"What do you want to tell me?" Her worried eyes finally left her food after several moments of hesitation.

Tobias knew she had felt how nervous he was and that what he wanted to tell her was serious.

Should he start off lightly? And ease her into the main topic?

"My sister is in New York." He knew this was the best start as he caught her eyes sparkling in excitement.

"Rebecca? Oh my god, that's so cool. I've always wanted to meet her!" She grinned and Tobias felt horrible. That smile would be dimmed in a few minutes.

"Yes and the men I told you about as well..." He said rubbing his forehead as he felt a new headache brewing. He had not even been awake for over thirty minutes.

Bringing the family together was always stressful. They were all adults and most of the time, conflicts of interests were unavoidable. Thankfully, he could always fall back on Alvaro and Mateo if it got too hard.

"That's good too. What's the special occasion though? Why's everybody pulling up?" She asked lightly, already digging into her richly garnished bowl of rice. He wished he had an appetite to eat, the food looked really good.

He just needed to find the right approach to tell her carefully so she would not freak out.

"It's for your court trial." He watched as she slowly lifted her head to look at him for a moment before going back to her food. All good so far.

"Why?"

"The thing is, they'll be there as a means of ah..." He didn't know how to put it. "Protection. For you, that is."

"What do I need protection for? It's just a trial and if Alvaro is as good as you put him to be, I don't think I'll have any issues with the law or anything like that."

"It's not the law I'm worried about. It's you and your safety." He exhaled deeply, meeting her eyes for a few seconds.

He knew he couldn't stall any further, he had to tell her. He had prepped up for this moment for days. Why is it so difficult?

"My safety?" She sounded a lot more concerned than she did before. It was not a good sign.

He hesitantly stretched his hands to wrap around hers in a bid to reassure her. This is going to be difficult.

"I need you to calm down, okay? And to listen to everything I say. Can you do that for me, Princess?" He asked softly, gently caressing her knuckles with his much bigger rough hands. Hands that were a bit too rough, contrasting the office work he did.

"Okay." She answered quietly, focusing on his soothing fingers on the back of her palms.

"Bien." At least she was calming down.

"Something happened a while ago, I believe I already told you half of it. About 3 years back." It stung him to recall what had happened that long ago. He'd rather forget about it.

"Okay..." She trailed off, urging him to continue.

"Rebecca was kidnapped on her way to Minnesota from Germany after my dad had... passed on. We— well, Varo and I thought it was just a normal kidnapping and they just needed ransom."

"What then did they need?"

"The entire Ferna empire, our company, shares, stock, investments, assets, everything." He almost chuckled at the memory of the crumpled up note containing all their demands. The note didn't even last 3 seconds after they had read it as Varo had immediately thrown it into the fire in the fireplace.

"That's a funny thing to ask for." She pointed out and he nodded. Of course it was a funny thing to ask.

"It was and obviously, I didn't see to their demands. The property was not only mine, but it was Becky's as well as Varo's and our grandfather's. I could not just surrender my family's generational work to them when I only just took over. Prior this time, I hadn't seen my sister in well over a decade so I guess I was desperate? Hell, I lived that decade believing she was dead." He remembered it all as if it were yesterday. It was like his father's death had triggered the attack. Like they waited for him to die before they struck.

"What did you do?" She asked with curiosity. She was still calm. Still a good sign.

"I got my sister back. With the help of my family." He knew he needed to explain further. He had two different families. Families that were way different from each other.

"What family?"

"El tigre herido." He said, leaving her hands for a minute to reveal the silver necklace he always kept hidden in his shirt. It was a simple chain tag. The only extravagant design being the beautiful tiger head engraved in the silver tag and the small stream of melted rubies running from the side of the forehead to the top of its mouth.

"An injured tiger?" Enny delicately held the small head in her hands, admiring it. Her delicate scent of cocoa butter almost distracted him from their current situation. She is so close. "It's beautiful." She complimented quietly and he wordlessly agreed, his eyes only on her.

"Very beautiful..."

"How's this a family?" She asked still studying the pendant. He didn't blame her, it was hypnotic. All he did was stare at it and fondle it when he first took it from his father.

"It's... A group. The name of that group is El Tigre Herido. Unlike other groups, we're not just made up of a specific nationality... My grandfather was a Spaniard like me and we are mainly Spanish but there are two important Italians, the Lotharios and the Lombardis."

"Is Varo part of that family?" She finally let go of the pendant and he nodded, trying not to seem downcast at the loss of minimal contact.

"He is. The second in command actually but we do not really work like that... I guess you could say we're lax with the leadership and all that but yes, he's one of the most important family members." He absentmindedly twirled an unused spoon between his fingers as he continued his explanation. "In our family, we are responsible for each other and we basically look out for each other and safeguard our interests.." He looked at her for a moment to see her slowly chewing on some turkey from the food and she nodded and gave a toothy smile.

"Like a pressure group?" She asked and he nodded.

"Yes, very similar to that but unlike the typical interest groups, we are willing to go to any length for one another. Even if it means hurting another person." The last sentence made her pause and hesitantly look at him.

"Hurting another person?"

"I called on the family to help me with Rebecca's issue because it was beyond I and Alvaro's control. They came right through.

"My family is one that would take a bullet for another member. Literally. And we would willingly plant a bullet in anyone that comes against any of us." The cautious look on her face made her pause.B"What I'm saying, Eniola, is that there is someone after you and just like Rebecca, they want everything— none of which they worked for. And if they can go as far as bribing the entire police force, I'm not sure I want to wait and see what they would do next." He sighed heavily in relief as he finally got most of it off his shoulders but was sad as he had unfortunately transferred it to hers.

"Me? But why- I don't understand-" She stuttered, blinking one too many times.

Tobias could instantly tell she was scared as he took both of her hands in his, rubbing them in reassurance.

A small part of him wished they were not so far apart or on the bed so she could hug him and he could run his hands through her unruly hair.

He thought that part of him was stupid.

"Please calm down, Princess. That's why I'm here, I won't let them get to you. I'll never let them get to you." He tried to soothe her mind but she shook her head, losing herself in the fear.

"What if they take me away like they did with Rebecca? I can't be away from you, Tobi. I can't be alone again." She rambled, her eyes glossing over.

He was angry.

He didn't want to imagine anything bad happening to her, especially not when he was there. He would do anything not to let it happen.

Berlusconi's grave had gotten even bigger.

"I'd be dead before anything happens to you. I promise." He said, watching as she quickly wiped her tears before it even escaped her eyes as they fluttered to his lips and back to his own eyes.

She dropped her head on the table.

"I'm so stupid." She chuckled sadly, getting up and wiping her eyes with the back of her palm again.

"No you're not." Tobias frowned. Why would she say that? None of this was her fault.

"Yes I am. You literally just told me I had a fucking bounty on my head and that you were part of a mafia and all I can think about is kissing you again."

Tobias's eyes grew nearly as wide as saucers. She was not drunk this time and he was not sleep deprived. Was the hopeless romantic finally having hallucinations about her?

"I know it's stupid. I guess I just need to lie down for a sec." She said after a while, slowly getting up, leaving behind the now cold food.

Tobias knew it wasn't stupid and with all that was happening, it was a distraction. But at that moment, being distracted didn't seem like a bad thing.

"Enny, wait." He caught her by the wrist and got to his feet just as she was about to leave. "I want to kiss you too."

He didn't want to imagine what would happen if she rejected it.

Staring at her shocked face was enough to make him wish he hadn't said anything at all.

"I apologize. I guess I was a little too for—" He didn't even bother to mask the sigh of happiness that escaped him when he felt her lips against his and her hands around his neck, gently pulling him down to her level.

"Forward? You're fucking slow, Izan." She pulled away for a second to speak, her voice heavy with lust, before pushing her entire body against him.

He felt like he was in heaven.

A type of heaven personally made for him as he gingerly wrapped his hands around her waist, pulling her closer to him.

The spicy sauce from the food mingled with her lip gloss and the metal ring, awaking a certain kink in him.

He moaned in pleasure as her teeth grazed his bottom lip and almost lost his mind when his slipped into her mouth.

The cold stud on her tongue was just enough chill he needed as his body felt a million degrees hotter against hers. He was never a greedy person but at that moment, he needed more. He wanted every bit of her.

She blindly pushed him against the edge of the dinning table and he spun her around, carefully lifting her by her warm thighs unto the table and she haphazardly pushed the plates out of their way with one hand while the other hand traced every part of his upper chest.

He risked holding her by the back of her neck to pull her even closer and finally succeeded in getting a moan from her.

He took a mental note.

She was perfect.

So perfect he couldn't get words to explain. Her fingers going through his hair and his t-shirt and the heat from between her legs was just enough to make him forget about everything.

She laughed as he pulled thighs apart, his grip tightening. Her laugh was fucking amazing.

At that moment, he was hers.

He didn't care if she wasn't his.

He almost had a heart attack when he heard someone clear their throat behind them and was bewildered to see Alvaro with a smug smile and Clara standing beside him with a dumbfounded look.

"Jesus Christ, that was fucking hot!" The lawyer hooted, earning a giggle from Eniola while Tobias just tried not to felt heat rush to his face... and downwards.

He had just been caught with Eniola. He had just made out with Eniola. He had just touched Eniola.

He thought he was going to be sick.

He did not know whether to feel embarrassed or run over his best friend with a truck but felt proudly satisfied as he saw her swollen lips and flushed cheeks with even more unruly hair. Not that he looked any better.

Why does Varo have to come and ruin everything?