Abrade - [Charles Leclerc] A Sequel To Corrode

Nove

Jules looked down at the bracelet around his wrist when he sat at the table in his father's office. Mick was seated next to him, his father at the head of the table. Pierre and Carlos were here, and so was Arthur, his uncle. While he didn't really consider himself a rookie anymore in these circumstances, all the men at this table made him feel really small. None of them had looked at him in a condescending way. Pierre had given him an apologizing smile. The Frenchman had been there that night, after all. Charles was about to speak when there was a knock on the door. "Come in?", Charles asked, not sure who was about to interrupt their meeting that was about to start, but he visibly relaxed when Celia's sweet face appeared in the door opening, and she carried a plate with extra glasses and a new bottle of whiskey. "Sorry, Mr. Leclerc," she smiled shyly. "No worries, Celia," Charles sighed softly, not directing it at her. Jules glanced over to his side, seeing Mick's eyes fixed on the kitchen girl as she carefully put the glasses down on the table.

Celia looked over at Mick, the corners of her mouth curling further up as their eyes crossed path. Jules looked between them, witnessing the way her cheeks dusted a little pink as she walked around the table to pour a layer of the liquor into the glasses. Jules gently declined, he didn't want any, so it made Celia move over to his other side. She nearly dropped the glass when she wanted to put it in front of Mick, causing both of them to reach for it at the same time. It was awkward, a cute awkward, and Charles cleared his throat to make Celia work faster. Mick had a small smile on his lips, his fingers lingering on her wrist before he dropped his hand. Her hands were a little shaky when she poured the liquor into the glass and moved on to Charles himself. She took the plate with her again and rushed to get out of his office. Jules looked over at Mick, raising his eyebrows to form a question mark with his face as he looked at his friend. The friend he nearly got killed, if he may add. Mick had a little smirk on his face, but he didn't say anything as he looked at Charles.

"Charles, don't gatekeep," Pierre muttered, looking at his friend's notes from over the table as Charles' office filled with silence again. "Right," Charles cleared his throat and gave Pierre a glance before he spoke up again. "We are possibly at war with this new crew from Nice," Charles said. "I killed their leader," Jules spoke up. "You don't get to-..." "I do," Jules defended himself. "This is a mess I made," he said. "Mate, I thought..." Arthur looked over at his brother before looking around the table. "I play a big role in solving it too. I know some stuff about them, I have text messages and pictures. Mick knows stuff too," Jules continued, taking the documents he's been holding under the table and placing them in the middle, shoving them over to Charles. "Their phones have always been burners, they won't be traceable. I know the location of their warehouse, as we have been invited there," Jules says. Charles picks up the papers and looks at the screenshots of the texts. His eyes glide over it, looking at the pictures of some girls Joao had sent. He remembered Jules had described one of the girls was bruised and limping, so he guessed the pretty blonde was this Nadine Jules talked about.

"You know girls on the inside?" Arthur asks, looking over his glasses at Jules as he was having the papers after Charles. "Some of them I only saw once, I knew Nadine, but I don't know where she is now," Jules swallows hard. "What else do they deal in?" Carlos spoke up. "Coke and heroin," Mick said. "They are expanding quickly," he added, making Jules nod. "They will never trust one of ours again, so we need someone on the inside," Charles said. "There is one of us they don't know yet," Mick opted, looking over at Charles. "Liam?" Jules snorted. "Shut up," Charles snarled, furrowing his brows as he looked over at Mick again to continue what he wanted to say. "I mean, he's popular with the ladies," Mick shrugs. "He doesn't look like Charles, he can take Joanne's surname, go under our protection, and they think he's just some perf wanting to buy a girl." Some of them chuckled at the idea of Liam going up there, but Charles had to admit, it was a decent plan. "Let me think about it. We need more before we go in there," Charles said. "Alright, Jules, show me the building and get me a map."