All the gun talk made me think of Viktor’s scars and the type of guns that might have caused them. The image of Viktor bleeding out was too painful.
“Let’s move on with the tour,” I rushed.
“Emilia,” he uttered, gently taking the gun from me. “What’s wrong?”
“Let’s just go,” I replied as he placed the gun back into the box and shut it.
“Are you scared?” he asked with a small smile on his face as we approached the stairs.
“I’m not scared,” I let out with a sigh. “It’s just…talking of guns and bullets made me think of you.”
He took my hand as we descended the stairs; he was definitely waiting for me to explain further.
“It made me think of how many times you’ve been in the position of the victim, you know, how many times you’ve sustained gun wounds. It made me think of how much pain was inflicted with each of your scars.” I told him as he turned the lights off and we came out the door. “I hate the image of you being in pain.”
I didn’t realize he had shut the door and was now staring at me with an attentive frown etched on his face.
“Emilia,” he whispered, grabbing my face with both hands and kissing me deeply.
He didn’t need to say anything. I had gotten quite comfortable with my inexpressive husband’s unspoken emotions, and I knew that, in that moment, I had said something he didn’t think he’d hear, and he was touched.
“Let’s go on with the tour,” I said, holding his palms to my face.
“Yeah,” he agreed, smiling at me.
We descended the stairs silently, hand-in-hand, until we got to the first landing. The one on Viktor’s floor.
“I don’t think I need to be shown around your floor. I live here,” I pointed out, chuckling.
“Our floor,” he corrected. “And you don’t know every room here, I’m sure of that.”
“Okay,” I answered as he led me to the sitting room to the left instead of the hallway leading to the bedroom.
“So I won’t have any corners to hide away from you,” he joked, and I giggled.
“The sitting room. The only one on our floor,” he uttered before pointing to the dining room. “Dining.”
He led me to a door along the wall facing the wide television and opened it.
“My meeting room,” he announced as we entered the large room. Aside from a desk and leather chairs on either side of it, located to the left, two couches facing each other to the right, and a short shelf of books on the far left wall, the room was empty.
“I have business meetings there with associates that are close enough to come here,” he explained as we left the room.
“Hmm,” I muttered, nodding.
“Hey, Mina,” I greeted Mina, who was arranging white dishes on the long, rectangular dining table.
“Oh, good evening, sir,” she greeted Viktor before passing me a smile. “Good evening, ma’am.”
“Really? Was that what we agreed on?” I asked her, earning a surprised look from Viktor, who didn’t let go of my hand.
“Er, I…” she blabbered, her smile turning apologetic as she looked from me to him.
“What agreement do you two have?” he asked no one in particular.
“That she calls me by my name. I…” I started to explain before Viktor cut me off.
“Impossible,” he blurted.
