Tiger's bond #Ivan&Danil

2

"Why are you still siding with that kid, huh?" Raiza's voice rose as she argued with her husband in the study, making Danil, who was eavesdropping, stand frozen, not daring to open the door and wondering who that kid Raiza was talking about.

"Raiza, why do you call your nephew that?" Pavel turned to reprimand his wife.

"Why shouldn't I call him that? You've seen how much trouble he has caused us," Raiza exclaimed again.

"But everything has already been resolved," Pavel replied, to which Raiza just sneered.

"Well, if Ivan hadn’t stepped in to help, would it have ended well?" Raiza said in dissatisfaction, making Danil realize immediately that they were talking about him. He was very unhappy that Raiza was speaking ill of him, but he still didn’t think of revealing himself because he wanted to know what else Raiza would say about him. He planned to tell his parents that Raiza was speaking poorly of him since Raiza seemed to have some regard for his parents, as well as for Ivan. Danil was the only one that Raiza didn’t like.

"Raiza, Danil is just a typical hot-headed teenager. Besides, he was bullied first, which is why he retaliated like that. Honestly, I don’t want to do business with them anymore either since their son started trouble with Danil first," Pavel said in defence of his nephew.

"Why do you talk like that? How many times has Ivan had to intervene for him? He has to clean up after what he does. All day, he doesn’t think about doing anything at all; he just goes out and spends money," Raiza shouted, her face dark and flushed.

"Even though he doesn’t have a drop of Balenkov blood in him at all," Raiza’s next words made Danil freeze, feeling a chill run from head to toe, as if his heart had stopped beating.

"Raiza!" Pavel called his wife in a stern voice for bringing this up.

"Why? I’m speaking the truth. That kid is just a parasite that Edik and Anna took in. Hmph, he doesn’t even know his origins, that he’s not a descendant of the Balenkov family, but he acts so arrogantly, it’s pathetic," Raiza said, unable to hold back any longer. Danil’s hands trembled as he learned the truth, but he still wasn’t sure if what Raiza said was true or not.

"Raiza, you must not let my brother’s family hear you say this. If you do, I won’t help you at all if they decide to do something to you. You know how much my brother’s family loves Danil. Even if he’s not blood-related, he is the son of my brother’s close friend, a friend he loves like family," Pavel spoke to warn his wife, but it became a confirmation for Danil. He slowly stepped back from the door, his mind now hazy; he didn’t even know how he managed to walk back to Leif.

"Is there something wrong, young master?" Leif asked.

"Uh... Leif... let’s go," Danil said, his voice shaky. Leif didn’t know what was wrong with Danil, but he led him out to the parking lot.

"If it’s not necessary, don’t let anyone know we came here today," Danil said in a vague tone. He raised his fingers to bite his nails unconsciously, which made Leif quite worried.

"Where are we going?" Leif asked. In truth, Danil should have more bodyguards with him, but he didn’t want to cause a fuss, so he only asked for Leif because Leif was among the top tier of bodyguards in the family.

"To my little house," Danil replied, as he had bought a house for himself to retreat to sometimes, like now. Leif drove Danil to the little house right away. Danil felt numb all over; his body still felt cold, and he had the urge to cry, but no tears would come.

"Young master, you can tell me if something's wrong," Leif said with genuine concern. Danil looked at Leif with trembling eyes.

"Leif, help me with something, but no one else can know, absolutely no one, just the two of us," Danil said, his voice shaking.