The Story of Blood and Roses

I was bouncing by the time Anthony's phone started ringing. We stared at it for a moment, pleased that they had been unable to trace my cell-phone as of yet. We let them ring through one round and then cut the phone. I knew this routine. This was an immature, yet cruel comeback on the part of Anthony. He was giving off the message that he was utterly pissed and that this would not end well. It was exactly what he wanted to do. The idea was to keep them guessing and on their toes. It would lead us to be one step ahead of them and in control of the situation. Their anxiety to deal with the situation would be higher than inspecting the main reason behind the sudden need for negotiation.

The phone rang again and I reached out to pick it up as Anthony had instructed me to. I held the phone to my ears to check to was speaking and then put the phone on the loudspeaker.

"Anthony, I hear you have news for me." Clearly, Nolan had been sent out of the scene because of his rash decision to ignore Anthony's request to have a chat with Luke.

"Mr. Darcy, thank you for calling back. My name is Mia. It was me who tried to contact you earlier." I heard Darcy huff in frustration as he heard my voice. He had wanted to have a private conversation with Anthony from what I gathered. He had to do some serious grovelling if he wanted to dodge the consequences of his stealing from Anthony.

"Is he anywhere close to where you are?" Irritation laced his voice.

"Of course, sir. But he is extremely angry because of how your assistant has treated him." I imagined myself getting an Oscar for acting so professional when all I wanted to do was reach back and pat myself for keeping the smugness out of my voice.

Childish, yes, but I was speaking to Luke. In my final year at the academy, we were asked to write thesis papers on the man, I had written my paper on him. The man was a legend, having a reputation of doing away with anyone who got into his way. I was speaking to him, and I held a position of authority in the conversation.

As irritated as he would grow of my interruptions, he would have to bear me and hope that he doesn't disrespect me. On the other hand, we would sincerely hope that I can get on his nerves and make him have an outburst which we could then use against him to ambush him. A confession made in a moment of fashion was truer than that when tortured out of a person. Everyone knew that. Anger made people speak more truth than inflicting pain could ever do.

"Would you kindly mention to the boy that I am extremely sorry for the incompetence my staff has shown." His voice sounded more like a command than it did a request, so I chose to ignore it.

"I have been led to believe that you have reason enough to be ignoring Anthony at such a crucial time. Mr. Murray suspects that your employees are not incompetent but highly efficient in following your orders, sir." With an extreme sense of joy, I turned to Anthony for approval. He gave me a thumbs-up and then typed into my cell phone. He was fast with his typing and I smiled when I read what was written.

Put forward all the prove me have.

I nodded at him and then went back to concentrating on the phone. The line had grown silent, but it was clear that there was someone else breathing into the line. I could hear the whirring sound of a machine—possibly a computer, in the background. He was there all right, thinking over things or waiting for me to say something. He might have known that this was an orchestrated conversation where he would only be led where we wanted him to.

"Do you have something to say to defend this suspicion, sir?" I managed the politest tone I could muster up.

"What am I being accused of?" I heard slow laughter in the background which I knew had come from Luke Darcy. He had moved away from the cell-phone and was possibly making himself comfortable in a chair.

"Sure, sir," I cleared my throat as if to indicate that I was reading off of a paper which had recounted all the offences that Luke had committed against Anthony. "Firstly, you sent in Nolan as a spy who would get information from us through the business deal that he had secured. Secondly, you asked him to involve Cienna who is not connected to the illegal side of the business at all. And thirdly, you murdered Joe after achieving the information that he had managed to extract from my colleague."

"And these are my offences?" he laughed. I had not mentioned that it was the best of his offences.

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