Mind Breaker

𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 9

The car drive was slow and relaxing.

The rain was falling again.

The radio was soft.

He could smell her sweet perfume.

In the back of his mind, he was thinking about a cup of coffee.

A strong one.

***

She looked at him confused. As he pulled into the driveway of his house.
She tilted her head.

He felt himself smile...
"It's okay you can stay here for now- Just to be safe"

"I'm so sorry, for causing you so much trouble"

"It's okay. I'm doing this out of the care of my own heart"

"Well then thank you. I promise I'll repay you in the future-"

"There's no need for that. Let's go inside I'll order pizza if you're still hungry."

"Okay"

ꫂ ၴႅၴ

"And that's when I told her, that's what she said," Astoria laughed, finishing the story she was telling.
Her angelic laugh echoed through the kitchen.
Raden smiled as he sipped his coffee.
Astoria fanned her face with her hand as she let out a sound in the back of her throat.

She coughed, joking on a piece of pizza.
Raden patted her back and handed her a glass of water.
She sipped it and laughed again.

And so did he.

"Are you okay?"

"Mhm"

♡

The water trailed down the sink; he looked at himself in the mirror, his blue toothbrush in his mouth.
The mint burned his mouth and he spat out the toothpaste.

He combed his hair and tied up his shirt.
And slipped on his belt.

He stared at his rack of perfumes thinking about which one he wanted to use today.

He took the one closest to the front. And quickly rearranged them in a neat order.
He hurried downstairs and started to make a cup of coffee.
And sizzled up some breakfast. He placed the plate of scrambled eggs and bacon with two slices toast on a tray.

And poured a glass full of juice.

ꫂ ၴႅၴ

"Bad news, but also good news." Nicotine looked at Raden with a serious face.
"Bad news is they broke into Klaus's house last night. Good news is he didn't get hurt, and we found some finger prints."
Nico held up a finger to stop Raden from saying anything.

"Before you start over working your brain. We thought about it... This could be a set up. A tricky one, those finger prints could be a mislead."

"And it happened just last night..." Raden whispered to himself.

"Yeah, planned but on a budget of time."

"They probably wanted to scare us"

"Where's Klaus now?"

"He said he's going to go grocery shop"

Nico raised his eyebrows, looking at Raden. And Raden narrowed his eyes, with a tilt of his head.
Raden looked up at his colleague.

"Take me there"

Everything was quiet, the sound of a clock ticking, the hum of a refrigerator and the neighborhood dogs.

Raden looked around, Nicotine behind him. Raden sighed annoyed at the dust on a nearby empty shelf.

"I'll go look in the living" Nico said.

"I'll be up" Raden replied.

The wooden stairs creaked with every step he took up the narrow stairs. The paint of the wall was staring to vanish.
He looked at the open door that led into a bathroom. He pulled out his cloves putting them on. Then going towards the door next to the bathroom.

He twisted the doorknob and peered inside. The bed was made up, with two bedside tables, light curtains pulled opened, a desk with a few books on it and gray closet that was half open.

He picked up one of the books to read the title.

"The Riverian Massacre..."
He frowned and picked up another.

"Far from light..."

'dark.'

He went on to open the two bedside tables.
But found nothing interesting except a pice of paper that had a date on it. He examined it and placed it back in the drawer.

He hummed opening the drawers under the desk. A bunch of papers and file over flowing it.

Raden heard Nico come up the stairs, he looked at his partner with an raised eyebrow, upon seeing him with his glasses.

"Ah, yes. Better to have a good eye." He smirked tapping the side of his glasses.

"Sure" Raden said. "Here take a look at these papers."

Nicotine groaned as he was handed a stack of papers.
"All of it?" He asked.

"Yes, hurry up"

Raden read through all old documents, and medical bill reports. He made sure to memorize all of the important details.

"Here, a letter." Nicotine handed the letter to Raden, who read it.

"Thank you for agreeing, I assure you it was the best decision. From now on just follow my orders and don't mess up. Ever. I'm looking forward to work with you, as you kn-"

The rest of it was torn off.

"What do you think?" Raden thought for a second, then said.

"Let's keep looking" He said frowning.

Nico looked at him then nodded. They looked through all the papers, Raden memorizing them word by word. And Nico taking pictures of them.

The two of them stopped as they heard the front door close and open.

"Shit..." Nicotine whispered getting up to look out the window. "His car is outside"

The two of them quickly gathered the papers and shoving them into drawers again.

"What do we do?"

Raden looked around. "The window"

"What?"

"The drop isn't that far down"

"This is insane. But I trust you" Nicotine sighed opening up the window.
He peered down, closing his eyes and breathing out a shaky breath.
He lifted his body over and out the window.

Raden looked back over his shoulder, he could hear Klaus talking downstairs but couldn't make out much.
It sounded like he was on the phone.
Raden whish he could've stayed longer. But didn't want to risk it.

Just not now. Just not yet...

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