The Darkside of the Bronx

Chapter 12

I was chatting with my great aunt Mary when I saw my niece, Ellie talking to Talia.
I didn't see any reason to watch her at this point. At only twenty years old Ellie was the best in our business. I walked around with Talia on my mind. The way she looked in the dress that I bought her and her black lipstick she wore got to me. I didn't need her on my mind in this way. Soon I was going to have to kill her but not until after I get the information I needed. I ordered a glass of bourbon from the bar and took a generous gulp. I was in my thoughts until someone beckoned to me from behind.

"Sir" I heard as I turned around and saw it was my new young body guard, Li.
"Yes? Is there something wrong?" I ask sitting my drink on the bar.
Li was a shy guy, never took  him as a fighter, but here he was along by my side.

"No, I was just coming to ask if I could perhaps get a drink?" Li asked looking at me then down to his shoes.
Being a bodyguard and being shy did not go hand in hand. I pondered the question in my mind for a moment, picking up my bourbon glass and finishing it off. I ordered 2 bourbons and handed him one. His eyes lit up as he looked down at the glass in his hand. Li smiled and nodded in gratitude before taking a sip sitting next to me.

"Why did you get into this?" I asked Li looking down at the bourbon in my glass.

"I-uh" Li started and fumbled with his glass, looking up at me every so often.
"You know, you don't have to be a body guard, it's a dangerous game." I said cutting him off.

"My dad was a body guard." Li finally spews out. "I wanted to be like him, but I really don't like guns or hurting people." Li said as if he had just confessed a sin.
"I understand that sentiment fully. I was like you when I was your age. My dad wanted me to be the best in the business, now here I am." I said proudly. "But, Li." I started to say something encouraging until I heard Ellie come up behind me.

"She's in the bathroom" Ellie said from two feet away. I turned to look at Ellie. Who would have thought, my beautiful neice would follow the family business. I figured by now she would have been off to school or married.
"That's a nice way to say hello to your dear uncle." I said smugly.

"I just thought you'd like to know where your little "guest" was." Ellie said sitting next to me on the bar stool.

"Thank you, neice. Have you met my friend, Li?" I said looking beyond Li and seeing Talia again.

Li and Ellie made their introductions as I saw Talia looking around the room.
"Ellie" I said interrupting their conversation and nodding toward Talia walking back toward the bathroom.
Ellie looked the way I had pointed and walked out. I saw Talia and Ellie talking again and Talia walk away.
"Li, excuse me, I'll be back."
Li nodded and I walked to my neice.
"Everything okay?" I asked Ellie.
"She said she had to use the bathroom again" Ellie said with a concerned look on her face.

I walked to the door and knocked
"Talia, everything alright in there?"
No answer, I knocked in the door this time and noone was inside. Hurriedly, I ran out of the front entrance and saw a car speeding away. I ran back inside and found Li.

"Go! Find her, now!" I barked at Li as he scurried off the bar stool almost falling.

I grabbed my coat and keys and headed to my car.

"Boss, I don't see them" Li said over the phone.
"They couldn't have gone far" I shouted and hung up my phone in a car searching as well.
I shouldn't have let my guard down. She wouldn't have got away.
This bitch is dead when I find her.

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I awoke to Nick pulling onto a dirt road, trees aligned the road on each side. The gravel crunched as the tires hit.