2- Suspected As Mistress

At age 10, Jacob Delrama lost his parents in a hiking accident. Dimitri and Clara took Jacob into their home and raised him as their own sibling. It never occurred to Dim that Mira would be displeased with his constant mention of the countless virtues and talents that replaced her brother,

It is unwarranted injustice to despise yourself just for such childish impulses. Mira fell silent. She trembled at the sound of her own footsteps. She was supposed to be sober the day Dimitri died, but she was so shocked she literally stopped functioning. Just five weeks ago, he was hospitalized with a mild heart attack. She was first at his bedside,

When she realizes that Clara and Jacob are already en route from the airport, she reluctantly separates from Dim.

"Stay—ring the bell with all of them!" Dimitri growled recklessly, already irritated by the nurse's attempt to prevent her from entering his private chamber.

"You know you don't mean that. You can't do that to your wife," Mira murmured tightly, her better self-talking, her worse self aching, she had more than anyone else right,

Should have fought his way out before sneaking out. "You never use her name," Dimitri sighed heavily.

And she blushed, avoiding his gaze, too many complex emotions hovering in her heart, too much guilt, too much pain. Clara has been his wife for over ten years. An extremely loyal and loving wife, only to be brutally betrayed.

The simple fact that Clara is unaware of this betrayal, and indeed has to be careful to protect her from it, doesn't make it any easier for Mira to accept the brick wall barrier she exists.

Mira had been sneaking in and out of the hospital for a full week, and her natural optimism quickly resurfaced, assuaging her initial frantic fears about Dimitri's health. He is only forty years old. He has been working too hard. Oh, and they talk endlessly about all the sensible things he's going to do in the future! Neither of them imagined that there might only be a few weeks in the future.

He had been on a recovery cruise in Palawan, but on the same day he flew back to Cordova again, Dim suffered a serious heart attack.

"Going away in minutes!" his secretary sobbed on the phone, still in shock.

"Who am I talking to?" she asked at the time, because Mira had never called his office before, but she was terribly worried when Dim failed to join her for lunch. Mira silently put the receiver back.

Of course, she couldn't attend his funeral. Heartbroken over her brutal ostracism, she turns to the memorial service, only to bump into Jacob Delrama through her own clumsy inattention. Mira was shocked by yesterday's encounter. She should have packed her bags and gone home long ago! But she wanted a private space in order to accept the pain of losing the brother she had known for so short a time.

"Miranda—?"

Her heart pounded morbidly against her breastbone, oxygen locked in the bottom of her twitching throat.

She turned sharply in horror. Jacob stood on the landing outside her bedroom. He was short of breath, and when he came towards her, a black mask of anger was hidden on his stern and handsome face. "That's your name, isn't it?"

"What are you doing here?" Mira gasped, her whole body was cold and wet with instinctive fear. "How did you get in here?"

"You wicked little bitch," Jacob lingered, his six-foot-four all-male frame blocking the doorway, her only escape route. He couldn't take those shining black eyes from her. Like being nailed to the wall with a knife.

It took Mira a lot of effort to straighten her slender shoulders and stand firm, but her face was as pale as paper.

"I don't know who you are or what you want—

"Y—you know exactly who I am!" Unmoved, Jacob lunged at her, taking a terrifying step closer.

"Get away from me!" Mira stiffened with tension, frantically wondering how he found her, and how much he knew.

"I wish I could—I really wish I could," Jacob clenches his fists and gnashes his teeth, the explosive rage emanating from him screaming along her nerve endings like a violent storm warning.

Mira took a step back until the back of her knee touched the sofa bed. "What do you want?"

"I want to wipe you off the face of the earth, but I can't—that's what makes me angry! How did you convince Dimitri to do such a crazy stupid thing?"

"Do what?" she whispered blankly, too scared to think rationally. "How did you convince one of the most decent men I know to sacrifice all honor and family loyalty?" Jacob snapped at her.

"I don't know what you're talking about—"

"D—don't you know what Dim did a few days before he died?" Jacob asked rudely, curling his lips contemptuously, scanning the suitcase on the bed. "Do you know what the last words he said before he died in my arms?"

Mira shook her head numbly and sickly, a mass of thick spiraling curls, the color of flames rippling on her stiff shoulders. She didn't know that Jacob had been with Dimitri when he died.

Ironically, as she thought about that terrible day, the new knowledge made her throat choke but warmed a cold place inside her. Dimitri is not alone, there is also his secretary. Jacob had been there, Jacob had been with him, and whether she liked it or not, she knew what it meant to her brother.

Jacob let out a harsh laugh that sent her chills down. Night-like eyes stared at her deeply with unconcealed disgust.

"Every word he struggled to utter was about you!"

"Oh—" Her suppressed answer barely broke the smoldering silence. She heard his pain but didn't want to admit what it was, because she didn't want to admit that she could share anything with Jacob.

"He made me swear on my honor that I would protect you and honor his last will and wishes. But I had no idea you existed! I didn't understand who he was referring to, or even what he was referring to— I had no idea what those last wishes were until last night!" Jacob let out another burst of barely restrained rage that visibly quivered on his muscular frame. "For Clara, I will sue you in every courtroom across the country and crucify you for being greedy, calculating little bitch before I allow you to profit a little—

"A new will?" She gritted her teeth, bearing his insult. Fiery, angry colors dispelled her previous pallor. But at least she now understood what Jacob was doing here and why he was forcing such a confrontation. Apparently Dim was stupid enough to leave her something in his will, despite her firm assurances that she didn't want or need anything.

His nostrils flared, eyeing her with dark anger. "A few months earlier, Clara had suspected another woman in his life. Damn—I literally laughed when she shared her fears with me! I convinced her that Dim was spending so much time somewhere simply because of the excitement of a new business venture. I was really naive. I underestimated the allure of youth and beauty to the noblest of men. Dim is obsessed with you—he died with your name on his lips!"

"He loves me," Mira muttered helplessly, sour tears burning behind her hurt eyes as she turned away defensively.

"I'd rather risk my life than let Clara suffer this fact!" Jacob growled gruffly.

She knew it then. Apparently, Jacob had no idea who she was. He thinks she's another woman, Dim's mistress comfortably settled in the proverbial love nest. It was ridiculous, but she couldn't laugh.