adomania [ONE-SHOTS]

all roads lead to rome

Men like Markus hated to wait. They were not used to it. But occasionally, they had to. Simply, because they refused to get their own hands dirty. Oh, how much Rome enjoyed seeing Markus wait. He grinned to himself, as he sat on the roof above the Casino, his eyes spying through the gap in the roof, where he had taken out one of the bricks.

Marks was sweating, the man's round face was bright red. It wasn't from Las Vegas' famous heat, but rather from what he was doing – or planning on doing. The man had a dark heart.

Rome let him sweat for a little longer before he took pity and jumped onto the windowsill and through the open window. His feet landed soundlessly on the marble floor, only a few feet away from Markus.

The latter one jerked a little bit, mustering the hooded stranger in front of him, while he tried to regain his blank façade.

"You're late," Markus complained.

Rome didn't even bother to reply. Instead, he held out his hand. "The file."

Hesitating only a little, Markus handed over a folder that he had hidden underneath his jacket.

Rome grabbed it and before Markus could say anything else, he had jumped out of the window again.

Only a few minutes later, Rome sat in his living room, Marcus' file open. He studied it carefully, absorbing every information and detail.

"Selene Smith, 25 years old, born in Texas," he muttered, "How much fun I'll have with Selene." He couldn't help but smile, as he looked at some of the pictures in the file. The blonde beauty was mesmerizing, so young and innocent looking. But she had caused much trouble for Markus. And even though Markus loved her so very dearly, he had enough of her. And men like Markus never got their own hands dirty. All they cared about was their money and as little work as possible. And it was much, much easier to hire a hitman than to file a divorce.

Rome smirked. This would be fun.

---

His first assassination attempt happened on a Monday. Rome was following the blonde-haired beauty through the shopping mall, hiding in the crowd. Selene was laughing loudly with her friend as she strolled through the shops. Bags on both arms, she bought one expensive thing after the other. The black credit card she used was from her husband of three months.

Rome waited for Selene to finally be alone in one of the changing rooms to finish his job. But turns out, that woman didn't like to be alone in changing rooms. And that Selene especially never seemed to be alone. So, he followed her to the Chinese restaurant next door. There he sat in the booth right next to the two women, facing away from them. He waited until finally, Selene's friend left for the bathroom.

He stood up and casually walked past his target's booth. No one noticed the assassin, just as no one noticed the knife flashing quickly towards the young woman. But just before the knife found its way, Selene dropped her phone, and the woman ducked under the table. The blade swung through the empty air where her neck had been, only moments before. Swearing, Selene picked her phone up, the screen broken. The man and the knife were gone, unsuccessful and unnoticed in their task.

---

The second attempt was on Tuesday. This time, Rome sat in the driver's seat of a big white van at the corner of Cassady Avenue and 6th Street. The windows were tinted black and there was no license plate on the vehicle. Patiently, Rome waited.

10:06, a bright pink car approached. Behind the steering wheel sat a young woman with big sunglasses and pink lipstick on her plump lips, her eyes focused on the phone in her lap. Even from afar, Rome couldn't help but admire her beauty. He couldn't deny that Markus was a lucky man. But Rome would be lucky too. Very lucky indeed.

He gripped the steering wheel and placed his foot on the gas.

The van was fast, gaining speed quicker than expected from such an old vehicle. Time slowed down as the van and the pink car approached the intersection. The pink car was way too fast to break – even if Selene had seen the van.

However, seconds before the van got to the intersection, the pink car severed, sliding onto the right side of the road, and hitting a lamppost. The car now owned a very big dent on the side, but the driver got away without a single scratch.

"There was a squirrel on the street!" Selene told the police minutes later. "I had to swerve out of its way!" The officers just shook their heads.

Rome and his white van were far gone by then.

---

All good things come in three. Just like all roads lead to Rome. On Wednesday he was ready and motivated. Today was the day. Today he would once and for all get rid of Selene.

This time, Rome had decided to play with fire. Literally. A small handmade bomb was all it took to set fire to the grocery store. Just as Selene was close to the exit, half of the store burst into flames.

Rome had to wait only a few seconds before he heard footsteps approaching. The clacking sound of high heels was fast. The door flew open. Selene stumbled outside the building blindly, clouds of smoke escaping with her.

She had no chance of seeing the dark silhouette waiting for her. Strong arms wrapped themselves around her waist, pulling her to the side of the building into a dark alley. A hand placed over her mouth; Selene couldn't even cry out in shock.

But as fast as she had been pulled into the alley, she was free. Rome let go of her, his face not a foot away from hers.

"Hello, my love", Rome smiled.

The woman lifted her head, her green eyes twinkling. With more strength than anyone would have thought the woman possessed, she slung her arms around Rome and kissed him.

"I missed you, darling," she grinned.

"Not as much as I did." Rome dramatically rolled his eyes. "You've been gone for way too long. And I do not like to share you."

Selene laughed. "I know, I know. But those murder attempts of yours get lousier each time. What did you plan on doing with that knife?" She had her eyebrows raised at her lover.

"Testing your reflexes, my love," Rome answered amused. "Can't have you slow down."

Selene just shook her head, still smiling.

"Let us go, before the police get here. Selene Smith sadly died in a fire today. Can't have someone with her face run around here."

Rome slung an arm around her and pulled her to his car. "Agreed. Let me go collect the money from your widow. And then we can finally move away from this hellhole."

And off they went. 

This is super last-minute but I had this idea and I had to write it. Not happy with how it turned out, but I don't have any more time before the deadline. Sooo... this is it. Happy 4th of July!