A Dangerous Alliance (on hold)

Reparations

Song: Michelle - Sir Chloe

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Adelaide

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"Excuse me, sir?" I asked, tapping on his shoulder, my eyes wide.

Slowly, he turned around until he was fully facing me, his mouth curling into a sly grin.

"I'm so glad you made it, Darwin."

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I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding, my eyes widening as I took him in, he was one of the last people I was expecting to see.

"Dante," I breathed, quickly embracing him and most probably shocking him in the process.

His mere presence took me back to our times in the garden at Romano's estate. I had considered him something of a friend.

The most affection I ever showed him when I was at the mansion was, at best, tight smiles and a few words here and there. I didn't think seeing him would result in such a blatant display of affection.

Stepping back, I couldn't help but let a smile overtake my features.

"What are you doing here?"

He smiled at me, reaching over the counter to pick up his cup of coffee, nodding slightly to the lady behind the counter who gave us a small grunt and a head tilt to a door before she returned to her job.

"Same as you, I believe," He replied, gently leading me with him into another room.

Out of habit, I let myself be covered by his body as we entered a new room as I didn't know what lay ahead and, for all I knew, there could be an active shooter.

When no shots erupted and we had successfully made it into the dark room, I stepped from behind him.

I tried my best to conceal my shock as my eyes travelled around the room, it seemed like something out of a movie.

The lights were dim and a few lamps were placed around the room with a singular table laying in the middle as a centrepiece. Silver and one other face that I didn't recognize sat around the table, immediately taking my breath away for a short minute.

My eyes travelled around the room, trying my best to seek out the person I had come here to see. I couldn't help the disappointment race through me at Jaekyung not being here, I had almost expected it.

"Please, sit down, we have a lot to talk about," Silver said, eyeing us both up as Dante led me to a chair.

The woman sitting across from me smiled, lighting up her face as she offered me her hand.

I slid my hand in hers but did not offer her a smile back.

"Adamma, I used to work for the National Intelligence Agency in Nigeria," She stated, her grip on my hand surprisingly strong, "You can just call me Ada."

I let a small smile grace my lips as I replied.

"Adelaide, I used to work for MI6 in the UK," I said, taking my hand back and leaning back in the chair.

I couldn't help but let my mind wander. What was Dante doing here if he worked for American intelligence? Was it a cover and he was working for Silver the entire time?

I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye as he took a sip of his coffee.

"Now that we're all here, does anyone have any concerns before we commence our meeting?" Silver asked, looking down at a pile of papers in front of him and carefully sifting through them.

Immediately, I opened my mouth.

"Is Jaekyung going to be joining us?"

I watched his fingers freeze for a short moment before he continued sorting out the papers below him, masking his emotions with ease and a certain type of grace only a seasoned professional could master.

"Jaekyung has some business to take care of, she may join us next time," He replied, his voice clipped and businesslike.

I leaned back into my chair, trying to not let Jaekyung's lack of presence affect me. She probably had a good reason not to show up, or maybe didn't even know I was coming in the first place.

Before I could let my mind run in circles, Silver started to speak.

"All of us here have one thing in common, Romano has betrayed or hurt every single one of us and we all share a common goal," He looked over his papers, making eye contact with each of us, "To make sure Romano's reign will come to a swift end."

A beat of silence reigned between us and I couldn't help but question what Romano had done to Adamma and Dante. How had he betrayed them? How badly had he hurt them for them to want to take away everything he had?

I shifted slightly in my seat, feeling a little out of place. The fact that Romano used me to distract Jamie wasn't enough for me to turn completely against him. I was here for completely selfish reasons, the promise of knowledge.

The fact that he had a hit on my head only fueled my need.

"This operation has been in the works for years now but due to the recent addition of Adelaide, Dante's cover at his mansion has been blown and we need to make reparations," Silver continued, shaking me out of my stupor.

He starts sorting out the papers, placing them into four little piles in front of him before speaking again.

"We have collected plenty of information about his plans, who he works with, who his most trusted officials are," He pauses as he finishes sorting the papers and slides a pile over to every one of us, "Here is all the information we have of him."

He lets silence take its place in the room as we all move slowly through the papers, digesting everything written down.

It's thorough, everything from his daily routine to his future plans are all inscribed down and compiled in only a few pages.

"I believe the best course of action is to start sabotaging, if you could all flip to page number five, you can see his finances."

Quickly, I tear my eyes off of the page about his routine and flip to page five.

"We need to make our way down this list, sabotaging the people he works with, where he gets the most money from starting with Mr Sok."

My eyebrows draw together, this was describing a human trafficking ring, surely Romano wasn't mixed up in this?

I remembered the way he had so easily told me that he had 'girls' but took care of them, that he had cut out human trafficking after he took over from his father.

"This is a human trafficking ring," I stated lowly, not taking my eyes off the paper.

Dante hums next to me, confirming what I was seeing.

"He mostly deals with forced labour, more specifically in agriculture and sweatshops though he is also known in trafficking for forced marriages and organ harvesting," Adamma clarified her voice void of emotion and businesslike.

My jaw clenched at the thought, I knew he was a mafia leader but I didn't want to let myself believe that he was as bad as everyone had been telling me.

For being an assassin, I was dull at times.

My eyes flickered to Silver.

"If you take over, what are you going to do? How are you going to be any better?"

Silence reigned over the room, the tension in the room heightening as Silver looked up at me, clear apprehension written on his face.

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ooooops this is really late 

i kinda want to re write the entirety of a dangerous captive bc i hate it but i wont ig maybe later

1286 words

okay bye