Chapter 7 – Emika
So far, living in this mansion hadn’t been as terrible as I thought it would be. Over the last week, we’d both stuck to the plan: husband and wife on paper, boss and assistant in real life.
He played his role well and hadn’t crossed his boundaries. Same as me. As his personal assistant, it was my job to schedule his meetings, run some errands, and follow him wherever he went—amongst other things, of course.
However, he didn’t always take me with him to every meeting, and I honestly couldn’t care less. He was doing me a favor anyway, because the fewer meetings I attended, the less work I had.
Nevertheless, I recently couldn’t help noticing a few small inconsistencies in his documents. Some things just weren’t adding up these days. There were very strange patterns in how he operated and ran his empire.
I was told that he was a businessman, one who ran a multimillion-dollar industry. And on paper, that seemed to be the case.
But what bugged me was the coded messages that kept pouring in and out of this mansion every now and then. Not to mention the vague talks about shipments and cargo that he always had with his men when I thought I wasn’t listening.
Each time I was working in his office and his lieutenant would walk in, Adrik would either ask me to excuse them or simply switch to Russian. At first, I didn’t think much of it until it became a habit, a pattern.
Yesterday, when Natalya and Hannah were cleaning my room, I asked a question that changed the atmosphere. Initially, Natalya was making fun of one of the guards and was cracking me up with her silly jokes. However, after I chipped in my question, an awkward silence fell.
I’d only asked if Adrik was secretly a drug dealer, and I asked that in the most humorous way possible. In all honesty, I didn’t expect them to freeze in place, considering the fact that I was laughing when I asked it.
The two girls exchanged glances and then, after a moment of awkward silence, Natalya let out an even more awkward chuckle.
“What? That’s insane. Pfff!” She flicked her wrist dismissively.
Hannah cleared her throat. “Yeah. Why would you think that?” She squeezed out a laugh.
“Right?” I indulged them, shifting my gaze across the two of them. “Silly me. I’m sure if there’s something shady going on here, you two would tell me.”
Natalya coughed for a moment, her hand tapping against her chest.
“Are you okay?” I asked her.
She nodded and cleared her throat. “Yes, ma’am. Something went down the wrong pipe, that’s all.”
“Hey, do you smell that?” Hannah asked, tilting her head slightly to the side. “I think something’s burning in the kitchen. I’ll go check it out.”
And that was how she vanished from the room.
The only logical reason why the two sisters acted suspiciously yesterday was that there was at least an atom of truth in my assumption. Why else would they have been so afraid that they had to come up with an excuse to literally run away?
Something wasn’t right about this place.
Something wasn’t right about his business, even though the records showed that he owned clubs, restaurants, and a security firm.
At this point, my curiosity had been piqued, and I just wanted to find out the truth. I wanted to know what I’d gotten myself into, because one year was a long time to spend with a shady human being.
However, despite my determination to find out what the hell was really going on here, a part of me just wanted to let it go. I wanted to let the sleeping dog lie because poking it would be looking for trouble.
If I went digging, I was positive that I wouldn’t like what I’d find. Now, I was torn between getting to the bottom of this and simply turning a blind eye. The deal was to survive for one whole year and then earn my freedom.
Whatever he did with his life shouldn’t be my concern. Whatever shady business he was into was his problem, not mine. My role was to play the wife and the assistant throughout my stay here.
I shouldn’t go looking for what wasn’t looking for me.
At this point, it was clear that there were things I didn’t know about, forces that were beyond my comprehension.
Each time I thought about playing detective, his words would echo in my head: “Next time, stick to filing.”
He made it pretty clear that he didn’t want me sticking my nose in anything that wasn’t what he assigned for me.
But was I going to listen, was I going to mind my own damn business?
That night, at about fifteen minutes past midnight, I was awakened by the sound of heavy footsteps matching through the hallway. Fast and rapid. The noise was so brief that by the time I rubbed the sleep off my eyes, it was radio silence again.
I thought it was a dream at first, but less than a minute later, I heard muffled voices coming from below my floor. It appeared there was a room beneath mine, and that was where the voices were coming from.
With my hands under my head, I stared at the ceiling while eavesdropping, hoping to hear them more clearly.
“Mind your business. Emi, mind your fuckin’ business,” I murmured to myself, rolling to the other side of the bed.
That’s when I heard it; the unmistakable scream of someone in tremendous pain. It was so loud I thought the person was in my room. I jolted upright, my heart racing as I gripped the sheets tightly.
Then again, silence.
No screams.
No muffled voices.
Just dead silence.
No, a small voice whispered in my head. Do not do it. Don’t fuckin’ do it, the voice warned me, knowing exactly what was running through my mind.
Come on. We have to know what’s going on, another voice chipped in. This one was the curious part of me.
No, we don’t. We just have to mind our business, said the previous voice. Emi, stay put.
Don’t listen to her. We have to know what we’re dealing with here. And the only way to do that is by—
Getting ourselves in trouble? Come on, it’s not worth it.
I knew my voice of reason was right. This was dangerous, and it might land me in some serious trouble. However, I needed to know what exactly was happening in this mansion.
So what’s it gonna be, Emi? the curious voice asked me. Are you gonna lie in bed like a scared kitty cat, or are you gonna go out there like a lioness?
This is a bad idea.
Shut up. Emi, it’s now or never. We’ll just take a sneak peek, that’s all. Nothing serious.
Without hesitation, I sprang to my feet, ignoring the protest of my voice of reason. I hurried to the door, opened it, and snuck out into the dimly lit hallway. From there, I tiptoed to the basement, where I knew the sound had come from.
While descending the stairs as quietly as I could, my heart kept hammering in my chest. My legs were shaking, and my hands were trembling. Yet I kept going.
Just to be clear, I do not approve of this.
Again, I ignored the voice and continued my journey. The closer I drew to the door in front of me, the clearer I heard it. Someone was sobbing and straining to breathe.
I think we should turn back now.
Despite my fear and quaking knees, I didn’t stop moving forward.
“Please, show mercy,” a weak voice whispered from behind the door.
“Shut your bloody mouth!” another thundered, accompanied by the thud of a heavy punch.
I’m serious, we need to turn back now.
I refused to listen, not when I was so close to finally knowing what was happening. The door was slightly ajar, and through the gap, I could see the horror going on inside.
A naked man was dangling in the middle of the room with his hands chained above his head. His toes were barely grazing the floor, his skin marred with fresh wounds—strips and deep cuts. His face was battered beyond recognition, and a thick thread of drool mixed with blood lingered on his lower lip.
From where I was standing, the man had been beaten half to death and was only holding on to life by a thread.
I couldn’t comprehend what I was witnessing: human torture in real time.
Fuck.
Adrik’s men, about four of them, were also present in the room, all armed and way too serious. Out of the shadows, he emerged, Adrik Tarasov himself.
The fear in the hanging man’s eyes was clear as crystal. His legs were shaking, and his chest wouldn’t stop heaving with rapid breaths.
“Who sent you?” Adrik asked, his voice cold and menacing.
The man gave a reply, but his voice was too weak, and so I couldn’t quite catch his words.
Adrik muttered something in the man’s face, and before I could even blink, he pulled out a firearm. The next thing I heard was a gunshot.
My heart stopped.
There was a silencer attached to the muzzle of his pistol. But even with that, the muffled sound scared the shit out of me. I stumbled backward, tripped on a stone, and fell to the ground. The noise alerted the others, prompting two of them to come check it out.
They slammed the door wide open only to find me on my ass, eyes wide with terror. The men exchanged glances before stepping out of the way so Adrik could see for himself who the nosy neighbor was.
Shit.
Yeah, we’re fucked.
I wasn’t sure which one of the voices had said that, and I honestly didn’t care. All I could think was, What in heaven’s name is going to be my fate now?
I’d just witnessed my husband murder a man in cold blood. And that changed everything. I was married to a killer, one who had probably taken more lives than I could ever imagine.
The silence that followed crackled with something sharp, electric, and dangerous. He locked eyes with me, mine filled with horror, his with the stillness of a predator who’d been discovered.
Fuck.