CHAPTER 669. RED PROMISE. No Matter WhatRolf Weber might have anticipated any reaction from the man married to the woman raising his daughter, but being knocked to the floor with a punch wasn’t one of them.“Are you out of your mind?!” he yelled, clutching his nose, a thin trickle of blood escaping.“Quite the opposite. And for the record, I’m so clear-headed that I controlled my punch just enough not to break it. I imagine it would be rather embarrassing to give one of your famous speeches with a bruised face, wouldn’t it?” Mauro hissed. “But if you ever disrespect my wife again, I guarantee I’ll do a lot more than that. Got it?”Rolf Weber scrambled to his feet, glaring at both Mauro and Ainara, who had risen from her chair in shock and fear.“You’re an idiot! How can you let a woman control your actions?!” he growled furiously. “I came here to offer you a good deal, to take the child off your hands… I just want to take her with me, to live with me…”“And why the hell would you do
CHAPTER 670. RED PROMISE. Why?Her lips trembled, and she couldn’t stop it. Ainara knew Mauro had every right to demand answers, to make a scene, to rage over what that idiot Rolf Weber had just told him. But to her surprise, Mauro was as calm as if he hadn’t just punched a senator in the face in the very same office.She felt his arms around her and buried her face in his chest with a nervous sigh.“Her mother’s name was Luzia,” she murmured slowly, without lifting her head. “She had… an affair with Weber, though I’m not sure you could call it that. I mean, I understand how hard it must be to say no to a powerful man when he’s fixated on you…”“You’ve experienced that firsthand, haven’t you?” Mauro sighed, his voice tinged with regret.“No,” she said firmly, lifting her head and meeting his eyes, her voice full of certainty. “Not even in your worst moments have I ever been just a whim to you.”Mauro gently cupped her face, brushing her lips with his. He loved this woman with a kind o
CHAPTER 671. RED PROMISE. ConnectionThe answer wasn’t clear, but at least Mauro knew where to start investigating and who to be especially wary of. He could see the doubt in Ainara’s eyes, and he dispelled it in an instant.“No. The answer is no. I don’t care that June isn’t your biological daughter. She’s ours, period,”he said, watching the girl take a deep breath.“She’s ours,”she murmured, hugging him, and finished telling him about the last few years since June’s birth and why she had hidden her from everyone, even her father and Lugh.By midday, Mauro seemed like a different man, calmer now that he knew the whole truth.“They’re going to come for her, aren’t they?”Ainara asked, her heart gripped with worry. But the Keller standing before her was a mere wicked smile away from transforming from a flirtatious puppy to a deadly wolf.“Yes, they will, but we won’t lose June,”Mauro assured her.“I will love you until my last breath; I promised you that once. Today, I’ll make you a new
CHAPTER 672. RED PROMISE. A Cold CaseAinara felt a cold sweat breaking out. It couldn’t be. These people had truly been on her trail for a long time—long enough to try sabotaging Mauro’s business deals.“But I don’t understand. Why? Why deny you the contract? What did that have to do with…?” She stopped mid-sentence, her expression attentive because the answer, surprising as it was, could only be one. “To make me come out,” she said, looking at Mauro. “You had me ‘hidden,’ remember?”Mauro pressed his lips together in frustration because he knew it was true. That woman or her husband—he wasn’t sure which—had believed that removing Ainara from the picture would make it easier to reach the girl. But everything had come to a halt the moment Mauro entered her life.“They knew you’d show up, that you’d have to ask Rosso for help, and that they’d find you through me,” Mauro murmured. “They did it to find you through me.”And though neither of them said it aloud, the looks Mauro exchanged w
CHAPTER 673. RED PROMISE. A ChoiceIt was a good question. An excellent question. But it was more than evident that many things would unfold beyond Mauro’s intentions, because less than twenty-four hours later, he discovered where the detective’s true loyalty lay—the one investigating the supposed accident.Mauro was still weighing his options, but Rosso was already trying to speak with Ainara. Mauro stepped out of one of his business meetings to find the senator fuming in one of the conference rooms.“Wait here, let him handle it…” Loan tried to stop his daughter-in-law, but Ainara had seen Mauro storm out angrily, and she wasn’t one to let her curiosity rest.She walked to the conference room. Although she didn’t push the door open, she knew her angry husband tended to raise his voice. She stood silently as the two predators inside seemed ready to tear each other apart.“What’s this about not letting me see Ainara, Keller?!” Rosso growled, visibly annoyed.“And why do you want to se
CHAPTER 674. RED PROMISE. A Foolish ActThe woman’s voice was so sharp that, if he hadn’t loved her as much as he did, Mauro probably would have been afraid of her.“Ainara, don’t be childish!” Rosso protested. “Whoever is doing this knows… knows things. About us, about you! Damn it, they know things about you that even I didn’t know!”Ainara looked at her father as if he were a complete stranger, and her final gesture was to step aside, leaving his path to the door unblocked.“I couldn’t care less about what’s known about me. I’m not the one with something to hide. Now do me a favor and leave. If I have to say it again, I’ll call security.”Rosso stormed past her with a growl of frustration. If he had expected any help from the Kellers, it was evident he had been wrong. But as soon as the door closed behind him, Mauro reached Ainara, and she hid her face in his chest.“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, my love. I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want to… I didn’t want to hurt you like this,”
CHAPTER 675. RED PROMISE. Probable CauseCalling it a “foolish act” was an understatement. Mauro was ready to give Lugh the beating of his life after seeing what information he had on Ainara, so it was better to have company. He left his wife and daughter at his parents’ house, where his mother kept them entertained inside while the security team kept watch outside.He and Loan got into a car and drove across half the city before arriving at one of the residential areas far from the urban center. The night had fully fallen, and the apartment building was eerily quiet.“Is there no one here or what?” Mauro muttered, his instincts on high alert, as the elevator doors opened on their floor.“Well, I took the liberty of asking your uncle Jhon to dig around a bit. Turns out Lugh bought this entire floor. It seemed like a good real estate investment at the time, but renting out luxury apartments didn’t go as planned.”“So what? Does he owe on all of this, or is he bankrupt, or…?” Mauro aske
CHAPTER 676. RED PROMISE. You Have a Wife Now, Remember?For Ainara, it only took June falling completely asleep in one of her new grandparents’ guest rooms for her to let out all the worry she’d been hiding from her daughter.“Where are they? What’s going on, Danna? And don’t tell me ‘nothing,’ because I’ve seen you whispering into that phone three times already, and I’m sure you’re not talking about fashion.”Her mother-in-law looked at her uneasily. While she trusted her husband completely, she couldn’t deny that she was also dying of worry.“The family lawyer called me,” Danna murmured. “Loan and Mauro are at the police station. I’m not entirely sure what happened, but…”“They’re under arrest?” Ainara interrupted, unable to believe it.“It seems so, but Loan will fix it. I’m sure he’ll—Ainara! Daughter, where are you going?” Danna tried to stop her, but Ainara was already grabbing her coat from the hook by the door.She paused in the doorway, looking at the team of bodyguards stat