Chapter 48 The basement
Ariel
It took about twenty minutes of touring through the entire house and finding nothing before I remembered the conversation Gen. Yuri had had with that man yesterday about some man in a basement.
The basement! Right. Why didn't i think of that be—
“... you see her?”
"No…where…oh…"
I felt my whole body stiffen at the hushed voices that floated their way up the stairs to the last floor, where I was currently touring.
Shit!
I glanced around the long empty hallway, then back at the brown door I was standing in front of, which was obviously locked since it wouldn't budge no matter how much I pushed it. What do I do? Should I hide? But why? That fierce woman had given me permission to look around the house. It would only make me more suspicious if I were hiding around like a thief in broad daylight.
Okay. I took a few steps away from the locked room first of all, then headed down the hall to the stairs.
“Ahh!” The two ladies in maid uniforms yelped the minute they sighted me by the stairs, the look of guilt and embarrassment flooding through their eyes instantly.
Wait, had they been talking about me?
“Hey!” I said too brightly in an attempt to break the awkward air but they just bowed slightly and scurried past me down the hall. I looked after them perplexed. Was it protocol for them to remain mute in front of guests or was it just me?
I glanced away when they looked back at me with a weird look in their eyes. Hmm… Do they know something I don't, or were they just shit-talking me behind my back?
I pushed that to the back of my mind and tried to focus on what was more important right now.
The basement. I needed to find it and figure out if the guy, Ser… Sebastian—what was his name again? --- was related to the spy mission Vincent had given me.
"Hi," I muttered yet again to another maid I saw on my way down the long flight of stairs even though I knew now that they weren't going to respond for whatever reason.
She didn't respond, of course, and just scurried away.
I peeked from behind the staircase into the living room area when I got to the ground floor, my mind taking note of the large, now empty space and the two hallways on either side of me before entering the living room area. They were each short with about two doors on either side of the left hallway and one single door at the end of the hallway to the right.
I slipped straight into the one to the left and tried each door till I got to the last one. Nope, none led to a basement. They respectively consisted of a drawer room, a large room with a gigantic piano in the middle of it, a storage room, I'm guessing, with all those racks and yet another locked door.
I doubt it leads to a basement, though. I retraced my footsteps and moved through the hallway to the right till I was in front of the single door. I took a look around me to see no one in sight.
Okay great. Now let's… fuck!
I groaned in frustration when the door refused to budge. It was locked, obviously, and now that I took a good look at it, it had no keyhole.
Hmm. What does that mean? I place my weight against the door again just for good measure. Still nothing. I stepped back and inspected the thing. No keyhole. No keypad. No opening. How does one get inside or lock it or open it?
“Looking for something?!” I nearly ascended to heaven when I heard the voice right there and then behind me. What?! I whipped my head around to see the blonde woman from earlier with a tight smile on her face.
What the fuck?! I didn't even hear her approach me. I stepped back from the door with an awkward smile. “Hey… no. No. I was just looking around… like you… gave me the permission to.”
She remained silent for a nerve-racking second before nodding her head with the smile still intact on her face. "Well, unfortunately that room is off limits to guests. Have you looked through the library, though? It has quite the variety to keep you entertained till Gen. Yuri is ready for you.”
“Yeah.” I muttered and headed back to the staircase with her, I in front of her and she following from behind. She gestured up the stairs when we got to the first step. I trudged up to the first floor while she remained behind me.
I've been to the library already. It is definitely huge and quite entertaining but not what I was looking for. In fact, I hadn't found anything useful at all in this meeting with Gen. Yuri, even though I was sure something had happened between us last night, regardless of if I remembered it or not.
Vincent was probably going to be livid too, which is something I don't want to see.
I don't want to do any of this at all.
Gen. Yuri found me in the library about an hour later after being led there like an animal to slaughter by that blonde woman and almost immediately, I was put on the private jet that brought us in last night to be taken back home to New York alone.
Apparently he had something important to take care of, which was why he wouldn't be able to escort me back home.
I breathed a sigh of relief internally right before reeling physically as he leaned in to kiss me.
Oh my God. Do I have to kiss him back? Do I… Oh God. I almost shed a tear in relief when he went past my lips and placed the kiss on my cheek.
“See you then.”
“See… You." I waved with a very tight smile as he walked away, my instinct immediately to wipe my cheek but stopping when I glanced at the hostesses holding a smile right beside me. I'll do that later.
For now, i just wanted to go home and shower and… Wait—
I perked up as the plane started to move.
Is that…
I tried to get a closer look as two burly men in all-black outfits dragged out a tall, bloodied, battered man through a back door to a dark SUV a few feet away.
Oh, fuck. Was that Ser…Stefan?!