Nathan

“Why are we here?” Lyra opened her mouth after maintaining forty-three minutes of silence. At some time during our car ride, I started to think she lost her voice due to shock.

The moment her head hit the hard wooden floor, my heart dropped out in that second. Lyra and I had some unfinished business to do after what happened two nights ago. I wanted to sit and talk to her about what did she think about the whole situation.

Announcing our wedding wasn’t my intention, but at the time, that’s all I could have thought of, and I didn’t hesitate to go forward and save her from the hole where she slipped accidentally.

That night, with Jacob, wasn’t her fault. Nothing about that night was her fault, but she was the one on the row of punishment that hyped me up, and I couldn’t hold myself. Before knowing my mind, I walked to her and made the stupid announcement.

I watched her from the shadow for a long time. I saved her when she was about to fall that night. I wanted to do the same, but it drained my energy of staying in the background. I wanted to come to the screen for the first time, and I did when my heart gave me the green signal.

However, I was aware of the tough situation I was in. It involved Brian and me in a war. We were in the middle of combat, where I was hitting him left and right. I had my reason, but he didn’t know that he was looking for that, maybe. But at this time, getting involved with Lyra could be a bad idea, yet I was doing what you could name danger.

If Brian or any of the McCoy got the hint that I was with their sister, I was sure they would bury me alive.

“Thank God for your voice. I started missing the sound of yours.” She frowned. “I enjoy hearing you talk. The most peaceful music is your voice better than jazz.”

“Why are we here?” She asked again, unaffected by my compliment.

I gazed at the place; it was a rooftop restaurant with amazing Italian food. I would say one of the best authentic places in Chicago to devour Italian food. If you were a genuine fan of this cuisine, then I highly recommend that you at least eat a bite here.

Lyra loved Italian more than anything. In the year-long stalking, I saw her enjoying food a lot of times.

She and Penelope Gibson, these two women were friends, no, they were besties. There was a difference between being two different and friends. As a woman, you were assigned to bitch, judge, spread rumors, be jealous, and all other things about another woman, but if the women become friends, then the entire game changed in the blink of an eye.

A woman friend means your enemy was my worst enemy. If you hate someone, I promised to murder that person if needed. One would always be with you, no matter what. If you love someone, that person was my dearest in this, more than the person I loved. If anyone spoke a bad word to you, I was ready to kill that bitch. If a man broke your heart, I was ready to break his leg or kick him in his balls.

While men were chilled with their friendship, women took these bloody seriously, as if it was about life or death. Way more than their life and death.

A woman’s friendship is one of the most precious things in the world. If you had it, be grateful to that person. Everyone in your life could misunderstand you, leave you in the middle, maybe do some nasty things to you, too. Even your own parents could be one of these people, but your friend, if that was, woman especially, would stand with you until the day of death.

Penelope and Lyra shared that kind of relationship. A very strong friendship, unaffected by all the gossips, rumors, jealous eyes. These two were sisters from different mothers.

I felt happy seeing this bond. They both were different, yet the same in many ways. That was the main reason for the success of their friendship. Opposite attracts, these two proved that perfectly.

Now back to Lyra’s question. I looked around the place for some time to know we both were seeing the same things before answering her.

“This place is called restaurants where people come, pay, eat, talk, enjoy their time. I am sure you know a place like this as you work in one of them.” I smiled and Lyra looked at me as if I was insane. “We are going to do the same things that a normal person does here. Or do you have something on your mind? We can do whatever you want, sweetheart.”

She shook her head and closed her eyes; she lowered her head and rested her head on the table.

“Did you have your breakfast this morning, sweetheart?” I asked her softly.

“No, I was in a hurry. I forget to eat.” She murmured.

But something told me she never eats breakfast.

The worst habit anyone can have.

“You never have breakfast, do you?”

“No. I don’t like it. I can’t eat anything in the morning. It has to be after nine when I grab something to eat.” She paused and looked at me. “Wait, why am I telling you this? None of these are your business. Also, what are we doing here?”

“We are going to eat and then spend the entire day with one another. Sounds good to you?”

“Why?” Suddenly, she lifted her head and horror was all over her face. Her eyes were enormous in fear and confusion.

She wasn’t expecting this, hell; I didn’t know that would come out of my mouth even before uttering those words.

These days I was doing so many things that I never expected to do, saying unusual things that no one could ever bring out of my mouth. I was a living mess, and I blamed Lyra for that.

I wanted to do many things with Lyra. I used to follow her from the shadow. I always wished to be the one who stood beside her, held her hand. Whenever I saw her with an unfamiliar man or the man who dated her over the years, I wanted to beat those rascals to death. So many times I almost held myself to kill some of them.

All of them were dick compared to her pure, angel-like personality. Those men were pricks and fuck boys. They had never wanted more with Lyra while she was all in with them.

The number one on my list would be Brad Watson, the doctor, and her one and only serious relationship. I knew him and his family as my father had a good connection with Watsons, so our paths crossed many times, and things were cordial between us, nothing special. I wasn’t a fan of him, but I didn’t abhor him that time.

I thought he was a decent guy until I found him with Lyra. I wanted to destroy him for the first time I saw him with her. She was by his side; he had the permission to kiss her, hug her, love her, talk to her, touch her while I stayed in the dark, behind a velvet veil.

When I got the first opportunity, I destroyed him for what he did to Lyra.

Past

A year ago,

The night I first saw Lyra was when I was in the restaurant where she worked. I was there with all my staff at the casino. You could say that was one of the nights when we all thought of having dinner together.

The day was long, and we hit the jackpot when one gamer lost almost his bank balance on the roulette table. Everyone was holding their breath during the game. Their eyes were stuck on the roulette and the small ball. It looked like that was a matter of death for someone. Sadly, that was what happened at the end of the night. He lost five million in the game, and we were here to celebrate the victory.

I didn’t remember who chose that place, but five stars for that led me to Lyra that night, and I was so grateful for that.

The food was great, and everyone was having a fun time. I was coming back to the table from the men’s when I saw a woman in a chef suit was standing with her head bowed; she folded her hands in front. The man ahead of her was shouting at her for something that I didn’t know, and she was just listening to him doing nothing. She didn’t say a word when he was abusing her verbally. She stood there like a rock-solid statuette and rooted in her place. This woman was tall, if I were right, her height would be around 5 feet 7 to 8 inches.

When the man ended with his abuse, she said a word that shocked me.

“I am sorry.” A polite apology before he walked away from her.

I folded my hands over my chest to see her face properly. I couldn’t get a good image of her as most of the time her head was lower. She lifted her head and pulled out the hat that was hiding her hair.

That’s when I saw her for the first time.

Unlike her timid personality, her hair was fury red, green almond eyes, pale skin, high cheekbones, full lips, straight nose, she was magnificent. The most beautiful woman I had ever seen. I felt the music was playing inside my heart, it was Frank Sinatra’s “I love you, baby.” I know it was clingy, but what I could do. If my heart was feeling dancing to this song after seeing such a magnificent woman, who I was to stop the excited heart.

I was asleep all my life finally it woke up from sleep and beating so fast for a woman. I was not going to take that away from my heart now.

The woman looked over her shoulder and then left and right a few times before opening her mouth.

“A-hole, dickhead, bastards, moron, bloody fucker, one day I will kick your balls so hard that you would be in so much pain until the day you die. I will kill you, you fucker. You are making my life miserable, and I am planning to take beautiful, cold revenge. Wait for that day, you bastard.” She sighed in frustration, and I couldn’t control my laugh seeing her cursing.

She was fresh air in my life, and for some reason, I wanted her. I had never desired a woman, physically. Oh, bring in but another way, thank you, next. When anyone flirted with me during parties, whether she was married or not, as long as they were willing to go to bed with me, I had no objection. I was happy to lead the way, but this time I felt something different.

With this woman, I didn’t just want to get in bed and do the actions I wanted. I wanted to have something more with her. I wanted to get to know her, and more than that, I badly wanted her to know me. I was desperate to go to her and ask her number, but that wasn’t right. This place was her workplace, and that would shed a terrible light on her image if anyone found out a customer tried to reach her.

They might ban me from this place for flirting with their employees. I didn’t know if they had these kinds of rules or not, but I wasn’t taking a risk this time. For the first time I wanted to be careful, the reckless Nathan could go and enjoy a vacation. For now, it was time for responsible Nathan to appear in my life. Or worst, the table would be turned, and she had to take the entire fault.

It looked like the man who yelled at her earlier was the head chef of this place. I didn’t like her much either. I didn’t want to create more trouble for her, so I waited in the car for her to come out.

All the boys went to their home, but I stayed rooted to meet the girl who took my breath away from the first slight.

I wanted half an hour before she came out from the restaurant; she was standing right in front of me as the parking lot of this place was facing the entrance of the dinner; we were face-to-face. I could see her again. In the moonlight, she was a vision to my eyes.

This time, her appearance was different. She was wearing a white dress that touched her ankle, a thin cardigan was wrapping the upper part of her body. This clothing showed her perfect body, and I was gone. Her long hair was free from pins, and they were glossy and straight. A leather bag was hanging over her shoulder, and by looking at that, I knew that was a branded bag that would cost over thousands of dollars. A chef couldn’t afford this bag that easily. I looked at her clothes again carefully; they were simple, cotton fabric, but something told me that was also branded and expensive.

Then my eyes went to her shoe. She was wearing a simple candle, but nothing looked simple about that, too.

This made her more appealing to me. The ambiguity of her identity crafted an unknown yearning inside my heart, and I was ready to do anything for her.

She took a slow, deep breath of air with her eyes closed and opened her mouth to let the air pass away. She smiled when another woman came out of the restaurant. They linked their hands and went in the direction where only one car was parking. I knew this new woman. Penelope Gibson is the owner of this place and the only daughter of a multi-millionaire hotelier, Patrick Gibson.

The way they were laughing, talking, it was easy to guess they were friends for ages. Penelope drove the car out of the place. I wanted to follow them, but I stopped myself and went home instead.

Again, the next night I sat in my car at the same spot. Like last night, she came out and talked to Penelope, but this time they waited instead of getting into the car.

A few seconds later, a BMW pulled out ahead of them, and a man with a flower came out of the vehicle.

Brad was the one who came out of the place and hugged her tightly after giving her the roses.

She laughed and kissed his lips.

They talked, which I couldn’t hear. Three of them talked a little and after that, Penelope left and then, like a gentleman, he opened the car door for her, and she gracefully hopped on the car. Brad went lower and stole a kiss from her before slipping into the driving seat.

I gripped the steel wheel, seeing all these things. I was so angry seeing them together that I almost called Annie for angry sex. I closed my eyes and cursed.

I went home and drank a bottle of vodka, which I hate for its spice and pepper to taste. It burned my throat, but I didn’t give it a damn and finished the entire bottle in a few gulps.

When I woke up the next morning, I was on the floor of my living room with my yesterday’s clothes on. My mouth was dry, in vital need of water. I had a terrible headache which was getting louder in seconds, my forehead was covered with sweat. I was in a mess.

Somehow, I walked to the bathroom and took a warm shower before getting into bed and passing out for the day.

At noon, I called Caleb and told him to meet me in my apartment immediately. Ten minutes later, Caleb was here sitting on the kitchen counter with me. While I was consuming honey lemon water for my hangover, that bastard was enjoying a glass of my favorite champagne with a smile of triumph that I hated most.

“What happened? I never saw you in this way. Who robbed you, Nathan?” He laughed.

I wanted to punch his face, but he was important to me, and I had a job for him. This desire to destroy his handsome face could wait for now, but the job needed to be done by today. I couldn’t wait anymore.

“I want you to find a woman for me. It’s an important matter.” There was no fun or humor in my voice. It was a straight business, and I was thankful that Caleb got the message as slowly it wiped away his smile, and three clear lines appeared on his forehead.

“Okay. Who is the person I needed to find out?”

Caleb was a friend from childhood. We first met in elementary school and then again in high school. One day, I found some seniors were bullying him for not being a rich kid. That didn’t sit well with me, and I was getting scorching every day, seeing them tormenting him for no reason. A week later, I had enough of that drama and was determined to do something that would stop those assholes from coming to him.

During the lunch period, they came to the table where Caleb was sitting and was about to start the daily work when I got up and went to them.

“If anyone of you touched him, I promise I will make that person’s life worse than hell.” I challenged them. “Go on, try it if you are ready to undergo my word. But what happened after that, you would be the one responsible for that.”

They laughed because I was a child, a junior in high school while they were the big boys, but I didn’t give a damn about that.

They didn’t stop bullying Caleb that lunchtime either, nor did I form ruining their life.

By the next morning, all four of them were on the road, as the court seized their property and bank balance, and they had nowhere to go. A few days later, they got suspended because I leaked a video of them burning the school property, which was considered a crime.

Everyone got the message clear and loud, and nobody dared to mess with Caleb. From that day on, we became close friends. Sometimes he felt as if he owned me because of what I did for him at high school, but I never thought that way. I helped him because he didn’t deserve that. Someone needed to voice this up. I was happy to be that person.

Currently, he was working as a cop and one of my right hands. He always helped the same I did when he needed it. Matero and Caleb were the only ones whom I trusted with my life and were ready to open myself fully.

“I don’t know much about her rather than she worked as a chef at the downtown restaurants that Penelope Gibson owned, and she was probably in a relationship with Brad Watson.”

“Are you talking about Lyra McCoy?” He asked with a frown.

I felt a kick in my heart when he pronounced the McCoy name. She couldn’t be a McCoy. I meant she looked like any normal middle-class girl of Chicago, and The McCoy family could be anything but middle-class, and normal wasn’t the word for them.

The McCoy family was the source of power in Chicago with my family and Simmons. We ruled Chicago as we wanted as if we owned this land, and everything belonged to us.

The McCoy loved to leave their prints behind. Anywhere they went, whether they went, whether they went south, east, west, or north, their confidence, attitude, boldness, and courage would intimidate people, yet they were down to earth.

But for some reason, Lyra was the opposite of what McCoy represented. Nothing about her gave you slight hint that she was a McCoy. She was shy, polite, lovely, kind, she couldn’t be a McCoy.

All of them were well-behaved, polite, kind, and soft-hearted. Olivia loved Brian because of this, and she fell head over heels for him.

We never really talked about the McCoy’s, but occasionally she would mention them and praised them. She put them on top of her list as someone she highly admired. And for that, a part of my heart hated Olivia.

However, she never talked about the youngest one in the family, Lyra McCoy. Nobody really talked about her. People knew she existed, but at the same time, she was invisible.

No one knew much about her. She didn’t attend any of the parties. At least I never saw her with her family publicly. Maybe she was the shy one and loved to stay home with books or Brad.

I didn’t know the reason, but I was eager to find that out. I could ask Olivia, and she would tell me, but I didn’t want her to know what I was thinking or feeling about this particular McCoy that I was having. For a fact, I wanted to hide this little thing from her and the rest of the world. I wasn’t ready for anyone to know about this until I was sure and ready to risk my life for her.

“Who?”

“Lyra McCoy. She is the one who worked there. She and Penelope Gibson are best friends. And Brad Watson and Lyra McCoy have been dating for three years now. There is the noise of their marriage too, as two of the families are aware of their relationship. The two families are constantly in touch nowadays.” He informed me of something that I wasn’t ready to hear.

It did not surprise me to hear the knowledge that Caleb had regarding McCoy’s. This man knew the whole of Chicago and what was happening. In a word, Chicago was in his palm like a toy.

“Keep an eye on her for me, please. It is important.”

Caleb didn’t want to do this job. That was clear on his face, but he didn’t speak his mind and gave me a sharp nod.

That’s how we met, and I fell over heels for her from the first moment I saw her.

I was in love with her.