Chapter 49


    Chapter 49 – Celeste


    Celeste P.O.V.


    “I want to cook all of Gillian’s favorites this week, though I am a little mad he’s been helping them this


    whole time without telling us, so maybe I should only make him one thing. I’ve been so worried about


    them. Feeling guilty that I was getting full meals every day when I


    couldn’t know if they were getting any food at all,” I said as we drove to the bank the next morning.


    “That’s Gillian for you. He will never tell the extent of what he does for others unless you catch him mid


    act,” Markus exined.


    “How did you meet him?”


    “Dad always made time to visit the orphanage. He still does I think. His dad was not a kind man. He


    provided the bare necessities


    and refused to grant any past that. It takes a while to rebuild trust after having that type of Alpha and


    dad worked very hard to get it. He


    made personal visits to the Orphanage because he wanted to make sure the kids had a happy life


    despite their tragedies. One day, Mrs Quinn wasn’t avable to babysit and dad decided that it wouldn’t


    hurt for me toe y with the kids. They were going to be my


    people eventually anyways…” He said as he got lost in the memory.


    “I found Gillian in a corner of the yground. He was getting bullied by a couple of bigger kids and I


    threatened to call my dad if they


    hurt him. When they finally left, I realized that he wasn’t even protecting himself, he was taking s**t


    because he was protecting a little


    bird that they had been trying to pluck the feathers off of. We took the bird to my father, who allowed


    me to take it home to watch until it


    was better and could fly off. He arranged for visits from Gillian toe see the bird at the Packhouse.


    We have been friends since.”


    “So he’s been helping since he was a boy.” I nodded. “OK, I’m back to cooking him three meals this


    week,” I said and Markusughed


    as he parked the car in front of the bank.


    “When am I going to get my favorites cooked for?” He demanded.


    That was true, I had never cooked specifically for him. “What are your favorites? I can cook them for


    you next week?”


    He smirked at me. “You.” I was confused and about to ask what he meant when Kara shed me some


    images that made me realize


    what he meant and I swear I heard the capiries in my face all burst at the same time. Heughed and


    pulled me over the seat and onto hisp. It was a good thing this was a big truck or I would have hit my


    head on the roof.


    “Markus!” I said before he crashed his lips on mine. His kiss was hungry and electrifying. My entire


    body reacted and molded to him,


    wanting to feel him everywhere. I moaned as his lips finally left my lips and trailed kisses down to his


    mark. My core clenched when I felt his teeth gently scraped on the mark, sending jolts of pleasure


    through me.


    “Fuck….we should get this over with so I can get you home and take you properly,” he groaned. We sat


    there for a few minutes while


    we got our lust under control and then he opened the door and I jumped off the truck. He wrapped his


    arm around my waist and handed


    me the file folder we had put all of the documents in and led us to the bank.


    “Mr Salonen! Good to see you sir! How is your father?” an older gentleman greeted us at the entrance.


    “He’s great. Enjoying retirement, thanks for asking,” Markus responded, shaking his hand. “Thank you


    for meeting with us on such short notice, Mr. Ronin. This is my ma-ehh…partner Celeste.”


    “Pleasure to meet you Celeste! And it’s no bother at all! We’re happy to have you. You’re one of our


    biggest clients. Can I offer you


    some water, champagne, some lunch?”


    ? I looked at Markus and scrunched my nose as he walked us towards his office. He smirked, “No thank


    you, we have a lot of business


    to get done today.”


    “Of course, of course. I would imagine the owner of a billion-dorpany has a lot of work to do,” he


    said as he sat down. “So


    what can I do for you Mr. Salonen. Do you have any concerns with how we’ve been handling your


    ount?”


    “No no,” Markus said, “In fact one of the things we need to talk about is adding Celeste as joint holder


    to my personal ount.” One


    of my eyebrows rose on its own ord at this. He had never mentioned this being part of the n.


    “Ha-have you talked to your attorney about this sir?” he said, darting a look at me.


    couldn’t see, trying to calm his anger with the mate bond.


    “- I just thought, considering the size of your estate, that perhaps you should consult with your attorney


    before adding a youngdy that isn’t yet your wif-” He shut up at the look that Markus gave as he stood


    up. I grabbed his arm.


    “Markus, we can discuss thister. How about we go through my documents instead? That was the


    N?vel/Dr(a)ma.Org - Content owner.


    reason we came.”‘ Please love, 1 don’t care about what he thinks. He is human. He doesn’t understand


    the mate bond, mind linked him as I rubbed my arm up and


    down his arm.


    Markus sat back down, breathing hard. Clearly trying to calm himself. He gave a curt nod before he


    crossed his arms, not taking his


    angry re from Mr. Ronin.


    I pulled out the statements from the file folder. “I found these documents among some of my parents’


    things. I would like to know if


    these ounts are still open. They appear to be in my name.” I ced the statements and slid them


    over to him. He took them from me


    and his eyes bulged.


    “Derosa? The Derosa?” He asked.


    “You are familiar with those ounts?” I asked.


    “How can I not? They were the biggest ounts we had before Mr. Salonen here grew his into what it


    is today. It was a terrible.


    tragedy what happened to your parents.”


    “What’s been happening to those ounts since Celeste has been away?” Markus asked.


    “Well, there were very specific instructions from Mr. Derosa. He had liquidated all of his investments


    and put them into a trust. We were to keep investing conservatively to help it grow and once Ms


    Derosa came of age, it was to be transferred over to her. I remember


    asking why he was transferring things over and he said that he had other assets with another bank but


    wanted to make sure your future


    was secure. A couple of weeks after the changes werepleted, they died in that awful airne


    ident of all of those people from


    that town over.”


    ‘ne ident?’ I asked Markus.


    ‘We can ask dad, but I would imagine that it was the work of the council to try to cover the m******e to


    the humans,’


    responded.


    “So the ounts are still valid?” I asked.


    “Oh yes. They all have grown considerably over the past decade. We have a team of investors


    dedicated to your ounts. We take


    care of all of our clients here,” he said and shot a quick look at Markus, who was still ring. He visibly


    gulped before he turned to his


    miss, but I need to see


    identification.”


    “You have got to be f*****g kidding me.” Markus practically growled. I could feel the rage and knew


    As was just under the


    surface.


    “Sweetie, it’s fine. It’s procedure,” I sighed as I reached for my purse. I handed him the ID.


    “Thank you for understanding,” he said. I could smell nothing but fearing from him as he handed


    me the papers he had printed


    out and my ID. The door opened behind us.


    “Everything OK Mr Ronin?” A security guard asked as he looked at us and the banker.


    – “Of course, yes. Everything is fine. Just a misunderstanding,” He said quickly, shooing him away from


    his office.


    I looked at the papers he handed me and I worked very hard not to let my eyes bug out the same way


    his had. I handed them to Markus, who flipped through them with a raised eyebrow.


    “She will need some debit cards and check books for her to finally have ess to her ounts.” he


    said, ring at Mr. Ronin


    again.


    “Of course. I can order all of that straight away. I will need some paperwork filled out for the check


    books and she can select what she wants from it. About 70% of the funds are tied up in investments,


    the rest are in savings. We will need some advanced notice if you want us to withdraw any of the


    funds.”


    ounts or transter them to another institution.”


    I sighed as Mr. Ronin became flustered.


    You’re basically threatening to shut his bank branch down, my love. Is that really


    necessary?’


    ‘Yes, we can’t kill him for his disrespect to you. The least you can do is let me and As watch this


    human squirm,


    he said. I tried not


    tough.


    “I also have a safety deposit box key. Could we have a look at it please?” I said, showing him the key


    after he made me choose check


    temtes, card look and had me fill out a bunch of information regarding some credit cards. All the


    information was making my head


    hurt.


    “Of course. How could I forget? We had to restructure the entire vault to build his deposit box,” he said


    as he stood up. We followed behind him, Markus slipping his fingers through mine. I could see more


    than a few women looking at Markus as we passed. Kara and I


    both wanted to growl. I could feel it in my chest. Suddenly, Markus let go of my hand and wrapped his


    arm around my waist and pulled


    me close. I looked up at him and saw him smirk. I blushed, knowing I’d been caught.


    ‘You’re so cute when you’re jealous,’ he said smugly. I didn’t bother to respond.


    “Here we are. I will give you some time,” Mr Ronin said as he motioned to a giant locker-style deposit


    box before he closed the door


    behind him.