A few housemaids linger as a tall, wily well-dressed man and Delia are having a verbal battle. His first instinct is to quell the argument, but Oli is already at the man's side attempting to do just that. Delius denies Oli's comfort, turning straight back to his sister in irritation. If the two didn’t stop arguing they would draw too much attention to themselves. Delia was too agitated to listen to reason, so there was only one cause of gesture left.

“Hey,” He says sternly. “Cut this out.”

“What!” she snaps back, her red cheeks indicating that she didn’t know it was Theo who had called for her attention. “This has nothing to do with you.”

“You see, that’s where this does—” without warning, Theo scoops Delia into his arms, prepared to be reprehended for his actions. He lets out a grunt; she's heavier than she looks.

“Wh-What—” Delia's too flustered to speak. Theo takes her away from the scene, his own being hot with disbelief. Her voice lowers, “Put me down right now.”

“No. I’m not having a shootout because you and your brother are too stupid to keep your mouths shut,” Theo mutters as he approaches his room once again. He jiggles the handle with his foot, allowing him entry to the room without having to struggle with Delia. His arms felt less than eager to let the short woman go, but he’s not going to try his luck. The length of her nails alone could gouge his eyes out in retaliation.

“What kind of a move was that?” She seethes. “First you leave me by myself, and then I run into my stupid brother who deserves more than a scolding from me, he deserves to pay for what he's done to me!”

“You’re being stupid. If anyone else caught wind of what you were saying, we would have been fucked. Do you want that?”

“I wouldn’t say anything incriminating but that bastard wouldn’t leave me alone!”

“I highly doubt that Delius chased you into an argument.”

“Well, he would have if I didn’t try to deter him!” She breathes heavily, pointing a finger at him. “You had no right to interrupt me!”

Theo grabs her wrist before she pokes him in the chest with her fingernail. “I did what had to be done.”

“By parading your strength around by a barbarian! God knows what he's going to think about you now.”

“I was doing you a favour,” he growls. “Shooting your mouth off would get you killed.”

“So Delius gets to walk away without consequences, it's not fair.”

“God damn it, Delia, when are you gonna stop complaining? Do you think I have it any easier? Just because I don’t shoot my mouth off every five minutes doesn’t mean I don’t have problems of my own.”

A look of grave offence crosses Delia’s face as her posture stiffens. “I never said you didn’t have your own issues, Theo.” The way she says his name is cold. “It’s great that you have a family that hasn’t fucked you over. Good for you. Good for fucking you. What's the worst that you had to deal with, besides marrying me? Well, in hindsight I suppose that's a pretty sucky deal.”

“You don't get to pull this shit,” Theo growls, his temper rising. “I’ve done nothing wrong—in fact, I’ve helped you several times and you’re choosing to ignore it just to make a point. I'm not buying it.”

“Some of us don’t get that chance—because our family has robbed us of what we had.”

“That's terrible, yes, but that doesn’t give you the excuse to shit all over me. Especially when I give a damn about your safety.” That shuts her up. “Don’t be slinging around accusations about my life when you don’t know one damn thing about it.”

Silence fills the space between them, his temper burning. He never pegged Delia to be the bratty type, but given what she was going through—was he too hard on her? He hadn’t meant to be…he was sick of this.

“Sorry,” Delia whispers. It’s heartfelt, not snappy.

“Yeah,” Is All Theo can offer. He’s not good at mincing words. He soon follows with a “but you give me a ton of those issues.”

After a long pause, Delia responds with a, “Like what? The only problem you have with me is that you can’t keep it down half the time.”

Theo blinks; too shocked to come back with a witty comeback. That was just…vulgar.

“I-I mean you have other problems with me I’m sure but—uh—just forget it. I’m too mad to even think right now.” She crosses her arms, Theo not missing the small motion of her chest against her arms. The low rise cut of her lime coloured dress was doing nothing to quell his interest. Dammit, this was the last time for such thoughts. Yet, his arms ached to hold her again. He decides to replace his yearning with frustration, no, that was unfair to say. Both emotions are coursing through him.

“You’re very lucky that it was me who caught you.” He snaps at her.

“Was I? I’ve never been more embarrassed in all of my life!”

“Don’t tell me that you have your head stuck so far up your ass that you can’t see the danger in front of you!”

“God, you really don’t let off, do you!”

“If you do anything stupid like this again…” Theo’s voice rumbles beneath his breath, he has no idea what he’s even doing. To hell with manners—he pulls Delia close, his mouth overtaking hers with a hunger that only she could rival. He underestimated how long he’s waited to taste her plump lips, the smell of vanilla wafting through the air as he rakes his fingers through her hair. Her soft curls tickled his cheeks, getting caught on the stubble of his chin, but he doesn’t care.

“You’ll do what,” She asks, her voice breathless as he breaks away from her lips. Her violet eyes are sparkling with the invitation.

He doesn’t give her the gratification of an answer, cupping her half-exposed breast in his hand as she lets out a feral grunt, the sound shooting straight to his groin as it tenses against her thigh. His hand lingers near the buttons to her dress; the beast in him tempted to pop every one of them, exposing the voluptuous curves of his wife. Instead, he takes advantage of his position, dipping that same hand beneath the hem of her dress. She tenses as he leans her against the door, his mouth refusing to break away from hers as his fingers graze her—

“Delia?” The impatient knock breaks Theo’s concentration, his growl proof of his carnal frustration.

“Ignore him,” Delia whispers. He agrees with her, but he has a feeling that Delius won’t let up if they leave him be.

“Sooner we address him, sooner we—”

“Delia!” The knocking persists.

“Shut up a second, hold on!” Delia tenses as she adjusts the neckline of her dress. She whips the door open, her cheeks flushed as if she were running. Hopefully, Delius doesn’t notice. Theo ducks before Delia has the chance to hit him with the door.

“Could we talk?”

“Not interested. I said what I had to say.”

“You didn’t let me explain.”

“I don’t care to hear your explanation. You’re smart enough to know I’m a married woman—now run along.”

“Is Theo in there—” Delia whaps his nose before he ducks his head in to peek in the room.

“Of course he is—and you interrupted us, now fuck off—” Delia slams the door in Delius’s face, Theo blinking in response. She was so forward with him. Delia lowers her eyes; Theo’s breath quickens when her fingers curl over his waistband

“Now, where were we?”

Delia bites her bottom lip, lowering herself on her knees as he jolts in place. His mind blanks as he feels the fabric of his pants slide down his legs, her soft hands reaching for his boxer-briefs. Her expression sours. “Who wears underwear to bed?”

The question implies that she doesn’t wear any; the thought stiffens him more. He lets out a gasp when she grips the elastic with her teeth, teasing his abdomen with her hot breaths. The thrill intensifies when he feels a telltale draft; noting Delia’s eyes sparkling in delight as she marvels at him. He glances back up, the feeling of embarrassment and arousal swirling into an unfamiliar emotion. Ecstasy takes over as her mouth overtakes him—he stutters as he attempts to hold himself up. The slickness of her mouth, the softness of her cheeks as she tugs on him; it’s overwhelming. His hand grabs the back of her head, influencing the speed of her thrusts. His toes curl as he slams his back against the door, hissing as he throws his head back; Delia welcoming his release as he lets out a helpless moan. Sweat drips from his face, gliding down his neck as his eyes sparkle in satisfaction. It takes all the strength he can muster to keep standing.

Flushed, Theo looks into the sparkling eyes of his wife. He can’t speak, but Delia manages a grin.

“I vastly underestimated you,” She says, sliding his underwear above his hips.

“Hmm?” His hum is gravelly, his brain still hazy. He attempts not to sound so breathy.

“For such a large man, I was worried you took the hit in other areas—ah, forget all that. It’s not appropriate to say.” She lets out a tired laugh as she eases off her knees.

“I think we’re far past formalities.” He says dryly, regaining his sense of personality.

A bubbly laugh escapes her, but she says nothing more as she swaggers towards his bed. “Now it’s your turn.”

The yearning in her voice doesn’t leave much to the imagination. Theo’s heart jumps to his chest, his legs moving fast to keep up with Delia’s request as he scoops her into a feverish kiss, growling as he tops her. Her skin tickles against his fingers—his mood soaring as all distractions melt away. He pops the buttons to her dress, the garment sliding off her body quite nicely. Her lacy garments indicate that she’s high bred—but that didn’t matter to him. What did, however, is that she would be rid of them soon—by his hands.

The hinges of the door burst open, the wind being knocked from Theo’s lungs as he’s forced onto his back—Delia’s screams reach his ears; a sudden pain surges from his neck as her screeches echo through the room—and then the hall. Theo deliriously stumbles around, knocking over his shelf as he falls backward; no, he refuses to pass out this time. Those bastards won’t get away with it this time.

His willpower proceeding him, Theo follows the mix of screams, yells, demands—the sounds mix throughout as he approaches the main hall. A taller blond man keeps his back to the wall, his brother acting as a shield to three men in black—the glint of hand pistols catches Theo’s dazed vision. Distorted screams fill the air as he feels his body become lifeless; his form smashing to the ground.

Then, darkness.