Chapter 6

Chapter Six

♤ MIRA ♤

I woke the next morning feeling weak. My muscles screaming as if I’d spent the previous day running a marathon through mud. My head was a lead weight against the pillow. I could barely lift it from the pillow, but I forced myself to sit up, blinking back the fog of sleep. This was not the time to act lazy.

I need to work. I need money for my sister’s surgery. I have to prove to her that I really love her.

I reminded myself as I lazily slid out of bed, my legs unsteady. The memory of what had happened between Vlad and me tried to claw its way back into my mind, but I shoved it away. I had promised myself I wouldn’t entertain that incident in my head. And as for Vlad, I would do everything in my power to avoid him in this house until I'm done with my job.

I slipped out of my nightgown and was about to head into the bathroom when something outside the window caught my attention. The curtains were drawn back, letting in the full force of the morning sunlight. I didn’t remember opening them but maybe the maids had, or maybe I’d forgot to close it last night before going to bed.

Curiosity pulled me forward, I leaned closer to the glass, and my breath hitched.

My eyes weren’t playing tricks on me right now, no. I was seeing it clear and bold.

Blade, my boss, stood by the open door of the passenger seat of his Mercedes Maybach car. Vlad was on his left. The masked man stood on his right. Servants loaded the car trunk with two travel cases and a large sack. The sack sagged under its weight, clinking with the unmistakable sound of metal on metal. A rifle barrel peeked out of the opening, I cleaned my eyes to be sure of what I saw. And truely, it was a rifle barrel.

The servant slammed the trunk shut and reached for the back door. Just as Blade stepped forward to get into the car, he stopped dead. It was as if he’d felt my pulse from the three floors up.

He pivoted, his head tilting back as his eyes locked onto mine. For a few seconds, his face went still. Then a slow, jagged smile stretched across his face, the kind of smile a wolf gives a sheep before the fence breaks. And then it vanished as quickly as it appeared.

​My blood turned to ice. I’d seen that look in movies, the one predators wore before they destroyed their prey. Right now every instinct in me screamed that Blade was capable of something terrible, and that my life in this house might already be in danger.

But I tried to convince myself that I was overthinking. I chose to calm down and see the positive side instead of the fear building up inside me.

Vlad and the masked man followed Blade’s gaze upward but I didn’t give them the chance to see me when I yanked the curtain closed and bolted for the bathroom.

I showered quickly, and dressed in a blur-black skirt, crisp white blouse, trying to look like a professional secretary and not a woman who was about to give up on life, and with that, I rushed into the hallway.

Today was my first day working as the Silas family’s secretary. Being late was not an option. I couldn’t afford to upset these men who looked like demons in the dark - men who could destroy me in the blink of an eye.

I hurried down the hallway, my heels clicking sharply on the flour and just as I rounded the corner toward the stairs…Oof!, I slammed into a wall of solid, warm muscle.

​The impact sent me reeling. My heart slammed against my ribs, as if I’d been caught doing something forbidden.​ I looked up, and my gaze locked with the masked man’s.

He loomed over me, his presence so thick it felt like I was breathing in his scent, leather and something else I couldn't quite place.

‘Pull yourself together,’ I scolded myself. ' You need this job, not your boss’s son.'

I stepped back, lowered my gaze, and apologized. “I…I wasn’t looking where I was going. I’m sorry. I… you…” My voice faltered, barely above a whisper.

“Mira,” he rumbled. The way he said my name felt like a physical touch on my skin, but I quickly silenced that part of me trying to betray me right here.

He took two slow steps toward me, his body so close I could feel his heat.

I swallowed hard and retreated. He followed. I kept stepping back until my shoulder hit the half wall at the edge of the hallway. I lost my balance, but before my body hit the floor, his hand shot out, catching me by the waist and hoisting me back up.

With his hands still firm on my arms, his eyes locked onto mine, then drifted down to my chest, and back up again as if he was trying to undress me with his strange beautiful eyes. Heat curled low in my stomach, and in places I did not want it to.

​"Relax, girl," he whispered, his voice vibrating against my ear, his warm breath grazed my skin, sending goosebumps racing down my arms. "I don’t bite. And if I do... I’ll make sure you enjoy the taste, because in my world…"

I cut him off, panic, need and confusion tangling in my chest. I need to get away from this man. My body was betraying me now in his presence , and I'm sure he knew it.

“I need to go downstairs to work,” I blurted. “Please, let go of me, masked man.”

I placed my hands on his chest to push him away, but my fingers had a mind of their own. They traced the hard lines of his bare skin where three buttons of his shirt were undone.

“My name is Rurik,” he said softly. “Blade’s second son, not a masked man. ”

He helped me stand upright and gently removed my hands from his body. That was when I realized my fingers had crept up to the back of his neck.

God. Shame burned through me. I couldn't believe I was acting this way toward men I just met.

Fuck! What was I doing? I have Draven. I have a life outside this house. No way, Mira! I'm messing up beyond control.

Rurik stepped back and slid his hands into his pockets, taking a slow breath before speaking again.

“My father has traveled on business… ”

“He traveled?” I cut in, surprise bursting out of me. “And left his secretary behind?” My mouth hung open. “I’m his secretary, right? That means I’m supposed to handle the information he needs for the trip. I should have the files, the itinerary. So why was I left behind?”

I hadn’t even finished my first day, yet here I was, ranting about a job I got out of pity to save my sister. A job I didn’t even understand.

Rurik studied me in silence. His eyes moved over me, as if he were searching for answers in my face.

“Mira…” he said at last.

And for the second time, the way he said my name sent an unwelcome shiver through me. It was as if my body was moving on its own toward this man, even though in my mind, I was trying to stay in control.

Stop it, I warned myself. You’re here to work.

“My father will be away for a short time,” Rurik continued. “You’ll work for him from here. And since I’m second in command, I’ll show you everything you need to know, if you’re patient with me.”

He turned and started down the stairs. I followed silently.

“I’ll show you your office,” he added, “and explain a few things you might find confusing.”

We passed through the hallway where a servant was mopping up blood last night. This section of the house was painted black, the walls marked with strange, dark, almost bloody-looking symbols, nothing like the rest of the mansion.

The narrow corridor felt like the “straight and narrow path” from the Bible, the one that led to everlasting life, but this one felt like it led straight into death.

I walked behind him, counting the doors to keep my mind off the way his shoulders moved. One. Two. Five. At the tenth door, he stopped.

“Rurik,” I blurted.

​"Yes?" He opened the door, heading for a massive desk inside the room, I stood at the entrance.

“You said you’re the second son. Vlad is the last. So… where is the first?”

The atmosphere in the room shifted instantly. It felt like the oxygen had been sucked out. Rurik turned, his face unreadable. He walked toward me until he was towering over me, his hands reaching out to cup my face. ​

I gasped, staring at him as his eyes suddenly turned black, swallowing the gold I'd seen before. I mean a bottomless, terrifying ink that seemed to swallow the light. Fear crawled over my skin, but I refused to look away.

“You want to know?” he asked, his voice low.

“No,” I whispered. “I shouldn’t have asked. I’m sorry.” I stammered, my legs trembling.

Even as fear trembled through me, my body betrayed me again, heat pooling where it had no right to be. His hand against my skin felt like an electric shock, pulling me out of my right mind.

“You want to see him?” Rurik pressed.

I didn’t answer this time. I just exhaled, my throat too tight to speak.

“I haven’t seen him since I was six,” he went on, his thumb brushing my lower lip, “But you will, if you make it work. It’s a dangerous journey, but you’re capable and you're the key. Everything you need is on your desk, my young secretary.”

He paused, then added softly, “You will heal my sickness if you do this for me, Mira.”

He released my face and stepped back. And for the first time listening to him, he didn’t sound dangerous, he sounded broken. And whatever it was that broke him, it must have been something terrible.

I opened my mouth to ask what he meant about the journey, and the sickness but he was already walking away, disappearing down the hall, leaving me standing there with more questions than answers.