The day after the next day, Klaus was met with his brother Elijah at the airport and together they went straight to the penthouse, having some time to catch up. When they got to the apartment, as soon as the elevator doors opened, Klaus saw her for the first time and it was sight he would never forget. Waiting for them in the foyer, stood an elegant and a gorgeous blond who wore the sweetest of smiles that woke something eternal in Klaus. He studied her gorgeous face before he noticed that she had the prettiest natural blond hair with soft gurls and he couldn't deny himself a quick glance at her body. She wore a light blue smart casual dress that really brought out her eyes. And the dress hugged her in all the right places. She had the perfect body, not too thin and definitely not too curvy.

He stared at her for a second and studied her expression. She seemed surprised and a little uneasy when their eyes met. And the first thing she noticed was that her eyes seemed so sad. Klaus wondered what that's about as Elijah had just told him how happily married they were and how everything was great with her.

"Niklaus, meet my lovely wife, Caroline Mikaelson. Caroline, this is my younger brother Niklaus."

Caroline gave him her hand and as he kissed it, "Call me Klaus, everybody does, besides my stuffy older brother that is."

Caroline laughed a little and it was the sweetest sound to him, "And it's very nice to finally meet you, Caroline. My brother has told me so much about you."

"All good things I hope," Caroline smiled, "And nice to meet you too, Klaus."

"Of course," Klaus said and Caroline knew it was a confirmation that Elijah hadn't told him what he really thought of her.

"Welcome to our home. As you are family, you are always welcome to stay here. Isn't that right, honey?" Caroline turned to Elijah who sweetly smiled at her.

"Of course, Caroline is right, you are always welcome here."

"Are you sure, I can always check into a hotel?"

"Nonsense, you are staying here. I haven't seen you for years, so of course you are staying here."

Klaus was just polite offering to stay in the hotel. After meeting her, he wanted to spend as much time with Caroline as possible. To get to know her better. So if they hadn't offered, he would have had to insist it himself.

One of the guest rooms had been prepared for him and although it was a bit modest compared to the master bedroom, Klaus didn't complain. At least not for the time being. He didn't want to admit it right away, but he was already hatching a plan how to manoeuvre himself into their lives.

**

"So brother, what do you want to do with your first night back in New York? Want to check out some hip night clubs, go to dinner or something else entirely." Elijah asked him while he was unpacking.

"How about all that? First dinner just the three of us and then we hit the night club scene."

"Sure, why not, I'll make the necessary preparations."

They all changed their clothes to suit the plans for the night and went out to a one of the fanciest and most expensive restaurants.

"Elijah, it's crawling with supernaturals."

"Of course, who wouldn't want to dine here. And there are some important people I wanted you to meet or at least reacquaint yourself with."

Caroline rolled her eyes at that and it didn't go unnoticed by Klaus.

'Just as I thought, trouble in paradise. Definitely.' Klaus mused to himself.

"Really brother, I hoped we could have a nice family dinner and you want to make it about business. Let's do that another time. We don't want to make your lovely wife go through all that."

"Oh, she is used to it. She accompanies me in most of the meetings with the faction leaders."

"Really? Still, let's give her a night off of her wifely duties," Klaus snickered and Caroline couldn't help but roll her eyes at the double meaning.

"Niklaus, please."

"Okay, I'll behave myself, brother." Klaus promised and then continued, "As I know everything there is to know about my brother, why don't you tell me everything there is to know about you, Caroline?"

Caroline smiled at him and said, "There's not much to know about me. I grew up here in new York but in one of the poorest boroughs and one night when I was 19 I met a guy who turned out to be a vampire who turned me. Then he left me and I had to find out the rules of the city the hard way. After a few weeks I made a huge mess, killing few locals, I was brought to Elijah to be what I thought was being executed, but he fell in love with me and took me under his wing and soon we got married and the rest is history like they say."

"You were going to execute her?" Klaus turned to Elijah.

"No, I just wanted to familiarise her with the rules but after meeting her, I couldn't get her out of my mind."

"Are you happy, Caroline?" Klaus continued to pry.

Caroline seemed uneasy at that but one glance at Elijah and she put on her best Caroline Forbes smile and said, "Of course, I feel like the luckiest and happiest girl in the world."

'I'm sure you do'. It was all very musing to him. What the hell was Elijah thinking putting her up to pretending everything was great with them. Had he forgotten that nothing would go unnoticed for him. Even if he wasn't so smitten with her, he would see it from a mile away that this girl was the unhappiest girl he had ever met.

All he now needed to know was, what the hell was going on in this marriage. So he could use it against Elijah.

"Okay, changing the subject, I took it upon myself and asked a friend to join us in the club. Her name is Katherine and she loves to party."

"Katherine? Katherine Pierce? Why, Niklaus? Why her?"

"Oh, so you do remember her, Elijah. I thought you two hadn't seen each other for at least a century?"

"As she lives in New York, we have ran into each other a couple of times. That's all."

At the mentioning of Katherine's name, Caroline's face fell immediately for a second but then she quickly masked it.

'I bet, brother'.

"So shall we go, we'll pick her up on the way?" Klaus smiled and continued to play dumb about the whole Katherine subject.

Both Caroline and Elijah reluctantly left with him and he hardly could contain his amusement. 'This is going to be so much fun'.

The whole car ride to the club was awkward for everyone besides Klaus. They had some small talk with Katherine and all three sighed in relief when the limo stopped in front of the club.

Caroline immediately excused herself to bathroom and Katherine followed her. Klaus decided to use that time to lay the cards on the table.

"Dear brother, did you really think you could hide it from me?" Klaus asked when they had sat down at the bar.

"Hide what, Niklaus?" Elijah asked, continuing to play dumb.

"The fact that your marriage is far from happy and that you are sleeping with Katherine Pierce?"

"How did you know?"

"Oh, come on, have you forgotten who I am. I'm your original vampire brother. If I tried to keep something so big from you, you would see through me straight away too. So do yourself and the girls a favour and stop with the pretence and do what you want."

"Meaning?

"If you want to spend time with Kathrine tonight, enjoy yourself."

"We are in a public place, Niklaus."

"So, nobody cares, Elijah. They are all your subjects, who cares what they think."

Niklaus took his drink and went to talk to a friend he just noticed at the other side of the bar, leaving Elijah to ponder at his words.

When Katherine entered and started to fix her make up next to Caroline, she asked her,

"Why did you come here tonight, Katherine?"

"Your brother-in-law asked me to."

"You could have say 'no'." Caroline told her.

"Refuse an Original. Not bloody likely."

"So what are you doing here? Go be with my husband you slut."

Katherine quickly grabbed Caroline by the neck with one hand and slammed the other one in her chest, "Have you forgotten how old I am? Now, before I rip your heart out, apologize."

Before Caroline could say anything, it happened all so fast when Katherine was thrown at the other side of the ladies room. Without looking at Caroline, Klaus stood next to her and turned to Katherine. "Dear, Katerina, do you forget who her husband is? Who I am? I think you need a lesson to refresh you memory." And he started to head towards Katherine when Caroline stopped him, grabbing his arm, "Klaus, please don't. It fine. I provoked her."

"Okay, Katerina, as Caroline so lovely asked me not to hurt you, I let it go for now. But don't do something like that again, understood?"

"Understood!" Katherine said through gritted teeth.

"Okay, then Caroline, let's go."

"I can't come like that. My body is healed but my dress is all bloody."

"Oh, wait here for a second."

And in a second, Klaus came with a women's jacket and handed it over to her.

"Put it on and no one will see the blood."

"Thanks, Klaus." Caroline smiled.

When they were done and were heading out, Katherine had already disappeared from the bathroom and as they walked out, Caroline suddenly froze and looking at the distance, she saw Elijah in Katherine's embrace as they slow-danced to a song.

If that was the goal of the night for Klaus, why wasn't he satisfied with himself when he looked her painful expression.

"Don't tell me you are jealous, love?" he asked as he edged closer to her.

"It's humiliating to see your husband treat you like you're nothing."

"And the best way to pay that cheating husband back is to accept a dance from his handsome and single brother. So may I have this dance?" Klaus asked her with a confident smile.

Caroline smiled and it was sincere as she accepted and took his hand, while he led them to the dance floor.

Klaus had finally gotten what he had planned for the night, he was slow-dancing with the girl he had just met and had right away decided whatever the cost, he would have her eventually, that he would make her his own, his brother be damned.

Caroline was in his embrace, her sweet lips just a few inches away and the feeling was heavenly. He knew that for now she did it only to get back at his brother who by the way didn't look exactly happy seeing them like that, but eventually he would have her dancing with him because she desired him and no one else.

After a while they stopped and Caroline asked him, "Buy me a drink, Klaus?"

"Of course," Klaus smiled at her.

They hit the bar while Elijah and Kathrine had started to actually dance. Klaus ordered a mojito to Caroline which was what she asked for and glass of bourbon to himself.

As they looked at Elijah dancing with his lover, Klaus asked her, "So how long has it been going on?"

Caroline turned to Klaus, "I am not sure, but 3 years at least. That's when I found out about it, anyway."

"So my dear brother is bedding two women at the same time, who would have thought?" Klaus muses with a hint of Jealousy in his voice.

"Actually, he hasn't touched me once for about the same amount of time." Caroline told him.

Klaus raised a brow, "You expect me to believe that, love?"

Now he saw her angry for the first time. She stood up and turned to leave but not without saying, "I don't care what you believe, Klaus. I'm just stating the facts."

"Caroline?" He called after her but she continued to head towards the exit.

He didn't follow her right away, he just stood there, watching Elijah fool around with Katherine.

'No, it couldn't be, could it?'

'It would explain why she is so miserable.'

'Oh, this is too good to be true."

'Dear brother, you have dug yourself one hell of a grave here.' He mused and went to follow her.

He nearly caught her before she sat in a taxi.

"Hey, stop, I apologize." Klaus said as he grabbed her arm before she could get in the taxi.

He shut the door and the taxi drove a way, leaving them to talk things out on the sidewalk.

"What do you want, Klaus?" Caroline asked impatiently, refusing to look him in the eye as she was trying to hide her tears.

"Hey, shh, it's alright." He said, searching for her face, "You have done nothing wrong. My brother is a total douchebag, I know. But I never knew he could be so stupid to choose someone else over you."

"Well, at this point, I'm happy that he doesn't want to share my bed because after three years of neglect and indifference toward me, I wouldn't want him to lay a finger on me anymore."

Klaus felt his heart sing at her saying that but at the same time he couldn't not share her pain.

"So you two are totally estranged. What happened exactly for things to go this far?" Klaus wanted to know.

"It's a long story, which I can tell you another time. But can you take me home for now?"

"Yeah, sure, the limo is waiting and I see that the happy couple has decided to join us after all." Klaus said, indicating at Elijah and Katherine who came out of the club just then.

When they got home, Klaus listened in on his brother and Caroline.

Elijah was packing his things.

"Where are you going?" Caroline asked him

"To the guest bedroom. Considering that you spend more time at home, I'm letting you have the master bedroom."

"What?"

"I'll take few things now and the rest will be moved there soon enough?"

"What happened to being worried about keeping up the pretences?"

"I don't care about it anymore. Niklaus is right. Why should I care about what the servants think about our marriage?"

"The 'servants' and the rest of the supernatural community too, I gather…"

"You know, honey, you could be more grateful, I'm making things easy for you and all you can do is bitch and moan."

Hearing that, Klaus wanted to go and rip out his heart. Elijah wouldn't die, but he would feel better.

"You're right, Elijah, where's my manners. Thank you for finally having the guts to do what you should have done THREE YEARS AGO."

Klaus could feel the blood starting to boil in his brother, so he did something unusual.

He knocked on the door of the master bedroom.

"Care to join me for a drink, brother."

Without saying anything, Elijah stormed out of the room and went to the living room bar where Klaus joined him.
"I swear to god, I'll kill her with my bare hands if she doesn't start acting like an adult."

"I don't think she's the one who's not acting like an adult, Elijah."

Elijah glared at him and Klaus continued, "You are sleeping with someone else, openly, while you are married to a gorgeous girl like her. Come on, what are you thinking, brother? Katherine Pierce? She doesn't hold a candle to Caroline."

"It's complicated, Niklaus."

"What's so complicated. You love Katherine, fine divorce Caroline and marry her. You don't, then the question remains the same."

"Oh come on Niklaus, don't be so naïve. When have you ever known me to give away my toys for free. We have a clear agreement and she's a willing participant and I'm not letting her go anywhere. Ever."

"Why? What did she do?"

"Ok, you know the start of the story and the end of it, but not the in between."

"Care to tell me that part too."

"Okay, so I fell in love with her and married her very soon, not knowing who she was. I knew that money was important part of why she married me but I also knew that she felt the same way. For a year and a half we were so happy together. Expensive vacations, money thown everywhere for her and then I find out about her 'moment of weakness'." He scoffed bitterly.

"Moment of weakness?"

"That's what she called it, sleeping with my nr 1 enemy, our father Mikael."

"She had an affair with Mikael?" 'Definitely didn't expect that' Klaus thought.

"Well, she swore it was just one night stand, but how could I know with her lying to me about it for months."

"So, that was why you killed him."

"If you can call that killing. He's currently just desiccating in a coffin in the middle of the Pacific ocean."

"Okay, I get it, she screwed up, but maybe she told the truth and it was just one night stand? I mean, couldn't you forgive her?"

"SHE SLEPT WITH MIKAEL, NIKLAUS! The man who made our childhood miserable, who hunted for us for centuries. She knew all that and she still slept with him. I tried to forgive, for 6 months I tried but then I ended it. I met Katherine who Caroline hates for petty reasons, and I started sleeping with her. I feel something for her, for sure, but it's more a way to always remind her not to ever fuck with me again."

Klaus thought about it for a minute. Sure his brother was right to be enraged with her, but If he himself was in brother's shoes he would have dealt with it quite differently. In a way that she would get punished without punishing himself. He would never throw her out of his bed.

"Does Katherine know the story why you are really sleeping with her?"

Elijah glared at his brother, "What do you think?"

"I guess that's a 'no'. Another useful piece of information to store for later use.'

"Okay, I'm going to bed. Stay strong, brother."

Elijah seemed stunned, he probably hoped Klaus would have something comforting to say but all he could really think about was Caroline and how to use that newfound information to steal her from Elijah.

"Sure you don't want another drink?"

"Yeah, brother, tired after long day. See you in the morning."

Caroline as a vampire also had super hearing and she heard it all. And now she felt even more humiliated as Elijah's brother probably hated her too.

'My life is a total nightmare, just because of a one grave mistake.'

She curled herself down on the bed and cried herself to sleep.