Hearing Lucien mentioning his brother, the others all wondered if he mentioned him as 'dumb' for leaving Taya or because of something else.

However, only Taya knew that Viktor was purposefully making a jab. She also couldn't shake off his hand over her shoulder, which only seemed to get heavier the more she tried to shake it off subtly.

But the part where they heard Lucien mention "support" and "staying close to Taya," they couldn't help but wonder if these two indeed had only a typical in-laws relationship or something more.

Taya desperately wanted to resolve their misunderstandings since she doesn't want to see Viktor get his way anymore. But one thing she has learned after knowing him for most of her life was that she shouldn't refute him before others unless she wants her words to backfire on herself or that Viktor might find some opportunity to use them to his advantage.

So she could only hope that her friends would stop asking any more questions to this big bad wolf since they had no idea whom they were dealing with.

Even though she could see how her friends were starting to speculate things, she didn't want to make it even worse.

She even forgot about the celebration, and all she thought was how to drag Viktor back to her home. She knew she would have to go with him as he wouldn't leave otherwise.

But at the same time, she didn't want to bunk on her friends and ruin their mood. And so, she could only hope that the hours passed fast.

And of course, the most burning question she had in her mind was what was he doing here though she did not seem to be surprised about the part about how he found her.

"So, what a nice place this is! Whose cottage was this again?" Viktor asked with perked eyes.

"It's mine. It's just...uh..you know a retreat for whenever I get too tired of work stuff and also to have some casual treats with my friends like now," Denys explained with the best smile he could force out.

Viktor raised his brows, "Oh good. Why don't we make ourselves comfortable inside instead of standing out here? I hope you don't mind me gatecrashing, haha. Right, Denys?"

Denys' expression looked like he was forced to smile while swallowing a roach. But before he could say anything, Viktor had already pulled along Taya as he walked towards the cottage, making Denys stare at their backs with a slack jaw.

Why the heck did he even ask if he was anyway going to gatecrash?

historical

The three women came out of their daze as they realized that Lucien was already holding Taya and walking towards the cottage.

They stifled their smiles when they saw the bloated smile on Denys' face, which seemed as if his cheek muscles had gotten swollen after holding on to his smile for too long.

They could only give him a sympathetic look before following Lucien and Taya.

Sean patted Denys' back and said, "Don't worry, brother. Things may not be as it seems. Besides, he's just her brother-in-law. Now come on and don't let some other man take control in your turf."

Viktor made Taya stick close to his body as he slyly moved his hand to hug her waist.

But Taya caught his hand just in time and made sure that his naughty hand went back to its place.

Viktor chuckled, making Taya subtly pinch his stomach while giving him an aggrieved glare.

She looked ahead as she grumbled, "Haven't you already had enough fun by embarrassing me? Why did you even come here? You even dared to kiss me in front of my friends. Now, what will they think now that you proclaimed yourself to be my brother-in-law?"

"You are looking quite sexy under the moon."

"Oh, stop it. Don't change the topic and answer my question,"

"Didn't I tell you? I saw a sexy beauty, and I parked. Simple enough," Viktor said with a smirk.

Taya closed her eyes as she took in a deep breath and felt like a fuse might go off in her head.

"Don't you think the more pressing question here is what you are doing here in the middle of the night, especially with two men included?" Viktor asked as he gave a heavy glance at Taya.

"Two men? You make it sound as if...jeez, did you forget that my three lady friends are here as well? And besides, this is not the 2000s. I don't have to report or say anything about where I go or what I do to you. Also, this is none—"

"Oh, don't tell me it's none of my business, Little Taya. We are way beyond that, don't you think so?" Viktor said as his gaze wandered about.

Feeling the heaviness in his tone, Taya's lips quivered as she said in a low voice, "That's not fair. I-If you cared that much, then where the hell were you for almost two decades?"

"You are asking me that? Don't...don't play the victim here. You don't get to do that, especially after how you ran away from me and married some fucktard," Even though Viktor said it with no visible emotion, his hand that was around Taya's shoulder almost pressed together, but he controlled himself before he caused any discomfort to her.

Taya suddenly glanced at Viktor and then bitterly smiled as she looked away, "You know what...you won't understand."

Viktor was about to say something, but Taya interrupted, seeing that they had almost reached the door of the cottage, "Let's not fight here anymore. We can talk later at home."

The other five of them were confused about what these two were so intensely whispering to each other, and this only furthered the speculations the three women held while Denys was feeling it hard to even swallow his saliva.