Chapter 11 – Celine
It was a beautiful morning, quiet and peaceful. The rising sun filtered in through the window, draping its golden glow over anything it touched.
In the silence of the library, I sat by the window, lost in the pages of a book. It was my only escape from this boring reality. I had a lot going on in my head. And if I didn’t distract myself with something meaningful, I just might lose my mind.
Outside, songbirds were chirping in the trees like a choir on a Sunday morning. It was a strange experience for a girl who’d spent all her life in a concrete world.
I’d never been around nature for this long, and it was both refreshing and unsettling at the same time. The smell of damp earth, the scent of fresh flowers, and the serenity of the environment opened my eyes to what I’d been missing.
For so long, I was used to the loudness of the bustling city. And that alone robbed me of the possibility of something better. Something quieter. I didn’t know what true peace and quiet looked like until now.
Here, away from all the noise and the craziness of the city, I could think more clearly. Even the air was healthy. No soot. No dust from a nearby construction site. No smoke from exhaust pipes. Nothing. Not a single pollutant.
And for the first time, it was as though my lungs were thanking me. I was more relaxed, and my mind was more stable in ways I couldn’t explain. Being close to nature was gradually teaching me lessons I never thought I needed.
It opened my eyes to some of the damage our technology and innovations had done to the ecosystem. The kind of peace I found in this prison, ironically, was better than what I had back in the city.
There were no rush hours here, no crazy drivers yelling, cursing, and honking their horns. The whole environment just seemed like heaven. Beautiful and serene.
The longer I stayed locked in here, the more I understood why my captor chose this area. He was a man of few words, and clearly, he loved his privacy and hated noise.
Even though I’d never admit it, deep down, I was starting to like it here. The place had everything I could possibly need: food, power, serenity, and most importantly, access to an endless collection of books.
What else could a girl need? Besides, I was already an indoor person used to staying by myself.
To me, this was heaven.
Or at least it would’ve been under different circumstances.
In reality, it was supposed to be a prison. However, lately, I wasn’t so sure about that anymore with all the tension between my captor and me. There was something about the way he stared at me when he thought I wasn’t looking that sparked a fire inside me.
It was lust.
I knew that for sure because I was struggling with the same thing myself. In fact, it became worse for me after the kiss and the way he massaged my hurting wrist.
At this point, our actions had blurred the line between captor and captive. I had no idea what I was to him, and I was curious to find out. The only problem was that I wasn’t sure how to go about it.
It would be weird to ask him directly.
Right?
Should I keep cool and pretend I wasn’t feeling the pull between us?
Should I kill whatever emotion this man had stirred up within me?
He was a monster—a ruthless, cold-blooded murderer. In other words, a red flag. I should stay in my lane, mind my business, and pray that something would move him to let me go.
As strangely comforting as this place was, it made me feel useless, purposeless, and unproductive. My life was on hold because one man decided to play God over me. This man was the reason for my pain and also the one my body craved.
I hated him. I hated how he made me feel.
But unfortunately, it was my current reality.
As I kept reading, something outside caught my eye. Birds, dozens of them, scattered from the trees, squawking and flapping their wings loudly in the air.
It was almost as if something had scared them off, something worth worrying about. My eyes squinted, and I rose from my chair after spotting some strange movements in the trees outside.
At first, I didn’t get a good look at them, just their shadows on the ground and the tree barks. However, the moment one stepped into view, I saw him clearly. He was huge, masked, and armed with a rifle.
Before any new thought could cross my mind, more masked men appeared behind him. Armed and dangerous. They weren’t the mansion guards. No.
Their outfit and their silent movements, like soldiers skilled in infiltration and espionage, alerted me that they were trouble. Big trouble.
My heart skipped a beat when one of them looked up and spotted me watching the invasion.
“Hey!” one of the guards called out, firing a shot that killed the previous assailant in an instant.
Next thing I heard was more gunshots—loud, rapid, and terrifying. The entire compound transformed into a war zone in just a few seconds. Gunfire echoed through the air, alongside screams and heartrending bellows.
By now, I’d already bolted away from the window and was standing in the middle of the room. My palms were sweaty, my pulse quickening by the second as I thought about what to do.
The mansion was plunged into chaos, confusion, and disarray. Frozen in place, I covered my ears with my palms, but even that did little to drown the noise.
“Take cover!” someone yelled through the corridor. “They’re in the building!”
Without thinking twice, I dropped to the floor and crawled under a table for safety. A second later, the door of the library was kicked open by a powerful force.
My hand flew to my mouth, and I held my breath, refusing to make any sound. Someone marched in, their footsteps heavy and menacing. From under the table, I could see their boots as they moved around the space.
This was a terrible place to hide!
What was I thinking?
I should’ve hidden behind one of the towering bookshelves. Not this low table. But in my defense, I didn’t have the time to think.
The assailant received a call on his radio, and when he answered, he spoke Italian. That’s when it dawned on me that this was an attack from a rival gang.
However, that was the least of my problems right now. Under this table, I felt exposed because all it would take for this man to spot my stupid ass was for him to look down.
I closed my eyes, hoping and praying he would just leave since there was no one here. My heart was pounding like a drum, even threatening to explode out of my chest. Yet I stayed calm with my palm over my mouth.
Sweat dampened my forehead and other awkward places. I’d never been this afraid in my entire life; in fact, I was so scared tears were already streaming down my cheeks.
From under that table, it seemed like these men had taken control of the mansion. I wasn’t sure of anything, but that’s what I thought. The rapid gunfire outside was getting louder and more intense.
With my eyes closed, I prayed silently while listening to his footsteps. I tracked the sound—every move, every corner it turned around the space. What the hell was he looking for in a bloody library anyway?
Just leave already!
Then it dawned on me.
The ledger.
What if he were here looking for the same ledger that had gotten me into this situation?
That would explain why he was moving around the library while the others were outside fighting. But if he was truly searching for the book, he was doing a very poor job at it.
The man was just moving and scanning the shelves with his eyes. He wasn’t turning the place upside down, looking for what he was there for.
Idiot.
Then I noticed it. The silence in the room.
I couldn’t hear his footsteps anymore.
Had he left already?
Was I safe for now?
Just before I could let out a sigh of relief, the table was yanked off by a powerful force. Exposed in the open, I screamed, eyes wide with fear.
“Got you!” the man growled, his voice deep and raucous.
He aimed his rifle at me, ready to shoot as I sat on my ass, staring death right in the face. I thought this was the end of the road for me. And so, I closed my eyes, ready to accept my fate. What else could I do anyway?
By the time he pulled the trigger, the gun jammed. I wasn’t sure why, but it did. Maybe he was out of bullets. I opened my eyes again, and there he was, struggling with the damn thing.
Then, it happened.
A figure appeared out of nowhere and speared into him in a flash. The two men crashed to the floor and then rolled back to their feet.
The newcomer moved so fast I could barely see his face. He kicked the gun away and began throwing heavy punches and kicks at the assailant.
From where I was on the floor, this wasn’t a fight. No. It was an execution. The newcomer was faster, hit harder, and seemed to have more combat experience.
His blows were so powerful that within the first few seconds, his opponent was already destabilized. The assailant tried to throw his first punch, but my savior trapped his hand in a single sweep.
He twisted, and then….
Crack!
The man cried out in pain as his arm was snapped like a twig. While he stumbled backward in pain, a strong kick to his chest sent him crashing through the window.
The glass shattered at the impact, and the man fell off, his voice fading by the second as he plummeted down.
Silence.
I swallowed hard when my savior turned around, and I saw his face. It was him. My captor.
He didn’t ask if I was okay; he just scanned me for a second and asked, “Can you walk?”
I nodded, heart racing in my heaving chest.
“Let’s go.”
I took his outstretched hand, and he helped me up.
“Stay close to me.” He held my hand and led me out of the library.
A pistol was held up in front of him as we walked down the hallway. Corpses sprawled across the floor, and the walls were stained with blood and human brains.
The sight made me so nauseous that I almost puked.
“Artur!” a man bellowed at the top of his voice.
That was it. That was his name. I knew it began with an A.
Artur stopped in his tracks and pulled me behind him, his gun aimed right ahead. A tall, muscular man rounded a corner with an assault rifle in his hand.
His face was marked with scars, but I still recognized him. It was the man I stood up for, the one I begged Artur not to kill in the basement.
“You’ve gone soft, Artur Tarasov.” The man stopped a few feet in front of us, a pesky smirk playing on his cracked lips. “You should’ve killed me when you had the chance. But instead, you chose to listen to that whore of yours.” He let out a quiet chuckle. “How pathetic.”
Whore? You ungrateful son of a bitch!
I fuckin’ saved your life, and this is how you repay me?
I was angry and disappointed at myself at the same time.
“You did this?” Artur growled, his tone laced with fury. “You led these animals into my home?”
“This is a cemetery, Artur!” he barked. “It’s a fuckin’ graveyard, not a home!”
By now, the gunfire in the air wasn’t as rapid as before. Why? I wasn’t so sure.
Artur’s hands were trembling at this point. But not from fear. Anger. Sheer fury.
“I told Rocco I’d bring you in a wooden box,” the man said arrogantly, his rifle aimed at us. “But I guess I’ll add a little something extra.” His gaze shifted toward me. “Your little bitch will warm his bed just fine, don’t you think?”
Artur lost it.
He fired first.
The man dodged it and fired his own shot.
I dropped to the floor immediately as the two men fought, shooting at each other from such close range. Every shot was woven in and out, and soon they crashed into each other.
Guns were knocked aside, kicks were delivered, and heavy punches were exchanged. Their thick grunts filled the air as they fought fiercely.
The other man unsheathed a blade and began attacking Artur. The knife sliced through the air on each dodge as Artur deflected his advances.
I wondered where the other guards were now that we needed them the most. But then I figured they might be busy with the other assailants.
This man was fast and strong.
But unfortunately for him, Artur was faster, stronger, and angrier. I watched the brutal fight from the floor. He cut Artur a few times with the knife, and in exchange, he received blows that broke his ribs and his nose.
After his blade was kicked out of his hand, Artur tackled him to the ground. While the two wrestled against each other’s strength, I spotted a discarded gun on the floor.
Without hesitation, I grabbed it and called his name, “Artur!” before sliding it over to him.
He snatched it off the floor and aimed it at the man’s face. I looked away before the blast.
Then, bang!
Silence.
By the time I opened my eyes again, it was over. Artur was looming over the man’s motionless body with the gun in his hand. His shoulders were rising and falling with jagged breaths.
Quietly, I rose to my feet, my legs shaking beneath me. I couldn’t help blaming myself after realizing that the bastard was behind all of this. Directly or indirectly, this was all my fault.
I’d caused this mess.
Everything that happened today was on me. The death, the destruction, and even the blood of the deceased.
Tears blurred my vision as I stared at the blood on my hands. My heart was pounding as I sobbed, struggling not to have a nervous breakdown.
When he turned around to look at me, his face was stained with the blood of the enemy. I saw the anger in his eyes as he approached me with slow steps.
I lowered my head when he halted in front of me, unable to look him in the eyes.
“This is why we don’t spare traitors, Celine,” he growled, struggling to mask his rage.
“I’m sorry,” I whimpered, my voice cracking under the weight of my own guilt. “I’m so sorry.” I wept, shoulders shaking violently.
Heavy, hurried footsteps approached us, followed by some familiar voices speaking in Russian.
Still, I didn’t raise my head.
“The threat has been neutralized, Boss,” Konstantin said to Artur.
He hesitated and then said, “Escort Miss Hart back to her room.”
Miss Hart?
He never called me that before.
It was always either Celine or little one.
Damn, he must be pissed.
By the time I raised my head, he was already walking away, leaving me with his men.
I felt rejected and unwanted in ways I couldn’t explain. That look of anger and disappointment in his eyes hurt me more than I cared to admit.
But why, though?
Wasn’t I just an insignificant prisoner to him? Wasn’t he just a ruthless monster to me?
What the hell was going on here?
My emotions were all over the place, and that scared the shit out of me. Especially because I had no idea what that meant.