The Story of Blood and Roses

"I\'m doing well, Anthony." My tone was obviously light, somewhat of a trial to infuriate him further. I\'d say I got off on it, but it wasn\'t anything as excited. It was just me having some fun. "Thank you for asking. Have you been doing well?" Polite conversations are fun when you want to piss someone off.

"I\'m extremely well, but am curious as to why my call went ignored the last time around," anger, he let it seep through his control.

"I was a bit busy and couldn\'t reach the phone in time to pick it up." I heard a huff of frustration from the other side. "And I must say you\'ve got me curious. To what do I owe this pleasure? Is my vacation over? Can I go back to work?" I sounded a bit more enthusiastic than I would want to sound, but I didn\'t ponder much on it.

"Yes, Mia," I could hear him chuckling at my enthusiasm.

"Thank you for remembering me, boss."

"Everyone remembers the porter, Mia," he commented, making me jolt upright. Did he just make a Shakespeare reference? Ah, I guess not. I was probably just a gatekeeper for him, opening doors for the bastard.

"When do you want me to drop by the mansion?" I asked.

"I want you here in a few hours. Pack a bag for yourself; you\'ll be staying over at the mansion for a few days." I stiffened at the prospect. I couldn\'t stay over at the mansion. I was horrified to think that I would have no time to myself after I had finished pretending for the day. I tried to remind myself that I had done gigs where I had, had to go on pretending for months at a stretch. I could do it easily.

"Are you asking me to move in?" I took the risk of teasing.

"It\'s too soon for that, my kitten, but business comes before pleasure. I\'d give you both if you wanted." His voice was amused as he joked with me, but I was pretty sure that he was legitimately serious as well. The man was wicked.

"No, thanks. I\'m quite happy with the easy relationship we seem to share. Business-oriented relationships suit me just fine. I don\'t plan on changing that anytime soon, thank you."

"I will ask you again, I promise." He cleared his throat before speaking again. "Yes, so be there. And pack some comfortable clothes. We might need to go on a heist, so be prepared for that as well." I hummed the answer and waited for him to give me further instructions. "I\'ll speak to you later, then."

"Yes," I replied. With that, the conversation came to an end and he hung up on me.

.

I packed a small bag with a couple of t-shirts, a comfortable pair of jeans, a few pairs of underwear and my ammunition. It was a comparatively small bag and I was proud that it was ideal for road trips. There was no time or security in being hygienic when on a mission. But a quick wash of clothes was enough and one didn\'t need too many clothes if they weren\'t doing much more than planning and hiding.

My watch was in place and I had worn a tracksuit, just for convenience. It could act as my makeshift sleeping clothes.

In about half an hour, I had reached the mansion. It seemed that I had been the first one to arrive. I walked into the mansion and into the main hall to see that it was empty. It was actually peculiar for no one to be there in the great hall. I didn\'t think I\'d ever seen that before. Okay, maybe that one time when I had crashed in the mansion at night. I headed towards the computer room, to check if someone was there and found Sean sitting behind the screen of a laptop which seemed to be connected to the main system.

"Hey, Sean, where is everyone?" The boy jolted upright at my voice. Hazarding a look at me, he sunk down into the chair and went back to work. "An answer would be appreciated."

"I\'m trying to remember where they are, but failing at it," he told me in a sheepish voice, but never took his eyes off the computer screen. I didn\'t even think that he had tried in the first place. The boy was preoccupied with what he was doing. I hoped he was doing something productive, or else he would get his ass kicked by me.

"And I\'m supposed to run around the house searching for people?" I asked him. Of course, I was a little pissed at everyone for calling me and then disappearing.

I wonder who else will attend the meeting.

"You won\'t believe what I just found!" he exclaimed all of a sudden. I stared at him for a moment and then gave him a glare. "You won\'t believe this! Come here." At his insistence, I went near him and grabbed the nearest stool to sit down and see what he was up to.

I stared at the page of a bank server that seemed to be a detailed database of transactions made by a certain account holder.

My anger grew the moment I realized that the boy was wasting his time.

"Do you have nothing to keep you preoccupied?" I could hear the anger in my voice. He stared back at me in complete shock. "Why did this get you so curious? You could have used your skills and your time doing something worthwhile, but no! You had to waste your time and find out about Cienna." I shook my head in disappointment.

He gaped at me for a moment before looking away.

"I just wanted to know what crawled up her bum," his voice was barely a cracked whisper.

"I presume Anthony assigned you to find out more about the shipments. Have you done that, yet?"

"Anthony asked the spies to do it as well-"

"-which does not mean that you can have a gala time finding the reason behind Cienna needing the money," I interrupted.

"But look at this!"

I huffed and gave him a pointed stare. He didn\'t seem to move. Though nervous, he went on to explain what he had found.

"She has been paying a large sum of money to someone called James for the past few years."

He seemed enthusiastic, but I didn\'t want him to do anything that could make Cienna turn on him.

"I do not need to know any of this. I don\'t want to know. Quit this and do your work. Get your head in your work. You don\'t want trouble." With that little piece of advice, I left to find out Anthony.

As I kept up my search my mind reverted back to Cienna and her pimp James, but I stopped myself right there. It was none of my business, anyway.

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