Vel 5

Walking down to the basement, I decided to take my chance with Yana and Mika. Rose was of course there but she seemed too busy to notice me or was still pissed at me and did not want to talk to me. Reaching the two, I stopped beside them and they both stopped their conversation as soon as they saw me. "I see you have a knack for pissing people off." Mika gestured at Rose.

"She never liked me much anyway."

"She never liked anyone except Ace that is." Mika started.

"She's obsessed with him." Yana put in. "I have never met someone who is so obedient. She does everything he asks her with no complaint. She immediately dislikes anyone who he takes an interest in and makes it her mission to make their life miserable."

"I see you both don't like her."

They both looked at each other before Mika answered, "we stay out of her way. Angering her is as much as angering him."

A moment of silence passed as they both seem to share a memory that they were reluctant to speak about.

"What happened?"

Yana spoke first and leaned towards me. "The thing Ace hates more than anything is someone leaving him. You can disobey him as many times as he will allow but once you leave him. He will hunt you down...that's what happened to the last person he took an interest in. They found her body a week later barely identifiable. They say the forensic team had nothing but her teeth to go off of."

"Yana." Mika warned.

She shrugged.

Mika looked at me. "We are not allowed to speak about it. Especially in front of Ace or Rose. Ace gets in a bad mood when he hears about it and is unpredictable."

I soaked up the gossip as much as I could. "Did Cole Solokov have anything to do with it?"

They both looked at each other and closed their mouths looking behind me.

I turned to look at Rose. "What were you guys talking about?" She smiled.

I tried to bring up something that would piss her off so she wouldn't think about what we really were talking about. "About your obsession with Ace." I smiled and felt the slap before I saw it. Bringing a hand to my cheek, I grinned. "I thought Ace told you that I was not to be harmed."

She grimaced and I could see the war going on inside her head about whether or not she should stay and fight or leave before it got worse. She chose the later, turned her back then left.

Both women looked at me with awe. In fact the whole entire basement seemed to be staring at me. I didn't know if I liked the attention or not. Especially when I wanted to leave the mansion without Ace knowing. "Can you two do me a favor?"

They both looked at each other than smiled. "Anything."

- - - Few minutes later - - -

Soon I was outside of the mansion and standing in front of the gym. Taking a deep breath, I entered the building. My nerves were on end and I knew that no matter how much I wanted to leave the mansion forever; I would have to go back. It was 1:30 by the time I arrived and I doubted Makar would still be waiting but I hoped anyway. I stopped in front of the woman's locker room. A sign was on it saying closed for cleaning. I opened the door anyway and scanned the room for a familiar form. I spotted him and made my way to him. Setting my duffel bag down, I sat beside him.

"There was someone else waiting. Solokov's son."

My heart stopped.

"He just left. Is Ace or his goons with you?"

I shook my head.

"Good it was already a pain in the ass getting inside the locker room without anyone asking questions. I had to bribe the maintenance worker. We only have a few minutes."

"You're not going to try to get me to go with you?"

"I know that once you have your mind set. There's no changing your mind. Plus I don't think I could protect you from Ace right now as much as I would want to. Your an idiot for making a deal with him by the way. There's no guarantee that he is even looking for your family's murderer."

I sighed. "I know. I went by a gut feeling and as much as I want to leave. I cannot. I have to see this through."

He looked at me, softly and turned me to look at him. Resting his forehead against mine, he spoke, "You will always be family and I will do whatever I can to help you but right now. It is entirely up to you how to deal with Ace."

I pulled away trying to keep back a tear. "I heard a rumor that Ace killed a woman for running away. Is that true? Was Cole Solokov involved?"

"Cole Solokov is not a man that you should rely on. Whether or not he helped Ace kill that woman I do not know but Ace has killed before so has Cole. Both are not innocent. Both will do whatever it takes to get what they want no matter the cost."

"How do you know this Makar?"

He looked me in the eyes and opened his mouth to speak right when a knock sounded at the door.

"Maintenance!"

He closed his mouth. "I don't think we will be able to meet for a while. I don't know when the next chance will be that you can get away from Ace. We cannot let him suspect you or he will kill you, Vel."

I nodded my head and rose from the seat. "I better take a shower before I head back so if I'm asked it actually looks like I worked out."

Makar rose too and pulled me in for a hug. "Klara and I miss you. Believe me. I will find a way to get you out in case things go south." With that he pulled away, gave me one last look then left. The sound of the door closing behind him almost sounded penultimate.

I grabbed the clothes from my bag and jumped in the shower. It was 1:37 by the time I jumped out. Taking a deep breath, I threw my clothes in the duffel bag that were damp from me sweating when I ran over here. Zipped up the bag than left the room. I nodded to the maintenance worker who took the sign off the door than I left the building. The whole trek back I felt butterflies in my gut. Was Ace going to kill me for sneaking out? Soon I entered in the side door that Mika had showed me before I left and held my breath as I closed the door behind me.

I made my way to my bedroom without no one stopping than threw my duffel bag on the bed only to suck in a breath.

Ace sat on my bed holding the duffel bag.

My heart rammed against my chest but I slowed down my breathing and managed to speak, "what are you doing here?"

"I was in my office when I got a notification from my computer that someone was leaving the mansion. I didn't have anyone tail you because I knew you would come back but next time..." he got up off the bed and leaned in towards me, successfully closing the door behind me and trapping me against it. "You will find out if that rumor that I killed that woman is true or not."

I gulped and he grinned.

"The next object for you to steal is at the address in those papers on that coffee table. Along with information about the owner. I think I might attend that mission with you...to make sure you don't have a change of heart."

"I won't have a change of heart." I growled.

He smirked. "You better not." Pushing off the door, he backed off.

I glared at him and moved away from the door.

"I saw Rose slap you."

"So what. How?"

"She will be punished...not because I owe you anything. It's because she disobeyed orders. I have eyes all around this mansion who are loyal to me."

"I instigated it." I couldn't believe I was standing up for her.

"Doesn't matter."

"Why do you punish people?"

"Because I can." He stated nonchalantly. He reached around me and opened the door.

I moved out of his way.

"We are leaving the mansion around 11. Dress nicely. This is your last chance to be useful." With that he left. The door closed behind him and I plopped on the bed, regaining my breath.

There was no way to leave the mansion now; even if there was I cannot risk it. I am trapped. Ace wants me to seduce or get Cole off my scent. Maybe Cole could be my way out or I could just be trading one monster in only to be trapped with another.

I got off the bed and walked to the coffee table where he said the papers were for the next mission. I sat on the loveseat and went through them trying to keep my mind from wandering and creating scenarios where I become like the woman that ran from Ace. The next target was a woman. Her name was Calina Lebedev. The picture showed a black haired affluent business woman. She was showing off a ring to a group of women in front of her.

For the next hour or so, I studied her and made note of the luncheon that she and the women were to attend. I noted each exit and tried every scenario where trying to steal the ring could go wrong. It was a lot. There was too many people and instead of Mr. Aldine who was not showing off his watch; this woman was. That meant a lot of eyes not just the women's would be on her. Plus rings were usually custom made for their owners. This means that the ring would fit or be tighter around her finger. Removing the ring without her noticing would be hard. I feel like this was Ace's idea of punishing me for leaving the mansion.

Put me on the hardest mission and if i fail this would be his chance to get rid of me. I am not a pickpocket and only someone who has trained for years maybe could be smooth enough to slip a ring off a woman's finger without her noticing. I heard of a man who could do that just by bumping into people. I am not that skilled. I could shake her hand and slip off the ring but what if she or a friend noticed as soon as I did. There were too many "what if's".

I changed into pajamas and climbed into bed. I tried to close my eyes but my mind kept racing with every potential possibility that could go wrong. Ace killing me and making me disappear so that even Makar would never find me. Cole being even worse of a monster than Ace. It was safe to say that I was not going to sleep tonight so I grabbed a jacket and headed downstairs. Then through the kitchen and finally into the courtyard. I sat on the cold marble bench and breathed a puff of air into the freezing night.

I closed my eyes enjoying the cold air then imagined being free of this place and the people in it.

I pictured my father. A handsome man with brown hair, tan skin and brown eyes looked at me smiling gently. Everyone said I looked like him. I loved my mother but was never as close to her as I was with my father but all that changed when he took that job. He was always busy and stressed as a result, he never had time for me or my sister. I felt rejected and after many attempts to get him to pay attention to me. I just gave up and put all those feelings of rejection in a bottle and buried it somewhere deep within me. I never thought that I would never be able to see him again. It hurt once again being reminded that I was alone as the last living member of my family. My mother cut all ties with my grandfather as soon as she married my father. Since my father was not good enough in my grandfather's eyes as a man who had to work for what he had and did not have everything handed to him on a silver spoon.