The Story of Blood and Roses

"That's what Ethan wanted to find out as well, so he went down to the guard downstairs, tipped him off. He found out that Cienna hadn't entered the building until a week ago. The guard mentioned that there was a man living in the apartment at that moment and that Cienna had let the guard know that he would be living there a while back. The guard mentioned no girl, so the girl wasn't living with the man, obviously."

"But what was Cienna doing there if she had already given this man the apartment? Do you think it is Joe?"

"I'm sure it's him because the guard's description of the man matches." I nodded. "Cienna's reasons for being at the apartment and not being at the apartment are not known as of yet."

"But I thought Cienna was awake?" I was growing impatient by the moment. Nothing was adding up. One moment, I had been feeling sad about the woman and in the next, she turned out to be the most suspicious person in the room.

"She is awake, only partially. She's been talking in riddles. I know that she's not drunk anymore, but she refuses to make sense. And she's terribly scared of something. And Ethan is being extremely intimidating."

"Okay, don't think about any of this for a few minutes." I reached back to retrieve the flask I had prepared for Anthony. "Here you go. Your coffee," I informed him as he took it from my hands. He smiled, the side of his tired eyes crinkling as he did so.

He didn't need a mug for the coffee; he drank from straight from it, taking large gulps of coffee at each go.

"I needed that. Damn," he cursed under his breath and then ran his hand roughly over his face.

"Now let us go inside and see what is going on."

"We should give it a few more minutes before going. Ethan just stopped plotting the ambush of the red light district. He thinks its game to enter the area without precaution and kill anyone who tries to keep secrets." He let out a small laugh, making me feel sorry for him.

"If it makes you feel better, you could go and take out your frustration on anyone who doesn't answer truthfully by putting a bullet in their vital organs. It would be refreshing, I suppose." He seemed to find humor in my proposition and let out a genuine laugh. I joined in, feeling good about myself.

"I suppose I could, but we really need to get down to business and see what is going on with Cienna. I can't let Ethan lose control like this at such a time. We need to find flaws in Nolan then curb Joe and then take care of Cienna. I don't know where to start!"

"Start with Cienna. If she needs to talk, she'll talk. You think she's scared, and she won't open her mouth until she feels safe, so you need to let her feel safe. That is first. Secondly, we'll think about Ethan. He's clearly traumatized with what he saw. I know he's a strong man and probably past the nightmares of his time as a prisoner, but something triggered it. He sees people meeting cruel ends all the time. You need to find out what got to him. Then we can tail Joe and not much work is needed after that. You already called your favors and spread the news of the stealing of shipments so you have time. We can leave Nolan for last. Maybe, if we don't think about it, his shortcomings will become glaringly obvious." I was proud of myself for the little speech that I had just given him. He seemed a bit stunned.

"You're learning fast, aren't you? Good job. I like the way you are thinking. We'll do that."

"You do realize that we always seem to either say too much or too little when we speak, right?" I say to lighten up the mood.

"I think it's because we're alike. We don't get along because we're too much like each other and that includes being stubborn."

"I'm not going to take that as a compliment, Boss. I don't think being like you is a compliment." I gave him a wink to let him know that I was joking... partially.

"You'll come to face the truth someday. You hate the bits of me that you know that you have."

"And I love something about you? You wish." I scoffed. "You're just being cocky."

"I would've made a crude comment, but I don't think it'll make me look any better than you already think me as." I could hear the truth behind his words. I appreciated the lack of crude comments on his parts, really. If it had been any other man—a younger one, he would have commented, but being older and wiser, Anthony probably knew better than that. It's not that he didn't have bad moments.

"Let's go in, shall we? It's getting late, and I think it's time to get some rest. I'll stay the night and sort out the chaos tomorrow. You go get some beauty sleep. You look like an old hag without it." I don't think I would be able to be so casual with him if we were not sitting there.

Hell, I wasn't even sure how I was getting the courage to blatantly insult him and not worrying about being reprimanded for it. It was becoming easier to speak to him. Of course, we would have arguments and both of us knew that. It was inevitable.

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