Chapter 5: Hot manga zaddy

My phone buzzed. 

Lazarus!! My eyes bugged out!

Bring me my wine from the cellar. Leroy Musigny Grand Cru. Fast.

I was still half-dressed when the message came in. I didn't even finish pulling on my shoes before I bolted out the door, my feet slipping on the stairs, my heart pounding harder with every step.

Five minutes. That was all I had. I didn't know what would happen if I was late, and I didn't want to find out.

The cellar was cold and dark, rows and rows of bottles lined up like soldiers. I didn't even know where to start. My eyes scanned label after label, my hands trembling as I searched, my breath coming faster the longer it took.

Leroy Musigny. Leroy Musigny. Where is it?

Finally, I found it, tucked near the back, dust clinging to its shoulders like it had been resting there for years, waiting.Since he was rarely around, I lifted it carefully, both hands wrapped around the glass like it was something alive, like I was carrying a baby also.

I could tell just from the label it was expensive. The kind of bottle that probably cost more than I'd earn in a year of scrubbing floors and more than once’s life.If I dropped it, I had a feeling it wouldn't just be the wine that shattered.

It would be me.

I climbed the cellar stairs two at a time, the bottle cradled against my chest like a newborn, my whole body tense with the effort of moving fast without moving carelessly.

By the time I reached the study, my breath was unsteady, my hands damp with sweat despite the cold of the cellar still clinging to my skin. I knocked once  softly, the way I always did, a habit so old it didn't need thought anymore and I let myself in.

Before entering I heard his voice loud on the phone before he ended the call.

”Убей их всех, меня не волнуют их мольбы, я не принимаю ошибок. Они перешли черту!”

Kill them all, I don’t care about their pleading, I don’t accept mistakes. They crossed the line!

I had no idea what it meant but I could tell he had just ended someone’s else live, he sure does have a lot of enemies I thought

Lazarus was seated behind his desk, a pen in hand, papers spread out in front of him. He didn't look up right away.

I set the bottle down gently on the side table with a clean glass cup, carefully not to make a sound, and stepped back, waiting.

Gosh He looked so hawttt! He wore glasses that made him look like a hot manga zaddy, he looked like he came straight from an anime,like a handsome prince. He always had a way to get my attention.

His eyes finally lifted. They moved from my face to the bottle, then back again.

"Four minutes," he said. He'd been counting.

I nodded, still catching my breath, my chest rising and falling too fast to hide.

He didn’t say “good.” He didn’t say anything. He set down his pen, took off his glasses, and folded them slowly on the desk.

Why did that feel worse?

That was when I noticed what lay under his hand.

My notebook.

The blood left my face. He had it open to a page near the middle, and he was looking at me like he had all the time in the world.

“Come here,” he said.

My legs didn’t want to move. I made them. I stopped in front of his desk, hands knotted at my waist, my eyes fixed on the polished wood.

“You write a lot, Delia.”

I swallowed.

You told me you had no friends, Lazarus said, turning a page. But I see one here. Eliva. He looked up. “A client took her. A man people call a monster. What really happened?”

My hands went frozen. I reached for the small notepad Black had given me and was about to scribble.

“Not that,” he said. “The phone isn’t only for answering my messages. You can use it when we’re having a conversation.”

I took the phone out of my apron pocket. My thumbs shook as I typed.

Some of the maids set her up. They used her to get information from a client. She was caught snooping, and she took the blame so the others wouldn’t get in trouble. He beat her. After that, he bought her from the mansion.

I stopped. My eyes were burning. I typed one more line.

I remember  he was bald, with a snake tattoo on his head.

I should have warned her more, I thought. She was always trying to be friends with everyone. That’s what got her hurt. I should have been louder, even if I had no voice.

Lazarus read the screen slowly. When he reached the line about the tattoo, his eyes changed. They went flat and sharp, like a man who had just heard a name he knew.

Hmm” he said quietly.

Then he set the phone down, and the cold, controlled look returned to his face.

“Don’t cry yet,” he said. You’ll have plenty of reasons soon.

I blinked at him, confused.

He lifted my notebook from the desk and opened it to a page near the middle. A small smirk curved his mouth, and my stomach dropped to my feet.

“Because I haven’t gotten to the part you wrote about me,” he said softly. “About how I’m a player.” And called me ”gay“

My blood ran cold.

I typed fast, my fingers clumsy on the screen. 

I never called you gay sir. The maids said that, not me, I swear to you. 

I held my phone out to him, His Russian accent sounded thicker whenever he was getting angry, but he gaze on me felt like something else I didn’t quite understand.

He didn’t take it. He stood up slowly instead, and the chair scraped against the floor.

He was six feet tall, and I was five foot six. He didn’t need to move closer for me to feel small. I tilted my head back, and my neck started to ache.

“And how do I know you aren’t lying?” he said with a silly smirk on his face.

I shook my head. I’m not. I’m not sir.

“You think I can’t tell?” His voice stayed low and calm, which was worse than shouting. “I see how you look at me. Those little glances you steal when you think I’m not watching.”

My face burned. He noticed. He noticed all of it.

I wanted to sink through the floor.

He stepped closer. I could smell the faint smoke on his shirt and the wine he took earlier and I could feel the heat coming off him. His deep emerald eyes held mine, and it felt like he was reaching into my head and reading every thought I had tried to hide.

“So tell me, Delia,” he said softly. “Were you disappointed to hear I’m a player? Or to hear I might be gay?”

My heart slammed against my ribs.

I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t type. I couldn’t look away.

Should I f*ck you bare on the desk to prove I’m not gay? Or how should I prove it to you? 

My face was already blood shut frozen. the only thing I could think of was to cry and shake my head frantically saying No.

I was about to type when he slapped the phone away from my hands. And dragged me aggressively by my waist to face him face to face.

So tell me Delia stacia. ”How should I punish you for all what you have written about me?

Cause I’m sure you don’t think I should let you go, do you?

I couldn’t blink after the questions he asked, I just stared blankly at him, gulping and shivering hard.

Answer me! 

How should I punish you?

He smiled so cutely that I was caught offguard…