233 Named After An Ex

She blinked the tears away and shook her head, "From now on, please. I don't want to talk about it."

Li Yuan nodded. Right, they wouldn't talk about this because he will deal with it. Reasoning with her when it came to her more-than-dysfunctional family was a lost cause!

For him, it was better if he just did everything on his own without involving her in this matter and especially without saying a word against her 'family' in anger.

So he smiled at her…

She tried to slide her hand away when Li Yan held her hand on his heart and brought another to her cheeks, "My Raven, I wouldn't let anything happen to you. You live with me and will die of old age when you are wrinkly and haggard."

Lei Xinyi broke out into a smile and nodded, though his words didn't matter to her. He was a King but a King wasn't God and if God had it for her then there was nothing a King could do.

Li Yuan hugged her to his chest and Lei Xinyi let him. Unconsciously, she was drawn to his warmth and enticing light cologne, it calmed her erratic heart, like each note bidding her in a promising.

"I don't have a problem sleeping at nights. Do you?" Lei Xinyi looked up from his chest and asked.

He knew she was talking about the gore and killings that leaves behind the curse of the dead superstition. He wasn't expecting a question as such, especially after seeing what she did in the apartment.

Li Yuan pursed his lips and gazed at the ceiling of the vehicle in thought then shook his head, "No, maybe because I am so accustomed or perhaps it's the awareness of the fact that they were better dead for all the sins they had done."

Lei Xinyi burst out in a laughing fit, "So what are you? Batman? Eradicating all the unlawful from the world by breaking the law!"

Li Yuan smiled at her melodious laugh and brushed her strand of hair from her face.

He whispered to her as if telling her a secret, "In fact, I can be an improvised version of Batman with a little army of Robins."

Lei Xinyi snorted in amusement and rested her head back on his chest. The Li's, since Li Yuan took over didn't deal in trafficking or drugs instead they had obliterated the practice from the continent.

They earned far more from all the illegal arms they developed and sold governments and not to mention the laboratory researches they had for medication, illegal businesses, and properties.

She smiled on his chest, he wasn't a good man but he wasn't a nasty man either. He was indeed a twisted version of a superhero. But then again after her reputation, a white-collared man, Ivy League graduate, working in Wall Street wouldn't be hugging her.

His heart was beating with hers, she liked the rhythm it accelerated her own with his. He had his chin resting on her head; he was running his hand in her hairs and kissing her head once in a while.

She wanted to bubble out a laugh; it was so strange to be babied by a man who was known for annihilation and atrocity.

She closed her eyes and relaxed her tense muscles, in the safety she knew he harbored for her rogue sails. It was beyond her why they fought so much and why all their fights ended up with cuddling or make-outs.

She will never admit it to him but she craved the security it provided her. But the blind side of her head told her she was insane and stupid.

For all in all, it was another cruel joke life has on her… A lie, a sweet lie but it was good as long as it fooled her

The man was engaged and her life was a prick in her heart, there was no reality or practicality in it but it was good as long as it lasted.

The car pulled at Li Yuan's Mansion and Lei Xinyi's gasped and her eyes widened, she pulled away from him looking at the wondrous sight outside. Behind the Black gates of the Mansion, it was a whole new world altogether.

With one glance Lei Xinyi could tell it was the very Mansion that was known all its opulence, exuberance, and extravagance. No to mention the over-the-top security system and patrols that can rival with the with the world's best governments.

Lei Xinyi's breath hitched looking at the breathtaking magic meadow, the whole perimeter was surrounded by rare blooms of the world. Colors, suspended colors were everywhere, circling the perimeter in the fragrance of their nectars.

It was still dark outside with a starless sky and a moon was iridescent and glisteningly lonely. It was a dark night but the place was illuminating as there were tall lampposts lightening up all the driveway.

Li Yuan saw the wonder in her eyes and his heart lit up with pride fueling his heart. Never had he found this place more than hard concrete but looking at the admiration in her eyes he felt like expanding the place.

It was their place, their little piece of privacy away from the world, what could be better than her fondness of it?

By the right side was a maze made out of eight feet tall hedges, supporting the Li's emblem high in its center, an elegant dark Raven raising her head to the sky; a strange symbolism for a family but it was a Mafia family so it was kind of anticipated but...

He called her Raven too…

On the left was a beautiful man-made lake with a bridge dividing all it's marvelous round-length into two diameters; there some mute Swans wandering its surface with grace and conceit bathing in the moon with all its enchantment.

There was a big Two-storey Mid-century Mansion in the center but instead stopping, the car rounded the drive-way following the impressive maze to the left, the drive ended on what seemed to be an underground parking lot ahead.

The rocky drive-way was led to an underground cave-like parking but the car stopped there, Lei Xinyi couldn't keep in her curiosity to march the piece of paradise, when Li Yuan held her hand.

She turned back to look at him, confused. He was staring at her earnestly with an intensity she couldn't figure.

"Lei Xinyi, I won't do the mistake I did previously to keep you locked but…stay undercover or in the walls of the mansion till I sort this…security issue." His tone was firm, it was clear it was command phrased as a request.

Lei Xinyi nodded none the less, she could see reason here. The people were big shots that she had wronged, if she was to be seen, they wouldn't relent and after a long time of 'house-arrest', she wasn't ready to be anymore mentally tortured.

Li Yuan smiled and pecked her cheeks, "Good, let me show you our place."

Li Yuan took her out by her arm and was saying something about the place but all her ear was ringing out with was 'Our Home' , It numbed her senses for while before she brushed it off like she brushed off all the things she didn't know how to deal with.

It was the back of the Mansion, which was more like a front, there was big round aligned stones pathway from the elegantly trimmed grass to a big, oval-shaped pool, and it was directly led to the entrance of the very big porch of the Mid-century Mansion.

Li Yuan held her hand while telling her about the two unique sunrooms he had at the two ends of his Mansion, one was adorned with all the plants with artificial environments to bloom and other with rare herbs that he had rebuilt because of her passion.

There was a big gym in the place, and various other facilities he promised to show her in the morning. The parking garage was underground because of his vast collection of sport cars. He also had a pet named 'Vanessa'.

'Vanessa! Could very well be named after some ex…

But Lei Xinyi was only nodding to him and occasionally asking small questions to make a fluid conversation but the fact was that she was really and utterly freaked out.

She had never seen such an imposing and magnificent place in her life and she had seen too many rich people dwellings. The Li's Ancestral Mansion paled at the radiance of this place.

There were lamps lit but it was still dull out there, it was the break of dawn, giving the sky pinkish blush like her cheeks, his presence was buzzing with awareness on her skin garnishing it with a pinkish flush.

He was guiding her to the stone pathway, holding her one hand with other draped around her waist. The whole air was stilled as if waiting to see what unfolds, the water surrounding them was shimmering as if taunting her for a secret only he knew.

It was too…romantic!

As f Li Yuan had heard her, before she could step on the next stone Li Yuan bent and draped his other arm under her knee and picked her up in his arm.

Lei Xinyi shrieked at the sudden loss of momentum and clutched her arms around his neck. He hoisted her up and walked on the porch.

"What are you doing?!" Lei Xinyi cried out.

Li Yuan shrugged and grinned down at her with mischievous eyes, "Carrying you through the threshold?"

Lei Xinyi burst out laughing and hit him in his shoulder blade, by now she knew he had a thing for sentimental bullsh*t and sugary words so she wasn't going to take anything he says seriously.

Her stay was going to be adventurous more than it was going to be thrilling…