Page 32 of Embracing the Dark Side

When they separated, it was painful. Alexei looked back at him, going in the opposite direction, and Adrik didn’t turn away till he was out of sight.

At his cell, the guard left him with his chains on. Adrik looked around, waiting for where he went, perhaps forgetting the keys. “Can you hurry up?” he said, his voice echoing in the vast emptiness of his jail cell.

Crisp footsteps came around the corner. An old man dressed in a pantsuit stood bravely in his doorway. His hands were in his pockets, and he smiled. “Adrik Morozov. What an honor.”

Adrik never saw the man before, but he knew who he was. “Warden,” he greeted.

“Where you been?”

“Scenic tour.”

“Right. How much did they pay to get in?”

Adrik didn’t answer.

“Well, I’m going to do a little update with my guards. So, it might be your last visit for a while.”

“I doubt it.” Adrik smirked.

The Warden moved into the room, walking around his cell like it was interesting. “Youare my first celebrity. And I mean to impress. But I always thought it was funny to keep shitheads like you away from the general populace. Why should I protect you when you have probably hurt a lot of people? What sense does that make?”

Adrik didn’t move, not an inch. If the Warden meant to threaten him, Adrik wouldn’t let it work. There were pros and cons to being put with the rest of the inmates. Adrik was confident he could make either work in his favor. “How much do you make in a year?” Adrik asked.

The Warden laughed. “Why do you want to know? You want to bribe me?”

Adrik ground his teeth. The Warden was a lost cause; his lawyer had already warned him, but it didn’t mean he couldn’t try. “I’ll give you triple.”

The Warden stood in front of him. “All your assets are frozen. You don’t have anything anymore. A king no longer.”

“I have twenty different names, with twenty different accounts and twenty different socials. And all of those names make more money than you. A king is still king, even without a throne.”

“You think you’re so smart. Everyone is wrapped around your finger, aren’t they? Probably since the time you were a fucking baby in diapers. Sorry to tell you, you don’t own this world. I do. That’s a lesson you’re gonna have to learn the hard way.”

The Warden walked out of the room and turned to him. Then a single gesture brought in five guards, with their batons at their sides.

Adrik tilted his head to the side. “This is how you want to play it, then?”

He smiled. “Ithink so, yes.”

“Do you know the one thing I’ve learned about people?”

“What’s that?”

“They all have their price.”

“Not me.”

“When I find it, you are gonna be working for me. And how you proceed from here is how I’ll repay you.”

“You have wonderful threats,” he patronized. “I’ll keep that in mind as you writhe on the floor.” The Warden turned his back, and the batons lifted in the air.

Chapter sixteen

Test

“Ready or not, here I come!” Jolie turned away from the wall, searching the bedroom for Helina. Her cats lingered at her feet, trying to figure out their role in this game. They meowed and followed as Jolie knelt down, looking under the bed. The cats ran under it, searching, but they returned with nothing.

She could hear Helina giggling in the closet but went into her bedroom, nonetheless, and then into Katia’s. The cats ran at crazy speeds, chasing each other through the rooms, scratching at furniture, and hissing at each other. “Play nice,” Jolie chastised before she finally whipped open Helina’s closet and found the little girl laughing in a large pile of all her dresses. “Look at this mess!” Jolie squealed.“Clean. Clean,”she ordered in Russian.

---