Nothing. Only glimpses of a black shadow moving with agility through the halls, and one camera pointed in the direction of the painting hung among others only captured him wholly then. All we could gather was his fully black outfit, not an inch of even skin showing. There was nothing to go off of. Blood rushed to my head; I could hear the rushing peruse my ears, tuning almost everything else out. Cramps pinched me everywhere, but especially my cranium. My heart began beating twice as fast as it should've been, and heat coursed through my body.
"How could he get away so easily?" I pinched my brows and massaged the area. Nothing soothed my frustration.
"We'll take this footage, if that's alright with you, and see if we can analyze it further," the officer suggested. I only nodded.
"We'll send it to you," Araenia-Ilona stepped in, defeating my silence.
"Great." I saw the officer nod in my peripherals. "There was an event here earlier tonight. Is that correct?"
"Yes," I responded. I lifted my head up from my massaging fingers and stared at the plain, white wall across the room, only decorated with three black and white paintings. I stared at the wall, losing myself in it, hoping its blankness would transfer to my mind and soothe my ache.
"Did you two notice anyone suspicious?"
I peered into my mind instead. I closed my eyes and perused the gallery as it was in its glory earlier tonight. A bright success. All kinds of people waltzed about. Most with their other halves, others alone with different intentions. Collectors. Artists looking for a come-up or inspiration. Established artists of our gallery, especially the lady of the night, Aria Stark. But she'd been secluded all night. It was clear she wasn't exactly an extroverted person. I removed her from my mind. She was out of the question.
Then there was Jaime. She always tried to attend our events. We'd bumped into her many times before, but we hadn't seen her for a while until tonight. My brows furrowed. It was definitely strange to see her pop back up after her well-loved and appreciated disappearance. It was an ache off my chest and head once she stopped bugging Araenia-Ilona. Finally, she'd stopped becoming my problem. But that only lasted for about two years. And now, she showed her face tonight. The thought definitely stuck to my mind. But I couldn't see Jaime in that light. She was a bitch, yes, but something inside me told me she was all bark, no bite. It couldn't have been her.
I circled back around the room in my head from earlier tonight once more. Who else? Who else could I have seen or encountered tonight that could've had the insane, stupid idea to come for one of our paintings? And they were at least smart enough to bypass all our security. I couldn't pick one out.
"No. No one. Not that I can think of." I turned and looked at Araenia-Ilona.
"Can you?" I locked my eyes onto hers. Her gaze found mine.
"I mean..." She started. I stared at her harder, hoping she would catch on. Her eyes grew wide for a slight second before slowly growing dark and narrowing.
"No. No one that I can think of either."
Good girl.
After answering more of the officer's questions, he finally left the room, presumably to join the others downstairs and question those on shift tonight. We didn't join him. We trusted they knew what they were doing. In the meantime, we needed to brainstorm.
"Why not tell the officers about Jaime?" She locked her gaze onto me once more.
"Because if we do, then they'll just go right on ahead and find her to question her. Then she'll figure out about the situation. And we both know she loves to run her mouth just to spite you." And the more she runs her mouth, the more I have to put up with you. Plus, I didn't need any bad press surrounding our gallery.
She nodded, understanding suffusing her.
"She's just a snake who likes to hiss," she hissed. Her eyes narrowed on the blank wall with distaste lingering on her tongue, making her mouth contort.
"Either way, good thinking."
"I didn't think it was possible for you to throw props my way." I cocked a brow as I looked at her. Her arms crossed her chest in a tight bind and her eyes hesitantly found mine, sideways.
"Only in business, Nikolai." She looked me up and down before tearing her eyes away from me. She then walked away and out the door. I shook my head as I watched her disappear.
Typical Araenia.
Araenia
I shifted. My body ached with soreness as I turned. I turned again. The sheets moved along with me. They contorted with my body, keeping my right leg in a tight bind and my left a little more freedom. Despite the cold air that flowed through the room from the AC above, I felt slightly wet on my back, as if my clothes had found extra comfort there and began sticking to my skin. Frustration filled my soul. I scrunched my brows. I turned again, landing on my back. Still, no heavy sigh I let go nor any position to which I shifted would let the heat in my head dissipate. I sat up roughly in bed. The cold leeched to my skin even more as it gained access to previously hidden areas. I tried to revel in it. I tried to let it cool my brain, but I couldn't.
I hadn't been able to get a good sleep since last night. How could I? I've been tossing and turning and scraping the plains of dreams too much to let my brain rest and replenish. Disbelief still scoured me. How could someone break in and steal one of our prized paintings so easily? With all to go off of them just a figure dressed in all black, not an inch of skin showing. He had to be a pro. But why would a pro steal Heaven's Precious Angel?
I rolled my eyes. My brain pinched me. I hope he didn't get any sleep either.
I rolled my neck back, still trying to gain my right mind to at least get the day started. There was no way I was going to lay in bed all day or laze around the house, taking my own sweet time as usual. Today would be a day of work. A day of hard work.
I tore the sheets from my body, but even more frustration filled me as it became stubborn, refusing to unwrap itself from my leg.
"Ugggh!" I screamed and kicked and kicked until I finally felt the cold air glaze my whole legs.
Reluctantly, still feeling the drowsiness brimming me, I got out of bed and headed towards the bathroom. I turned on the lights and let them blind me, but only momentarily, as the sun's light had already gotten a headstart by peeking through my ajar curtains.
I stripped myself of everything and stepped inside the shower without another thought.
Today had to go right. Today had to be a day of moving forward, not going backwards, and certainly not being stuck in the same place as if Medusa had looked us in the damn eye. Nothing new had come of last night. I've been trying since then not to let my frustration and annoyance reach me, but they were getting there. And now, all my body wished for was some cool reprieve and a restart.
For what felt like forever, I let the cold-water drench and nourish my skin as it sprayed like hail from the pipe hung above me. It wasn't long before I felt some sense of normalcy fill me again, and I let it stick. After I was done, I got dressed for the day, wearing a black dress blazer that had one side of it white—the side of the blazer that tucked itself underneath the other half. I then buckled myself with a designer belt I've had for five years now—as long as my marriage to...Nikolai. My grip grew involuntarily tighter on the belt as I forced my eyes not to roll. Every day was a question of how we'd ever gotten together and how we've lasted so long. I could never come up with the answer.
I ignored the brewing, heated feelings that began to bubble within me and sat down on my closet's ottoman and put on my black, closed-toe stiletto heels. I got up and made my way out of my room to downstairs. I came down to meet a quiet house. I cocked a brow and began putting my ears to the true test. I could only make out a little scuffling coming from a room in the back. I turned on my heels and made my way down the hall. I passed open doors, yet the scuffling hadn't drawn much closer. Finally, I came upon the end of the hall, where I heard a clank and then near silence.
I entered the gym to see Nikolai standing with fingerless gloves on his hands, especially made for lifting weights and stability. But I was instantly drawn away from noticing anything else. Instead, my eyes landed on those magnificent, well-sculpted abs of his. The light bounced off them so perfectly from the windows on the opposite side of the room, beholding them in a glorious light. And the sweat that glistened on his body only added to the magnificent sight. And those muscles. They were perfectly thick, but always, somehow, managed to hide underneath those suits he wore almost everyday. They did him justice, but not as much justice as a bare body prized him with.
Damn.
"It's been five years, Araenia. Get over it." His voice quickly averted my gaze back up to his jade eyes.
"Tch, please. Put a shirt on, I'm disgusted by the sight I'm seeing." I folded my arms, bolstering my gaze before him. He didn't flinch; he didn't falter. He only huffed and walked over to the rack that stood adjacent to the wall, picking up his sleeveless shirt from off it and throwing it on over his head.
"How can you be in here working out when we have a stolen art piece to be working out? An art piece by Alesi Crow, might I add."
He rolled his neck back and sighed. His fingers reached for the bridge of his nose and pinched it, and his brows knitted together.
"I can't even fucking work out now, great. Fucking great Ilona. The morning's just started and you're already coming onto me with your bullshit." He rolled his neck back forward and opened his eyes to meet mine. "I thank you, Ilona. I really do. I mean, I truly don't know where I'd be in life without you constantly nagging me about what you think I should be doing and how you think I should be feeling. It is truly such an honor." Sarcasm slithered from his mouth all the way over to me.
Heat began bristling my bones, spreading slowly to my blood. I could feel the pinch between my brows as they slowly began knitting together.
What a dick.
"And here I thought we married each other because we could at least agree on one thing: the gallery. But here you are, acting as if it's no big deal."
"I don't need your stupid input on my feelings, woman." His brows pinched together once again as his gaze narrowed with subtle heat onto me. "We've been married for five years. You'd think that would've been enough for you to get off my damn ass. Or are you trying to make your way to my dick instead?"
My eyes widened uncontrollably, and my brows reached the ceiling. Then they quickly fell back down to earth; even lower. They knitted together again.
"I'm not fucking arguing with you Nikolai."
"Then get off my fucking dick." He turned around, throwing his towel over his shoulder and making his way back to his sets.
"You better get your ass-"
"Yes, yes, Your Majesty!" He flagged me off without turning a neck.
I kept my heated gaze on him for a second longer before I turned and headed back down the hall. Once I landed myself back in the main room that contained more than just the living room, I made my way over to the kitchen. I opened the plastic box of croissants and began eating it. I knew I should eat more, but this was all I needed.
As I ate, my mind only lingered back to the annoying brat. I rolled my eyes, never trying to stop myself. He's such a dick, and for what?
I tore off the next bite of my croissant with my blood boiling throughout my body.
How the hell did I put up with this for five years?