The Dark Ghosts

51. Apologies

Third Person's POV

Winning the battles is not important, winning the war is.

"That's what the message says," Holden stated, leaning back into the girls' couch.

"Angelo again, right?" Nathan grumbled, earning a nod from everyone.

"Are you mad at us?" Mel asked hesitantly as she stared at Holden.

"Mad is not the exact word I would use," the chief sighed. "More like... upset. I understand and appreciate the reason why I was not informed about this mission, but please, do let me know next time so I don't have a heart attack when I hear about the outcome."

"We're sorry," Bianca sincerely apologized.

"It's ok. Are you feeling better now, Miss Blackwell?" Holden replied.

"Yeah," she responded with bits of annoyance. For her, it was just a small bullet wound and nothing to worry about.

"Angelo ran away. He escaped while we were fighting his men," Alec informed with a small, barely noticeable glint of frustration in his eyes.

"At least we all managed to kill a considerable amount of his men while we got out of the mission alive. That's a hard blow to his gang," David correctly stated.

It was true that they had killed some of his men in the hotel and that would cause the Vinati mafia family problems. They now had to recruit and train new people, which would take time and money. So, even though they didn't kill Angelo himself, they had a somewhat victory.

"Don't be so hard on yourselves. You are slowly doing some progress with the mission and both Mr Romano and I have faith in you. We know that you will win this war," Holden comforted them, earning a small nod from each member.

It had already been a day since the mission in the hotel. None of them were in the mood to be having a meeting at the moment, but Holden's persistence and concern forced them to accept. The tension was clearly in the air; everyone could notice by just entering the room. They always try their hardest to let aside their differences when it comes to their jobs; however, it's not always that easy.

The room fell into an awkward silence. Some glances were thrown at Audrey and Hunter, who both had been unusually silent since the start of the meeting. All because of the petty argument they had outside the hospital the night before.

~Flashback~

"It's none of your business," she replied to Hunter's question confidently.

However, she was a nervous wreck. Her heart was beating rapidly and her hands were slightly shaking, not sure of what to say. She was cursing the moment Hunter appeared in the hallway, right when she was fighting against her sister, right when she revealed herself to be the oldest Peterson.

She uttered the first response that flashed through her head, not wanting to spill all of her secrets. She sometimes wanted to shout at the world about her past life, but she was scared. She didn't want to be judged or criticized or seen as a weak, pathetic person; that was one of the few things Audrey was afraid of in this world.

"None of our business? I think it became our business when the blonde bitch started working for our enemy," he spat. "You knew about your sister, didn't you? Why didn't you fucking say a word? Huh!?"

"Hunter, please, calm down," Josh pleaded putting a hand over his friends shoulder, seeing as he was getting heated up.

"Are you working for Angelo too or what!?" Hunter seethed, but instantly regretted his words when he saw hurt flash through Audrey's eyes. But soon, that hurt turned into pure anger.