>>Matthew
I opened the basement door, letting the light flood the staircase as the cold air came in contact with my skin.
I entered the white room and closed the door behind me while my gaze caught sight of Azef standing by the table. As I closed the door, he turned to look at me while he had his hands on the edges of the table with the help of which he was leaning a little forward.
"Why are you suddenly interested in a spy?" Azef scratched his eyebrow with his index finger while I walked over to where he stood and looked at the dead body.
"You don't kill someone." I folded my arms as I examined the pale skin of the dead woman. The nails had been taken out and I moved my hand to look at the jaw. With my thumb under the lips of the corpse, I pressed down to see the inside of the mouth and found many of her teeth gone as well.
"It wasn't my doing, Xia-Lin was here." He rolled his eyes, "That woman is brutal, just like her brother." I let the face go and sighed.
Of course, it was Xia-Lin... Security has been upgraded since the last incident at Lux. The Chinese were angry since one of the spies at the party got away and was never found while the other died too soon.
"And did she get anything out of this spy?" I looked at the Russian woman lying on the table.
"The whole fight is about who had the deed to the RailRoad Casino after it was stolen." He glanced at me, "Everyone's suspecting everyone." He bopped his head slightly side to side, "But with how many spies are after us, it almost makes me believe we have it." He showed me a toothy grin, "Do we have it?"
I glanced at him, "I wish," My gaze went back to the body, "You got nothing from her?"
He shook his head, "She was sent by some low-ranking Russian gang to see if we have the deed." He looked at the corpse, "Unfortunately for her, Xia-Lin got her hands on her."
Right, Xia-Lin's been wanting to get her hands on the spy who ran away with a low-ranking drug list, so she's been hanging out at Lux a lot. I highly doubt Clio would get caught now since he got into a lot of trouble last time. So the Chinese won't find him since they don't even know that the spy that managed to slip away is not a female.
I stared at the corpse but instead, any other spies are in deeper trouble.
"Is she related to that guy who stole the files from Lux?"
"No," He shook his head, "That one was another reporter. He was harmless but this," He pointed at her, "What do you want to do with the body?"
I stared at the table for a while, then answered, "Tell Xia-Lin to take care of it since she's the cause of it."
"Do you think the Russians will attack?"
"I doubt it, not over a small-time measly spy." I turned around to leave, "And that's why I'm telling you to have the Jade twins take care of it. No one would bother the Chinese mafia."
"I have to say, they're unnecessarily brutal." Azef started walking behind me, "There was no need to kill the spy."
"Setting examples is good." I stopped near the door, "But this might be bad, she's dead so it might give others the impression that we do have the deed."
"Ah~" Azef crossed me and opened the door, "I'll talk to Zhou-Lin, he needs to get his sister in control."
He's right, someone needs to get them both in control, not just Xia-Lin. I get a very formidable vibe from Zhou-Lin as well.
"Don't let them come into the house freely anymore." I turned to the side, there stood a metal chair there right next to the white tiled wall. The blood was still there, splattered violently.
"Fine," He replied, "But they won't like it."
"Use what happened today as an example and set the line. I'll take care of the rest."
We walked up the stairs, "You know what happened to Rameen, right?"
"Ah," He let out a deep exhale, "Quite unfortunate that the kid died." His mood turned sour, "If I had the slightest idea she would get herself killed I would have followed her when she left the house." We reached the first floor and Azef closed the door behind us, "I had grown attached to her."
I'm aware.
Rameen had that effect on people since she was a bright kid.
"Do you think the Head Hunter might be part of some mafia group?" I knew it was a random speculation on his part and it was plausible as well but I knew better.
"No," I answered, "He's been killing innocent people, so he's definitely only a psychopath."
"I wouldn't have bothered with him normally but since he killed Rameen, I'm very ticked off."
"..." My silence alerted him.
"Matthew," I looked at him when he called me, "You have a suspect, don't you?"
"No," I looked away,
"Liar~"
I sighed but didn't answer him.
"Fine," He shrugged, "Be that way." He walked away, "But when they find him, I want to break him for getting on my nerves." Rameen's death had affected a lot of people, especially because she was such a jolly kid.
"Call the cleaners," I said and he paused to look back at me
"What about your little lover?"
"He's asleep." I replied, "He won't be waking up." I folded my arms, "I put him in the bedroom upstairs."
"Ah~" He caught on, "He won't be waking up," He let out a sly scoff, "Worried he'll run off if he sees this side of you?"
I let out a sigh at his words.
"We have enough trouble on our hands as it is," I began walking again, "Clio's a human and a normal civilian."
!!?
The sound of a phone ringing caught my attention as I got into the lounge, "And now that I've met him," I began walking towards the bathroom since the sound was coming from there, "I'm not going to let him slip away from me."
"Oh? Possessive much?" He joked about it.
"That's how we all are," I replied
Azef got his phone out and called someone, "Right," He brought the phone to his ears, "Can't get the chicky killed too now," He referred to mate, "One of us needs to be happy I guess,"
...
"It's better to have the problem with the deed solved before Clio gets involved in anything."I opened the door while the ringing continued.
There, in the laundry basket was the origin of the sound and I rummaged through Clio's clothes and found his phone.
The caller ID was displayed on the screen
Nolan with two hearts on either side of his name and just seeing that ticked me off
***
>>Cherelle
I walked towards my house. It was pretty late and I knew it was dangerous to be out this late but you never know how the time passes when you're out drinking with your friends.
I was still on the streets when I noticed someone standing under the light pole in front of my house.
Hmmm?
Who is that?
I kept thinking about it as I approached the light pole and he stepped in front of me to stop me and asked a question.
"Are you Cherelle Zima?" Now that I was closer, I got a better look at him. There stood a Chinese man there and although I shouldn't be replying to a complete stranger, I guess I was a little too drunk today
"Yes," I tried to stand up straight but felt a little wobbly.
"Hmmm," He placed his finger on his lips, looking at me like I was lying or something, and it continued for a few seconds and he seemed to be satisfied with that answer, "Then, do you know who this is?" He took out his phone and showed me a picture of a girl.
She looked awfully familiar, but I couldn't pinpoint who it was. The face was so familiar that it started to make my brain restless but at the same time, no matter how much I thought about it, I couldn't remember her.
"I don't know," I gulped to lubricate my dry throat, "Do I know her? Maybe, she looks familiar but," I paused and strained my eyes at the picture as if that was going to help me remember, "I don't know..."
"Well in case you remember her," He handed me the printed picture of the girl on his phone along with a business card, "Call me," I stared at the pieces of paper and then looked up at him to ask something but as soon as I looked at him again, a chilling sensation went down my spine and I forgot what I wanted to ask. But maybe it was just a simple question like, 'Why are you looking for her?' Because he did give me the answer to that,
"I have personal business with her." He spoke and I didn't feel the need to say anything more to him but still felt like just looking at him made me half sober.
I don't know what it was exactly but that man extruded a dangerous aura.
It was like he was out on a hunt