How could he do this and not tell her? Buying a 10 million dollar ring for her as though it was nothing? Tiana felt her eyes cloud; he was making her fall in love with him the more.
She swallowed hard before she looked at Claire with a smile;
''Claire can we keep the engagement a secret, we don't want the public knowing about it for now.''
Tiana smiled and Claire nodded; ''Okay no worries, congratulations though; I'm really happy for you. ''
''Thank you, Claire, I'm glad we're good now. ''
''Tch, I can't keep a grudge, that's my weakness,'' Claire said and they both laughed;
…
Tiana held the door for Nicklaus to come in, a smile on her lips;
''How was work? '' she asked, hugging him briefly and helping out with his tie like a dutiful wife.
''was a little stressful today, what about you? '' It was past 6, the latest he was back home since they got back together;
''Today was very good, Claire's is no longer mad, we spoke today, we even had lunch together,'' she replied with a huge grin on her lips;
''That's interesting; I told you she would not be angry for long. ''
''Yeah, I'm glad she isn't, '' she said going to get his towel; ''I prepared a hot bath, i knew you would be stressed out.''
Nicklaus smiled, pulling her for a brief kiss. ''What a loving wife, let's bath together? ''
He asked, kissing her neck repeatedly; Tiana giggled, ''I just had a bath, don't worry I'll just watch you. ''
She heard the dissatisfied groan at the back of his throat and she laughed;
She walked him to the bath and sat beside him after he sat in.
Nicklaus stared at her smiling face for a moment; ''Beautiful, why don't you come in if you're just going to sit there. ''
Tiana shook her head cutely; ''No, I just want to watch you like this, it makes me happy. '' she grinned. After some time, she poured soap on her hand and rubbed on his hair, massaging his scalp;
''tell me about you, your family. ''
Tiana's hands paused in his hair when she heard his question and after a few seconds, she resumed; ''what do you want to know? ''
''Everything, I want to know everything about you; ''
Tiana swallowed, she really didn't like this discussion because it touched on a critical subject, but he was her husband now, she would have to talk about it sooner or later.
''My father worked for you, and you know he's dead. '' She felt Nicklaus's body tense for a second; ''and my mom is dead too, she died when I was a kid, I have a younger sister who is in New York, I think you have seen her too. ''
Nicklaus kept mute for a while, and then he turned to look at Tiana;
''Beautiful, I didn't want to tell you this, but I think you deserve to know the truth. ''
Tiana brows creased; ''what is wrong?'' Nicklaus stared at her for a moment, as though contemplating his decision.
''The money your father owed wasn't actually the only thing he did. ''
Tiana's eyes widened at his statement as she waited for him to continue;
''I wouldn't have gone as far as coming after you both if it was just the money, ''
Her face paled; did her father do something else she didn't know about?
''He revealed a top secret of the company to Catherine Wills, which led to the loss of a large number of stocks, I could have let it go if it was another company, but it was Warren Corporation, I couldn't let it go.''
Tiana felt herself freeze at a spot. At that time she had thought that he wanted to hurt them just to satisfy himself, but no, it was way more than that. ''
She felt her heart slamming against her chest; how she had blamed him for being heartless and wicked when actually he had a cause.
''I'm sorry for inflicting pain on you, but at that moment there was nothing else I could think of. Catherine Wills killed my family and I can't forgive anyone that sided with her.''
Tiana fisted her palms on her laps; after knowing his past, she could not bring herself to blame him for his actions. If she were in his shoes, she would have done way worse.
She raised her eyes to look at him and a low sigh left her lips;
''I'm sorry. '' For the first time, she found a reason to apologize. She knew her father could do anything for money, but she never thought he would go to this extent. ''I'm really sorry for everything he did… ''
''It is okay, you are different from him, so I don't blame you for his actions. ''
Tiana swallowed; ''Why did you let me believe it all these while, you let me hate you. ''
She asked, creasing her brows; Nicklaus smiled; ''I didn't have a reason to tell you the truth; I didn't want you to think that I was making excuses. ''
Her eyes clouded as she watched him, ''I'm so sorry. ''
''Beautiful, you don't have anything to be sorry about, it's in the past okay?''
Nicklaus spoke, caressing her palm softly.
Even though all these happened, Tiana was glad, if he didn't take her to be his mistress, then she would have never met someone like him and she would have never fallen for him.
''Your mom is very pretty, I wish I met her. '' His family's pictures were hanging in the parlor, so she saw how pretty his mother was. It's sad that she did not live to see her son grow into such a wonderful person.
''She would have loved to meet you too. ''
Tiana sighed; she could not imagine how lonely it was growing up without parents. She had lost her mother when she was young, but she had a sister and a father.
''Next week is their anniversary, do you want to go with me? ''
Tiana's eyes lit up at his words and she nodded; ''I would love to. ''