24 | Welcome to the Circus

IN A FLURRY OF TENSE activity, Kristina had everyone sat at the table within five minutes. Alexei's second brother and his girlfriend arrived just as Petrov and Natalia were being ushered into the dining room.

Leonid's first port of call wasn't to engage in introductions but instead to nervously sweep the room with his eyes. He turned to Kristina. "Is he here?"

Even to an outsider like me, it was clear that "he" implied Viktor.

Kristina shook her head once, sharply. "Soon," she said. "Sit down, sit down—"

Alexei pulled out a chair for me and then sat down beside me. I was too on edge to notice how surprisingly kind that gesture was, but it appeared that everyone felt the same way. Too distracted to pay attention to anything other than the door which stood ajar. Everyone wondering at what moment Viktor Ivanov would push it open.

To my left was Leo and his girlfriend, while Petrov, Natalia and Kristina sat opposite us. The table was large and oak, set out perfectly with polished silver cutlery and sparkling wine glasses. An obvious space had been left empty at the head of the table. Even looking at it made me feel a deep sense of unease, so I kept my eyes cast down.

As Leonid's girlfriend stumbled into her seat—it was nice to see i wasn't the only clumsy person here—she leaned closer to me and whispered, "I'm Bethany. Welcome to the circus."

I suppressed a smile. "I'm Grace," I said.

"Nice to meet you."

"You too."

Bethany took a moment to flatten her mousy brown hair, running her fingers through the tangled locks hurriedly. Her round cheeks were flushed a vibrant pink and her lips looked especially pouted—three guesses why her and Leonid had been otherwise occupied for so long.

"So how long have you been with Alexei?" Bethany whispered as she worked on a particularly unruly knot of hair.

I felt Alex turn ever so slightly—almost unnoticeably—in our direction as we spoke. "Um, we're not together like that," I said.

She looked nonplussed. "Like what, then?"

I couldn't help but look sheepish as I admitted, "he's my boss."

"Wait." Bethany's hands paused their frantic detangling. "You mean...you work for the Ivanovs?"

"I guess."

"So you're...?" she trailed off, eyes wide with surprise.

"She's a nurse," Alexei cut in to our conversation abruptly. "Just a nurse." He looked away again quickly but I didn't fail to catch the hard glare he shot Bethany first.

And I also didn't fail to notice the way he emphasised that I was just a nurse. As if whatever else I might have been—whatever else his employees were—he didn't want me to know about.

I wasn't stupid. I'd already caught on that Alexei kept a lot of secrets from me. But I also knew that the vast majority of those secrets were kept to protect me. Ignorance is bliss, and also safety. From the law, and for my own sanity.

I trusted that the secrets he kept were necessary.

After receiving a death-glare from Alex, Bethany dropped the topic of my job like a hot plate. "That's cool..." she trailed off, finally detangling her fingers from her hair.

As she brought her hands down to the table, however, she managed to knock her fork to the floor causing a loud clatter that reverberated throughout the room.

The noise was so loud and so sudden that I was sure my heart would burst from surprise. Everyone else seemed to mimic the same, tense expression. I saw it on each face as my eyes scanned the room.

At the precise moment Kristina's eyes met my own, I heard footsteps in the doorway.

Everyone's heads turned instantly.

Viktor Ivanov was a terrifying man at the best of times, but today more so than usual. The white shirt he wore was saturated with bright bursts of red, the top few buttons not casually unfastened but instead gone altogether, entirely ripped apart.

His face was similarly bloodstained; a gash ran the length of the right side of his face, like one half of a bloody halo.

"Viktor," Kristina greeted tersely, rising from her chair.

The nurse in me fought to the surface as I too tried to stand, but Alexei's firm hand shot out to pull me back. I saw him shake his head so that only I would see it, leaving his hand resting on my thigh.

With a calculating stare, Viktor's cold eyes slowly scanned each face in the room, coming to rest on mine. "Ahh, the whole family is here," he said, not taking his eyes off me. "And Grace, of course!"

I didn't like the false enthusiasm in his voice. I didn't like the quivering, unpredictable rage that simmered underneath.

Alex's thumb rubbed a circle on my thigh as he whispered, "he's drunk."

Viktor took another step into the room, then another, and another, until he stood at the head of the table. His blood streaked hands curled around the back of the chair. His eyes stayed on mine. "I think I could use some medical attention, don't you, Grace?"

I couldn't breathe. Couldn't think—let alone answer.

"You're fine," Alex growled at his father but Viktor paid no attention to anything other than me.

His lip curled into a cruel smirk. "Don't you, Grace?"

I scanned his face quickly. The gash down his hairline probably needed stitches, although from this distance I couldn't be sure—either way it needed dressing.

I wanted so badly to say no. I wanted so badly to runaway from this mad house and never look back. But the look in Viktor's eye told me that he hadn't really been asking. Only the right answer existed in his mind: yes.

So I said it.

The moment the word left my lips a satisfied smirk blossomed over Viktor's rugged face. When his mouth parted I could see that his teeth were also smeared with blood.

"Follow me," he said.

The second I started to rise from the table Alexei also shot up. "I'm coming."

Viktor laughed a cold, mocking laugh. Everyone else in the room stared in shock. Not at Alex in particular, but at the whole situation.

"Grace came for dinner," Kristina said sternly. "Not to continue her job in our home."

Alex's hand found mine and pulled. "Sit down, Grace."

"Stand."

Either way I was frozen; I couldn't possibly move.

Viktor's triumphant grin widened. "This won't take long," he spat, "will it, Grace?"

As all eyes in the room turned to me I felt my face burning red. "Um...you probably need a few, uh, stitches...and a dressing...I-I think that's it."

"You think?" I nodded. "I don't pay you to think. I pay you to know."

"You don't pay her at all," Alexei growled.

Viktor shrugged. "Be that as it may, you pay her out of my company's money."

I felt Alex stiffen instantly at those words; Vik had hit a nerve.

"Just leave it, Alex" I whispered, placing a hand on his arm. I knew that that touch wasn't exactly appropriate but working relationship aside, I was worried he was about to explode. "Let me go."

"I can't," he whispered back.

"I'll be fine."

"Grace." Viktor's eyes flashed with impatience and finally I was freed from my state of paralysis.

The reason for my invitation to this dinner was still unclear. At best Alex's guess was right, and at worst I was going in blind. Either way, I suddenly felt determined not to crumble.

Whatever Viktor wanted to find out, I was going to try my hardest to prove myself. I could do this. I was ready for whatever he threw at me—even if it was the truth.

Even if the truth finally shone a new light on Alexei.

I took a shaky step away from the table. Alex's eyes widened and he shook his head, jaw noticeably clenched. I had to ignore him. Had to.

As I exited the room hot on Viktor's heels, Bethany shot me a supportive smile but I could see the nerves and confusion in her eyes. No doubt they matched my own.

Viktor's walk was brisk and silent; our footsteps echoed down another long passageway that seemed to lead right back to the other wing of the grand house. The further away from the dining room we got the more my nerves grew. I was totally alone with this man—this dangerous man. And we were now so far away from everyone else. Would anyone be able to hear if anything happened? Would Alexei even know? I missed the cool reassurance of his hand on my back and his voice by my ear.

The echoing of a second pair of steps abruptly stopped as Viktor came to a stand still. "This," he said, typing rapid numbers into a keypad, "is my office."

The pad on the wall beeped once and the door was pushed open.

"Come in."

The office was large and simple. White walls—no pictures—surrounded a large black desk which glistened as though made from glass. A large computer monitor took up half of the desk; the rest was made up of empty space. Filing cabinets lined the wall on the left, while the right was covered in CCTV monitoring screens. When I took a step closer I realised that the screens were linked to different rooms in this house. I scanned them all and found the dining room. Alexei was pacing up and down while everyone else seemed to be talking nervously amongst themselves, glancing to the door every few seconds.

"Eagles are very special birds, don't you think, Miss Perne?" I startled at the voice which had come from right behind me. Viktor laid a hand on my shoulder and waited for me to reply.

"They are...wonderful creatures." I swallowed, unsure of where this random topic would lead.

His grip tightened. "Yes," he agreed, "quite wonderful. And do you know what eagles are known for eating?"

I didn't know where this was going but I certainly didn't like it. I didn't like the cool acidity in Viktor's voice, the complete control he had over this situation. Of course I knew what eagles ate, but I wasn't about to respond with something so macabre.

"N-no, sir," I lied.

"Hmm." His hand slid off my shoulder and he leaned against the desk. "Eagles," Viktor explained while lighting a cigar, "are carrion eaters. Opportunists, if you will—they eat the decaying flesh of animals."

My skin crawled at the smirk on his face as he said those words, exhaling a plume of smoke. Another drop of blood oozed from his wound and grew like a ruby jewel until, fat and glistening, it rolled down the side of his face. Had Viktor's injuries simply been a pretence for him to get me alone? For what purpose? My brain was rushing to catch up as he spoke again.

"The clever thing about eagles is that they don't do the work for themselves. They wait until someone has done it for them—until the perfect moment arises for them to strike, and claim their free feast." Viktor paused, then, and pulled open a drawer in the desk. He handed me a first-aid box before continuing. "And do you know how they've become so proficient at this clever tactic?"

I shook my head, opening the little box. "Because they have good eyesight?" I asked.

"Yes! Because they have excellent eyesight, Miss Perne." His eyes slid to the monitors. "Four to eight times better than the human eye, in fact. They can spot a rabbit from a distance of three miles."

I pulled out a disinfecting wipe and took a nervous step closer to Viktor. "That's impressive," I said and my voice shook. "May I?"

He nodded and I pressed the wipe to the wound. Surprisingly, he didn't wince. Silence stretched on, struck bold by the contrasting lack of Viktor's voice. The wound wasn't too deep—it wouldn't need stitches. I suspected he'd already known that.

"Do you know why I told you all of that, Grace?"

I discarded the wipe and picked up a roll of gauze. "No, sir."

"I told you that because I am an eagle. An opportunist. My business—your Alexei's future business—is built on people's misfortunes. Some we cause..." he took another drag on the cigar, "and some we manipulate for our own gains."

The air in the room seemed to have dropped by a few degrees.

Viktor gestured to the monitors with his hand. "With these cameras, I can see everything. I can see everyone."

He flicked a switch and suddenly all of the monitors adopted the same view. The image they displayed was dark and grainy—I strained my eyes to see through the murky haze, and I could feel Viktor watching me as I did so.

"Do you know how I acquired this injury tonight, Grace?"

I didn't look away from the screens as I replied, "n-no."

"Hmm." Once again a deranged grin seeped into his expression. Another button was pressed. Audio crackled throughout the room. Heavy, croaky breathing mixed with—

A voice quietly pleading.

"...help me...p-please...I'm sorry..."

"Who...?" I trailed off but Viktor held a hand up to silence me.

Another button was pressed. A spotlight flooded the dark room on the monitors.

I had to stifle a scream from escaping my mouth. Glistening with sweat, a pale, blood-stained man came into view. His shaking form looked almost ghostly under the harsh white light, but the injuries he sported looked too vulgar, too real, too graphic for him to be an apparition.

"This man, Grace, this man got in my way." Viktor's voice was cold and calculating—dispassionate.

As if stirred from his wild mumblings, the man on the monitors looked up towards the camera.

I felt my blood run cold in my veins.

Instantly I recognised his face; he was the barman who had served me fishbowls at Alexei's club. His eyes span back in his head as a grimace overtook his features, which were almost now unrecognisable.

"Please...help...please..." the barman continued to beg as Viktor watched on carelessly.

"This man got in my way, and now, Miss Perne, he is carrion. You see, he saw something he was never meant to see—found out something he was never meant to know—" Viktor's eyes flashed to me, "and chose to use that information incorrectly."

From the moment I set eyes on the man I'd been studying his injuries. Call it instinct, but the nurse in me just couldn't be locked away. It looked as though his ankles had been fractured to prevent escape; even if he somehow managed to slip the bindings of his chair, he'd never walk.

As I stared in horror at the monitors, they suddenly went blank. Viktor turned to me, his face the most murderous I'd seen it. "Mr Jenkins thought that he, the prey, could outsmart the predator. And now he has paid the price. He will die and rot beneath this house."

Even as Viktor spoke, I couldn't concentrate fully on what was being said. Terrified though I was, I kept replaying the same image in my head, over and over. Jenkins had several gashes covering his body; he was streaked and stained with blood. None had hit arteries, so his death wouldn't come soon. It would come slowly. Painfully. Unless something was done.

"Are we on the same page here, Miss Perne?" Viktor said flatly. "There comes a time when we all must decide whose side we're on. Either you run with the foxes," he gestured to the now-blank monitors, "or hunt with the hounds."

I got the impression Viktor Ivanov was a fan of animal-themed idioms. Still, his message resonated loud and clear; Alex had been right about his intentions.

I nodded. "I understand."

Viktor finished his cigar and ground it out in an ash tray. Then he leaned back against the desk and folded his arms. "We are on the same page, then."

"Yes."

"Excellent. Now take your top off."

A/N dun dun dunnnnn!! Haha I couldn't leave the chapter like that and not write a note beneath - I just want to clarify that Vik telling Grace to take her top off has absolutely nothing to do with sex or anything of the sort, so don't panic. Yes the story is gritty, but I'm not that dark minded.

Hope you enjoyed the update