Chapter 9 – Emika
“Really, Grandpa? A Mafia man?” I barged into his office, my blood boiling with rage.
Behind his desk, he stared at me for a second, reclining in his chair. He returned his gaze to the two men seated in front of his table and said quietly, “Leave us.”
They rose to their feet and left the office without a word. I stepped forward into the cozy, arms across my chest.
“What is the meaning of this?” he began, his voice laced with disdain and displeasure. “Didn’t your mother ever teach you some manners?”
“Manners?” I derided his words, shaking my head in disbelief. “That’s rich coming from a man who sold me out to a cold-blooded murderer!”
“You will watch your tone, child!” he barked, eyes flashing with instant fury.
“You endangered my life!” I banged my hand on his table, my voice matching his in a fit of rage.
Silence.
He glared at me, seething at my outburst and utter disrespect. But I didn’t care. I was too pissed to even think about the consequences of my actions.
“Did he hurt you?” he asked, his voice dropping back to normal.
I watched his scowl deepen, and his fingers curl into fists. If I didn’t know better, I’d think that the mere thought of Adrik hurting me infuriated him. However, I knew better. This old man didn’t care about anything or anyone but himself.
“No,” I answered. “He didn’t hurt me.”
I could’ve sworn that he let out a discreet sigh of relief. There was no strong evidence to back up my claim, so I guess I was seeing things.
“Did he attempt to hurt you in any way?” he asked me.
My brows drew together, knowing that he wouldn’t dare. I wasn’t sure why, but deep down I just knew he wouldn’t. “No.”
He rubbed his eyes, then combed his fingers through his hair. “So lemme get this straight. You barge into my office, interrupt my meeting, and accuse me of endangering your life when you’re, in fact, not in any kind of danger?” The words tumbled out in a quiet rush.
He was missing the point, and that only pissed me off even more. But I couldn’t afford to yell anymore.
I drew a deep breath, then asked calmly, “Did you know he was a Russian Mafia boss?”
His expression softened by a whisper. “Oh. I must’ve forgotten to mention it.”
My eyebrows rose, and I pulled my head back in shock. “You…you forgot to mention it?” I rubbed my forehead in confusion. “How do you forget to mention something like that?” My voice rose a bit higher this time.
“Take a seat,” he said with the calmness of a man in control.
“How could you do this to me?” I began rambling on and on. “How could you pair me up with a monster?”
“Emika!” he growled, his eyes latching onto me.
I flinched at the sound of his voice, and mine trailed off into silence.
“Sit. Down.” The words were spoken calmly, one after the other.
I obeyed.
“You say your husband is a cold-blooded murderer?”
“Yes.” I locked my jaw. “I watched him kill an innocent in his basement.”
My grandfather paused for a moment, staring at me with raised eyebrows like he knew something I didn’t. “Adrik killed a man, yes,” he replied. “But that man was far from innocent.”
“Wh—what do you mean?” I asked, puzzled.
He withdrew an envelope from his drawer, set it on the table, then slid it over to me.
“What’s this?” I picked it up.
When I opened it, it was a photo of a man in a black outfit, a black hat, and an assault rifle hanging on his back.
“Do you recognize him?”
I peered more closely, but the face wasn’t familiar. Of course it wasn’t. I didn’t keep hit men as friends. “No.”
“That’s the innocent man you’re rambling about.”
My breath hitched.
He looked me straight in the eyes. “And he was sent to kill you.”
My heart sank into my stomach, and the knot in my chest tightened. “I don’t—I don’t understand,” I stuttered.
“As Adrik Tarasov’s new wife, you’ve inherited his enemies,” he explained. “Someone sent this man to end you. But your husband intercepted him before he could complete his mission.”
I leaned back in my chair, reality hitting me harder than ever.
“You’re alive right now because your husband didn’t hesitate to kill the assassin sent after you,” he said. “That monster you hate so much is the reason you’re still breathing God’s air.”
I buried my face in my palms, my mind reeling with a thousand perspectives on this matter. It was true that Adrik had saved my life without me even knowing. It was true that he killed that man to protect me.
However, it was also true that I would never have needed saving if I weren’t part of his life. Grandpa said it himself, as Adrik Tarasov’s new wife, I inherited his enemies. That man only wanted me dead because I was related to Adrik Tarasov.
So at the end of the day, I was right. My grandfather endangered my life the day he sold me off to a fuckin’ Mafia boss. And although Adrik might have saved my life, it still didn’t change the fact that he also played a major role in putting me at risk in the first place.
Neither my grandfather nor my husband was innocent of this. They were both as guilty as the man sent to end my life.
His words snapped me back to the present: “I know you don’t like this, but…it’s your reality now.”
“My reality is to live in constant fear and always look over my shoulders,” I began, the words spilling out in a nervous rush, “because I don’t know where or when some nutjob will plan another attack on my life.”
He let out a quiet chuckle. “You’ll get used to it.”
This old man can’t be serious, can he?
My face twisted into a frown. “That’s the best you can tell me right now? That I’ll get used to it? For real?”
“The Tarasovs protect their own,” he said calmly. “And you, my dear, are one of their own.” He leaned closer. “If you hadn’t witnessed that scene, he never would’ve told you, and you never would’ve found out. That’s how real men operate; they protect their own without announcing it.”
He wasn’t entirely wrong.
“Look, you might not agree with my methods,” he continued, “but I would never match my flesh and blood with a weakling. If only your mother had listened to me all those years ago….” His voice trailed off into silence.
Again, he wasn’t entirely wrong. My father was a deadbeat who abandoned my mom after all she’d given up for him.
Amidst all of this chaos and commotion, one question lingered. Would Adrik still stick to the contract and let me go after a year? I’d witnessed a crime with my own two eyes and knew a little too much about his Mafia side.
At this point, the chances of my leaving this marriage at the scheduled time were rapidly depleting.
However, despite myself, I couldn’t help feeling something dangerously close to gratitude. Whether he played a role in my frustration or not, the truth remained that if he hadn’t intercepted that assassin when he did, I’d have been dead by now.