midnight blues · kth

|fifteen|

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-no rest for the wicked-

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"We're still keeping an eye on the mansion. So far there's been no traces of any of them since they left. I sent some men to track them, the best we've got, but even they came up with nothing. The last we have from them is the police car they abandoned and Miss Imani's prints are the only one's they found on the wheel. Other than that…" He hesitated, "They're nowhere to be found ma'am."

The burly man finished his mission report, his eyes wavering as he felt himself get smaller and smaller under the woman's hard glare that she delivered from her seat behind the large desk.

She said nothing, her red manicured nails tapping in irritation against the cocktail glass she clutched in her hands. A heavy silence overcame the office and the man shifted uncomfortably, his fingers nervously fiddling with one another behind his back.

The silence was shortened when Jae suddenly slammed the glass down on the table, startling the man who jumped in place.

"Mr Romano, do you think this is a game?" she asked, her tone unnervingly calm as her breathing slightly picked up.

Not giving him a chance to respond, she continued. "I'm paying you and your goons good money to do a simple job yet all I'm getting in return is a bunch of excuses and an obvious show of your collective incompetence!"

He cleared his throat and shifted in place, clearly bothered by her words but not having the power or guts to refute them. She was by far the most demanding and threatening client he had ever had.

"You're being outsmarted by mere delinquents! A small group of big headed, rebellious kids running around you in circles and dragging my family name through the mud in the process! Do you think I can simply sit back and allow that?!" She snapped again, her agitation showing in her uncharacteristically careless figure.

She had been losing sleep, anyone could tell. The bags under her eyes along with the dullness on her usually glowing skin was a dead giveaway. The usually prim and proper wife of the mayor had fallen on the borders of being totally unkempt.

They had blamed it on her husbands passing and youngest daughters disappearance. The media and public empathised with the 'suffering' woman, naming her a victim of unfortunate circumstances that she was completely undeserving of.

If only they knew the truth.

She stood abruptly from her seat, her feet a little unsteady in her heels but the roaring anger she felt was enough to brush it off. Pressing her palms flat against the desk, she leaned forward in an effort to get her point across clearly.

"I paid those bastards to do a simple job and then, they bit the hand that fed them. On top of that, my own daughter, a thorn in my fucking side as of a week ago, decides to haul ass to god knows where with those very same lunatics and who is left behind to clean up the big mess?!"

He wasn't sure if he should answer but the pointed look and lingering silence pushed his voice out from his throat.

"You, ma'am." It was a small, meek response, bordering on uncertain but it was enough to set the woman off in confirmation.

"Exactly, Me!" She threw her hands up, gesturing to herself dramatically. "So I am paying you, Mr Romano, to not add to my list of fucking problems but to solve them. I won't say this again," she gritted out.

"bring me the girl and get rid of her new friends. Simple and easy so I'm sure you can understand that well enough."

"Yes ma'am." Was all he responded, his eyes lowering in both respect and fear.