It really was beautiful. She sat on the swing and while she was distracted, she suddenly looked over and saw three children playing in the park, and they were having fun, while Maxwell, Henry, and Jenna, watched them with their arms crossed and a proud smile on their lips. She shook her head. Anna knew she had just had a vision. And from the look of the children, they were Maxwell's children, but she couldn't see herself giving birth again. Also, she didn't know if it was Maxwell's wish to have children. And with that thought came worry. They hadn't prevented each other in any of their relationships. She put her hand on her belly. Perhaps the choice to have children was no longer up to her and Maxwell. A child could already be inside her. But this time, she wouldn't run away. She would talk to Maxwell, and together they would decide what to do. She had confidence in his character. And on the other hand, he didn't deserve to have a child without knowing of its existence and without participating in its growth and upbringing. It was then that she remembered their argument. She needed to know what the real reason was. The mansion would be a great place to raise Ian. But he spoke as if it were more dangerous there than in the city, surrounded by strangers.
Anna got up and walked over to the pool, and sat down on a chair, starting to rock on it, and imagining Maxwell and Ian on the other two chairs next to her. It was then that she felt a gaze watching her. She didn't have to turn around to see who it was. At that moment, she knew that the connection they had was far beyond a natural love between two people. It was as if they were one. And it was without surprise that she saw him sitting next to her in one of the other chairs. She looked at him, noticing that his eyes were dark, and smiled to welcome him, despite everything. She couldn't hold a grudge against him. The good memories were stronger than the bad ones. Then Anna looked at the ring with the green stone on her finger, along with the simpler one he had given her when they were actually married, and gazed at it for a long time.
Maxwell broke the silence, although he felt it wasn't a bad or tense silence, it was as if they shared the same good thoughts, of peace at being together. He was sorry to have to break it.
"Promise me you'll never take that ring off your finger?"
Anna looked at him thoughtfully. She couldn't promise him that. She had a plan and would follow it when the time was right. But first she needed answers.
"Is it a symbol of something other than our wedding ring?"
"It's a symbol that you belong to me and it will stop someone like me from touching you."
Anna took a deep breath. His answer made her more confused than she already was, but she couldn't force him to talk about something that it was obvious he wouldn't say just yet.
"I promise that the day I take it, I'll give it to you to keep for my return. No matter what happens, I will always come back to you."
"So... Does that mean that, at some point, you'll abandon me?"
"Not exactly... Remember that I have something I have to do while I'm still in the United States."
"Kill two people..." He said thoughtfully. "Do you already know how you're going to do that?"
"Yes. And when the opportunity arises, I'll give you the ring so that you know I'm going to fulfill my mission and then I'll come back to you."
"Are you going to lie with him again?"
Anna closed her eyes in emotion. Without her saying anything, Maxwell knew what she was going to do, and that bonded them even more.
"I will never lie with any man but you, my husband and the man of my life. Will you be able to trust me when the time comes?"
He stared at her briefly, then looked straight ahead.
"I will. Anna... I'm sorry for... For everything. I don't think you're ready for my... need for sex, let alone to be the wife of someone like me, but now it's too late to go back and I wouldn't go back even if I could. You belong to me now and... We're going to have to find a way to live with our differences and our needs."
Anna felt offended by his words, but decided that she wouldn't talk about what had happened. Having him pound his cock into her for three days, sucking her body and touching every millimeter of it, was strange, but it didn't hurt, and as for not being ready to be his wife, it would prove to him how wrong he was.
"What's wrong with this house?" Anna asked, unhappy with the trust he wasn't placing in her.
"Look around you, Anna... Don't you understand why this mansion is isolated and overprotected?"
"Actually, I think isolation is good. I don't see it as a bad thing."
"Anna... It was in a mansion like this that your mother lost her life. Your father is excited about Ian, and wants him to live like a mobster. He's going to make him one of them. An heir to the mafia boss. One day, he and my brother will meet as rivals and you have no doubt about it. I know Adam's ambition. He won't stop until every part of the world obeys his voice. I don't want that for my son. I don't want him exposed to and living with people like that. I don't want him to sympathize with their cause. I don't want him to be... Cruel."
Anna listened in silence. But as soon as he mentioned his mother's death, she knew she couldn't bring her son to live there.
"You don't sympathize with mobsters and their... Projects? Do you shelter Dad knowing the risk he's taking for you, and that you could lose not only your job and your name, but also your freedom and the dignified, comfortable life you lead?"