more complex.

Protection. I wanted to be able to finally live my life fear-free. After the deal was done, Diego assured I'd get his protection. He offered to help us hide so that even Five wouldn't find us again.

Retribution. As twisted as it may sound, I wanted to get my revenge on Five. He might not have loved me, but I knew him. I knew he was possessive. A jealous type. I knew seeing his prey with another man, let alone his brother would hurt his alpha male ego.

And money. When I left New York, I had no money or support. Contacting my family was out of the question. I tried once, and it didn't go well. My father not only refused my help, but he relished my downfall. He savored the satisfaction that he had been right about Five. And that only exacerbated my pain. I regretted it ever since. I was on my own. I had no father. No family. After everything I'd gone through because of them, they were dead to me. So, when Diego offered me a hundred million dollars to marry him, I couldn't say no. This money was my ticket to a fresh start. To help me start anew and provide the life for my son that he deserved. Far away from this dangerous world.

And now, there was no turning back. I knew I had to play this game 'till the very end.

I lost track of time, lost in my thoughts until a loud bang at the main entrance jolted me back to reality. Assuming it was Betty and Ezra returning from the playground, I strolled down the stairs. Ready to see my handsome boy. But my smile slowly faded away. Diego.

He dawned a glass of whiskey and tossed it back onto the cabinet with anger. "Five has decided to fight for the companies." He wiped a drop of whiskey from his mouth. "He's doing it on purpose. Because of you." The anger in his voice made me tremble.

I didn't say anything. I merely watched him walk toward me.

"You have to marry me, Y/n. Soon.

"Wasn't that the plan all along?"

His eyes darted between mine.

"The sooner, the better. I can't wait to do my part and leave."

Diego nodded, his breath steadying. "Very well. I'll arrange everything, and we'll get married in two months."

Diego smirked viciously. "I want to marry you on my brother's birthday, so he never forgets that day."

The next few days passed rather uneventfully. Diego told me that Five was on a business trip to Italy, which probably was the reason for the temporary calm. It was a welcome break. Diego officially moved in with us, but his presence was barely felt. The residence was spacious, and he occupied a room on the opposite side. It allowed us to maintain a considerable distance. Occasionally, we shared meals. I was pleased to see Diego bonding well with Ezra. Seeing them play together brought a smile to my face. I started noticing a different side of Diego that seemed entirely unfamiliar, perhaps even to himself.

"Hey there, little guy." Diego surprisingly warm voice caught my attention. He stepped into the kitchen after a day at work. He was still wearing his black suit and carrying a leather bag in his left hand.

I glanced at him and smiled. He threw the bag aside and knelt to greet Ezra. He eagerly ran to him with joy written all over his face. It was a nice sight.

"How was your day?" Diego hugged Ezra tightly. Then he picked him up and carried him in his arms toward the kitchen island where I was chopping vegetables for dinner. We exchanged a silent smile before his attention shifted back to Ezra. "What were you doing, little man?"

He playfully touched his hair, and he laughed. "Playing," he said, still giggling.

I observed them, laughter and play filling the room, and couldn't shake off the sense of guilt. Guilt that Ezra would get attached to him a little too much. That he would miss him after we left New York. I wasn't sure if what I was doing was right for my son. And despite everything I'd been doing, I'd been doing it for him. Then why didn't it feel right?

After dinner, I took care of the dishes while Diego continued to play with Ezra. I started noticing that, in his own way, he cared for him deeply. To an outsider, we might've appeared as a typical, loving family. Given the circumstances, it felt disturbingly wrong. And I... I couldn't stop wondering how my life would look like with Five by my side. What kind of a father he would be.

I guess I'll never know.

"Alright, Ezra." I walked over to them and settled on the living room's furry white carpet. "Let's go. Mommy will put you to bed with a story, hm?" I smiled as I lifted him.

"Yay!" Ezra exclaimed with delight. "About robots?" he asked with his cute, small voice, struggling to pronounce the word correctly, which sounded so endearing it instantly brought a smile to my face.

"A story about a robot for my little boy himself." I planted a soft kiss on his forehead and carried his to the bedroom.

Ezra drifted into a peaceful slumber after two tales and lots of cuddles. Now I needed a moment for myself. A refreshing face mask, a bit of pampering, and a long, soothing bath. Eventually, I find myself drowning in Five's shirt once more. Yes, the very one I left in four years before. I still wasn't sure why I kept that shirt. I should've thrown it away long ago. And yet, even after the dreadful incident with Viktor that left the shirt stained with blood, I couldn't bring myself to throw it away. Instead, I did everything I could to restore its cleanliness. As if the shirt became my sort of totem. Perhaps, because it was my only connection to life that was once mine. A life in which I had it all. When I was happy.

Wrapped in the cotton shirt with my hair still damp and cascading down my shoulders, I headed to my bedroom. I was idly browsing through random news on my phone. Every time I did, deep down, I secretly wished to stumble upon something related to Five. A message, perhaps.

Why do my thoughts keep coming back to him?

I knew I had to stay away from that man. Yet my mind stubbornly clung to memories of him. The shared a kiss in his office. The warmth of his breath across my neck that I could swear still lingered on my skin. His husky voice, and those hypnotic green eyes.

"Y/n, can I come in?" Diego's hushed voice jolted me from my reverie and made me jump. It felt almost as if I were caught red-handed doing something forbidden.

"Come on in." I cleared my throat, tucking a strand of my hair behind my ear. My cheeks were flushed.

Diego entered with a glass of wine in one hand and a Scotch in the other, offering me a faint smile. "I thought it'd be nice to have a drink together. Talk." His typically cold and wicked tone was replaced by a softer warmth. "We live together, and we barely interact with each other."

He sat in a plush cream chair, elegantly complementing the modern yet tasteful decor, opposite my bed and near the expansive window covered by drapes in the same shade. My brow raised slightly as I accepted the glass. I was suspicious of the change in him. Or perhaps, surprised.

"Very well. Is there anything you want to talk about?" I sat on the edge of my bed, taking a long sip of the red wine. I liked the taste. My gaze remained fixed on Diego. He seemed different this evening. I assessed his body. His white shirt was slightly unbuttoned, hanging over his denim pants. But it wasn't that. It wasn't just the casual outfit. There was some sort of vulnerability emanating from him that night.

His eyes darted away momentarily as he took a deep breath. "Listen, I'm not very good at that kind of talk, so I'll just..." He hesitated, his lips pressing together as if contemplating his words.

"You're giving me a glimpse of what it feels like to have a family... children. Something I'll never have."

My brows knitted. I tried to understand what he meant.

"You're still so young. You'll have a family one day," I reassured, but Diego let out a weighted breath.

"I'm sterile. I'll never be able to have my own children." He downed his whiskey in a single gulp.

"I'm sorry." What could be said in a situation like this? "How do you know it? Is it certain?" I asked quietly, and Diego nodded with regret.

"I found out during one of the medical check-ups. Then, I double-checked with a specialist. I guess having a family was never in the cards for me," he stated, avoiding my gaze.

Abruptly, he rose from the chair and turned to face the window. He pushed aside the drapes, fixating his gaze on a distant landscape or the brightly lit full moon. I couldn't tell. "Ezra has given me a taste of what it would look like to be a father," he whispered, almost as if speaking to himself.

I felt so sorry. So sad. Not everyone wanted to have children, but he clearly wanted it, and that was why it was even more saddening. I put the wine on the nightstand beside my bed and approached him, placing my hand on his back. "You can still have a family. Children too." My voice was gentle.

Diego turned to face me, delicately gripping my wrist in his hand. His eyes locked with mine. "What would you do if I said I don't care about our deal anymore?" he asked, his voice soft and calm, alluring.

"Diego..." I hesitated, my lips parting, but no words would escape them.

"What if we married, for real, and you stay with me... forever?"

My eyes shut briefly, and a deep sigh escaped my lungs. "How do you imagine it?" I met his gaze again. "You know why I have agreed to all of this in the first place. So, I could live my life without the fear of Five finding out about Ezra. If I had stayed in New York, with you, do I keep him a secret him whole life?"

Diego's lips pulled together, and his head tilted. As if in a snap of fingers, suddenly his eyes seemed dark, and so did his tone, "Is this the only issue? Or is it about me? Or, I should say, that I'm not him."

I shook my head. And kept shaking it. My brows twitched. "You better work on yourself first before you start a relationship. You have real brother issues." I headed toward the door, but he caught me.

"Y/n, wait," he breathed. His gaze held me captive. He brushed my hair aside, releasing a scoff.

I narrowed my eyes. "What? Why the scoff?"

His fingers trailed their path down my neck until they reached the collar and he grabbed to look closer. "It's his shirt." A scoff escaped his mouth. "You kept it all these years."

I trembled. Why did I feel so intimidated whenever he was close? But Diego's twisted ness would never cease to amaze me. Slowly, he began to unbutton his shirt. His fingers pushed each button through its hole, one by one. And each button-down sent a shudder through me. And yet, I couldn't do anything but stare at him.

"I don't want you to wear his clothes." His raspy voice rang in my ears as he leaned in closer to whisper. "I don't want you to keep anything that belonged to him." He leaned back, his eyes drifted back to meet mine. I felt as if his gaze was piercing right through me. Never breaking eye contact, he slowly peeled the shirt from my body. It fell to the floor, pooling around my legs. His fingers delicately traced my bare skin, sending a wave of sensation up my back.

"Gosh, Y/n," he breathed heavily. "I've been thinking about your lips ever since our kiss back in my office." His gaze dropped to my lips, and he bit his lower lip.

In a swift motion, he pinned me against the wall. His face nestled in my neck, trailing slow kisses down to my collarbone.

"I've been fantasizing about you, Y/n," he whispered against my skin. His hand descended my back, fingers tracing my spine. Warm breath, gentle nibbles, and teasing kisses made my body shiver. His touch was slow and gentle, deliberate, as if savoring each second. "How I would make your body quiver. How your legs would shake wrapped around my neck," he spoke in a deep, low tone, marking each word with a kiss.

"Diego, stop it," I hardly managed to mutter. I knew it wasn't right. He was my baby daddy's brother, and that was a boundary I couldn't cross, but my body shivered under his touch making goosebumps rise in their wake.

"You don't want me to stop." He placed another kiss, this time on my arm before his eyes met mine. His hand found my inner thigh, inching upward. His eyes filled with intense lust.

My eyes closed shut, his heavy breath now against my ear.

At first, the kiss was soft and slow, careful. Anders steadily deepened the kiss until it became possessive and demanding, heated, sliding in his tongue that danced around mine lustfully. His hand on the back of my head, his other trailing down my back, his lips on mine, and his tongue intruding. His lips moved to my neck, teasing bites sent waves of heat through my system. I was lost in the moment. My body responded involuntarily to his touch, succumbing to the sinful lust that engulfed me. For a moment, I lost control over my senses. I let myself indulge in the sinful desire that consumed me. My mind was clouded with lust. My body responded to his touch automatically. For a moment.

"Stop; it's not right," I moaned, trying to escape his embrace. "Five, please..." I sighed, and in an instant, Diego pulled away.

"Five?" He braced one hand above my head, clenched the other into a fist, and struck the wall behind me. His jaw tightened, his gaze turning black with rage. "Fuck!" his hiss rang in my ears in sync with the bang above my head, making me jump involuntarily.

Just then, mere seconds after Five's name involuntarily slipped my lips, we heard loud bangs on the door from downstairs.

"Guess we have a guest," Diego growled, his clenching fists visibly shaking as if he struggled to contain his rage. Throwing me a deadly stare, he hissed, "I want you to stay upstairs with Ezra. No matter what." He hit the doorframe with force on his way out.

Instinctively, I seized Five's shirt from the floor and hastily put it on. I peered through the window, my gaze following Diego's walking outside to Five. My heart pounded with an intensity I had never felt before.

Why is he here at this hour? He was supposed to be away in Italy. When did he return? Why did he come here so suddenly? Did he discover the truth about Ezra?

A myriad of questions ran through my mind. Anxiety crept in. But when I saw Five pointing a gun at Diego, my blood ran cold. In an instant, I rushed down the stairs and outside, hoping we could avoid a tragedy.

"Just stop it already!" I cried out, but neither of them showed any sign of relenting. But it was when I heard Ezra's voice reaching me from behind, I felt as if the very ground beneath my feet had disintegrated into nothingness.

"Mommy," he cried quietly, and my heart sank.

Five's stunned gaze landed on me. I felt like I was suffocating, drowning in a sea of lies and deceit that I had woven myself. That was it. Checkmate.

Game over.

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Question Of The Day!!

"What your favorite beverages?"

Mine: I'm gonna be real, I'm a soda pop girl. It's so delicious. But don't worry, your girl still drinks her water;)

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