Nixxia walked into the living room, instantly feeling the aura; the cold, dark aura was back in the house.
As she walked further, she felt Vernon's presence before she even saw him, the familiar irritation in her lungs: Vernon's smoke.
This time, she would try her best to keep her reaction to the smoke to a minimum.
She wished Vernon would choke on it one day and die; she had asked Armani about it, and she was told that smoking was very bad and injurious; it left her wondering why Vernon chose to take it into his body while knowing that it could kill him.
Maybe that's because he was a psycho.
Bodyguards dressed in all black filled the sofas; some looked more dangerous than the others, tattoos peeking out of their sleeves and collars.
But none of them looked as dangerous as the man sitting calmly at the center of the living room with his burning cigarette between his fingers.
Armani placed a gentle hand on Nixxia's elbow as he gently led her to stand in front of Vernon.
Nixxia gulped, holding her book tightly in her hand.
'The bad human is back.'
She refused to look at Vernon; it was better not to see his monstrous face. She tried to control her breathing so that Vernon's smoke wouldn't enter her nostrils as freely as before.
"Boss, welcome home," Armani bowed his head to Vernon and secretly tapped Nixxia's arm.
Nixxia hesitated for a while before she bowed her head, too. "Welcome, Boss," She repeated what Armani had said.
After all, Armani had asked her to refer to Vernon as 'boss.'
Vernon narrowed her eyes at Nixxia the moment he heard her speak, he sensed that something was different.
He had been surprised to see Nixxia walk through the door herself; he had thought he would see some useless human being pushed in on the wheelchair. He discovered that Nixxia was quite taller than he imagined, and, for a spy, she carried herself with a hint of royalty; Vernon hated it, only he had the power to be royalty.
He also discovered that Nixxia's voice sounded more...polished.
Vernon stood, approaching Nixxia with slow strides.
He paused right in front of her and ordered, "Face up."
Nixxia slowly raised her face; she wasn't about to be stubborn and get herself thrown in that dark building again; she wasn't sure she would survive it if it ever happened to her again.
Her eyes were met with Vernon's dark ones; the moment she raised her face, she was momentarily captivated by how handsome Vernon was.
Yes, Vernon was a devil, but he was a perfectly handsome one... unfortunately.
She was still lost in capturing Vernon's facial features when Vernon suddenly blew smoke on her face. She wanted to step back, but Vernon grabbed her arm, causing her book to fall from her hands.
"Leave it," Vernon said to Armani, who was about to pick the book up.
Nixxia gulped; Vernon's hand on her arm wasn't that tight, but for some reason, she felt her chest tightening.
"I hope this time will be better than the last, Ms. Amnesia," Vernon asked in a low voice.
Nixxia cleared her irritated throat and nodded, "Yes, Boss," She replied.
Vernon smirked and nodded at one of the bodyguards sitting in the corner.
From Nixxia's peripheral vision, she could see a guy with a tattoo peeking out of his collar approaching them.
"Boss." The guy bowed to Vernon.
Vernon slowly released Nixxia's arm and stepped away from her, but his eyes never left her; this time, it wasn't because she wanted to make Nixxia cower but because he felt something odd from her. He almost felt delusional to this that Nixxia was some kind of magical creature, the slight swirl in the color of her eyes was something he had never seen before.
"Tell me once again, Hue, do you recognize this girl?" Vernon asked, pointing to Nixxia.
Hue moved forward and stared at Nixxia.
The moment Nixxia's eyes found Hue's, her locket vibrated very slightly, something it hadn't done after hearing Neireda's voice. The vibration faded in a second, but she was left with a feeling of premonition. Hue was bad news; she could not point out what was wrong with him yet, but he wasn't as loyal to Vernon as Dane, Damon, and Armani.
"I do know her, Boss. She's the spy Raja sent to you. I do not know where or why she was sent to you, but I do recognize her face as one of Raja's spies," Hue exposed.
Nixxia stared at Hue in disbelief. 'This man must be delusional; this is the first time we're seeing each other,' She fumed within himself.
She slowly looked up at Vernon, shaking her head. "I do not know him; he's lying," Nixxia said firmly.
Vernon looked deadly, his eyes were darkening with every step he took toward Nixxia. He reached in front of her and grabbed her chin forcefully, his eyes boring into hers.
Nixxia coughed. Vernon had his cigarette between his lips as he leaned his face closer to Nixxia's, the smoke directly entering her nose.
"Tell me, Ms. Amnesia, do you still insist that you do not know Raja?" His eyes dared Nixxia to lie to him.
Nixxia nodded, her throat burning from the smoke, "P-please, can you..." She paused and coughed, trying to move her face away from Vernon, but he held on tightly.
"Step back!" Nixxia suddenly pushed Vernon away and crouched over, coughing and wheezing.
All the bodyguards stood the moment they saw Nixxia push Vernon away, causing him to almost fall to the floor.
They closed in on Nixxia, drawing out their guns.
Armani dared not move to protect Nixxia, for he knew that what Nixxia did was a threat to their boss's life; protecting him would betray them.
Nixxia was still in her coughing fit when she heard the footsteps surrounding her. She snapped her head up and saw the bodyguards closing in on her.
At that moment, she realized what she had done; she had pushed Vernon, their boss, and Armani always told her that the boss was never to be disrespected; to them, he was like a king, and Nixxia knew what happened when someone dared to disrespect the king.
"You dared to lay your filthy hands on our boss?" Hue asked, pointing his gun at Nixxia's face.
Nixxia closed her eyes, she knew there was no saving grace for her this time. She had outrightly disrespected the boss.
She felt the gun on her forehead, memories of that underground dark house forming in her mind; she had killed a man with a gun, and maybe it was only right she died with a gun.
Vernon was quiet, watching Nixxia squirm under the gun as she tried to force herself to stop coughing. A huge frown marked his face as he noticed how scared Nixxia was; once again, he questioned Raja's choice of making Nixxia his spy. The girl was useless, brainless.
"Shall I shoot, boss?" Hue cocked his gun, pressing harder into Nixxia's head.
"Shoot." Vernon's patience had run out with Nixxia; since she was proving to be useless to his course, he might as well eliminate her for good and focus on more important things.
"Brother!" A loud female voice rang from the entrance, causing everyone to hide their guns, including Vernon.
Nixxia turned to see her savior; if not for her, she would have been bleeding from between her eyes like the man she had shot down at the dark house.
"What's going on? Trying to murder someone, as always?" The young lady asked as she walked toward Vernon; the bodyguards made way for her to reach Vernon.
Vernon sighed and waved his hand, sending all his bodyguards away.
"Hi, Brother. You didn't come to pick me up from the airport." The young lady hugged Vernon.
For the first time, Nixxia saw a glimpse of a smile on Vernon's face; she must be special to him. She was beautiful, tall, and fair, unlike Vernon's tanned skin.
She quickly snapped her head to the side and internally panicked when she saw that Armani had also left her side. She was left alone with the devil and his sister.
She was thinking of how to leave the scene when the lady turned to face her with a bright smile. Her eyes were a warm brown color, warming the chilly atmosphere that Vernon had created.
"Hi, I'm Bianca Grey, Vernon's younger sister. nice to meet you." She held out her hand to Nixxia for a handshake.
Nixxia's eyes immediately sought Vernon's; she wouldn't dare touch the devil's sister; she didn't have a death wish.
Vernon held her gaze, not saying anything to encourage or dissuade her, which made Nixxia very uncomfortable.
"Oh, come on, I don't bite, give me a hand -"
"I'm sorry, Ms. Bianca, but I cannot indulge you; your brother doesn't like me; touching you might cause my death," Nixxia quietly stated while shifting away from Bianca, who tried to take her hand by herself.
Bianca paused and stared at Vernon. "Really? You've made your bodyguard so scared that she fears you might kill her if she touched me? That's not very nice, Vernon," She frowned.
Nixxon frowned. She was nobody's bodyguard. "You must have misunderstood, Ms. Bianca. I am not his -"
"You did misunderstand, Bianca; she's my new bodyguard, an ambitious young lady, isn't she? Unfortunately, she was hit with Amnesia and always thinks I want to kill her," Vernon calmly stated, placing a hand around Bianca's waist, sending Nixxia a death glare.
"Oh, really?" She asked Nixxia.
Nixxia saw the look in Vernon's eyes, she didn't dare say otherwise, "Yes, Ms. Bianca. The boss is correct," She admitted.
"Now, settle yourself in, Bianca. I need to have a few words with my new female guard." Vernon gave Bianca a small smile and grabbed Nixxia's wrists.
His grip was firm, but he didn't drag Nixxia forcefully; he gently led her away from Bianca's curious eyes toward his stairs.
Nixxia was conflicted but was surprised by the thought that developed in her mind.
'This was the longest he'd held me.'
Nixxia was confused by that thought. Why would she even care about such stupid observations?!