Back at the dining table, I can only stare at the food. I put the spoon in my mouth from time to time, but I hardly eat the soup inside. Kelly's words weigh heavily on my stomach.

Why on earth did I ask her about it? How could I have not thought that she would try to punch me in the face? Leroy will believe her, of course, just like he believed her yesterday, and then? Is he going to kill me?

Oh no, he would make me regret my whole existence and inflict mental pain on me, but he certainly wouldn't kill me, because he wouldn't enjoy that...

"Katrina, you haven't eaten anything yet!"

I flinch and quickly raise my head, only to look into Olga's confused face. I tense and smile apologetically.

"I'm not really hungry as I've already eaten on the way," I explain quietly and my apologetic smile turns into an embarrassed smile. That sounded really rude! I shouldn't have said that in the first place, because now they've gone to the trouble and I'm not even tasting. Sighing, I'm about to add something else when her expression suddenly brightens.

"You're pregnant!"

I nearly choke on my spit and look up at her from wide eyes as Leroy tenses beside me.

Dangerously slowly, his eyes find their way to mine and I can't help but contort my face in dismay. That asshole doesn't really think I'm pregnant, does he? Unbelievable.

"No, I'm not pregnant. We... eh... we aren't ready yet," I interject, feeling the heat rising to my head and settling on my cheeks, which must now be crimson. I clear my throat as quietly as I can, as my throat now feels quite dry. What do they know?

Do they think we both married for love, or do they know the truth? Because if so, what Olga said is quite ridiculous. She smiles at me and nods in understanding.

"I would prefer it now with a child, so Danny would have a little brother to play with soon. How old is Danny again?" asks Francesca. Kelly rolls her eyes in annoyance. I reach for my fork and shove a potato into my mouth.

"He's five," Leroy answers for once.

"There you go. Perfect time for another child," Francesca says. To be polite, I smile at her, which Leroy surprisingly does the same.

Can someone please change the subject!

"Francesca asked you a question," Leroy suddenly murmurs softly to me.

"What?", I murmur, looking at Francesca.

"I asked what you do for a living?" she repeats her question. My prayer is heard after all.

"I study. Literature," I answer, but inwardly I take a deep breath, because immediately the laughter rings out in my head, clearly shouting at me that I am not studying anything at all anymore, and so it is. I don't study anything anymore. Leroy has taken that away from me. He has taken everything from me.

"Literature? Where did you come up with that?", William now asks me, to which I tilt my head hesitantly. The truth is that the phrase "Belleza del Silencio" made me want to study literature. I fell in love with this phrase and searched for the beauty of silence.

I even found it - in the forest and especially during night walks. What I find so special about these three words is that they are customizable for everyone. Everyone has their own meaning in these words.

But these became my fate.

"I don't really know anymore," I lie and look at Williams again. He just smiles at me, a smile that shows me he already understands. I bite my lower lip lightly and look away.

"Hola," suddenly comes the voice of a man from outside.

"Whose car is this here? Can I break it?" he shouts. At first, I'm horrified that someone would still be shouting like that outside so late at night, but apparently, it's completely normal here.

William laughs and when I look to Leroy, he grins widely. I force myself to look away, even though it is a completely new image for me. Leroy rises apologetically and walks out onto the terrace.

"Hola, muchacho," I hear Leroy laugh and get goosebumps. Why can someone so horrible laugh so wonderfully? He sounded kind of boyish. When I look briefly at Kelly, she smiles and looks down at her plate. She looks so... in love.

I press my lips together. I wonder if Leroy really has feelings for her too.

Leroy and the man who was shouting outside come in. The man, with brown hair and brown eyes, has his arm around Leroy's shoulders in a brotherly way. He's wearing work clothes and an insanely big smile on his lips.

"Hola, Mamá," he grins and presses a kiss on Olga's cheek.

"Gracias for looking after my children all day," he sighs before his gaze falls on me. His smile widens even more as he walks towards me, thus taking his arm from Leroy's shoulders.

"You must be Katrina, right?" he asks, extending his hand to me. I smile slightly and nod, wanting to stand up, but he says I can sit. So I merely shake his hand. He is young, maybe twenty-six or twenty-seven years old, so about the same age as Leroy.

"I am Alexandro. I'm sorry that I couldn't attend your wedding, but I hope you received my wedding gifts, right?" he asks and starts laughing so suddenly that my eyes widen in shock for a moment. He laughs loudly and unexpectedly. He looks at Leroy, who shakes his head with a smirk.

"I'm sure Leroy liked the presents," he adds. You can hear a slight accent coming out of him, which sounds quite cute though.

"Tienes Hambre?" asks Olga, to which he shakes his head.

"Where are my children? Oh, has Danny come too? No, wait, of course, he's here, where else would he go?" he just laughs again. Everyone around shakes their heads with a smile and I have to grin too. Quite active, this guy.

"Luisa? Lara?" he calls out, which is followed by the sound of giggling and loud footsteps. Meanwhile, his eyes fall on Kelly.

"Who are you?" he asks, confused.

"That's Kelly. You just don't recognize her because she's so big now, but you and Leroy used to play with her. She's Charles' daughter," William explains.

The smile on Alexandro's lips disappears slightly, but he quickly recovers and smiles at the confused Kelly.

So if they played with Kelly in the past, the fathers knew each other...?

"Katrina, you must be tired, aren't you?", Olga suddenly asks me, to which I nod timidly. No, I'm not tired at all, but I would like to lie down and just be away from Kelly.

"The beds are already made. I'll show you your bedroom in a minute."

Just then the children come running. One by one they are lifted up and smooched by Alexandro. The triplets are Francesca's children, I remember, and the two little blondes with the big blue eyes are probably Alexandro's daughters. Who are just starting to whine because their father wants to take them home.

"You can stay here too," one of the children calls out to him.

"But Lara, then work is too far away!"

"Then you go home," Francesca interjects, whereupon he looks at her annoyed. Reluctantly, he nods, whereupon the children begin to cheer.

Danny, who comes running to join Leroy and me, as Leroy wants to ask him if he wants something to eat and sits him on his lap, flinches at the girls' shouting, but quickly understands the situation and shouts along delightedly while raising his hands.

I start laughing when Leroy shoves a potato into his mouth at that moment, which he acknowledges with a mischievous look.

I have heard him laugh before, but he sounds completely different when he shouts. It sounds like he already has a full mouth. Sighing, I look at him again, only to notice that his eyes are already looking into mine.

He grins so that you can see the food in his mouth, which makes me laugh. Leroy looks down at both of us in surprise, at which I avert my gaze.

Then everything becomes a bit chaotic. Francesca takes the kids to get them ready for bed, Alexandro goes home and Olga clears away the food, making me incredibly uncomfortable at first because she won't let me help, but in fact, I can't really help her either because I can't really move much.

So my gaze falls back on Danny to make me look a little busy, who is playing with a fork, which Leroy doesn't notice because he's talking to his uncle. I take the fork away from Danny and use sign language to tell him that he could hurt himself, that he should leave it and rather go to Francesca so that she can get him ready for bed, whereupon he nods hurriedly and without talking back before running to the other children.

"Oh, she even knows sign language," William suddenly exclaims, snapping me out of my thoughts. I smile slightly and nod. "Where did you learn that?"

"I had an orphanage nearby. I went there once a week to help out and played with the children. But some were deaf, mute, or both, which is why I decided to learn sign language," I explain.

The children probably miss me a lot too...

"Do you still go there?" he asks me. I swallow, shaking my head slowly, very much aware of Leroy's gaze on me.

"Hmm, that's bad. The kids get used to you, orphans especially shouldn't be abandoned since they've already lost so much."

I take a deep breath, feeling the sinking feeling in my stomach as I see Leroy clench his hand into fists out of the corner of my eye.

"Yeah," I mutter chokingly, looking away. I can feel that I'm close to tears, to which Leroy rises, sighing.

"We should go off now, or you'll fall asleep sitting up, Uncle," he clears his throat and pats his uncle on the shoulder.

"No, I'm wide awake!" he shouts indignantly, just as Leroy reaches for my hand, laughing softly, and I wince but rise. Unnoticed, I try to snatch it from him, but he merely tightens his grip.

"Where am I sleeping, Olga?" Kelly suddenly asks. Oh, I'd completely forgotten about her.

"You'll be sleeping in the guest room, dear. It's next to the room where Leroy and Katrina sleep," Olga explains to her, whereupon Kelly nods and thanks her. Then she rises with us. My eyes narrow as she looks down at our hands, smiling, so she knows I'm trying to break away.

"I'm going to go see if Francesca can handle all the kids," I say, finally tearing my hand away from Leroy's and hurriedly disappearing before anyone stops me.

Although I couldn't really help Francesca - who now insists that I call her Franca - I don't go back into the bedroom until the children are in bed, hoping that Leroy might already be asleep, but of course, he is still awake in bed in just his pajamas when I enter the bedroom.

The room is bathed in a pleasant light coming from the fairy lights and I would certainly feel incredibly comfortable if Leroy hadn't opened the balcony door so that it is now freezing cold in here.

"Is it cold for you?" comes the deep sound of his voice. I nod and cautiously approach him to get my sleeping clothes out of my bag, which is lying on the floor at his feet. As I do so, he gets up and closes the balcony door. Why did he open it in the first place? I turn to him and want to ask him exactly that, but I can't say anything at the sight of him.

He stands there looking out of the balcony door. His hands are on his hips and his back muscles are automatically tense. Only now do I see the tattoo on his back, which reaches to his shoulders.

It is a snake with three heads. The end of the snake is on his loin and it winds its way up. The heads are positioned right, center, and left. And then there is something else standing there, but I can't make it out from this distance. At that moment, Leroy turns around and therefore knows that I have been staring at him.

Damn, now he's got me again! He walks leisurely towards me, but I grab my pajamas and try to get up as quickly as possible and go to the bathroom, which is here in the room, but I'm too slow so that Leroy can already grab my wrist. I breathe out shakily and clench my teeth.

"Your wound needs a new plaster. Besides, you don't need to change in the bathroom, it's not like this is the first time I've seen you in your underwear."

Before I can stop myself, the next words roll across my lips.

"You like it?"

Startled at myself, I freeze at first, while Leroy merely frowns. God, why did I say that?

Because it would be an idea to get him on your side before Kelly does and before he even kills your parents.

Right, that was the plan I cooked up when I had nothing to do with the kids earlier, but now it sounds like the latest bullshit.

I'm far too inexperienced to be able to seduce a man and besides, the fact that he kidnapped and threatened me and forced me into this marriage still remains.

Which also helped your case...

Damn it!

"I," I begin quietly as Leroy, to my chagrin, says nothing and continues to just look at me as if waiting for me to explain myself. "I just want to know what I am to you. Still, just the woman you kidnapped, or your wife?"

My heart is beating up to my throat as I wait for his answer. Do I really want to do this?

"What do you want to be?" he asks me a counter-question, tilting his head. His eyes sparkle challengingly and for a moment I'm afraid he knows what I'm up to. But what am I up to now?

Seduce him...

And to plunge myself into ruin at the same time.

"I," I merely begin again and tilt my head when I can no longer withstand his gaze. "All I know is that I don't always want to argue with you."

"And you think that will change if I look at you as my wife instead of the woman I kidnapped?"

"I just think we could trust each other more and therefore not hurt each other..."

"You're not hurting me." Leroy smiles a cold-hearted smile that makes me gulp. "But I can hurt you and you want to change that."

This is really going in a bad direction right now...

Kelly's words flash through my mind when she said you can never fool Leroy.

"Yeah, that too," I sigh softly. Of course, I can't hurt him while all he has to do is pick up the phone to completely destroy me. Leroy lifts my chin with his finger so I can look him in the eye. A slight smile graces his lips.

"What did you do?" His breath brushes my lips. It feels like the icy pull of the winter wind turning me into a block of ice.

"I didn't..." I whisper, shaking my head slightly as he merely continues to smile that cruel smile that shows me how little he believes me. I sigh softly. 'The price of success is dedication, hard work, and unrelenting commitment to what you want to achieve,' is a quote that pops into my head right now of all times.

Although I once held to it when studies became too stressful, it fits in just as well with the current situation. So I grit my teeth and look Leroy in the eye with renewed courage.

"I want to be your wife. I don't want to be the woman you kidnapped all those weeks ago, I want to be your wife and I want to be treated as such."

Silently he watches me for minutes as if seeking a way through my eyes into my innermost being, merely to be able to determine what the hell I am up to. Then he narrows his eyes.

"Why do you want this?" he inquires, actually seeming confused. God, why does he have to be so suspicious? Doesn't he realize how uncomfortable I am?

"Don't you want me, Leroy?", I reply instead, and for a moment I am really hurt. There is no time to think about this confusing feeling, however, because he is already speaking again.

"You didn't even want me to hold your hand earlier and you pulled away too and if it were up to you, you'd even rather sleep on the floor than next to me in bed. I have hardly been tender with you so far, so why do you want it now?"

"Because I loathe myself for being attracted to you despite all the crap I've suffered because of you," I whisper hoarsely, hoping that the words I say aren't really heard.

Neither from Leroy nor from me.

Because the fact is, those words aren't a lie and it feels worse than a punch in the stomach.

"Why is it that I can't believe you, chica?" he murmurs against my lips and I shudder. Then I close my eyes and let my shoulders slump. There's no point.

Leroy isn't a man you can just seduce, he's far too suspicious for that and although I have ulterior motives, they aren't dangerous.

I rather think I'm talking myself into something and just want to satisfy the desire to be really close to him for once - damn!

"Just forget what I said," I whisper ashamedly, hugging my pajamas to my chest as if I could get rid of the sudden feeling of nakedness before I turn around to disappear into the bathroom, but that's when his hand settles on my shoulder this time and stops me.

"Prove it." His raspy voice gives me goosebumps again. I frown, unable to do anything about the rising nervousness. "Prove it that you really want this."

I hold my breath, feverishly searching for a solution. Prove it to him? How? What does he imagine that would mean? What would be believable enough?

"But I'm not that brave," I confess to him quietly. No, what I want is his touch, and as much as my mind screams at me that I've gone mad and shows me all his atrocities, that's the truth.

Why?

Because he saved you from this pedophile by taking away all your freedoms?

Because he bought you chocolate once?

Because he patched you up and was very gentle with you in the last few hours?

It's called Stockholm syndrome, Katrina! Wake up!

I put my thoughts on mute. Now I want to listen to my feelings for once because so far my mind has only put me in danger. If I can win Leroy over, my whole life will change for the better and I'll never have to worry about my parents' lives again.

"But if you let me start small," I begin after a rather long pause, slowly turning back to Leroy, who has so far been quietly waiting for my further response. "Then you don't have to distrust me anymore."

I can't take any emotion from his poison-green eyes, can't even guess what he must be thinking. Maybe he thinks I've been smoking something, or maybe he thinks I've lost my mind, and maybe he's not even that wrong in that assumption, but all he says is that I'd better get to bed now.

"Let me change the plaster." With these words, our intense eye contact comes to an end and he gently grabs my jumper before pulling it over my head.

I feel myself getting all warm and my cheeks all red, but Leroy keeps looking at my stomach without lifting his eyes even once. When that's done, I turn my back on him and put on my pajamas, while Leroy is already lying back in bed and starting to type into his phone.

Swallowing, I turn off the light and slowly lie down in bed before, after a moment's pondering, turning to face him, wrapping an arm around his stomach, and leaning my forehead against his shoulder.

And nothing about it feels wrong.

Leroy pauses only once in his movement but then continues without any comment.

Our lives are fucked