CHAPTER THREE

NIKOLAI 

Tatyana Petrov married into the Markov family to end the war and after stability was secured she would die.   It had been decided long before the wedding. Ivan stared directly at me.

   “You are extending the timeline.”

  “No,” I replied calmly. “I’m observing variables and besides it's too soon, this is just the second day.”

 Mikhail scoffed softly.

 “She’s a woman, not a political equation.”

  “She’s intelligent,” I said.

  “And disobedient.”

  “She’s adapting.”

 “You’re hesitating and why the fuck would a person meant to die adapt, Nikolai?”

  “I don’t hesitate.”

   “Then kill her.”

  Ivan leaned forward.

    “The longer she stays alive, the more dangerous she becomes.”

   My fingers tapped once against the armrest. He was right about that, but I'd planned to kill her that night but had a change of heart. I want to watch her for sometime.

     “She’s contained.”

 “For now,” Ivan said sharply. “Until she sees too much. Until she hears too much. Until she becomes something we cannot predict.”

 “Finish it before this house decides to do it themselves.”

    Now that amused me. I stood up. The meeting was over.

    “I’ll decide when it’s finished and that's not now.”

 Ivan’s voice followed me immediately.

  “You already made the decision the moment you married her.”

I stopped near the doorway. Then turned slightly.

  “And yet, she’s still alive.”

 Nobody answered that. Lev met me outside.

   “They’re angry.”

  “They will be fine someday.”

Later that night, I was in my study, reviewing some files as I could not go to the office that day, when Lev walked in, 

    He hesitated briefly before speaking, 

   “There’s suspicious movement tonight.”

My gaze shifted toward him.

  “What kind of movement?”

  “Unscheduled guards near the north wing.”

The council did move quickly. Too quickly sometimes.

   “Where is she now?”

 “In her room.”

“She dismissed the maids an hour ago.” So she is alone.

  Rain hammered harder against the windows now, thunder growling faintly in the distance. I walked hastily to her room.

   Lev followed without another word. It was eerily quiet that night. The kind that preceded violence and bloodshed.

 Then there was a sound of glass breaking coming from her room. I got to her door just as another crash sounded inside. I tugged at the knob, it was locked. I slammed my shoulder into the door twice and the door burst open. 

    Tatyana stumbled backward near the window, trying to breathe with the teargas in the room while a masked man crossed the room toward her with a knife in his hand.

  The assassin turned sharply the moment he saw us and reached for his gun. Despite the haziness I shot him before he could raise it. The bullet tore through his throat.

  Blood exploded across the wall. His body collapsed instantly. The room fell silent except for Tatyana’s heavy breathing and the storm outside.

 I moved to her side quickly. My gaze swept over, doing a quick assessment, no injury and alive. Good. I surprisingly felt relief.

Behind me, Lev crouched beside the body, pulling the mask away. Then he went still. I already knew. It was the Council, of course.

    “He came to kill me.” Tatyana said while breathing heavily.

Then I looked toward the shattered window where rain poured into the room. The council had mistaken my restraint for softness.

 I turned toward Lev.

  “Seal the estate.”

 His expression hardened instantly. “Yes, sir.”

  “No one leaves.”

  Guards moved immediately with the other apprehended assassins. There were two of them. 

 Tatyana still hadn’t moved from where she stood. I stepped toward the dead assassin and grabbed him by the collar, dragging the body aside roughly before looking back at her. Like I was explaining to her, 

  Thunder rattled the windows. 

  “Now…”

  I sighed and looked down at the corpse.

  “…I’m going to make an example out of everyone involved.”

 “No one makes an attempt on my property and lives freely.”

  “Thank you, Nikolai.” Tatyana said.

I just stared at her without uttering a word for a while then said,

      “Go to sleep, a room is being prepared for you.”

TATYANA 

   I woke up to screaming. My eyes opened slowly to darkness. For a second I didn’t move, my mind still trapped somewhere between sleep and the memory of blood splattering across my walls.

   The assassin. The gunshot. Nikolai standing in the doorway and everything he said afterwards replayed in my head like a scene from a movie.

   Another scream echoed faintly through the manor. I sat up immediately, the clock beside the bed read 3:17 AM. The rain was still falling.

 Something was happening downstairs. I walked towards the door slowly before opening it just enough to look outside. The hallway was empty then I heard another scream come from there, it was a male voice. It sounded like he was in pain.

  I walked quietly, counting my steps and listening as I walked. In the few days I had spent here, I had learned to pay attention, even when it's quiet.

   The voices became clearer the closer I got. The men were speaking in low tones. Then I heard Nikolai’s voice. It was eerily calm.

  I slowed near the partially open door ahead. Light shone through the narrow opening making it possible for me to see enough.

 A man knelt in the center of the room. He was barely conscious, blood covered his face and shirt while another body laid unmoving at the other end of the wall. He was too still which means he was dead.

   My fingers curled against the edge of the doorway. Nikolai stood directly in front of the kneeling man, sleeves rolled to his forearms, dark gloves covering his hands. Not a single drop of blood spilled on him. He looked strangely sexy in that position. 

   ‘Oh God why did I just think of that right now’ I thought to myself..

  “You entered my house,” Nikolai said quietly.

  The kneeling man coughed violently.

  “P..please…”

 “You accepted money to kill my wife.”

  My breath caught slightly. He acknowledged me as his wife. That was new and it felt surprisingly good. The man shook uncontrollably now. 

   “I didn’t know…” He stuttered

A gunshot exploded through the room. I flinched where I stood. The man dropped instantly. He was dead before his body hit the floor. The ensuing silence was suffocating. 

Nikolai lowered the gun slowly and his eyes wandered in my direction.

 Then he said,

   “Come here”

I stepped inside slowly. Lev remained still near the table, though I noticed the brief flicker in his expression. I could tell he was surprised, heck even I was.

Nikolai watched me approach until I stopped a few feet away from him. 

“You shouldn’t be awake,” he said whilst rubbing his temple.

 “I heard screaming.”

He paused and said,

  “And you came anyway.”

I shrugged, "Curiosity".

  “Are you afraid?”

  I looked around the room once, at the body, the blood spreading across the floor, then back at him, 

    “Yes,” I answered honestly.

   Nikolai stared at me for a long moment and said, 

   “Good.”

He handed the gun to Lev without looking away from me.

   “Clean this up.”

The guards moved instantly. They knew exactly what to do, like murder was just another task before sunrise. Nikolai stepped closer to me then, enough to make me aware of him.

    “You left your room after an assassination attempt.”

   “But I survived.”

 “Why do you think you did?”

I thought ‘because men like you don't lose control of situations and because something about Nikolai Markov made death feel organized’.

But I only said, 

   “You don’t seem like the man who’d let others tamper with what's his.”

The corner of his jaw tightened slightly.

 “So you think you're mine?”

  “I mean I live under your roof and you did say you were gonna protect me, so..”

He scoffed, “Fair.”

  The guards were still cleaning up the place when I noticed Nikolai’s attention on me, he just stared at me.

 Then very slowly he reached up and brushed something from the side of my hair. A tiny piece of shattered glass. The touch barely lasted a second but still..

My entire body went still and so did the room. The guards suddenly looked very interested in literally anything else. Nikolai glanced briefly at the glass between his fingers before dropping it onto the floor.

His eyes held mine for one long second. Then Lev’s phone rang. The sound cut sharply through the room.

Lev answered immediately before his expression changed.

     “Sir.”

  That got his attention.

   “What?”

 Lev looked up slowly.

 “There’s another problem.”

  “A person was kidnapped.”