Chapter 5

Genevieve

I walked through the aisle in the grocery store picking out items that I needed gently and slowly, taking all the time that I needed.

Everything that transpired a couple of days back was still fresh in my memory, from Lucian plummeting deep inside of me to the rage and jealousy on Julian ’s face when I moaned his father’s name instead of his.

“What the heck, Genevieve?!” Julian had been wild with fury.

I could have denied it if I wanted to, but I didn’t want to.

“That man is dead!” Julian had sworn before storming out of my apartment.

I already knew that he was going to confront his father.

I wasn’t scared or worried for Lucian, because he wasn’t the kind of man that could be intimidated by his son. A part of me was deeply satisfied that eventually, I got what I wanted even without using the means I initially intended to.

Julian came begging and I was able to hurt him just as much as he hurt me.

I thought that was going to be the end of it, but for days, Lucian had been trying to reach me. He kept calling and calling but I wouldn’t take his calls. I couldn’t talk to him. As much as I wanted him badly, I just couldn’t. It wasn’t the right thing to do.

Things were too complicated.

There was no way Lucian and I could become anything like lovebirds. First of all, he was way older, which wouldn’t have been a problem if Julian wasn’t his son. After what I experienced with Lucian, I was beginning to doubt that any man around my age would be able to satisfy me sexually.

What Lucian Volkov had and possessed was not something that any man younger than him had, including his son, Julian .

But I continued ignoring his calls and avoiding him as best as I could so that I wouldn’t complicate things more. I believed that soon enough, he would give up and find someone else.

I finished my grocery shopping and booked a taxi.

The moment I entered the taxi, my phone rang again. I thought it was Lucian who was calling, but when I checked the caller ID, ready to switch off my phone as usual, I saw that it was an unknown number.

Who could be calling?

My first instinct was that it was Lucian who was using a strange number to call me, but then again, he wasn’t a man who played the games of young boys. I decided to pick the call. Once I heard Lucian’s voice, just in case I was mistaken, I would hang up immediately.

“Why haven’t you been reachable?!” A female voice boomed over the receiver.

She sounded angry and desperate and relieved at the same time.

“Who is this?” I asked because the voice wasn’t familiar.

It wasn’t Kelly; we hadn’t even seen or spoken since the incident, and it didn’t seem like she was going to apologize any time soon, and frankly, I haven’t been thinking about her.

“It’s Vanessa,” she said.

For a moment, I was lost.

“I don’t know any Vanessa,” I quickly said, concluding that she must have dialed the wrong cell number.

“Girl, do you forget people you meet so quickly?” She asked.

And that was when it clicked; the seductress that I took her position.

“How did you get my cell number?” I asked her, surprised.

I really wasn’t looking to make friends with her if that was why she was calling, and I was willing to say that to her.

“Don’t worry about that,” she said. “What you should be worried about is your life right now,” she added dreadfully.

“What do you mean?” I asked her.

I was already getting worried.

“There is something I didn’t tell you,” Vanessa began regrettably, making my heart start beating faster than normal already. “I was paid by Lucian’s rival to assassinate him since they knew that he always entertained seductresses,” she continued.

I gasped in shock.

What?!

“But I was already contemplating about it before you showed up in the room. I have never killed anyone before, and I didn’t want to, so when you showed up, I just grabbed the chance to flee,” she continued sadly.

“How could you not tell me this?” I asked in horror.

What the heck have I gotten myself into?

“That’s not the dangerous part, Saraphina,” Vanessa said dreadfully.

I was already breathing heavily.

“They found out that it was you and not me who spent the night with Lucian, and now, they want us both dead,” Vanessa broke the deadly news.

“What?!” I exclaimed in shock.

“You have to get away right now, Saraphina. As for me, I have run out of the city. I have been trying to call you but you haven’t been reachable. Make sure you leave as fast as you can, because they are closer than you think,” Vanessa warned deeply. “And Saraphina, they are dangerous and ruthless,” she added.

The call ended abruptly.

My entire body was filled with goosebumps and I began to shake visibly.

How did I end up taking the place of someone who had struck a deal with the devil? This was never what I anticipated when I took her position.

Jeez, it was supposed to be a harmless one-nightstand!

The taxi I was in stopped, which came as a surprise, because I hadn’t gotten to my apartment, but when I looked up, I realized that I was in a completely different location.

We were on a lonely path.

How did we get here? What were we doing here? It dawned on me that I had lost concentration because I was focused on what Vanessa was telling me.

“What’s going on?” I asked shakily.

The taxi driver pulled out a gun and signaled for me to be quiet.

“Please, don’t hurt me,” I pleaded with him.

My eyes became instantly filled with tears.

He dragged me out of the taxi and pointed the gun at me.

“I know you have nothing to do with this, but the boss doesn’t like to leave traces behind,” he said pitifully.

I closed my eyes in fear, shaking profusely.

I couldn’t believe that I was going to get killed for something I knew nothing about…for a silly one night of mistake and pleasure.

I waited for him to pull the trigger, but he didn’t.

“Genevieve,” a husky deep male voice called.

I opened my eyes, and there was Lucian Volkov, standing in front of me. The taxi driver was lying unconscious on the ground.

“Did you kill him?” I asked in fear.

“No, I didn’t. I simply made him unconscious,” Lucian said firmly.

I still shook in fear.

“I am not a man of many words, Genevieve, so I will just get right to it,” he started. “Your life is at risk because of me, so I am here with an offer for you,” Lucian said.

I swallowed hard in trepidation and waited to hear his offer.