The Story of Blood and Roses

"Firstly, you will have you call off your forces in Syracuse and handover my things to me," the authority in his voice was astounding. The way he held his demands showed me the true identity of Anthony Murray, the man who ran the mob. This subtle jab at Darcy had been to inform him that we had cracked his codes, picked up all the clues his sloppy employees had left behind and were prepared to raid the place if we needed to. It was an extremely well-calculated move. The voice from the other side waited patiently for the list of demands to finish.

"Secondly, you will stop selling products in my markets-" Anthony was cut off by Darcy, whose silence I had been commending for the past few minutes. As it seemed, Anthony's demand had made him uneasy.

"Those were my markets, to begin with. You were the one who weaselled into the areas and started selling your stupid shit." Yes, that sounded extremely mature coming from a middle-aged man.

"I didn't steal from you, I won those territories from you fair and square, and you wouldn't even have known if you hadn't checked the records yourself. Your little gangsters are extremely easy to buy. Their prices are low, as well. You should think before choosing the company you keep." Anthony feigned a sigh and then cut down on the dramatics. "If you're quite done with your sentimental bullshit about how who crossed the line first, could we talk about the problem at hand?"

"This doesn't sound like a negotiation," came Darcy's gruff voice.

"It's not supposed to. You're old and senile; you keep forgetting how this world works. I don't negotiate with people, who I know do not respect the word of others, I demand it of them."

"You expect me to go with this unattainable series of demands?" Incredulity laced his tone.

"Yes." That was all he said. I was impressed. He sounded like the bad cop that he had wanted to come off as. I wondered who else had helped him go through the process. Scott? I was pretty sure that he came nowhere near the conversation.

"You're up against the wrong forces, Anthony. You know that I'll never say yes, what are you playing at?" And there he had it. He already knew. He might have been old and senile and whatever else Anthony thought of him, but he probably knew every nook in the book. Anthony was banking on it.

"Are you sure you know me very well? I'm just giving you the offer of your life. This will ruin you. Don't make me do it, Luke." The teasing lilt to his voice made me snicker, silently. He winked and then waited for Luke to reply.

"I dare you to try. You know you'll never succeed in your stupid plot."

"THAT, my dear Luke is where you are wrong. I've done a considerably good job in taking away fifty percent of your clients in the past three years. Are you sure that I can't break you apart in this year?"

"As I said, you can try. You will never succeed."

"Always so cocky, Luke. You know what happened last time!" My eyes snapped but at that. Last time? What does that mean? Anthony didn't even look at me as he stared intently at the cell phone.

"I didn't lose, remember? It came close, but nothing happened."

"Cain Vincent came close; you know that I won't fail." My breath stopped. Nothing filtered through. My eyes were fixed on the man who seemed to be gaining immense pleasure from this conversation. I gulped a lump in my throat and

"Cain Vincent was killed in an accident." The boom of his voice snapped me out of my trance.

"Now, now, Luke. We all know that Cain didn't due to that accident. You'd be the first person to know, wouldn't you?" Frozen on my spot I waited patiently for this conversation to play out.

"I do not want to talk about this," Luke sneered. I could imagine him curling his lips over his teeth and glaring at his hand as he spoke.

"Then, do you want to talk about how I'm going to ruin you?" Anthony goaded.

"You could try. I'd like to watch you try... so hard. I'll be waiting for you. Do you worst." We heard the click of the phone then. With thoughts stuck on the mention of Cain Vincent, I turned to Anthony. He had a huge grin on his face and he stared back at me with an amused glare.

"What do you say, Mia? That was a success." I nodded, mutely and then gathered up the courage to ask him the one question that will make or break my conception of him.

"Who's he?" My voice sounded rough to my ears. His eyes turned calculating then. It was as if he had picked up on my thoughts instantly. He scrutinized me for a moment before opening his mouth to answer. His lips didn't move, they just slipped upwards as he smiled. I waited for them... the words, but they took too long to come. I was going to walk out when he started speaking.

"He used to work for this anti-crime organization that calls itself 'The Organization.' Yes, they were as unoriginal as that. He was one of the founding members of the group and a brilliant man at that. He made Luke and my lives difficult for quite some time. All these years he's been a tough as fuck dude who won't budge. It is rumoured that he died in an accident, but I have my doubts."

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