'Why does she never die?'

There's a sickening satisfaction in seeing the shock on their faces every time I make it out alive. As if I trick the grim reaper and return from the clutches of death again and again. As if they can tell I come back with the promise that one day, I'll decide their destiny. One day, I'll be the reaper and them the souls.

Kai Park says I'm a psycho. I believe it's better than his blind love for the girl they bought in only a week ago, the girl named Sienna. The girl who blushes at the sight of Kai. The girl who makes him see moonbeams, as pathetic as it sounds.

Side note (written by Daisy on the last page when Kai was sleeping, after numerous tries of getting the spellings right) : I actually think Sienna and Kai make a cute pair.

~from the journal entries of Daisy

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☘︎ Eᴠᴇ Kᴀᴠɪɴsᴋʏ ☘︎

My first thought is that I should turn around, make a run for my room and shut the door on Axel Hernandez's pretty face.

But given my wonderful luck, these sequence of events happen; When I whirl around a little too fast, as though I'm trying to compete a spinning yo-yo, my feet slips. Ofcourse, it does. Paint me hundred shades of surprised.

If that wasn't enough, I fall backwards, straight on top of my husband standing in the doorway. Poor victim that he is in the situation and with me dropping on him like an apocalypse, Axel caught by pure shock, loses his balance and we both go tumbling onto the floor.

Axel receives the whole brunt of the fall, his spine hitting the ground with force and me toppling onto him, weighing him down like a stone.

"What is wrong with you?" A groan escapes Axel's lips. I don't know whether he realizes it, but his arms are around my torso holding me to his body, involuntarily protecting me from major harm. The shirt I wore had ridden up to my thighs so high I'm almost flashing my undies.

Head spinning, lashes blinking up at the ceiling, my back pressed to the hard contours of his chest as a sense of deja vu engulfs me, "Blame gravity. She's a neuronic traitor." I grumble under my breath.

"What?" Axel asks in disbelief. He must've really hit his head bad.

"Gravity. It's the force of earth-"

"I certainly had no idea what gravity was before today, Miss Eve." He states through his teeth, in that dry tone that doesn't sound like sarcasm but is very much it.

As Axel tries to adjust his cramped, tall body on the ground with my weight over him, his hand lowers from the side of my hip accidentally making contact with the bare skin of my thigh. I feel the phantom touch of his long fingers dangerously close to my inner thigh before we both freeze.

Then in a second too fast as if I electrocuted him, Axel pushes me of off him to the side and stands up in an elegant rise, despite him nearly breaking his back a few minutes ago. I quickly scramble to pull my shirt down and sit up, proceeding to get on my feet with such struggle as though I'm eighty and not twenty-five.

When I bring my eyes to my supposed husband, he's fixing his cufflinks and straightening the creases in his suit. Who even dresses up like they're about to attend a board meeting, at midnight?

As if he can hear me, Axel's eyes snap upto mine, cold like the depths of a frozen Hell. He takes a step forward, approaching me like a predator would a prey. I religiously take a step back.

Feeling like a deer caught in headlights under that gaze, I open my mouth to explain, "Look, I didn't mean to fall for, I mean, on you-"

It isn't until my lower back hits something hard, do I realize I'm plastered against a wooden drawer-stand with a vintage lamp placed atop it.

"Miss Eve." The way his tongue pronounces my name like it's a sensual ballad, should be banned.

Primarily because it makes a shiver run down my spine, heating the blood in my veins and messing up balance in my hormones. Akin to how a chemical reacts with a catalyst. I suppose if I'm the chemical, he's the catalyst.

Shaking my head, I focus on the man in question, "Yes?"

He doesn't ask me why I'm wearing his shirt again. Instead. . .

"Stop talking." Axel lets out a sigh, his warm breath brushing my cheeks.

Certainly, I don't. Stop talking, I mean. Afterall, I need to rectify my mistake and hold my dignity. Even if it is an excuse, and I only speak because he told me not to. Petty as it may be.

"There was no clothing for me. The wedding gown weighs half an elephant! Do you realize how uncomfortable it is? I was going to walk around naked but I thought you would probably be traumatized. So, I spared you the trauma and-"

A black Amex is slid between my lips, shutting me up abruptly. Axel leans forward, bracing his palms on the flat surface of the wooden stand I'm fevicoled to and trapping me between his arms. Those seductive, blank eyes hold me captive, "Get yourself some clothes with that. Stop wearing mine. For the time being, I bought you few clothing. Only if you had the patience to listen and would've simply shut your mouth."

With that, Axel attempts to distance himself from our close proximity thinking he'd intimidated me enough to turn me into his loyal dog. Only he is wrong. If I'm a dog, I'm loyal only to myself. And no one else.

So before husband dearest can excuse himself, with one hand I take the black card out of my mouth holding it up between two fingers.

While my other hand grabs his tie, pulling him forward until our noses are touching, until my breath is a lover's touch against his sharp cheekbones, "If you want your shirt back so desperately, you can take it off me yourself." I whisper softly, smiling a smug smile at the way he stiffens, his insanely dark lashes sweeping in a single blink.

"Also. . ." Letting him go, I lean back against the wooden stand, waving his card in front of his stony face, "Since you so nicely shoved it to me. Even if I don't need it, I'll keep the card. Money is money afterall." I pass him a wink at the last statement.

Axel narrows those onyx eyes, scrutinizing me like he believes I'm possessed. I'm almost tempted to act to possessed in retaliation. But then he shakes his head. With one last blank look diverted at me, he stalks off into his study, completely ignoring me.

It isn't until I hear the door shutting behind him do I let out a silent scream, my nerves lit up like they're on fire.

What in the law of motion was that?!

***

I should've known calling my best friend was a bad idea. Thinking she'd simply courier the things I asked her to, with one of her undermen instead of personally delivering them, was even stupider.

Because what Juliette Romano does is; hop into her first chopper and fly straight to France from Russia, informing me of her arrival only once she lands on the French soil.

The infamous first words she spoke on the phone call from the airport were, "Hey, babydoll. I sort of shot a man. The fool tried to grope me, so I showed him who's got the gun. Don't worry, he's still alive, just lost his arms. Anyways, my men are cleaning up the issue. Do you think you could meet up with me at the Dior store near the airport? I've got your things."

Without waiting to eat breakfast, I'd freshened up and taken a cab straight over to the ivory stone and polished glass confines of the Dior store. Which brings us to the present. . .

"There's a hindi saying my mom keeps blabbering. Lato ke bhoot bato se nahi maante." I drawl teasingly, admiring the beige dress with bow embellishments on the lower back fitting my form, reflecting in the full-length mirror, "In simple terms, it means that some people can't be redeemed by sweet talk, you need to threaten to get them in line. Maybe give them a taste of their own medicine."

I pick up a stilletoe from the fur carpet and point the heel at my best friend's proud nose, "I think you took the saying a little too seriously."

Let's be honest with one fact; Juliette Romano is attractive in a way an exotic parasite is, dangerous yet intriguing. People's eyes gravitate towards the Mafia Dona even if they try hard not to.

Especially when she looks like a Russian bombshell with her raven hair and cunning eyes, clad in a leather mini-dress that hugs her figure like a glove and black ankle-length boots that somehow make her long legs look endless. The German shepherd at her feet lols it's tongue, barking at anyone daring to inch closer as she pats the killer dog's head affectionately.

"And you didn't?" Juliette arcs a brow at me, stretching against the couch she's seated on, exposing the delicate column of her throat.

"What did I do now?" I pout sullenly, dropping the stilletoe and picking up a hot-pink tulle dress from the shelf along with a matching Dior handbag.

"Don't act a saint, Eve. You and I, we're best friends for a reason." Her sharp eyes skid to me, accessing me with a puzzle-solver's intensity as she waves her hand in dismissal, "We're just the same. Cut from the same stained cloth."

Pausing with my ministrations, I turn to her in pretend confusion, placing a hand to my heart in mock-hurt, "Stop sounding like an ominous vitamin filled human body."

Juliette rolls her eyes, a grin stretching across her bloodred lips as if to say 'Who are you trying to fool?'

Laughing, I slump onto the couch next to her, the random attires I was holding falling on my lap like Christmas presents. Turning to my best friend in seriousness, "Did you find what I wanted?"

"What do you take me for? Ofcourse I did." Juliette lifts a metal container from the spot next to the couch and places it on my lap, "Your spare debit card you left with me, that pendrive-copy and all the chemicals you listed, is in that container. Except one."

I straighten up, spreading my arms around the container and holding it like it's a prized possession, "Methyl isocyanate?"

Juliette nods, her gaze calculating, "Yes, how did you know?"

I shrug, "I'm a Chemical Analyst. I know that one is hard to get your hands on. Mostly, because the chemical is fatal to all life forms, extremely toxic for humans even with short-term exposure. The world's biggest chemical blast happened because of it."

"Well..." Juliette twists her lips, perusing me silently even as a wicked smile tugs on her mouth, "I don't know why you need them. But I still found a way you could get them."

I wiggle my brows at her in excited curiosity, making her laugh.

"Russia's black market doesn't have the chemical. But my sources informed me their market here in France do. I would've gotten it if the horny idiot hadn't wasted my time at the airport. If I go now though, I'll be late for the meeting with the Italian Mafia by the time I fly to Italy from here. But one of my men will get it for you-"

"Don't worry, I'll get it myself. Just tell me the address." This was a golden chance. Black market is a place of secrets and rumors. It'd be stupid of me if I missed this opportunity to hunt for the information I need.

"No, Andrie will-"

"I'll get it, Juli. You take your men with you. Besides. . ." Knowing this will stop her from questioning me, "You should definitely prepare yourself so you don't kill Romeo Valentino before the meeting even begins."

"Don't." Juliette immediately goes rigid, banking with palatable hatred. Given the history between the Italian and Russian Mafia and how both of their families killed each other, I understand why either of them can't stand the sight of the other.

"Fine, go then. You're so stubborn, I'm leaving." Juliette relents in annoyance, getting off the couch and striding towards the exit. But right before she can leave, she pauses to look over her shoulder, "Be careful. The people in the black market will try any way to rope woman and children into trafficking. If that happens, I might have to kill a mass of bodies to get you back. Spare me the hardwork. Goodbye, bambina."

I grin maddeningly as she leaves. See? She cares. Just in her own Mafia way.

I hug the container in my hand closer to myself, knowing it has all of the things I need to start researching on Michael's project with the help of the blueprints I stole. Well, all chemicals except Methyl isocyanate known as MIC.

Which, I shall get from the black market tonight itself.

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This story is going to have a lot of plot along with the romance, so just hang in there, okay hoomans?👀🤝

Also also just keep note that I did warn this story gets darker as it proceeds, almost like a Mafia book. Hence it's better to throw all your morals outta the door, yodas👀

Got any theories?👀