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43

Penulis: Thekla Jackiv
last update Terakhir Diperbarui: 2025-06-21 01:46:47

The drawing room looked like it hadn’t changed since the last Chinese dynasty had vanished—fire cracking in the hearth like a war was starting inside the walls, books stacked with the precision of a death row meal, but in a nice way, all antique first editions. A crystal decanter of scotch was breathing heavy on the sideboard.

Elky’s older brother—nicknamed Trigger in the close circle, the silver snake with a voice dipped in honey and homicide—lounged in a high-backed chair. His charcoal wool suit was so well-tailored it looked annoyed to be touching human skin.

There was a blue silk handkerchief in the pocket of his jacket and his pale blue eyes looked faded in comparison. He wore black turtleneck, no shirt or tie, and he had a thick tanned neck. His features were heavy and well-punched to the right, especially in the nose area, but still handsome. He had two inches less of height than Elky had. His light hair was short, crew cut which reminded me of Gianni’s, so I didn’t like i
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  • The Vision She Hid   43

    The drawing room looked like it hadn’t changed since the last Chinese dynasty had vanished—fire cracking in the hearth like a war was starting inside the walls, books stacked with the precision of a death row meal, but in a nice way, all antique first editions. A crystal decanter of scotch was breathing heavy on the sideboard.Elky’s older brother—nicknamed Trigger in the close circle, the silver snake with a voice dipped in honey and homicide—lounged in a high-backed chair. His charcoal wool suit was so well-tailored it looked annoyed to be touching human skin. There was a blue silk handkerchief in the pocket of his jacket and his pale blue eyes looked faded in comparison. He wore black turtleneck, no shirt or tie, and he had a thick tanned neck. His features were heavy and well-punched to the right, especially in the nose area, but still handsome. He had two inches less of height than Elky had. His light hair was short, crew cut which reminded me of Gianni’s, so I didn’t like i

  • The Vision She Hid   42

    I’ve piled everything I’ve got in a craft paper folder and put it on the table in front of Elky Jennings. Well, almost everything. I kept my parents’ research paper to myself. His folder was concerned with Gianni and the older brother, and Elki didn’t take it well. He lit half of a cigar and threw the match on the floor, where a lot of used matches were already dropped. His voice was bitter:“My brother. Of all people. That’s what I’ve got after eighteen years of keeping this lot afloat. No friends, no loyalty, not even from my family.”I didn’t say anything. He picked my phone up and listened to the recording again and threw it down on the hard surface as if it was too filthy to hold. I was praying it doesn’t break in half.‘Old Gianni, family trusted fixer. One of the plotters, huh? Jesus, he is tough. The guy doesn’t crack easy. And you, rabbit. What you were up to all that time?’‘All what time?’‘All the time these two were plotting, all the time they were twisting the neck of Ri

  • The Vision She Hid   41

    That morning was dreadful and promised to get worse. The warehouse had the surgical quiet about it. White tile floor. Stainless steel counters. Walls the color of old aspirin. Gianni sat slumped in the center like a middle-aged Narcissus who’d seen his reflection and was restrained from punching it. His wrists were chained to the chair, but he still wore a smug grin on his face. His right eye was turning the color of rotten eggplant, and his lip had gone from split to oozing somewhere between Elky’s second and third question.“No cure for guys like you, is there?’ Elky said wiping Gianni’s blood of his wrist.“I haven’t had my morning coffee. You can’t expect a highest grade of insults,” Gianni hissed.“I’ve put up with a lot of crap from you, Gianni. But I told you to leave my wife out of it. And you should have listened.”“You are not Jesus Christ, Jennings. You can’t tell people what to do.” I shut my eyes and took another sip of something stiff from a glass Jennings had left me

  • The Vision She Hid   40

    The next morning I’ve received an official invitation for tea. It was printed on expensive stock paper, monogrammed and signed. It came from Gianni, of all people. It was an offer I couldn’t refuse, so I’d packed up my nerves in bullet proof armor and gave instructions to Marta in case somebody succeeds in shooting me down. The striking thing about Gianni’s quarters was the stuffy smell of old regrets. The regrets were dried out and packed into antique Chinese jars, the kind you don’t dust because they worth more than a house. Gianni’s salon was all plush and polish, a tribute to a guy who hadn’t a real book in twenty years but displayed them by the yard out of vanity.The curtains were drawn, soft velvet suffocating what little honesty the sunlight might have brought with it. A small table waited in the center like a trap sprung too slowly. Silver service were glinting under a Tiffany lamp and two chinoiserie cups nested side by side like doomed lovers in a cosy murder mystery.Giann

  • The Vision She Hid   39

    I was sitting in the middle of my bed in cream silk pyjamas, thinking about my day-dreaming in a ballroom. I was dizzy after the ballet practice, and it made me sleepy. After two hours of sleep I still didn’t feel very well, but I didn’t feel as sick as a stray dog anymore. My head was there again, and it felt roomier than usual and a tiny bit hotter. My tongue was dry and had desert sand sprinkled on it and my throat was numb. It was a grey afternoon with a lot of fog, not warm but heavy with humid air. I jumped off the bed, my bare foot felt OK. I didn’t overstretched it during ballet practice. So I had to kick the corner of the bedside table with it. It hurt.I cursed sharp furniture corners and was pouring cold water over my foot when there was a gentle tap on my door. It opened a little wider by someone’s unsure hand. Marta stood behind it, in a light brown linen apron, with a starched white headpiece on top of her head. She was very neat and smelled of washing powder all the w

  • The Vision She Hid   38

    So far I’ve made only four mistakes. The first was sniffing around the south wing, even for my father’s sake. The second was still sniffing around after I’d seen Gianni rummaging through the dead capo’s pockets. The third was letting Gianni see I’ve noticed what he was up to. But drinking from a random bottle of water I picked up in the ballroom was the worst.It felt funny the minute I walked in; as if someone was watching me behind the mirror. Then there was that sudden moment of hallucination-like vision when I had seen her behind the glass. She also had a bottle of water in her hand, exactly like mine.My legs felt weak, and I sat on the floor for a few moments, with the empty bottle in my hand, gathering my strength from the shock of seeing Celeste. I don’t remember when Alexander arrived. His face began to get wobbly, watery, and vague. As if my sight had the worst day ever. A concerned smile appeared under Alexander’s newly grown mustache as he was kneeling next to me.I reache

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