The Story of Blood and Roses

"Damn you and that little apprentice of yours. Stop trying to ruin all my plans. I needed to win this. You... both of you just ruined it," she growled at us. She sounded more like the helpless victim who had nowhere to escape than the fierce woman that she pretended to be. I wondered what she had gotten caught up in to make her want to win the race so desperately.

It could be something to do with her ego, but she wouldn't make such a fuss about it despite the fact that she was a drama queen. I would safely strike out that option. Maybe, it was something to do with her position in the mob and her pride kicking in. Possible. Or she had gotten caught up in some mess and was in dire need of cash. It was an improbable scenario, but I wouldn't put it past her to get tangled into something bad. It was probably the reason why Anthony had sent me to deal with the dealers and not her.

Though each of the possibilities was interesting to ponder on I couldn't come to care about how much of trouble she was in. I was past seeing her as competition; not that I ever recognized her as such. Her melodrama seemed to make my job a lot easier. I just hoped that she would be intelligent enough to not humiliate herself further.

"Are you done?" I asked her calmly. If she was going to act like she'd lost her mind, then that was how she was going to be treated.

'I'm suddenly acting like a responsible adult who hates kids but has to take care of a house full of them. At first, it was just Anthony, then Sean and now Cienna. I hope no one else comes to join the slumber party.'

She grumbled and with a death glare at both of us, walked away. I could hear the sigh of relief from Sean as she retreated.

"She's a scary woman," he admitted in a small voice. "Wonder what crawled up her bum," he snickered, his nervousness slowly dissipating.

"Political or financial issues, I presume."

"We could hack into her email ID's and bank accounts and find out what her problem is." He seemed a little too enthusiastic for something that he wasn't asked to do. It wasn't even remotely entertaining.

"Truthfully, I don't have the time or the interest to poke around in her business. She seems to be doing a fine job at it herself. I don't want to 'ruin' her plans." I could hear the huff he let out when he realized that I really didn't have the inclination to know about the woman.

"I could've honed my hacking skills," he muttered.

"I think you've got that covered, kid. Now let's go inside and look at the carnage that you guys left behind." He nodded and followed me inside the mansion.

Not much seemed to be out of place, I noticed. The searchers had been particular in putting things back into their places so that they could escape the wrath of Anthony. He didn't mind, I knew, but he would have made them clean up after them if he found the house turned upside down.

Ethan still sat on the couch, watching animal planet as Anthony had said. He had this excited look on his face as he watched a documentary on eagles. People around him spoke in hushed tones, but he seemed to be shushing them at regular intervals so that he could watch the show in peace.

"Where did you find the stash, anyway?" I asked Sean.

"He had hidden them in the refrigerator behind the fish." He suppressed a chuckle as he saw the disgusted look on my face. "Go on, smell it!" he teased as he shoved the packet at me. I dodged the thing, but got the stench of raw fish, nonetheless.

"Get that thing away from me." I wrinkled my nose trying to get the memory of the disgusting smell out of my mind. I shuddered as I moved away from where I couldn't get the smell. Sean was shaking in laughter at my reactions.

"At least you won, huh?" I couldn't hold back a smile that formed on my lips. The kid deserved to win for having a presence of mind and the capability to infuriate Cienna to the point of madness. That obviously fetched him brownie points from me.

"It was a fishy find," he joked. "You helped. So, you deserve half of it," he told me. I shook my head. I had no job getting my hands dirty by accepting any money that came from Anthony. Of course, I 'worked' for him, but I wasn't going to accept any of it. And I didn't want any of that stinky money anywhere near me.

So says the woman who kills and cheats people to earn money.

Of course, my inner voice had to make its opinion known. Not that it was going to influence me to take half the cash. It was Sean's.

"I don't need all of the money," he tried to reason, panicked that he'd said something to offend me and make me refuse the money. I shook my head again.

"This was a stupid race. I participated because I'm competitive. I don't need the money." I winked at him, hinting at Cienna's apparent displeasure at our win. I was happy that I'd won against the boss. I'd thought he was competitive, but he had not taken any of it personally while Cienna had gone Godzilla on everyone. He didn't even look disappointed when Sean came out with the cash.

It was Sean we were talking about, though. He did have a soft spot for the boy. Anthony probably thought of him as a little brother... or a son. Wherever this thought was headed, I wanted to put a stop to it. It was getting utterly creepy. To think that Anthony actually cared about someone was a blasphemous idea.

Or maybe that was what made him so dangerous in the first place.

'A mobster with the heart of gold. One who vanquishes evil monsters to protect the innocent and helpless?'

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