Dark Romance: A Cruel Obsession

After finishing breakfast, it was no longer early when Vivian followed Emmert out the door. On the way to the shooting club, Vivian asked Emmert, “Have you been able to contact Vilem?”

“You can call him.” Emmert, sitting in the passenger seat, turned to suggest.

“I did, but he didn’t answer.” Vivian felt frustrated. She had found it increasingly difficult to find Vilem lately. It was often Vilem who actively contacted her, allowing her to have a few words with him.

Emmert had no better way to help her. “Then he might be busy. You can try contacting him later, or leave him a message.”

Vivian nodded and left a message for Vilem.

Emmert was a strict teacher; he closely monitored Vivian’s shooting practice, constantly demanding that she be quick and steady, and the angle of shooting alone scrutinized Vivian for several classes.

After a set of shooting exercises, Vivian’s eyes were sore, her hands felt numb, and she put down the gun and slumped in the chair, not wanting to get up.

Emmert sat beside her and discussed the shooting practice they had just done. “The moving target is to train your reaction ability. You need to aim quickly, react swiftly, aim directly at the vital points when facing the enemy, disable them with one shot to ensure your safety to the fullest.”

“Why did you hesitate on the fourth shot?” Emmert replayed the video, accurately freezing the time at the fourth shot of the practice when the moving target approached, and Vivian clearly hesitated for a moment.

Emmert paused at the point in time when she hesitated. “You doubted your judgment.”

“I…” Vivian glanced at Emmert, who gave her an encouraging look.

“I felt like it was moving faster.” In previous moving target exercises, the speed of each target was fixed, and Emmert had set the targets based on Vivian’s abilities, giving her enough time to react while not giving her extra time to hesitate.

Her heart was too soft. The more time she had to react, the more empathy took over, and the gun in her hand became useless. So, he wanted Vivian to develop an instinct to shoot decisively as soon as she raised the gun.

“Be more confident.” Emmert showed her the timer remote control. “I’ve sped up the time.”

“People are not targets; they don’t stay fixed in one place, nor do they appear in front of you at a constant speed. You need to learn to adapt to sudden occurrences, agility, confidence, precision, observation. Every shot must be made with the determination to kill the enemy with one shot, understand?”

Vivian had also killed people, but she had little experience. A part of her heart still retained a soft bottom line, making it impossible for her to talk about killing people as lightly and casually as Emmert did.

But she couldn’t blame Emmert because now she was becoming the kind of person Emmert was, learning to be indifferent, learning to kill.

“I…” Vivian said, “I will try my best.”ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

Emmert also knew that this was not something that could be done in a hurry. Vivian had been too well protected. Bryson had trapped her in a safe cage, teaching her docility, teaching her weakness, teaching her humility, and turning her into a soft rabbit.

Now this rabbit had fallen into the group of carnivores. It was not so simple to avoid being skinned and eviscerated. Alajos had asked Emmert to teach her to use firearms, to teach her shooting skills, just to comfort her anxious heart and give her some support.

Emmert never expected Vivian to become a great shooter. Even if she achieved nothing, they would still protect their Capo’s wife. Otherwise, what use were their bodyguards?

…

At two thirty in the afternoon, Vivian arrived at Adieu.

Fillid held a brief meeting with her, briefly discussing yesterday’s profits and a couple of important matters. He emphasized that there were two relatively important boxing matches arranged in the underground boxing ring today, and there was an important VIP customer appointment tonight.

Vivian found it a bit difficult to go through the financial records alone, but Fillid could answer her questions, which saved Vivian a lot of trouble.

When Fillid mentioned that there was an important guest who had booked a private room tonight, Vivian remembered Alajos’s list of precautions and asked, “Do you need me to attend to them?”

Fillid was startled and quickly said, “No, no, no.” He wouldn’t dare to let Vivian attend to the guests. “I’ll go and say hello. If the lady stays here tonight, the other party might want to visit her upon hearing that the lady is here.”

In the evening, during the busiest time at the bar, Vivian received a call from Alajos, sayinghe would come to pick her up. Vivian thought for a moment and decided to stay and wait for him.

Vivian didn’t expect that the first person to knock on her dressing room door was not Alajos, but Shelley.

“Why are you here?” Vivian put down the financial report, delighted to see Shelley as if meeting a relative. “Are you okay? Is everything going smoothly at the port?”

“Thank God, your good brother came to assist me.” Shelley gratefully gave Vivian a hug. “My friends arranged a celebration for me, and knowing that you are involved in Adieu’s management, I wanted to see if I could meet you.”

Shelley flashed a bright smile. “Looks like I’m in luck.”

“Have you seen Vilem?” Vivian grabbed Shelley in surprise, asking her, “I’ve been unable to contact him. Is he okay?”

“He seems to be in good spirits.” Shelley’s words made Vivian feel somewhat relieved. “He received me at the port yesterday, introduced me to the main people in charge, and helped me organize the main shipping routes and business at the port. He really helped me a lot.”

“But he’s on a business trip today, and I haven’t seen him all day.” Shelley said, “His deputy said that this mission is highly confidential, and even the deputy doesn’t know the specifics of the mission. Anyway, Vilem won’t be back at the port for three days.”

Shelley looked at Vivian’s expression, tentatively asking, “Do you have an urgent matter to discuss with him?”

“Yes.” Vivian led Shelley to sit on the sofa. “If you see him when he returns, please tell him to call me, or just let me know. I often can’t reach him, and I’m very worried about him.”

“You need to learn to ease your mind.” Shelley advised her. “Their work is like this, often with urgent and secret missions, gone for ten days or half a month.”

“I remember when I was young, my father was often like this, gone for many days on a mission. Once he didn’t come home for a month, didn’t even call, and my mother had to go to Mrs. Helayna, just to get his call.”

“Vilem is different.” Vivian poured a glass of lemon water for Shelley. “I know he doesn’t like his current life.”

Shelley took the water and took a sip. “Who does?”

Shelley glanced at the scattered financial reports on the coffee table, the fluctuating lines on the charts, and the densely written numerical analyses, making her feel dizzy with just one look.

She gestured towards the pile of reports and said, “Do you like your current life?”

“I don’t know either.” Vivian admitted, “But it’s definitely better than living aimlessly as I did before.”