Chapter 84
Ariel
“Nikolai,” I muttered audibly and he smirked at me.
“Good to see you, Ariel. Never knew that I would see you in person so soon,” His smirk twisted into a vicious smile that had me questioning my silly reasons for coming here.
He breezed past us and crashed onto the chair in a very lackadaisical manner. How could someone be this dangerous and aloof at the same time?
Now I saw why Dmitri didn’t want to speak with him. He looked so nonchalant and self-absorbing, but I had a knack for not giving up until I’d exhausted all options, and I wouldn’t leave this place until I’d poured out my heart.
He swiveled his gaze toward Vladimir and then at me. “Why are you both standing like ushers? Don’t you want to have a seat? Aren’t we all family?”
“Yeah, right!” I retorted sarcastically. “Family don’t betray each other,” I muttered under my breath, but obviously he heard it because the smile on his face vanished.
“How so?”
“Family respects each other’s decisions and also have their backs. So if betraying your brother and acting like nothing happened is your definition of family then you need to be acquainted with your dictionary,”
His eyes became cold as ice as if I’d struck a chord, but if it would help bring him back to his senses, I didn’t mind striking more chords.
“Mind your tone with me, Ariel. You’re new here. What do you know about us?” He barked out a growl.
I met his gaze steadily and smiled with a great ton of confidence he didn’t expect. “I don’t need to know much about you people to conclude. But there’s only one thing I want from you, please don’t allow your rash actions to tear my family into pieces or else, I’ll come for you,”
He crossed his legs, his stoic look unfaltering. “And what are you going to do? Put a bullet through my head?” He mocked.
I snorted, tucking my hands into the pocket of my baggy pants. “That will be my little secret,”
Vladimir said nothing as I engaged in a banter with his brother, but my eyes couldn’t miss the glints of pride glaring through his eyes.
I regarded him with a brief nod and sauntered back to the car. My eyes met with Fedor’s and he rubbed the back of his head nervously.
Quickly, he evaded my gaze and opened the back door of the passenger seat as I hopped in. If anything, his nervous gesture told me that he had snitched on me, but I wasn’t going to confront him. He was only doing his job.
Sweat trickled down my cheek even though the weather wasn’t that hot, but I knew the source of the heat I was feeling.
Confronting a man like Nikolai who looked intimidating and exuded so much power wasn’t an easy feat, however, I’d been trained by my father never to cower at anyone’s feet.
I wasn’t joking when I said that I’d do anything to stop him from further tearing my family apart, even if it meant asking my father for help.
“Where would you like to go?” He glanced at me through the driver’s mirror.
The last place I wanted to be was in the penthouse. At least, I just wanted to be free for a moment, knowing the tension that awaited me in the house.
“You can drop me off at any good bar around and go back home. I’ll find my way once I’m done,”
He shook his head and swerved to the alternating road. “I’m sorry, but I can’t do that,” He disagreed.
“Then make yourself invincible. I don’t want the whole world to know that you are watching me,”
“Yes, ma’am,”
The drive to the bar was rather fast and I sighed in relief as I headed in. Bile rose to my throat as the heavy stench of alcohol from the numerous customers hit my nose hard, but I shook it off and strode to the bar.
Drinking excessively wasn’t my forte, but for some strange reason, I wanted to drown myself in alcohol right there.
The bartender asked me what I wanted and I requested a bottle of whiskey that had a tolerable level of ethanol.
In a few minutes, he returned with the bottle and a glass cup on a tray, placing it before me.
I poured a generous amount of whiskey into the cup and took it all in one gulp. The intoxicating liquid burned my chest, but it didn’t stop me from pouring more whiskey into my cup.
I’d barely taken the third glass when the strong scent of peach and lavender wafted into my nostrils.
“It seems I’m not the only one overwhelmed by my problems,” She sighed, settling onto a chair beside me.
Curious and tipsy, I darted my gaze at the woman seated in a regal poise beside me. She was beautiful, her hairdo could be likened to that of the Victorian women’s era even though her clothes were a bit revealing.
However, she seemed not to mind the kind of attention she drew to herself because of the nonchalant expression on her face.
“I don’t think there’s anyone who doesn’t have a problem. Do you care?” I raised the bottle and the bartender gave her a glass.
“Ouu, Whiskey, I wasn’t aware that underage girls like you could take this,”
Her impudent reference to my age was supposed to be annoying, but for some reasons it wasn’t.
“Can a woman who’s close to nineteen and married be considered an underage?”
She clutched onto her chest and clapped. “My bad, I shouldn’t have jumped to a conclusion,” She apologized.
“Or maybe I have to change my wardrobe. I used to enjoy dressing casually but seeing how you thought I was underage because of my outfit makes me want to hide under my bed and never come out,”
She burst into a peal of hysterical laughter and I joined her. She was a stranger, but it was so easy to talk to her.
For someone who only had one friend, it was refreshing to find someone else who could understand me without having to do so much.
“We need a bottle of tequila, please,” She yelled.
“No, we don’t need that. We can’t be found drunk in the afternoon,”
She tilted her head slightly and nudged at the other customers who had crowded the bar and I realized that we were the only ones who weren’t drunk.
Two tables away from me was a woman openly sucking her man’s dick with another woman caressing his body with reckless abandon.
My eyes churned and I looked away immediately while the stranger laughed.
“I asked my driver to bring me to a good bar, not a house of whoredom,” I whined.
“Come on, Ariel, you are an adult. This shouldn’t faze you,”
My ears tingled and I fixed her a puzzled stare. “I shouldn’t be fazed but how did you know my name?”
The smile on her face cracked slightly and then she waved her hand. “You told me your name a while ago,”
My eyes narrowed to a confused squint and I rested my chin against my hand. “I don’t think I did that,”
“I guess you did,” She stood up, picking up her bag. “I have to use the restroom, I’ll be back,”
“Okay,” I replied hesitantly as I racked my brain intensely, trying to remember when my name had slipped out of my mouth.
Feeling bored, I brought the unfinished glass of whiskey to my lips. I was about to take a sip when I heard my name loud and clear behind me.
I spun around sharply, the glass falling off my hands in crippling shock.
“What are you doing here?” He groveled.
“It’s none of your business…” I slurred as the alcohol began to take its effect on me.
He grabbed my hand and gently helped me off the stool. “Let’s go home,”