Business Arrangement

Part 5

CHAPTER 5:

I SMILE BRIGHTER amongst the artwork, "Beautiful, is it not?" I say to Ender, my arm through his. His branded black Armani suit classed with a dark blood red tie stood out amongst the other viewers in the museum.

"The art? I know something of greater beauty." He murmurs down to me.

I trail my eyes to his, "Care to share." I offer.

He brushes a strand of my hair behind my ear, "You." He stares deep into my eyes.

I let go of his arm, "More, Ender. Much more." I pat his cheek and grab his hand instead, before pointing at a painting of a black, red and silver, "This painting was done by an Australian artist in the early nineteen hundreds. It's a village carved in ruins. The painter's family was brutally murdered by invaders looking to overcome the land. He called it the 'Crimson Rain', blood water. He described the redness of it to be darker than the colour of blood, how his heat felt when he watched his soulmate get ripped apart by men of vile standing. Vengeance became quite clear, a wise man waits in patience, he did not. He attacked full force, the painter died only after he removed all the men who hurt her from such a world. The war wasn't fascinating, but his vengeance certainly was. He killed for her. Beauty is nothing without looking beneath the layers, like art for example, like this Australian's artwork. He painted the ruins and after before he took his revenge, he painted her." I gesture to the painting next to it.

He stares at her, his body a relaxed, loose change.

"So, is it my inner beauty or my looks in which you were calling beautiful?" I ask him, raising an eyebrow.

He stares at the gruesome village now, "I would kill for you."

I blink, "Well, that's rather morbid, but alright...oh, there's my class. Hurry along, remember, look like one of my Dad's guards." I tease, before moving past him and shaking off his words, I couldn't believe he'd said them aloud, there were bloody children and mothers nearby.

Eden grasps my hand, "There you are, where'd you go? I thought we'd lost you at the floral paintings?" She murmurs.

"Just speaking with my guards about giving me some space to breathe. Honestly, when are we going to get to the diamond and gold egg they said our papers would be on?" I mumble, glancing behind us where Eliot follows with rolled eyes. I knock my heel back and he lightly grunts.

Eden glances over at him and flinches, "Bloody hell." She breathes out, pulling me further towards the middle, "He still scares me." I wave her off, they weren't as bad, so long as you were something of an asset rather than a nuisance. I knew enough to know that in gangs, to get something, you must give over a hundred and fifty percent in return, or you're worthless. And being worthless constitutes for no longer needing to breathe. By digging your own grave, in the most extreme of times.

Once we got to the egg, it wasn't as priceless as the paintings. I was about to move closer when a slender, rough hand grasps my upper arm, I hitch a breath before furrowing my eyes at my eldest sister, Lauren. Hers penetrate mine, "What the hell have you done?" She spits at me, pulling me into a private room, before stilling in horror when we see Ender seated at the couch.

Eliot closes the door behind us and roughly grabs Lauren.

Ender puffs out cigarette smoke, I scrunch up my nose, he smoked?

What the gigantic-

"Did I just see you lay a hand on my fiancée?" The deep baritone of his voice silenced Lauren's breaths. Ender gestures for me, I hesitate with a look at his cigar. He sighs and hands it to Darren, who stood behind him in the plush yellow LED lighting and black leather seating. The aircon slips on, removing the smoke and I felt like I could breathe again. Dropping in next to Ender, he uses a hot flannel to wipe his fingers before one hand rests on my knee.