Her mind remained numb as she found herself enveloped by numerous garbage bags and a great white wall. She recoiled at the rupture of the thorns, affixed to the vines that made their way to the lancet window. Their house - better still, their mansion - looked exactly as she envisaged it to. 

The anterior was what you would expect a wealthy manor to look like - a brown wooden door, wide enough to accommodate a single-person cot. The manor's height towered over the other similar structures in the area and Carmen reckoned that it could house no less than two floors. 

The posterior, however, was a work of art on its own. All the windows were shaped like a lancet arch - each of which was occluded by potted plants. Some hung from the window frame while the others sat on the window sill. However, the element that seemed to be a boon and a bane was some sort of climber, growing from the well-maintained bits of soil to one of the fully covered windows. 

One could say that the front was to appease Nikolas and the back was all Emily's doting. 

It had been about ten minutes since Carmen descried the Bransons entering their abode. She had snuck to the back of their house, weighing up the best course of action to enter their house. As of now, the climber seemed to be the second-to-none option but the thorns simply repelled away from Carmen's course palm. 

Out of the blue, Carmen stood up, knocking over the bags of garbage around her. She looked around once, aiming to catch sight of passers-by but there were none. Unprovoked, she took off the purple robe she had been wearing, revealing her all-black tank top and cotton shorts. She inserted her palms into the pockets on the robe, adding an extra layer of coverage to her bare hands. 

Carmen grabbed the climber and winced. No matter the coverage, the amount of pressure needed to climb would most definitely scathe her palms. Still, it was a matter of her reputation and she wasn't going to make her first incorrect reading due to something as silly as harmless thorns. 

She grabbed the highest point of the vine she could reach on her tip-toes and wrapped the sole of her shoes at the bottom. She contracted her muscles, shifting her body weight on her arms. Her body floated up as she felt a sharp object drag across her torso. She relaxed for a jiffy before she continued the motion. Her priority was to move as quietly as possible, so as to not have the couple's attention. 

Carmen had greatly considered breaking in when the manor was unoccupied but the months of practice taught her one thing - you can learn a lot more by eavesdropping on a distressed man's conversation. 

As she reached the window sill, she allowed her eyes to wander into the room and let her ears perk up. She waited for the slightest bit of movement and when there were none, she let go of the ledge and used it to pick up a potted plant. Gently, she dropped it into the room, clearing the way to land on her feet. She let go of her right hand and placed it on the ledge, her legs now dangling in the air. She folded her elbows which pulled her whole body upward and she jumped into the vacant room. Silence. 

She stood still, letting the adrenaline drown, but no such thing happened. Her heart wasn't beating, she wasn't panting and the scratches that appeared on her body didn't seem to concern her at all. She was numb, except for her brain whirring as her soft footsteps fell on the white marbled floor. 

The room was plain, polar opposites to the wall she had entered through. Carmen sighed in envy as a simple-looking room was far more luxurious than the beat-up apartment she rented every month. She yearned to simply sit on the black leather recliner that sat in the corner of the room for a second but she snapped back to reality instantly. 

The fusspot of a baby Emily wailed, as the noise perched upon Carmen's ears.  From what she could discern, the noise was coming from the ground floor, so she still had time. She didn't know how long babies took to shut up - frankly, she never cared for babies - but she hoped that it would be long. After all, the parents are where the crying baby is. 

Her longing gaze was no longer on the recliner; it was on the work table that stood right in front of it. She chided herself for losing focus straight away as she let her soft-falling footfall accompany her. 

The work table was sleek black, with no texture, or so she thought. From a distance, it was a generic furnishings but as she let her palm trace its putative veneer, she felt something act as a sort of friction against her hand. 

Carmen knelt down, levelling her eyes on the table and it was as if her eyes were deceiving her; on the table were ridges - a similar pattern running in its entirety. The symbols were raised up and what they were was a mystery of its own. 

Her fingers followed the individual symbol and she could distinguish English letters - A and S to be exact. Enclosing it was a triangle, spikes popping out of each corner. These spikes were rather odd; they weren't all of the same size. As she tried to measure them using only the back of her mind, a guttural scream erupted from the ground floor - the scream of a woman. 

Simultaneously, the baby's cries grew clamorous, finally sending a chill down Carmen's spine. She froze at her spot, unwilling to move her legs even after her knees began to hurt. Her hands were the first to give away, dropping beside her frame, the ridges of the symbol long forgotten. 

As Carmen approached the door of the room, she didn't dare open it. All she knew was that there were screams below her but its direction was unknown. Opening the door would only lead to one of two options - she would be safe and still be able to catch sight of what happened or she'd be the next woman screaming. For once, it was a gamble she was unwilling to make. 

The scream turned into an earsplitting altercation and the voices were those she had heard not even an hour ago - Nikolas and Emily. 

Carmen clasped onto the doorknob, the cold steel reiterating the feelings of dread. She could hear her heart thumping, as she held her breath to curb her panting. Her adrenaline was racing and she was torn between opening the door and being safe in this unknown room as she waited for the worst. 

It was in the moments of fear that there were lapses of judgement. Carmen, unbeknownst to herself, twisted the knob, pulling the door towards her. There was a minor gap between the wall and the door's edge now and her eyes landed on the scene in front of her. 

The marvellous, gold stairs led to an argument involving two individuals. Carmen sighed, the dread evaporating from her body almost instantly. She'd clearly misread the room and the scream might have been a case of exaggeration. After all, a feud between a couple was normal, and sometimes, babies did cry to create a scene. 

Carmen enlivened her ears, hoping that their quarrel would lead to a matter of substance. Ultimately, they had to have been discussing their encounter with the tarot cards; Nikolas had lost control of his anger in public, there was no doubt he'd be a monster in private. 

"You planned this, didn't you?" Nikolas asked, his lips curving up to a sinister grin, "What, did you pay her further to repeat everything you taught her? How long have you been talking about this with her?"

'Nik please, be reasonable," Emily asked. Her tone showed control but her lips quivered at the deranged expression through which Nikolas was looking at her. 

"I am being so fucking reasonable right now!" he yelled, causing Emily to flinch, "oh don't act all innocent now, dumb bitch."

"Nik I was simply worried-" she began. 

"What else did you tell that witch? Do you want to prove that everything she said was true, is that why you told her everything?" he asked. 

"Nik please, think about Jonah for a-" she said but it was as though she wasn't allowed to complete a sentence. 

"I don't give a fuck about the baby, or you!" he exclaimed. It seemed as though it was in the heat of the moment but his eyes glowered with hatred. 

"Nik!" she exclaimed, claiming the power to her voice, "You will fucking listen to me! If I wanted to ruin your life so badly, I would have approached the police the moment I found out."

"You wouldn't dare!" he hollered. 

"You're so worried about what she said being accurate, maybe consider for a second that the teller of misfortune is never wrong!" Emily screamed. 

"Bullshit!" Nikolas screamed. 

Nikolas stalked over to a circular coffee table, pushing the ceramics to the floor in one, swift movement. The broken shards bounced off the floor, several pieces landing beside Jonah. Emily stared in horror as a wedge of the teapot landed directly on the baby's lap. She looked at Nikolas, rage bubbling inside her. 

"You're crossing a line, Nik!" she roared, kicking the shards away from Jonah's reach. 

With ardour, Emily flung herself onto Nikolas and they both crashed to the ground. Her teeth gritted with anger as her palms made contact with his face, searing her hand's imprint. Nikolas rolled over, his large body covering most of hers underneath. Carmen didn't catch what happened precisely but the next thing she knew, Nikolas was booted off the ground. 

Both of them stood up, as Emily's free-flowing hair covered her face. She ran towards Jonah, cradling him in her arms as she turned her back to Nikolas. She was crouched over, protecting the baby from his vile gaze. 

Carmen squatted on the floor, holding on to the doorknob for dear life. She'd never been met with a milieu where she had to get so physical but seeing Emily in action left her in awe. Never would she have expected the petite woman to stand on her own against a boulder of a man but here she was. 

Carmen's fingernails rattled on the doorknob as she waited anxiously. Nikolas was in a rage and he strongly believed that Emily told something to Carmen, hence the precision of her reading. She anticipated at least a nanoscopic hint but the both of them dodged over the word as though it were a bad omen. 

How can I push information out of them? She wondered. 

Family matters were never something Carmen intervened in. Her knowledge in that area was close to none and frankly, it didn't bother her. But at that moment, all she wished for was that she mentioned a word about knowing his business. Maybe then, he'd push Emily harder. 

A yelp from Emily created whirls in Carmen's body. Nikolas's hand had clasped Emily's short hair as he yanked her towards him. Emily flailed, trying to pull herself away from him but his build proved to be advantageous. Carmen locked her eyes on Emily's arms and realized - the baby was long gone. Before she could scan the room for Jonah, Nikolas's loud whisper shut her thoughts. 

"What. Did. You. Tell. Her?" 

"I would never tell her about the drugs goddamnit! Unlike you, I care about my son's well-being!" she screamed, an attempt to mask the fright that she harboured. 

Drugs, that was it! Now, Carmen knew where to focus-

"Then how the fuck did she know that the business would ruin lives? She was way too close for comfort!" Nikolas yelled back. 

"Because I told her, goddamnit!" Emily yelled at which Nikolas let go, bristles of her hair coiled around his fingers, "I told her when we entered that I feared for Jonah's life! Maybe that helped her, I don't know."

Nikolas flashed a shallow smile, void of any sanity, "Isn't that what I've been saying? You told her. Do you want to get me in trouble, Emily?"

This was the calmest Carmen had heard Nikolas speak and that filled her with more horror than ever. His smile resembled the Cheshire cat, lips stretching across his face, filled with mal-intent. Emily noticed his void tone and stepped back. 

"You were always going to be a problem," Nikolas slithered. 

Carmen didn't process what happened next - it appeared as though everything had been sped up. Carmen simply caught a glance of Nikolas stuffing his hand into his ironed suit before the echoing of nothingness filled her ear. 

The sound of her heart racing was matched by the exterior pandemonium and the lack of moment. Carmen gasped, unable to hold her tongue at the tribulation that had occurred between the wedge of her not-so-safe bolthole. 

Nikolas stuffed it back into his pocket, holding it out momentarily, allowing Carmen's stare to lock onto it - a combination of silver and black metal - a gun. There weren't any trails of smoke following the nozzle, neither was it bloodied, the way a knife would be. It merely lacked one bullet, one she knew Nikolas could replace easily. 

Solely looking at the gun, no one would tell that it had been used. 

Unless they saw the bloodied body whimpering on the floor. 

"Nik-" Emily rasped, clutching the wound on her shoulder, unable to breathe. 

"I don't know how much you told her," Nikolas said, kneeling down to face her, "but no one will come in the way of my business. You're going to see it flourish, starting today."

"I- I can't. I need help-" Emily struggle but there was no one listening. 

Her seemingly loving husband had walked out of the large main doors, confident that no one would dare question him. More than anything, he was late for a meeting, one he simply could not miss. 

Carmen stood up, her feet wobbling. She opened the door a little fuller, and the scene revealed itself in all of its grandeur. 

Emily's short hair had clumped up on her left, soaked with red, viscous liquid. The floor around her seemed unharmed but that was the cause of her limping body covering any signs of blood. Emily's eyes search for Jonah, fear clouding her expression as she failed to move. From the distance, Carmen couldn't view exactly where in the shoulder Emily had been shot, she just hoped it didn't hit any nerves. 

Then again, there had to be a reason why Emily didn't get up in search of help. 

Carmen, too, was inert. She had never been so deadpan, no matter the seriousness of the misfortune. In the Bransons' manner, she felt something she had long foregone - fear. She'd messed with the wrong man - someone capable of much worse than her. 

She put her finger through her knotted hair, the air intimidating her with repeated gunshots. But that was not plausible, the shooter was long gone. The noise that repeated was her beating heart and she succumbed to an eerie realization - if she'd been spotted, she'd be dead. 

She was undaunted by their argument, undaunted by the drugs. The route she followed was filled with druggies, she knew their lingo, and she could deal with that. But murder, right in front of her stalking eyes was something she knew she shouldn't have seen. 

Nikolas was too perilous; even if she stayed quiet, he was already on to her. 

She had to make a move. 

The panic she felt for Emily shifted instantly. Emily's life meant nothing but her own life was one she'd sworn to protect. If she tarried to save Emily's motionless body, she'd only be digging a deeper hole. 

Ultimately, Carmen was stuck between a rock and a hard place; she couldn't warn the police of his action for that would put her livelihood at stake. She had but one choice -  follow Nikolas. She had to complete her task and ruin his business. Once the world learned about the drugs, the police would deal with them themselves. 

Carmen skipped off the window sill, placing her butt in between the plants. As she hurried to either jump or climb, the disheartening sound of a baby crying filled her ear. Jonah had found his mother and there was nothing he could do but bellow. 

She shut her ears and jumped, the now not-so-high window a seemingly silly task. She rushed away from the backdoor, hoping Nikolas hadn't gone long. 

With her hands clutched around her torso, she reminded herself that this was normal. 

Then why was there an enfilade in her heart?

𓆩⟡𓆪

A/N: Well Emily is in quite a predicament. I'm curious, what would you do if you were in Carmen's shoes? can any of what she did be justified (personally, no)? And overall, what were your views on this chapter? Love you xoxo
WC: 2796