"God save me."

As she lay in bed, the absence of any sound around her became increasingly evident. The stillness was so thick that it almost seemed to have a physical weight. In an attempt to break the eerie silence, she quickly reached out for her phone which was resting on the nightstand next to her bed.

"2:35 am" her phone showed, she thought of contacting her sister at first but remembered the time. Vera didn't want her parents to worry at this time so instead of calling anyone, the bed creaked as she stood up and approached her bedroom door.

As she opened it, she saw all the hallway lights turned on. All of a sudden a maid came running towards her making her flinch, confused.

"Ma'am, there has been havoc in the mansion. The boss ordered us to take you to the emergency bunkers," She informed Vera who nodded immediately while the young woman stood outside her door.

She followed the maid outside after wearing her coat and shoes. By the girl's accent, she didn't seem Russian to Vera.

"Do you know what exactly happened?" She questioned the girl as they both were hurrying towards the elevator.

"Not sure ma'am but till now there's a possibility that someone might have trespassed into the mansion and they could be the boss's enemy," The girl answered quite frightfully as Vera's eyes widened in dread. Entering the elevator, she pressed the number which indicated "basement."

Just as the doors splayed open, the girl grabbed Vera's hand, leading her down to a narrow path which then unraveled some stairs but she stopped.

"I'm not allowed down there so you should go ahead," she announced while Vera glanced down the dimly lit stairs.

Vera knew it wasn't the time to ask any questions so she nodded. "Thank you," But as she was about to leave, she paused. "What's your name?"

The girl, surprised, didn't say anything for a second as it was rare for anyone to talk to her. "Oh, it's Penelope."

"Good to meet you, Penelope."

Vera descended the stairs after replying to her and reached a small hall leading into a room. Suddenly the room opened and a brown-haired woman, in her forties, looked at her in shock.

"Oh, come inside. Hurry," She whispered toward Vera who quickly went inside the room which was then heavily locked shut.

She eventually became aware of her surroundings. The dimly lit room had a few comfortable sofa chairs placed in the corners, while a small kitchen and fridge could be seen just around the corner.

"You must be Vera Borisova. I'm Yustina, Rurik's sister," she introduced herself to a timid-looking Vera who shook her hand in shyness.

"Hi, nice to meet you," she retorted as Yustina smiled and pinched her cheeks.

"You're very cute and beautiful." Her response made her blush in sweetness. "Oh, let me introduce you to these three."

Vera finally noticed 2 young women sitting on the sofas while a boy in his teens was busy playing games on his phone.

"This is my daughter, Raisa." Raisa, a girl who looked to be around in her early twenties, then waved toward her with a smile as she smiled back. "He is Anton, my youngest." Anton also just waved at her without paying any attention to them. "And lastly, this is my husbands sister, Yulia."

Yulia glanced up from her phone and genuinely passed a smile but Vera couldn't help but notice how she had moved her eyes all across her figure in disgust but she could be wrong. What can you say about a person when you've just met them?

"I was excited to meet you. I mean I know this is not how you probably would want us to meet," Yustina had said as Vera giggled lightly while they decided to get seated on the sofa.

"Yeah but it's lovely to meet you," She replied as the older one nodded.

"You seem a lot older than Rurik." Vera started a conversation when a silence descended upon them. "I don't mean in a bad way though."

"Yes yes, that is true because I am quite older than him," She said with a chuckle. "That grump was born when I was 12 so that makes me 46. It is old."

Vera smiled at her. She seemed nice and quite an extrovert.

"I know we just met but do you have Instagram? You seem really cool," Raisa spoke after a second as Vera blushed with a nervous chuckle.

"Sure, here." She showed the young women her phone as they started conversing while Yustina was busy admiring their friendship.

"What? You don't post anything?" Raisa asked Vera as she just shook her head awkwardly.

"Not really," she responded with a sigh. "I don't really take a lot of pictures of myself."

"Girl, we have got to take pictures together, even aesthetic ones."

As the girls made long conversations and laughed together, time passed by quickly before there was shuffling on the door and the lock clicked open.

"It's us." An unknown gray-haired man entered inside with Rurik behind him. Vera's heart thumped as she glanced at him while Yustina smiled and gave the other man a hug.

"Oh Ivan, I'm glad you're okay. Oh by the way," she moved out of his way and pointed towards Vera who stood up. "That's Vera, Rurik's wife. Vera, this is Ivan, my husband, and Rurik's second-hand man."

"It's good to meet you, Ivan," she greeted him while the man gave her a short smile.

"Likewise."

"Rurik, so what happened?" Yulia suddenly stood up, showing herself off as if she had been conversing with the girls this whole time.

Rurik had been using his phone and contacting the guards for more security as he glanced back, showing her his hand meaning he was busy. Embarrassed, Yulia just smiled and pulled out her own phone to keep herself busy.

As Rurik was finally finished with his call, he placed his phone back in his pockets and looked up, glancing at Vera first but quickly composed himself.

"Guards caught an unknown drone in the area. They're tracking it but we're not sure if it's who we think it is. But you don't have to worry, I've ordered more security around the mansion," He explained casually as if this was a norm for him and everyone reacted as him but Vera, whose heart was ready to jump out of her chest.

Yulia had tried to talk to him again but to her avail, he didn't show interest.

After the conversation was done, Yustina and her family bid Vera goodbye and left for their home as they lived not too far from Rurik's mansion.

As Vera approached her bedroom, her heart was filled with dread. She didn't know if she would be able to sleep again. Nothing like this had happened before, she knew marrying someone in the Mafia was risky but she didn't think it would go this wrong.

Rurik walked side with her and shifted his gaze toward her, noticing her hand shaking and her eyes hollow as if she were afraid.

He also noticed the hesitation as she was about to enter her room but he didn't know what made him say something. "Wait."

Vera froze for a moment upon hearing her husband's deep voice, making her turn around. "Yes?"

"Tell me. Are you alright?" he demanded, his eyes piercing through her petrified expression.

Vera didn't say anything for a short while as he waited for her to speak. "I-I don't know."

Rurik's handsome face frowned before he breathed out and said, "Stay with me tonight," which made her eyes widen immediately.

"What?" she inquired in surprise. "Really?"

"Don't get your hopes up, Vera. I just don't want you dying in my name," he joked, his voice laced with sarcasm but it didn't seem to go through Vera as she just nodded. He expected her to smile a bit but again, she was in a stranger's house and had just heard a gunshot.

...

Vera had just laid down on the bed with the comfy covers surrounding her. She directed her sight toward the bathroom where Rurik had been taking a shower.

He had strictly told her to sleep on the bed and had even said that he would sleep on the couch but Vera denied it. To be friends with him, she knew she would have to get out of her comfort zone and approach him by herself.

The man was interesting, to say the least. He liked to shower after midnight, that was for sure but she was yet to find out what secrets he was hiding.

Suddenly, a notification sound made her flinch as she sat up looking for her phone. Quickly realizing it was his phone, she wondered whether to peek at it or not. God, Vera why are you so damn nosy?

With a sense of unease, she slowly extended her fingers toward her phone, her eyes darting to the bathroom door before settling on the device. Her heart skipped a beat as she read the message, her mind raced while she tried to comprehend the implications of the message, her gaze flickering between the phone and the door as she struggled to get her breathing down.

"Don't worry, this time nothing happened to you. Next time it'll be her." 

A/N 

I'm so sorry I took so long to update this. As you may or may not know, I've been busy with college work and online jobs so I barely get time to write. I will try my best to update the next part soon. 

Please don't forget to vote and let me know your thoughts. Check out my other works too. 

xoxo

-lily