Cayenne noticed something in Nikolai. Several months ago, when he arrived to serve as her chief bodyguard, he took an interest in the Rivera family. Not long after, he visited La Granja and claimed that his family was once close to them. Cayenne was unsure if he was telling the truth or not since Nikolai was in a special situation.
She wasn't even sure which family he was referring to – his real family or the foster family that took care of him.
A few weeks after he arrived, Isabelle Ignacio caught his attention. At first, Cayenne thought he was just cautious toward her since the woman was pretending to be Luiz's girlfriend. However, Cayenne saw him spend more time with her on his day off. In fact, during his rest days, he would spend at least three hours with her.
Cayenne could not take it anymore.
This time, Nikolai would be taking his day off once again. He was already preparing to leave the mansion so he could wander around the city or go wherever he wanted to, but Cayenne stopped him for a minute.
"Do you need something from me, madam?" he asked while walking in her direction.
He appeared stoic and intimidating, but Cayenne wasn't bothered by it. In fact, she saw mirth in his eyes. She could even sense her excitement.
"Can I have a few minutes of your time?"
"Sure," he answered almost instantly and sat on the couch that Cayenne gestured for him to sit on.
Cayenne knew that she didn't have the right to interfere in his private life, but she was worried about her family relationship with the Riveras and Jillyanna Madrigal. She had to do something before things became irreparable.
"Nikolai, have you remembered anything about your life?"
Nikolai was stunned for a moment. He never thought that Cayenne would ask him about his life now. Nonetheless, he answered her honestly. "Yes, I have remembered a lot of things about my life as Yelisei Nikita. Actually, it was the boss who helped me recover some of my memories and someone close to the Nikita family confirmed them."
"So, uhm... did you sever ties with the Sloan family?"
"Nope. I severed ties with the Nikita family instead. Yelisei died in an accident and his body was found with DNA matching to me. You know your husband can do such a thing, right?" Cayenne nodded in agreement. "Anyway, I'm officially Nikolai Sloan now. As long as I stay away from politics or make myself known to the whole wide world, no danger will ever come to you."
"Does that mean you are not friends with the Rivera family now?"
"Not friends with them? Why do you say so?"
It was Cayenne's turn to be surprised now. Nikolai just said that he severed ties with the Nikita family, but he still wanted to be close to the Riveras. "So, it was the Sloan family who had a history with Dr. Rivera's ancestry?"
"Oh," Nikolai muttered while looking down with a faint smile on his lips. He realized that Cayenne was just beating around the bush with him. He could tell that she was very concerned with his current relationship with the Rivera family and Isabelle Ignacio. "It was the Sloan family," he said when he looked up to meet her gaze again. "I heard the history of the Orion Kingdom from them."
Cayenne nodded her head several times without saying a word. Nikolai continued, "I told them about the job that Mayor Mondragon offered to me, and they were delighted. They told me that Mr. Sloan's ancestors knew someone from this place. They told me the story and I thought I'd give them a visit."
"I see," Cayenne muttered while thinking about how to insert Isabelle Ignacio into their conversation. She didn't want it to be so abrupt. "Then, you must have seen Dr. Rivera's girlfriend, right? The one who is working for Luiz."
"Belle? Yes, I have. She's a nice woman," Nikolai answered without overthinking things. He just thought that Cayenne was interested in Belle since her brother's life was in the woman's hands. "She's meticulous when it comes to her work, so I can say that you have nothing to worry about when it comes to your brother's safety."
"What about her relationship with the doctor? I mean... he won't take it against us that Cayenne is working for Luiz, right?"
"No, I don't think so. Eliezer Rivera is a professional doctor. Just because his girlfriend is pretending to be Luiz's girlfriend doesn't mean he would stop helping young master Zeki. He's very in love with Belle."
"You seemed to know a lot about them," Cayenne commented and chuckled as if she was just kidding. "I wish I could meet Isabelle Ignacio in person."
"Why don't you ask Dr. Rivera to come over and let him bring his girlfriend? Or you can ask your brother to bring Belle here as his pretend girlfriend."
Cayenne observed Nikolai during their conversation, but she couldn't tell what the man was thinking. She was also unsure if she was interested in Isabelle Ignacio in a romantic way or if he just wanted to be acquainted with her since she was Eliezer Rivera's girlfriend.
"Thanks for telling me," Cayenne said and stood up. "I'll invite them next time. You can go and enjoy your day off now."
Nikolai just bowed his head toward her in response and left with a stride of confidence. Cayenne stood in the living room while following the man with her gaze.
"I'm not liking that," Stefan expressed when he came down and found his wife watching someone walk away. "I'll fire him," he said when he got to her side and hugged her.
Cayenne blinked her eyes several times, but Stefan didn't change his expression at all. "Uhmm, why would you fire him?"
"Because you were looking at him for almost a minute."
"No, I didn't even notice I was looking at him until you called me. I was just staring into space while thinking of the fact that you helped him recover his memories and severed his ties with the Nikita family."
"Oh," Stefan pulled his wife even closer until there was no space between them and kissed her hard. "I forgot to tell you about it," he whispered after letting go of her. "Is it necessary?"
"Not really. I was just wondering how you did it. By the way, I planned to invite Isabelle Ignacio and Dr. Rivera here. I think it's about time that we tell him about Zeki. Can we do it tomorrow?"
And just like that, Cayenne successfully distracted her husband from entertaining the silly idea of firing her capable bodyguard.