Chapter 250: Behind Closed Doors
"Why should I change?"
As soon as the question slipped from her lips, the world shifted in a blur. Before she could even draw a breath, her back hit the wall, and Gavriel loomed over her with his hands planted on either side of her head, caging her in completely.
When her eyes met his, her heart did a frantic flip at the feral intensity burning within his dark gaze, sending a sudden wave of heat pooling lower in her belly.
"It would be a grave mistake if you think I would let others look at what is mine alone to see," he rasped.
A thrill of dark excitement coursed through her at his sudden possessiveness.
Wanting to push him even further, she offered a sultry smile. "But Gav... it’s a pool party, remember?"
Daringly, she raised her hand to drag her nails lightly along his corded neck, speaking in a low, teasing purr. "Do you... want me to start dressing like a nun now... dear husband?"
She dragged her nails lower, trailing them past his open collar toward his bare chest.
Before she could reach any lower, he caught her wrist in a firm grip and growled, "Don’t test me, Ana. Change... or else."
A rush of adrenaline hit her as she watched him get worked up, and she challenged him without hesitation. "Else what?"
She used her free hand to brush her fingertips against his sinful lips. Without breaking eye contact, he parted his mouth and bit down gently on the tip of her finger, drawing a quiet hiss from her lips.
Before she could recover, he gathered both of her wrists in one hand, pinning them firmly above her head. His free hand glided down her collarbone to the soft swell of her breast, his thumb flicking over the hardened peak through the thin fabric before trailing lower down her flat stomach.
When his long fingers reached the edge of her bikini bottoms, he hooked a finger under the strap and paused.
Watching her tremble under his touch, he finally spoke, "Or else... I can simply rip it to shreds."
As soon as those words left his lips, Aliana snapped out of her daze. The moment she felt him stretch the delicate fabric, she squeaked, "Wait! Don’t rip it!"
He paused and looked at her with dark amusement.
"I was only teasing you," she explained quickly. "I wasn’t actually planning to go out like this, you know. I have a cover-up dress to wear over it."
He raised a brow. "Really?"
Aliana gave him a slow nod, like a child trying to convince her parents she was telling the truth.
Gavriel’s lips twitched at the sight of her before he reached up and gently wrapped his fingers around her throat, feeling her pulse flutter beneath his touch.
Leaning close, he whispered against her lips, "You should know better than to poke this beast, baby."
Aliana held his gaze for a long moment before her eyes drifted down to his lips. A small smirk slowly curled across her own. "It was fun."
"I bet," he murmured.
A faint smile finally touched his lips before he captured her mouth with his.
He kissed her slowly at first, tasting her until a quiet moan escaped her throat. She parted her lips in an invitation he gladly accepted as his tongue breached her mouth. Releasing her wrists, he hooked one hand around the nape of her neck while his other pressed against her bare back, pulling her flush against his chest.
Aliana melted into him, one hand slipping into his soft hair while the other cupped his jaw, feeling his muscles flexing as their lips moved together in a deep, ravenous kiss, as if they were trying to consume each other completely.
Just as Gavriel felt he would rather have her than attend some frivolous pool party, his phone vibrated, snapping the couple out of their spellbound trance.
As they reluctantly parted, he watched Aliana’s head fall back against the wall as she tried to catch her breath. Without taking his eyes off her, he picked up his phone from the console table beside them and held it to his ear after receiving the call.
The moment he answered, a loud voice came through the speaker.
"Well, I hope I didn’t interrupt anything!"
A flicker of displeasure crossed Gavriel’s face as he pulled the phone slightly away from his ear.
"Don’t shout, Cillian," Gavriel replied with a low sigh.
Aliana could hear Cillian chuckling on the other end, and a faint smile touched her lips.
While Cillian continued rambling, Gavriel leaned in close to her ear, his breath warm against her skin.
"Get ready," he whispered softly.
He pulled back, giving her revealing attire one final once-over, and Aliana simply rolled her eyes at his reminder. She watched him stride toward the balcony to finish his call before she turned toward her wardrobe to put on her cover-up dress.
.....
The pool party was just as vibrant as expected. Music blared from the speakers, with several guests already splashing in the pool while others danced along the edge or drifted through the crowd in sleek swimwear, cocktails in hand as they mingled.
A small handful were more modestly dressed, but the vast majority certainly were not. In fact, Aliana, wearing a cute navy-blue mini dress tied with a soft bow at the nape of her neck, looked far more covered in comparison to the people around them.
Yet even with a dress on, her natural beauty effortlessly drew eyes from every corner of the poolside. Unfortunately, this particular detail did not sit very well with the brooding man standing beside her... her husband.
Gavriel stood next to Aliana, his sharp eyes fixed on every single man who approached them. Should anyone’s gaze linger on her a second longer than necessary, or drift anywhere below her face, they somehow found themselves meeting with rather unfortunate accidents.
One slipped straight into the pool.
Another had his drink mysteriously spill all over himself.
A third suddenly tripped flat on his face after someone "accidentally" bumped into him.
It became such a string of unfortunate mishaps that guests couldn’t help but wonder why random men kept suffering such unbelievable bad luck.
Cillian, however, knew exactly who was behind it all.
Quietly sipping his drink, he shamelessly enjoyed the free entertainment.
Standing by the bar, the three of them held their glasses while indulging the guests who naturally gravitated toward the high-profile figures of their elite circle. They were especially drawn to Aliana and Gavriel, given their recent marriage and Aliana taking her place as the new CEO of Van Empire.
While most conversations revolved around pleasantries and the business world, humans were curious creatures, and the elite loved nothing more than gossip to pass the time.
After all, there was a certain satisfaction in knowing someone else’s life was falling apart instead of their own.
Eventually, one of the guests broached the subject everyone had been silently waiting to ask about.
"So, Mrs. Valentine," Mr. Kalen, a middle-aged man, began while swirling the amber liquid in his glass, "I heard what happened to that Jacob on the news. It’s truly such a tragedy. Is it true that none of you noticed what he was doing behind closed doors?"
Aliana’s eyes narrowed almost unnoticeably. Her grip tightened around her glass, but her expression remained perfectly composed.
"Mr. Kalen," she replied with a pleasant smile, "are you genuinely expecting me to answer that? Something like: Yes, we knew he was a psychopathic serial killer, but we simply smiled, shared stories over dinner, and looked the other way?"
Mr. Kalen shifted uncomfortably at her sarcastic response, while several others around them raised their brows.
Meanwhile, Cillian and Gavriel simply watched the woman standing beside them as she met the man’s gaze without the slightest hint of hesitation.
Mr. Kalen cleared his throat. "That’s not wha-"
"The answer to your question is no. We didn’t know." Aliana took a calm sip of her drink before continuing, "You never truly know who a person is behind closed doors, do you? Some may be cheating on their wives, some embezzling money... or worse... sacrificing someone."
The moment the last words left her lips, Mr. Kalen’s posture went rigid enough to crack a rib. Both Gavriel and Cillian caught the little action, but Aliana pressed on without missing a beat.
"Had we known..." Her smile remained graceful, but her eyes turned cold. "...we would never have allowed someone as depraved as him anywhere near our vicinity, let alone welcomed him into our company. I hope that satisfies everyone’s curiosity."
She offered them a smile so charming that, for a moment, no one knew how to respond.
Standing beside her, Gavriel couldn’t help feeling impressed by the way she had shut down the conversation so effortlessly. More importantly, he was relieved to see that merely hearing Jacob’s name no longer affected her the way it once had.
Watching how far she had come, he couldn’t have been more proud.
Mr. Kalen let out a dry chuckle and replied, "My, I have heard stories about the she-devil of Astoria, but today I got to experience it firsthand." He pulled out his handkerchief and began dabbing the sweat from his forehead, but that was when something caught Aliana’s eye.
Gleaming against the setting sun, a gold ring rested on the man’s pinky finger with a strange symbol carved into its surface.
Her brows pulled together as a single question echoed in her mind: ’Why does it feel like I have seen this before?’