𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐭 | artem wing

ch. 17

like old times
—

days after the night spent at the von hagens, marius and vienna had made up like they always had yet her and kolton had not. he had reached out many times yet never received a response, he was beginning to believe he never would. right then, vienna wanted to believe that as well yet she knew sooner or later she would go back.

for the time being, she messaged artem.

vienna vh
heyy artem marius and i r gonna go out later- wanna come with us and ruin some workers days

artem w
-you von hagens really are cruel

vienna vh
is that a no?-

artem w
-i never said that. when and where?

vienna vh
that one art museum? the one that my dad puts- alot of my work. yk the one so just go there at like... 6?

artem w
-wont they be closed?

vienna vh
yes my lil 99% win rate lawyer.-
they dont have to know if we just dont get- caught lol

artem w
-youre a genius vienna

artem smiled at her messages, he loved how she depended on him for the stupidest things, even when she was so independent. vienna always insisted that she could do anything at all, yet if there was anything that could get her hurt with the law, she came running to artem. he would never complain, to him it was entertaining.

vienna thought nothing of what she said or the things that she did, it was just a way to get by. who wouldnt take advantage of having a lawyer friend that was so good at their job?

neither knew what marius was planning though, he didnt see artem and vienna as a good match after her time in europe. thinking about his friend who she used to know very well, he thought that they might be good together. as a part time job, this friend worked at the museum that they would be heading to later in the day. his sister didnt know this, yet she could never forget about the man she thought she would never see again.

vienna sat in her living room, looking at all of the empty space. her house was always completely silent unless she was making any noise, it was quite sad. in her eyes, there was nothing wrong with having a glass of wine at 2pm, thats why she was drinking one again. it took off the burning feeling of stress and the zillions of thoughts racing through her mind. none ever seemed to win, she couldnt focus on one. it was about every single one of them.

just a few sips of the burning liquid and all thoughts just fizzled away, leaving her with a blank mind. vienna struggled with nothing, nothing other than controlling her alcohol intake. yet she still tried, trying to stop herself from drinking a second glass. it took everything in her not to down the whole bottle as she placed it back in a cupboard.

it was a challenge she would win, a painful game that vienna promised that she would someday beat. it was like an addiction she had, yet she knew if she just tried a little bit harder it would be gone. it wasnt like the one she used to have with artem, she spent so long just dreaming of having him back, thinking only of him when she was relaxing.

4pm, everyone was at work. vienna sat in the studio, just staring at a blank canvas as eloise was working in a lesson. sure, vienna had promised eloise that she would do the lessons but now the both of them knew that she wasnt exactly stable enough to do that without freaking some people out. marius was in his office at pax, sitting at his desk, clicking his pen from boredom. how he wished his sister had decided to take over the company. artem was at the firm, talking with rosa and letting her stress over their most recent case. kolton was in his office at home, investigating more missing persons cases that he was unable to focus on.