"...jealousy and hate prove to be more destructive

than a wildfire..."

Keira's POV

There hasn't been a time I have dreamed of a divorce. When Jason and I got married, I took my vows seriously. Until death does us part. Neither one of us is dead. How can we be apart?

He is violent. Uttering the word divorce will get me killed. Not even separation. He drops in and out. He's home this evening and we are eating in silence. We never really talk about anything. If he needs something is when he will speak to me.

"My mother is visiting." He broke the silence.

"What?"

"Are you deaf?" He asked me. "Why must I repeat myself? I said my mother is visiting. Prepare the guest room. She will be here for the usual three weeks."

Dorcas Burke visits her son for the last two weeks of May. Her intentions sound like that of a loving mother but a hateful mother in law. Jason is never here. She is visiting me and it will be the hardest 21 days of the year!

"I got a job." I informed him.

"With whose permission?" He questioned me.

"With my own permission." I answered in q low weak voice. "I need it."

"I prefer it when you stay home and take care of the house."

"With no penny to show for it? My parents need financial help. Are you willing to part with a few thousands every month?"

"They are not my responsibility."

"They are mine. That is why I'm working."

"Who is supposed to keep my mother company when she visits?"

Jason cannot stand his own mother. He leaves that task to me.

"I will spend time with her on the evenings."

"Where is this work?"

"At a hotel." I answered.

"Which one?"

"The Harrington Hotel." I answered.

He stopped chewing for a few seconds. His gaze intensified. "How did you get a job at a luxury hotel? They only hire Michelin starred chefs. You can't even saute onions right. How did you get in? Did you fuck Cole Michael? Or was it his old man?"

"Jason, i wouldn't do that for a job. Mrs Harrington and my mother are friends. Mrs Harrington set everything up."

It's Nick. It must be Nick because I did not tell Cole I'm looking for a job.

"In that case it's fine." He shrugged.

Silence took over once more and we finished up our dinner without incident. He went upstairs and I began cleaning up the kitchen.

I was surprised to get the call from HR. They asked me to come in for an interview. I'm excited about it. If I get the job, I can be part of a five star hotel. Most importantly, I'll earn a living, moving closer to financial independence and I can leave Jason. I think I'll disappear or if I'm brave enough, I'll confront him with a divorce.

"Hey." He approached me with his hands behind his back.

I stopped wiping the counter, pausing with my palm on it. "Hey."

"I have a gift for you."

"Thank you. What is it?"

He revealed a metal mallet and before I could move my hand he drove it down, smashing my hand into the counter. I be ke into a scream that didn't deter him. He held my wrist and did a second time. I am whimpering in pain, almost breathless. I felt his hot breath on my cheek. "It is better if you stay home and be a housewife. That is all you are good for. My gift is this warning. Next time I will drive a nail into your hand and pin it on the wall. Now dear, I'm going out. Be a dear and stay put."

When he moved away I yelped out in pain. I used my left hand to lift the right one. My vision is blurry not just from tears but from pain.

I won't be going to the interview. I won't get the job. How can I cook with a bursted hand?

*

"I'll need an x-ray." Ferrer spoke after looking at my hand for a while.

"Okay. I'll go get one."

"I know about Cole and Nick." His hazel eyes matched mine. "I know you are involved with both of them."

"You know them?"

"It's a small world. The four of them are childhood friends. I met them when they were in college. Keira, I'm no way better than anyone but I know you should stop what you are doing. It's no wonder you are getting abused."

He got up from the chair.

"Excuse me?"

"I'm saying that you are putting yourself in these situations. When I said I would help you, it's because you were the victim of some abusive turd. I didn't know that you're doing this to yourself!"

"I told him I got a job. He said I should stay home. I convinced him that I need the job. Next thing I know, he drives a mallet into my hand... twice. How is that my fault? How am I doing that to myself?" I asked him with tears in my eyes.

He covered his face. "My mother was abused like this. He killed her. I don't want to see your name in the orbituaries. If you keep getting tied up with Nick, and I'm being specific when I say Nick. You'll be a name in the orbituaries." He wrote something up. "Take this to x-ray. If you're pregnant, notify them."

"If I'm pregnant?"

"Three men? You're bound to screw up."

"Why are you judging me?"

"These men are my friends! You are a stranger who came out of nowhere and now they are beating th crap out of each other! You're stringing them along and playing a dangerous game Kei. Cole will let it go. He will move in from this. We already know what your husband is capable of. Do you really know Nick? He's crazy about you. If he's beating up someone he has known since he was a kid, he is seriously into you. It won't end well. So stop it."

I placed the sheet of paper on the table. "Thank you for your generosity towards me Dr Cavaleiro. It's best that we don't see each other anymore. I'm sorry for dragging your friends into my mess. Good day."

"Keira!" He called after me but I left.

I think a little bandage will do the trick. It will heal. I don't think it's broken.

He is right. I need to set the record clear with Cole and with Nick. Clear lines have to be drawn.

"I know you." A man spoke to me when I approached the elevator. He just cake out of a different one. He has green eyes, not exactly hazel but not dark. I can't place the color. But they are green. "I saw you in a photograph. You are the reason my friends were fighting."

"I'm sorry but you have me mistaken for someone else."

"Oh no." He chuckled. "I never get a face wrong. It's you."

"What can I do for you?"

"Nothing." He smiled, exposing a set of canines sharp enough to resemble fangs. Nothing. Good day."

I'm confused. Where are they coming from? Nick, Cole, Ferrer, the stranger with natural fangs... they all know each other.

I got into the elevator. I'll go see Cole and settle things with him.

*

I can't help but stare at the letters branded in gold and suffer from a heavy heart. It's the end if the day. I would have known by now if I made the cut to work as a chef at the Harrington Hotel.

I gazed at the bandaged hand. A kind lady at the pharmacy wrapped it up for me. She insisted that I see a doctor but the only doctor who wouldn't have questioned me suddenly had a lot to say. Everything he said is true. I'm treading dangerously.

"I don't think we should be seen together." Cole is close by,not so close but close. "Don't turn. Just act like you're doing your own stuff. Paparazzi have been following me all day."

I turned to look at him. "Let them say whatever they'll say." His handsome face is bruised. "Nick did that?"

"You have a type and your type is aggressive and violent. That is what he is." He gestured to his face. "This is what he is."

"I'm sorry Cole Michael."

"What are you sorry for?"

"I'm here to turn you down. I don't think it will work between us. I'm so sorry."

"I'm sorry too. For a moment there I was hopeful that I had found someone in like-minded. I have been hurt before and it was hell until I regained control over my feelings. When I met you at your mother's house, I felt a ray of hope. Then I found out you were married and I withdrew only to tell myself that you are unhappy and that I can make you happy. Now I find out I'm not the only man. There's another one and he is your kind of man. I thought I could save you but you are hell bent on getting hurt."

I nodded. "I don't know anything else but pain. I don't know how to be happy or how to not fear that I'll end up in the emergency room or dead someday."

"You could teach yourself to be happy. Does Nick know about the abuse? I'm guessing not."

"Why would you guess that?" I asked him.

"Because your husband would be a dead man. I hate that you have chosen him. But if there's one thing I know about Nickolas Bale, it's that when he believes in something, he fights for it. If he feels what I think he feels for you, he will fight for you. Don't let him down when he does. When he crashes, he burns hotter than jet fuel. All the best Kei."

He kept walking. I watched him until he disappeared. Only then did my tears fall. I have lost two. Ferrer and now Cole. One more to go and my life can go back to what it was. But do I really know how to end it with Nick?

Nick's POV

The last person I expected to see is Cole Michael; not after our throw down a few days ago.

"Evening." He greeted me.

"What do you want?" I rested my elbows on the table.

He closed the door and approached my desk. He sat in one of the chairs facing me. "I have known you for over twenty years. In a way, you are like a brother to me and the relationship we share comes above the women in our lives. I'm here to settle out issues. When I met her, I didn't know she was with you. I only knew she was married and I tried to stay away but she was a recurrent thought in my mind. I pursued her not knowing you were pursuing her too."

"Is this going somewhere? Because you're boring me."

"I saw Keira today. She told me it won't work between us. She's all yours."

Good. I'm glad they both came to their senses before I had to do something extreme.

"What do you want me to say? Thank you?"

He chuckled. "You're welcome." He got up. "Water under the bridge?"

"As long as you stay in your lane."

He turned to walk away but he stopped before he walked out the door. "I know this thing between us got out of hand but it has nothing to do with the job."

"What job?"

"You asked me to give a friend of yours a job. I made arrangements but she never showed up for her interview. I didn't know whether to ask when I saw her later today. Don't deter her from the opportunity because you're mad at me."

"I think it's for the best. I don't want her around you."

He left my office.

I know I test the last strands of his patience but I can't help it. Bruce is my best friend. We click like twins. Ferrer stays in his lane. We get along. Tony is my little brother so he has to like me. Cole is the guy I almost certainly get into fights with. But never have I seen him as upset as he was a few days ago. Maybe he's finally growing a pair.

"Nickolas?" My eyes shot up at the beauty by the door. "May I come in?" My gaze hardened. I gestured her forward without a word. She took a seat exactly where Cole was seated. Her hands remained in the pockets of her sweater. She looks tragically beautiful today. After her eyes roamed around she finally looked at me. "We need to talk."

"No shit." I told her.

"I'm sorry about Cole and about London."

"Did you two agree to come here and take turns to offer apologies? Dis you run into each other? He was just here."

"I didn't see him."

"I don't trust you."

Her lips formed a thin line. "I understand. I lied to you and I'm sorry for that. Ever since you came into my life I have become a liar. I promise to be truthful from now on."

"Do you love Cole?"

"I don't love Cole."

"Then why were you throwing yourself at him?"

"I wasn't-" she paused. "Because it is easier with Cole. There are no complications."

"And with me?"

"It's a complicated mess." She gazed at the table. "It's easy with Cole because he is... you are intense. Nickolas, you are intense! You freak me out and at the same time you excite me and it's complicated. With Cole I can control myself. I can say no and not feel like I have messed up. But wh n it comes to you... I can't say no. I know that when we cross a certain line I won't be able to come back. I'm scared of what you and I can become when we agree to cross that line. I'm scared of a lot of things that are unknown right now. That is why I hold back. I don't love Cole."

"Do you love me?" I asked.

"Do you love me?" She asked me.

"At the moment no. I wouldn't call it love. I just know I want you badly."

"At the moment I don't love you either."

"Do you love Jason?"

"No."

"Who do you love Kei?"

"No one. I'm not in love."

"That makes you a blank canvas." I walked around the table to where she is. I leaned on the table, slightly sitting on the edge. "I want to fill that blankness. I want you to love me, only me. There can never be anyone else Kei. Do you understand me?"

"I'm married. There is someone else."

"Jason won't be part of the picture for much longer."

"What does that mean?"

"Whatever you understand from it." I told her. "It's only me. No other man is allowed. I get crazy jealous and you won't like that side of me. Let's avoid it."

"I understand. It's just you from now on."

I gazed into her sad beautiful eyes.

"Good girl. If I have not made it clear enough then I will state it for you to hear this once." I cupped her face in my hands. "If you ever let another man into our bubble, I will get angry and you don't want that, trust me. Say you understand."

"I understand Nickolas." She whispered.