Chapter 36 My target
Ariel
Anastasia looked pale yet again when I turned to her to see what she had to say about what her father just said. He sent me the dress? Why? Maybe as a nice gesture but wouldn’t Anastasia be the one to send me the dress then if we were going with who had sent me the invitation?
I turned to Mr Coleman just in time to see the smile fade off his face slowly. “Wait. I hope you’re okay with that. I only meant it as a small courtesy since Anastasia invited you and you’re both close, and…”
"Yes," I said immediately, already feeling flustered with how intently the rest of the bunch was staring at me. I and his daughter weren’t so close, though, so I still felt weird. “Thank you. The cloth is gorgeous.”
"Oh, good then.” A smile spread across his face again. “Anna, won’t you say hi to your friend?" I turned to Anastasia to initiate the 'hi' but was met with this look in her eyes that made my stomach twist. She looked away after a mumbled ‘hi’. “I need to go to the restroom.”
“Should I accompany you?” No one seemed to bat an eye at the question her fiancé, Gregory, asked her, and she shook her head. “I’ll manage. Thanks.” She unhooked her arm from his and hurried away. I turned back to him to see him staring at me with a slight smirk. “So you’re No. 57.” Everyone was chitchatting away with a few other guests that joined our circle, leaving me with him.
"Uh... yeah.” I glanced at his wrist to see nothing on it. Wait. I glanced around at everyone else’s arm. Okay, there were a number of ladies that had the bands on their arms; they looked like models, absolutely gorgeous but a large number of the guests, especially the men and the Coleman and Lancaster families, had nothing on their wrists. Not a band nor a number. Uhm… why? Should I be worried or was I being paranoid yet again?
“Ariel…” I turned to Mr Coleman, who was smiling at me again. “Will you please come with me? I'd like to introduce you to someone.”
Oh. I nodded, immediately following after him. Since he was pretty tall, his strides were long, so I had to hurry after him. He led me past a couple circles of people that were mingling about with champagne, through another sliding door and onto the deck where two men stood.
I stumbled in my step when one of them turned around at the sound of Mr Coleman’s voice. "Mr Malone, General Yuri.” My body all but froze up when the other man turned around too.
Oh my God, it was them. The guys in the picture, or, as Vincent had also referred to them, my target. They were standing right in front of me and both turned to stare when Mr Coleman said something and pointed in my direction.
Oh fuck. That was when I noticed I was a good distance from them because of how suddenly I'd frozen up. I hurried the rest of the way to them. “Good day, sirs." Mr Coleman did the introduction. “Ariel, meet General Yuri Aleksandrov and Mr Malone, the host of this party and sirs, meet Ariel Bennett, a guest of mine.”
"Hi," I smiled awkwardly when General Yuri stepped forward with a smile and picked up my hand to place a kiss on it. Derek Malone only nodded.
“She’s been cleared, hasn’t she?” Mr Malone asked Mr Coleman as General Yuri continued to hold onto my hand and he nodded. ”Good.” What do I do from here on, though?
I mean, when I'd left my apartment earlier this evening, I'd already been brainstorming on how to approach the man and leave an impression on him, only for this opportunity to land in my lap like this. I can’t let it go to waste.
Who knows, I might be able to get him smitten with me without having to sleep with him. I immediately felt sick to my stomach at that thought. I felt disappointed and disgusted with myself but it’s not like I had any other choice. I had thought about it a lot since that day at the cabin. I even considered… just ending it all, an attempt to slide under the water during one of my hot, steamy showers, but Chloe’s call had come in just at the right minute.
How long could I hold on, though? Would this ever get better?
“Are you okay?” I glanced up at General Yuri when he suddenly asked, bringing the attention of the other two back to me. “Uh… yes… sir," I added after a second, flustered.
“No. Call me Yuri. We’re going to have fun together.”
Okay. I felt my skin crawl at the smile he flashed at me.
A little bit of information about these men.
General Yuri Aleksandrov Z… yeah. 57. A high-ranking official within the Russian army. Close friends with Derek Malone and married. There wasn’t information on his family in the document Vincent gave me but he fit the perfect description of a cheating sleazy male with too much power. He was also blonde, quite bald and tall.
Now Derek Malone. 46. Chairman of a leading conglomerate within Italy with ties to illegal operations. I found that information on the internet. Single. One of two sons born to Sebastian Malone, the chairman before him, and childless. There was really not that much information on him even in the document. Looking at him now, though, he was a little better than his friend, General Yuri, in the area of looking appealing.
“Oh my God!” I let out a yelp when a loud sound suddenly went through the interiors of the yacht. “What was that?” I asked without thinking.
“It means we’re about to sail off.” General Yuri replied. He twisted the watch on his wrist to check the time and nodded. “About time. It’s already 10 pm.”
“Oh, okay," I responded just as the yacht started to move.