ROSE
We'll meet each other again, Rose Spencer."
"But it won't be under good circumstances."
A week later, after Kiara's funeral, Nikolai's statement continued to linger in the back of my mind even when I was sitting on the couch in front of my older brother, Stefano Spencer.
As for my friends, Eli and Perry they returned to their respective homes since they couldn't stay here much longer.
Primarily after we figured out that one of Marco's accomplices had murdered Kiara while she was asleep in her bed as the accomplices had disguised themselves to be one of Lev's guards.
It was fucked up as Marco tried to kill those around me since he wanted to get rid every last trace of me on earth, like I had never existed in the first place.
What was his purpose?
I sighed while staring at the table of the multiple photo albums that I had discovered in Lev's mansion.
I thought I could come across a connection between Nikolai and Lev, but I didn't find any leads or clues yet.
I knew that Lev took Nikolai under his care, but I didn't know much beyond that.
That's precisely why I returned to sipping on the cup of tea in my hand, as I couldn't make out a word of what my older brother was telling me, even if it was about the current situation about Marco Spencer.
But from what I could make out, the situation was not good.
Before Perry had left, he told me that the virus he implanted in Marco's business system was eradicated, which meant that Marco found out about the virus and destroyed it.
Furthermore, it appeared that Marco was beginning to question my death, if I really had died in the first place.
"Marcella's baby shower is in two days-" Those words from Stefano's piqued my interest.
"She's already having her baby shower?" I murmured, since I had completely ceased to care about her merely because of the situation between me and Lev.
"Her baby shower was a few weeks delayed because of some personal drama, but in two days she will host a baby shower in New York City with all her friends." He explained to me, leaning his back comfortably on the couch.
"Time really flies by fast..." I rested a hand on my baby bump, realizing that I could give birth at any moment, since I had hit the eight-month mark.
"And very soon I will have to give birth to my twins," I say with ease in my voice because the children's bedroom was prepared along with a variety of baby clothes and necessities.
Lev had prepared their bedroom as he had been focusing wholeheartedly on it, even postponing business trips because he was staying up late into the nights and furnishing the twin's bedroom.
But one thing that was not prepared had been the present status of mine and Lev's relationship, since our relationship wasn't legitimized.
Marriage was something I hadn't really thought about, not until Nikolai brought up the fact in regard to how important and significant the status of the wife was in the underworld.
As a wife, you can be seen in public with him without anybody criticizing you or threatening your status.
You're not seen as a whore or a prostitute, instead you're seen as the lady of a household, and the children you have are legitimized children who have a right to the inheritance.
If the children are not born when you're not legally wedded, then they aren't legitimized as their life is in constant threat and danger.
Those children aren't seen as a part of the household and are seen as excluded from the family.
Marcella and Marco Spencer are different matters, but my half-sister was also excluded from the family, some of Marco's extended family rejected Marcella as her mother was a mistress and nothing else.
But Marcella's mother was a mistress that Marco dearly treasured and cherished, but in the end she was a mistress, not the wife.
She was not allowed to make any social or public appearances because she could have gotten killed since she was a mistress, a lover.
No matter how fondly Marco thought of his mistress, she did not have the status of the wife nor the power, as anybody could mistreat and abuse her.
Although this was over twenty years ago, but the old-fashioned methods were greatly used among the wealthy even in the underworld.
I needed to bring this topic about with Lev once he got back from his trip to Italy.
Our wedding wouldn't be fairy tale-like, but the most important thing for me was to legitimize the twins before they are born.
But then there was the statement from Nikolai, that Lev was still legally married to Ana, who was supposed to be his ex-wife.
What if Nikolai's claims were true? Or what if he played with my mind?
I felt like I could no longer trust the father of my children, even if I was battling with my subconscious to not jump into any conclusions before I have a serious talk with Lev.
At the thought of Nikolai, a random idea crept into my mind.
"Do you happen to know anything about Nikolai Novikov?" I asked my older brother, who has been reported to have vast contacts with people from the underworld.
Stefano put the cup of coffee on the table with a stern expression on his face at the mention of Nikolai.
"How do you know of him?" He made an attempt to inquire if I personally had ever met Nikolai.
"No, I only heard his name a few times from the staff and guards around here, that's all." I had lied to him because I wasn't going to admit that I had met Nikolai in person.
Not only one time, but two times.
"That's good, nobody should get near that guy since he is a complete lunatic." He sighed in relief as he returned to drinking coffee.
I put the cup of tea on the table while reaching for the last photo album that I had found hidden on a bookcase inside Lev's office.
"He's hated because he's deemed to be too crazy for any of us. He doesn't fit in." My brother adds, he clearly hated Nikolai Novikov.
I skimmed through the pictures of the photo albums, and they all were of Layla from various ages, but all of a sudden I stopped, and my eyes grew wide in disbelief.
There was a photo of Nikolai when he was young, about the age of five or six, and I almost mistook his face for a little girl because of his feminine features.
Nikolai appeared to be outside when the picture was taken. In the photo, he was cuddling with a tiny puppy in his embrace as the small dog licked his face in the picture.
But a thing that struck me about him was his golden eyes that seemed to glow with life in the picture as they weren't hollow nor empty, instead they carried a warmth in them.
What happened to him?
"If you ever see Nikolai Novikov, stay away from him." My older brother tells me as my gaze were glued on the photo of Nikolai because the innocence radiated from him.
I closed the photo album and laid it on the table.
"Rose-" Stefano's eyes became wider as he was about to pull out his gun because he wanted to shoot the person behind me.
But I was much quicker as I pulled out the gun from my hoodie, turned around and aimed at the person behind the couch who had a mask on their face.
I aimed at their face as the masked person dropped their gun on the floor after being caught, and they held their hands up in the air in defeat.
They were fully clad in black combined with a black mask that covered their head and face, but not their eyes, a pair of eyes I was unfamiliar with, which meant it was not a person that I had seen.
This was a stranger that had tried to kill me.
"Guards!" I shouted as they came rushing in not a moment later.
"Take him to the basement, to the torture chambers." I gave orders as they did what I commanded, and transferred the masked guy to the basement.
Ivan walked over to me because Lev had left him behind for safety measurements.
"Which one of the guards do you want to interrogate the masked person?" Ivan approached me.
"Interrogate him however you want, but don't kill him, I want to be the one to do that." I explained to him as he nodded and walked out, heading for the basement.
I stayed behind and waited for a few moments in silence with my older brother, until Ivan returned after he had interrogated the masked person.
He proceeded to tell me the information they had gotten from the man who had tried to kill me, and the information was not good at all.
Once he was finished explaining, I pulled myself up from the couch, sparing my brother one last glance, and walked after Ivan towards the basement.
We walked through the halls of the mansion until we stepped inside the elevator that was hidden behind a bookshelf as it took us a few levels down into the ground.
He and I stepped out of the elevator as Ivan led me to a torture chamber, but it was a different from the one Lev had tortured Cordelia in.
"If there's anything amiss, push the red button by the door, and we will come to you." Ivan pointed out as he pushed open the door for me.
"Alright." I said as I set foot inside the torture chamber, while the masked man who had tried to kill me was sprawled on his back on the large metallic table in the middle of the room.
His ankles and wrists were firmly tied to the table, and he couldn't get free unless he cut off arms and legs.
The room was large considering it was made up of four cement walls, as there was another table behind the man who was tied up. On that table, clean but sharp tools laid there and were ready to be used.
The temperature in the room was low, but thankfully I wore a hoodie or else I might freeze to death if I stayed for many hours.
I glanced at the corner where a brown armchair was pushed against the wall as I made my way and took a seat on the chair.
The man who was tied on the table sobbed because he was in a state of agony after the guards interrogated him by ripping his teeth out one by one until he had nothing left.
The information the guards had discovered proved that the man was hired by Marco Spencer, and he was sent as a spy because Marco heard that I was alive and wanted to make sure if that was the truth.
How many times had Marco made an attempt to kill me? I didn't know at this point.
Instantly I felt a sense of presence, a presence I was familiar with because I could be asleep and their presence could wake me up from my slumber.
"Nikolai, is that you?" I called out for him, since the guards or Ivan couldn't hear me from the torture chambers, and they didn't have any cameras installed.
Nikolai didn't say anything as he emerged out from the shadows of the corner of the torture chambers.
"Won't you get caught by any of the guards?" I asked, as I wasn't afraid of him, not like the previous times when I met him.
There was a certain thing about Nikolai that felt strangely familiar.
"I won't get caught unless I want to." He acknowledged that, while he was wearing a black turtleneck sweater that covered his neck and a long dark coat, it felt like he was concealing something beneath all the clothing.
"But you indicated that the next time we would meet, that it would not be under good circumstances...?" I was lost after he had frightened me with his statement, to the point I lost a few nights of sleep.
"I can't hold myself back whenever it comes to seeing a person get tortured, I simply can not pass up the opportunity."
"You're here to see this person get tortured?" I pointed at the man who was tied onto the table.
"Indeed."
"Do you know how to torture somebody?" He glanced at me, his gaze empty and unwavering.
"I have seen Lev do it." I provided an answer, recalling the night Lev tortured his step-mother, Cordelia, in a different torture chamber in the basement.
"There is one thing having witnessed someone else torturing another human being, and there's another thing having done it yourself with your own hands," He comments.
"Has he taught you anything?" Nikolai referred to Lev.
"Not to torture a person, but I'm participating in firearms lessons every day." I explained as I had gotten better, not only my aim but also I had gotten familiar with a gun.
But Lev was concerned for my health, he didn't want me to faint or vomit at the sight of a human organ.
"Do you want me to teach you?" Nikolai raised his eyebrows, his hollow gaze was wandering up and down my body, examining and observing me.
But there was nothing inappropriate about his gaze, instead he seemed to be examining my capabilities and potential.
"What are you going to teach me?"
"How to torture a person."
"Are you really serious?" My voice sounded similar to a whisper as I squinted my eyes.
"You will be able to explore the most twisted parts of your mind when you are with me, are you ready for that?" A tinge of amusement seemed to emanate from his voice.
"I'm ready for anything." I gave my response as I felt it would be my chance to learn a few things since Lev didn't allow me to go near anything else, but the shooting area.
Nikolai strode over to the man who was tied to the metallic table in the middle of the room, while something flickered in Nikolai's golden brown eyes.
"What should we do with you?" Nikolai clasped both of his hands behind his back, and began to slowly walk around the man tied on the table.
"P-Please s-spare me..." The man who was on the table begged for his life.
"Should I use the chainsaw as a tool to cut off his legs? No, that's too easy." Nikolai muttered to himself as he walked around the table.
"I promise t-that I have t-told everything I k-know." The man didn't stop to make a plea.
"I think I should sell his organs for a high price. Yes, that's a good idea." Nikolai approved of an idea in his mind.
"Please... s-spare me, I w-will even j-join you."
"There will be a lot of flesh left after taking out his organs, but that's an easy problem to solve." Nikolai mumbled to himself as he continued pacing around the table, taking tentative steps.
He abruptly paused in his steps by the man's head and told him, "I can always chop off your flesh and put it in the freezer?"
"Maybe send it to a family member or two... that is, if you have any."
"N-No!" The man struggled on the table, but his wrists and ankles were harshly tied, as he could not get up from the table.
"What did you expect would happen when you tried to kill Rose in her own home?" Nikolai says.
"S-Stop." The man pleaded, attempted to get out of the table, but he was locked down and couldn't escape no matter what he did.
His only way out was death, dying by the hands of Nikolai Novikov.
"You tried to aim for her heart, to kill her." Nikolai placed his index finger on the man chest where the heart was located.
"But do you want to know how much I could sell your heart for in the black market?" Nikolai was questioning the man as he withdrew his finger from the man's chest.
"I'm s-so sorry." The man burst into tears while stammering over his words.
"Millions of dollars." Nikolai told the man, and disregarded the man's dejected expression.
"Do you want to be rich, Rose?" Nikolai glanced at me over his shoulder.
"Who doesn't want to be rich?" I blurted out.
"I really like that answer." He grinned as he directed his gaze back at the man on the table.
"All you will need to do is to take out his heart and put it in here." He went to take out a freezer box that was filled with ice from one shelf inside the room.
"How will you cut it out and take it? You have to do some kind of procedure or a surgery?" I ask, crossing my arms because I felt chills despite wearing a hoodie.
"Others might do it that way, but not me, it's not fun, and you have to concentrate a lot."
"Who would like a bad or rotten heart?" I kept asking question after question because most of the time he seemed to be honest in his answers.
"Oh, Rose, you have no idea the kind of people who would give everything for this piece of organ on the black market. They would even sell their soul for it."
Nikolai dropped the freezer box beside the man on the table as he went to the other table equipped with sharp tools that had been prepared by the guards in case I wanted to torture the man by myself.
"What would those people do with the organ?"
"They can keep it as a souvenir, some of them like to eat it, and others are fond of doing things with the organ." He responded while fetching up a few sharp tools from the table, but he didn't put on a set of gloves like Lev did.
"Don't you want to use gloves?"
"Why would I? It's not fun if I can't feel their blood on my hands." Nikolai said as he put a few tools inside his coat, but he only kept one tool in his hand.
After a moment, he made his way towards me, handing me one tool that was a sharp scalpel.
"You won't have to do much today, only make an incision in the middle of the chest, and then I will take a special saw to get access to the heart." Nikolai stated while I took the scalpel in my hand.
"Do you normally do this? Is this how you torture people?"
"I used to in the beginning, selling their organs and getting money for it, but not anymore."
"Then why are you trying to teach me this?"
"It was how I first started to torture people and get money in return, it was a win-win situation." He elaborates.
"You can see me as your mentor who will teach you these things that Lev doesn't want to teach you."
"Don't you need some kind of heart lung machine? Or a ventilator?" I was strangely intrigued by the procedure we were going to do on the man.
"I'm starting to admire the fact that you know these kinds of things." He let out a small smile which didn't reach his empty eyes.
"I don't need any machine since those people I sell the heart to won't care in what shape or form the heart comes in, they just want the organ itself no matter what." He adds.
Nikolai reached his hand out for me, "You won't regret the things I will teach you."
I took a hold of his hand as he helped me up from the armchair. He led us to the table in the middle of the torture chambers as the man tied on the table sobbed and begged for his life because he knew what was coming to him.
We neared the side of the table as Nikolai reached out from his pocket and took out a pair of scissors, cutting in the middle of the man's shirt as his chest and stomach were exposed.
"Is there a person who you don't want to harm?" I proceeded to ask him since he didn't seem to be bothered by my questions.
"I don't harm children." Nikolai replied as there was something more to it, but I wasn't going to push the subject since I barely knew him.
After that, he instructed me where and how I should make an incision as my hands trembled while holding onto the scalpel because it was only a few inches from the man's chest.
I thought I couldn't follow through with this, particularly when the man was pleading for his life, mentioning his loved ones, his wife and kids.
But Nikolai appeared behind me, his chest was a few inches away from my back as he kept a distance, but I could still feel his cold presence.
He reached out and took a hold of my hand that was gripping onto the scalpel and grasped my hand firmly in his, not letting my hand leave his grasp.
He guided me through the process of an incision as the man's screams echoed through the entire room, but no person would come to save him since nobody could hear his desperate cry for help.
It was just the two of us inside the torture chamber as Nikolai encouraged me to brush aside the man's sobs and his wailing voice.
Nikolai stood behind me even after the incision. He wanted me to watch and learn from him, even when the man's chest was wide open that I could see his broken ribs, his sternum which was split apart, and at last the man's heart, but Nikolai never once stepped away from me.
Nikolai could have become a surgeon if he wanted, the way his blood-soaked hands functioned during the procedure impressed me.
The process was not that long since Nikolai wasn't careful, and along the way the man had finally stopped shrieking because he had died.
But Nikolai didn't care as he moved forward to take the heart out of the chest from the dead man.
I stared with wide eyes as a human heart was on the palms of his hands, but I didn't gag or vomit, since I had gotten used to gruesome situations as of lately.
Nikolai stepped away from me and placed the heart inside the freezer box on top of the ice as he firmly shut the box.
Following that, he went and picked up the tools he used on the man, putting the blood covered tools in his pockets because he was not going to leave a trace of himself behind.
Then he went to grab a few napkins, wiping off the blood from his hands.
"Don't you like blood?" I questioned, since he seems to enjoy drinking other people's blood for some strange reason.
"Not his, and I'm be picky when it comes to blood." He finished wiping the blood from his hands, putting the crimson napkin in his pocket as he prepared himself to leave.
"Once the heart is sold, I will give you the money in cash that I will put inside a suitcase." He picked up the freezer box with his hand, ready to head out.
"Sure..." I sounded skeptical, but it was worth a try, even if it meant selling another person's organ.
"Pleasure doing business with you." He reached out his hand towards me, and I placed my hand in his as we shook hands.
We released from each other's grip as he was about to turn around and head out, but my words stopped him, "Nikolai?"
"Can you tell me what will happen? What will be the bad circumstances?"
Nikolai stared at me with his eerily vacant eyes as I thought of the picture where he looked radiant, and was only a young child who had life in his eyes and the world in the palm of his hand.
"You will find out at midnight when Lev comes back from his trip back from Italy." He claims.
"But I will be watching over you." And with that he left me on my own, taking the freezer box with him.