Ria.

Ria.
Earlier that day.
She marched up to the door of the townhouse, Philippe beside her and a few of the men around them. The door opened slowly and a hatchet-faced woman stood there, an unpleasant expression on her hard face. Ria looked at Philippe in astonishment.
Who was this? was her wordless question.
He nodded slightly , an “I will handle this” kind of look on his scarred, handsome face and he stepped forward.
The woman seemed to recognise him, her pupils dilating in fear.
Ria stepped forward and Philippe pushed the door open, despite the woman trying to resist him. “Who is that?’ Ria hissed as they moved down the corridor.
‘Britney brought her here,’ Philippe replied tersely.
The woman gave pursuit, trying to stop them. She reached forward and clawed at Ria’s arm, her nails like talons.
‘You cannot go in there. THIS is a private house,’ she huffed.
Ria had had enough. She shoved the woman so roughly, the old woman almost fell down.
‘Look, this is MY Pappa’s house.’ she snapped and jerked her head to the men. They stepped up and grabbed her arms, hauling her, screaming, shouting and protesting, to the door as Philippe spoke.
‘Get the wh*re out.’
Ria moved forward, trembling with rage. What had Pappa been thinking of?
Caught off guard by her thoughts, she stumbled, and immediately, Philippe grabbed her, pulling her to his body. Her eyes widening in shock, Ria stared at him, her breath hitching in surprise.
it felt like a jolt of current had coursed through her body from his touch and she moved away but not before she had seen the look in his eyes, the flare of desire that he kept clamped down. They separated,
‘Sorry’ murmured Philippe while she whispered,
‘Thank you…” as she turned away to hide her flaming face.
And then the moment was spoilt by Britney’s voice, drunk and slurring.
‘What the f*ck do you mean by barging in here and manhandling my servant…?’
*
As one accord, they turned to stare up at the woman who was descending the stairs. She looked old and jaded, her mascara streaked, hair in untidy clumps around her face, her mouth a red slash. She was clutching a glass and had a half-burnt cigarette in one hand. Wearing a knit dress in bright pink that barely covered her silicone-aided breasts and her thin thighs, she looked her age and desperate.
Philippe stepped closer to Ria protectively.
“I said…’ she began but Ria was too furious to think clearly. Stepping forward, she raised her hand and slapped the older woman hard across her cheek.
*
Claude
He ambled back to his room in the Club as he checked his phones in irritation. there was no word from Paddy. that was strange. Unsociable though his brother might be, Paddy always responded to Claude. Alright, maybe after half a day. But he still returned a text.
Now…
Claude scowled and swearing, strode to the entrance of his father’s Club, aware that Lucien Delano would be attending the fight practice the next evening. The thought scared him and he knew that if he was nervous, he would definitely make a mistake. That was not on the cards, he told himself grimly.
*
Proserpina
I sat at my desk in the study, my body sore in all the parts which my lover had made me aware of the previous night. He had been his usual self and we had spent most of the night making love. At least, a violent, brutal version of lovemaking but it was what my body craved now. Fingering the chain around my throat, I dimpled again. And then I thought of the butt plug that Melissa had given me. I felt my body turn hot and then cold.
If Lucien only knew I had it, I thought and dimpled.
*
Ria
Britney was unceremoniously thrown out of the house, her belongings dumped in a small vehicle beside her as the driver and a couple of muscle men who answered to Philippe, drove her away, along with the vicious-looking old woman.
Ria had already discussed the matter with her father and he had immediately agreed to have his former wh*re shifted to a small cottage on the housing estate in the city outskirts, one of the many places he owned.
Ria turned to Philippe hoping that her expression of longing was not evident.
Without meeting his eyes, studying the garden gnomes instead, she murmured,
“Thanks…’ he stepped closer and she looked up at him wildly.
if he … dear God, but she loved him so much, her heart ached for him…
‘Princess…’ he growled, and then with a half bow, half nod, he was striding away, having arranged to have her escorted to the house of Tristan and Melissa Lord for the night. Ria stood watching him a deep feeling of loneliness and of sadness engulfing her.
*
Philipe drove away, his fingers white with the strain as he clutched the steering wheel. “F*ck, but he ached for her, in every sense of the word. his body clamoured to have her beneath him. he had not slept with a woman since Ria had turned up unexpectedly at his rooms on the club grounds.
It was strange, many of the other people he knew regarded him as an oddity. But he loved Ria, and he knew he was not like the Boss or Claude, who needed sex every night…
He would wait for the woman he loved to come to him.
Philippe sighed.
*
Ria looked at Tristan and Melissa Lord. They had three children and she felt the home was similar to her house but not the same, of course. Tristan had the same fierce look her father had when he looked at Mumma.
But Melissa could make him dance to her tune effortlessly. Now she grinned as Tristan rushed to obey his wife’s summons. they were cute, she thought.
Unlike Pappa, she thought. Lucien Delano just had to glance at his wife in a certain way and Ria knew that her Mumma would turn pink.
The two boys, Jack Jr and Leo, were fun.
She sighed as she looked at the youngest child, the daughter who had been born years after they had lost their third child, also a daughter, in a drowning accident. Young Amy as they called her, had been born soon after Tristan and Melissa had got married but the youngest child was a late child, years younger than her brothers but every bit as feisty as her mother. Although she suffered from Down’s Syndrome.
Ria smiled as she lifted the baby from her chair and began to play with her. She loved children and she laughed as the baby giggled happily. A sudden memory of Philippe, his dark eyes glowing, the warm breath on her face as he moved closer, made her blush and she looked away to avoid Melissa’s searching look.
*
Maja looked about herself a trifle uneasily. Grace had insisted that she accompany her to a club to meet her ‘husband’ Maja wished she had known that it was a gentleman’s club before coming here! Her son , Magnus was all ears as he looked about himself interestedly, the phone in his hands forgotten. On the other hand, her daughter, Maddy wasn’t at all impressed. Danielle Eton strolled over, her arm wrapped around Grace.
Maja smiled cooly, refusing to be intimidated by the cold eyes, inquisitively probing in their intensity.
“Had your breakfast? enjoyed it?’ barked Danielle and Maja looked at her thinking to herself,
‘She sounds like a drill master.’
And then she stared as a man appeared at the opening of the corridor, tall and lean, with a handsome face, his green eyes twinkling as he stepped forward, arms outstretched. Blonde hair flopped onto his forehead messily as he grinned, dapper and well-dressed, a real gentleman.
‘Welcome!’ he said in a low, attractive baritone, smiling widely at Grace, including her and her shabby looking family in the smile and Maja felt her body tremble. After a long time, she felt a frisson of attraction race through her as she looked at the man.