Down the hallway, we see one of my guards laying facedown on the carpet... is that blood?!
"What the fuck," I whisper. Shane walks out and grabs my arm, pulling me close.
A noise comes from down the hall, in my father's office. Where all of the illegal shit is kept. Fuck.
"Was that your mother?" Shane asks hopefully.
"She stays in her room all night, there's no way that's her," I whisper back. I look up at Shane's face and I can tell he's uncomfortable with not having his gun on him. I take a step towards where the noise came from, but Shane holds me back.
"Don't," he says. I walk back into my room and open a drawer, grabbing a small pistol out. Shane looks at me with wide eyes.
"I'll explain later," I reply to his gaze.
He watches me, bewildered, as I insert a magazine and cock the slide back, getting it ready to fire. I round the corner of my room and walk back into the hallway with my weapon pointed towards the office door. My footsteps are quiet as I walk slowly to the door. I can hear someone rummaging around.
I push my back against the wall and call out, "Kto zdes'? Who's there?"
There's no answer. The sound of rustling paper stops. I hear a footstep come towards the door so I spin around the corner and aim the gun at the moving body.
"Fuck, Venera! Drop the fucking gun!"
"Are you fucking kidding me, Svokar?! Chto vy delayete?"
"What I'm doing is trying to save your father's business! It's going down the fucking drain," Shane comes around the corner to see the commotion, "Kto, chert voz'mi, eto?"
"This is Shane," I say somewhat dismissively, putting my gun down.
Svokar
(sv-oh-car)
and I used to date. My father loved Svokar because he's Russian and has the same outlook on life as my father. We didn't work out because of his mother wanting him to marry someone else.
"Well, hello. Nice to meet you, please leave."
"Svokar!" I yell. He shrugs.
"I'm not going to sugar coat it, Shane. You should go because Venera and I should talk these things out... privately," he says the last word as a proposition towards me. I roll my eyes.
"Shane, he's right. I'll walk you to the door," I turn to face Shane and he gives me a cautious look.
When we get to the door, Shane looks at me seriously, "Venera, I don't want to leave you alone with that guy. And why the fuck do you have a gun if you have guards?"
"Shane, you should go. My family is... different. We're wealthy and a lot of people in my dad's circle don't like it. I keep it to protect myself and my mother," I feel a presence behind me and know that it's Svokar standing on the stairs. I could always tell when he was in the room.
Shane nods and looks behind me one last time before turning around. He picks up his phone and requests an Uber. I shut the door and turn to see Svokar standing on the top stair.
I say nothing as he walks closer to me, his intentions unclear. And without any guards around to help me...
He pushes me against the front door and holds my hands above my head. He smiles down at me with his perfect white teeth.
Svokar is a very attractive man. He has short and dark brown hair, blue-green eyes, and a slight tan. His smile could break any lady's heart and from his height, he could watch it happen with a bird's eye view.
"Venera... I've missed you," he whispers.
"Svokar, you know we shouldn't," I whisper back.
He leans his face down to kiss me, but I turn my head.
"No kiss?" he giggles.
"Why are you here?" I ask, trying to get out of his grip.
"To help your father's business," he replies after a small hesitation.
"You dirty lzhets! That's not what you came for," I say, getting sick of his lies already. He knows I can tell when he's lying.
"What do you want me to say, Venera? That I came here for you? That I heard you with that mudak and I couldn't bear it?" he thunders. My mouth droops open slightly... I don't know how to respond properly.
