I Married Three Calamities (And Got A System For It)

Chapter 30: Chapter 29: Back Home

"Everything’s been resolved, Mars Fox," Veronica said, entering the room and finding Mars sitting exactly as she’d left him, his eyes distant.

At her words, Mars blinked, coming back to himself, and focused on the two women who’d just entered.

The first he recognized, it was Veronica herself. The second was a middle-aged woman he didn’t know, but whose role in all this he could already guess.

’This is truly a fucked-up situation,’ he thought bitterly, smiling faintly at the women and saying nothing.

Veronica sat back down across from him, a stack of files in her hands, which she pushed towards Mars.

"First, you need to sign all of these," she said, pulling out a pen and pointing it at him. "These documents are necessary for your release today. One of them is also the consent form allowing a Protector to stay with you for a month."

Before Mars could even think of a way to use that ’consent’ requirement to wriggle out of it, Veronica spoke first.

"I said consent, but I hope you understand this is mostly just to make it look official, right?" she smiled thinly, her eyes curving with her lips. "You’ll sign this if you want me to believe you 100 percent, and if you don’t want to end up dead at their hands."

"Please, Captain," Mars said, lips twitching, taking the documents and the pen. "I just watched someone get murdered in front of me, can we not talk about death right now? I might end up with PTSD at this rate."

"You seem fine to me."

"Looks can be deceiving, Captain."

"Just like I wouldn’t expect a handsome man like you to be a gigolo?"

Both Mars and Alice, silent behind her, raised their eyebrows, staring at Veronica in confusion.

She shrugged at the looks. "What?" she said, glancing at Alice behind her. "I’m just stating a fact. Isn’t he handsome, Agent Alice?"

Alice chuckled, her warm brown eyes settling on Mars’s embarrassed, awkward expression. "He is, indeed, Captain."

"Exactly what I said."

"Argh," Mars groaned. "Can we sign this? And please, could someone take off these handcuffs? Not that I mind, but people might get the wrong idea seeing this."

"No one’s here but the three of us," Veronica replied, nodding towards Alice. "And I imagine you’ve already guessed, but this is the agent who’ll be your Protector for a month."

Alice moved gracefully, key in hand, approaching Mars. As she got close, her warm, motherly scent brushed his nose.

Mars looked at her, and she looked back without flinching, her eyes carrying an intelligence and maturity even the captain seemed to lack.

’This is going to be difficult,’ he knew instantly.

Alice smiled, leaned forward, and unlocked the handcuffs. Then, without straightening up, she stayed there, her face close to Mars’s, and said:

"I’m Alice—!"

"—in Wonderland?" Mars blurted out unexpectedly, making Alice’s eyebrow twitch and Veronica cough suddenly.

Mars smiled wryly, cursing himself for voicing his intrusive thoughts.

"My bad?" he said sheepishly. "You were saying, please? Lady Alice...?"

"Jones," she said. "Alice Jones. Not Wonderland. I’m 43 years old and I still hear that joke about my name." She sighed, and Veronica finally couldn’t hold herself back, laughing hard. Alice ignored her and continued, "I’m an agent under Captain Veronica Snow, who’s currently laughing her throat out, apparently."

"Ha... hahah." He laughed nervously. "Mars Fox. 18 years old. Do I need to specify that I’m a gigolo?"

Veronica’s laughter slowly died down. Alice’s lips curved into a deep smile that unnerved Mars instantly, then she leaned in and whispered, low enough for only him to hear,

"I’ve seen plenty of gigolos in my life, and," she winked at him, "even tasted a few myself. I know one when I see one."

Mars frowned slightly.

"And you don’t look like one, Mars Fox."

"Well, that’s like telling a woman in men’s clothes, ’I’m used to women, and you don’t look like a woman,’" Mars shot back, trying to stay calm. This old lady reminded him of Moon, just a bit more relaxed, and unnerving in a completely different way.

"Terrible analogy, Mars Fox."

"Want a simpler version? I’m a special gigolo."

"How special?"

Mars glanced past her at Veronica, who was watching them both with narrowed eyes.

"Find out yourself, Lady Alice."

Alice’s smile was about to widen when Veronica finally lost patience with their whispering,

"What are you two discussing so quietly right in front of me?" she snapped.

Alice regained her calm, mature, demure composure, straightened up, and stepped back behind Veronica. "Just getting to know him, Captain."

"You’ll have plenty of time for that later. Now," Veronica’s eyes turned to Mars, "sign all of these, Mars. You’ll receive your scholarship through Alice later, once I sort out the paperwork."

Mars gripped the pen, glanced one last time at Veronica and the smiling Alice, cursed inwardly, and signed.

’An older version of Moon, sitting right beside me, with my lies waiting to be uncovered. Just kill me now, honestly.’

...

Everything was sorted, and Mars was free to go within half an hour, Alice at his side.

The two of them sat in a car, Alice driving, dressed in plain clothes since she wasn’t supposed to look like a Protector to anyone.

The arrangement worked out well, since Alice wasn’t particularly well-known as a Protector either.

Given the state of Mars’s current apartment, the Protectors had assigned him a new one until he was admitted to college.

A large one, Veronica had suggested, big enough that even Aunt Mari and Hope could move in.

That was where Alice was headed, before Mars asked her to stop somewhere else first, so he could grab his clothes and belongings.

Alice was skeptical, but eventually agreed, after giving him a long, appraising look.

The closer she drove, though, the more she realized they were heading into the wealthy part of Paris. She raised an eyebrow.

"Are you sure this is the right address?" Alice asked, as they entered the Xaliss Neighborhood.

"Yes."

Mars had turned it over and over in his mind, and hadn’t found a real solution to his problem.

Because honestly, he couldn’t leave his wives alone. Not after everything that had happened. They might genuinely do something drastic.

So he needed to be with them, even with a Protector at his side. Yet doing that carried enormous risk.

But it was too late now.

Soon, the car stopped, right in front of his house. Mars took a breath, his heart quickening, gambling his entire life at this point.

"It’s here," he said, pointing at the house. "I’ll be quick."

"Oh, no," Alice said, getting out herself. "I’m tasked with protecting you. So I’ll come with you, alright?"

It wasn’t really a question. Mars nodded and walked towards the door, Alice beside him.

He knocked three times and waited, heart in his throat.

No answer.

Mars knocked again, harder this time, while Alice studied the house next door, finding it strangely familiar.

But her attention snapped back to Mars when a flat voice spoke from inside the house:

"Who?"

Mars silently thanked every god that it was Willow who’d answered. He licked his lips and said, "It’s Mars. I’m here to grab my clothes, as I found a new place. I have company with me."

Silence followed his words, before the door swung open.

"Come in," Willow said.

Mars glanced at Alice, nodded, and the two stepped inside. But the moment the door shut behind them, Alice’s body froze in place.

She lowered her eyes slowly and saw a dagger at her throat, pressed hard enough that blood was already trickling down.

At the same time, Moon, who’d been hiding in the shadows until now, grabbed Mars and yanked him away from Alice, while Solaris appeared in front of her, golden spear leveled at her chest.

The tension shot through the roof.

"Move, and you’re dead," Willow whispered.

"Speak, and I’ll put a hole through your chest," Solaris added.

Moon, keeping Mars behind her, chimed in with her poisonous tone,

"If you understand, blink."

’Fuck, here we go again.’

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