The Syndicate’s Bride

Chapter 3(cont)

A perfect face for a horrible personality. I complained.

“We should sleep together,” I raised my brows at his statement. “in the same room. But don't worry. I won't touch you if you don't agree.”

I didn’t have a problem with that. In fact I was going to suggest it to him because I had good reasons. What were his reasons?

“Why?”

“To keep appearance and build chemistry,” he said plainly. “We need everyone to believe we have chemistry; they'll be suspicious otherwise. We might have the same plan.”

What? But… that makes sense. “Alright.”

He straightened. “The room’s ready. You can shower first.” And he was gone before I could reply.

Getting to our room, I was relieved to find it empty, grateful that Ryan had taken it upon himself to give me space or to stay away from me for his own sanity. The room was decorated with similar patterns as the interior and was big, way too big for two people

But it has its advantages, I thought as I looked at the large bed occupying a part of the room. That way even if we slept on the same bed, we’d still be as far as possible without entering each other’s space.

Thank God.

By the time I was out of the shower, Ryan was back, sitting at the edge of the bed as he spoke into his phone.

Sensing my arrival, he stood and walked into the bathroom with some clothes in his hands and shut the door behind him.

Well, hello to you too.

I was already half asleep when he got out of the shower and joined me on the bed. I stiffened slightly at his presence, unsure of how I was to adjust to this new arrangement.

Shifting closer to my side of the bed to get a little bit more comfortable, I closed my eyes, willing myself to fall asleep, when I felt the bed deepen with movements followed by a hand on my waist and lips behind my ear. My eyes flew open and I stiffened.

“What are you –”

“Shh,” he whispered. “They’re are eyes everywhere. Relax your body.”

His voice, warm and low, tickled my ear. The sensation caused a trail of goosebumps on my skin and my ears grew hot and probably red too. I was grateful for the darkness.

“You – ” I cleared my throat. “You don’t have to stay here all night.”

He exhaled and I wished he’d move back before I exploded. “Not all night, just for now. Try to sleep.”

Try to sleep? Where does he get his audacity from?

I started to turn so I could at least face him and wiggle my way out of his hold. But the awkwardness of the situation made my movements clumsy, causing my earring to mistakenly scratch his cheek.

He didn’t even flinch. “Just stay on your back if you’re that uncomfortable.”

“Aren’t you uncomfortable?”

He sighed. “It’s not a big deal.”

“Why? Because you’ve done this with other women?” I said and immediately regretted when my choice of words sank in and the room went silent. It sounded like I was playing the role of the jealous fiancée. I mentally face palmed myself.

Using his arm to hold him up, I felt his eyes on me in the darkness. “Are you…jealous?”

Stupid Vanessa. “In your dreams,” I managed to say convincingly.

“Then, are you calling me a man w***e?” I could swear he sounded amused.

“Does the shoe fit? I asked sweetly, looking at him.

He dragged me closely by the waist until our faces were merely inches apart, his breath fanning my face, leaving a trail of mint in its wake.

He hummed in a low voice . “You really never cease to get under my skin. Somehow, I find it impressive.”

I blinked at him. Did he loose some screws? “What are you even on about - ”

“Do you still want to see if the shoe fits?” He asked smoothly and I felt my cheeks heat. He was literally asking me if I wanted to have s*x with him.

God.

“Of - of course not.” I stammered.

“Good. Now sleep,” he said as he returned to his position, closed his eyes and leaving his hand on my waist, fell asleep.

Embarrassed, I slowly laid back down, staring at the ceiling speechless. How did he always manage to leave me speechless once he held me to him? I wondered. It was simply embarrassing, especially as we didn’t even like each other.

Do better, I chastised myself.

No longer having to deal with his breath on my skin, my mind easily went back to words I should have paid more attention to. There are eyes everywhere. How did he find out? I thought. Last I checked, he had no assistant like I did or even messengers. Without Alice, I never would have found out about the spies in the mansion but how did he know when he had no alliance here?

I looked at his sleeping form. My curiosity about the man kept growing each day and a part of me believed if it was satisfied, I’d be digging into deep mysterious waters before I could stop myself.

***

The next day went by in a blur. The servants went about their day, cleaning, cooking, working around the mansion while I stayed within the four corners of the bedroom, too cautious to give the spies something to talk about.

Ryan left sometime in the morning and wasn’t back until around dinner time. We both agreed to have dinner together since we couldn’t have breakfast or lunch together. Because sharing a meal together was something important to people who were happy to be engaged.

More and more facades.

At the table, I could feel eyes on us even in the dinning, from all directions, watching our every move down to the way we chewed our foods and the way we swallowed our wine

Keeping up the perfect couple facade, I reached for Ryan’s plate with a cut portion of steak and placed it on this plate with a sweet smile.

Looking amused, Ryan cleared his throat and took a sip of wine. I rolled my eyes at him, making sure it seemed as playful as possible before gesturing at him to bend low enough so I could whisper to him.

“Stop laughing and follow my lead.”

I cut a piece of my steak and lifted it to his mouth. He looked at the steak with slightly wide eyes before turning to me questioningly.

Oh for the love of God. “Open your mouth,” I said with as wide as a smile I could muster.

He smirked slightly, maintaining eye contact as his lips parted and I pushed the meat into his mouth. He chewed slowly, refusing to look away from me as he did so and I had no idea why my ears felt hot at the action.

Eyes still gleaning in amusement, he took a sip of his wine. “Thank you, my love.”

I almost choked on my steak. I glared at him subtly. His lips widened a bit. “Can I have more?”

Oh, this bastard.

I put on a smile. “Of course.”

Somehow, he abandoned his cutlery after that, enjoying the misery he was putting me through by making me feed him continuously.

We fell into an oddly harmonious rhythm. The silence was comfortable, and weird as it was a first. Only the sound of our chewing and the kissing of cutlery could be heard.

“You’re doing a great job,” Ryan teased, his eyes shining with mischief.

Stabbing a piece of tomatoes, I glared at him subtly before shoving the food a little forcefully in his mouth

Learn to shut up. My eyes said.

His lips lifted a little but immediately straightened out and a cold look masked his features. Immediately, I sensed something was wrong but couldn’t figure out what.

Ryan chewed slowly, appearing to be savouring the taste of the tomatoes but I knew better. I scanned the crowd of servants subtly, appearing to be looking around naturally, until my eyes fell on a servant towards the entrance of the dinning.

Not realising I had noticed her, she stared at Ryan, her lips smug and her eyes flickering strangely and quickly, almost making me believe the light I saw in them was my imagination.

Ryan’s seat scraping against the ground brought my attention to him.

“I’m full. I’m going to take a shower.”

Without waiting for a reply, he exited the dinning room.

The sense of danger looming got progressively worse by the second and my instincts began to scream at me to leave the dinning room. So, quickly yet calmly, I ordered the servants to clear the room and dismissed them for the night.

I left the dinning room in slight hurry, wondering what had happened to make Ryan react the way he did. Was it poison? Was it an allergy the cook should have known about? No matter how hard I thought about it, I came out blank.

Getting to the room, I shut the door behind me, resisting the urge to lock it to avoid suspicion.

The room was empty and the bathroom door closed. Nervously waiting for the door to swing open any time soon, I paced the room back and forth, wondering what kind of danger Ryan had sensed.

After a few minutes, I began to get impatient. Cursing under my breath, I walked to the bathroom door and knocked on it.

“Ryan?”

There was no reply.

I groaned. “Please don’t make me open this door.”

Silence.

I ran a frustrated hand through my head and held the door handle

“You know what? f**k it.” Twisting the door handle, the door slowly slid open. I peered in and what I saw left me in shock.

It was completely dry and unused.

Ryan wasn’t there.