The Accidental Detective: Finding Her Boss

Chapter 40

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The backroom of The Broken Halo was nothing like the front.

Gone was the dim bar light and cheap laughter, here the air felt heavier, like it had soaked up years of whispered threats and quiet violence.

A single bulb hung from the ceiling, casting a harsh cone of yellow light over a scarred wooden table. The walls were lined with crates stamped with false shipping labels. "Machine Parts" were what they read, a lie everyone in the room knew wasn't fooling anyone.

Vito DeSantis sat in the middle of the room, legs spread underneath the wooden table with a smile that seemed to be permanent on his face, he motioned for Zayden and Elias to step in with two of his men following behind, closing the door behind them with a dull thud, and the sound echoed, sealing them in.

"Nice little set up you got here," Elias commented, keeping his tone casual.

Vito hummed, lighting a cigarette, the flare from his lighter briefly lit scars across his knuckles. "Appreciate the compliment, we like to keep things quiet back here. You know? No spies, no unwanted ears, no prying eyes, no cops."

Cough.

Vito eyes then swept up, locking with Zayden- who was trying his hardest not to look as suspicious as he felt.

"You, with the leather jacket," he pointed at him with the cigarette between his middle and pointer fingers, "you look like you've seen some hard nights."

"Seen worse," Zayden said evenly, with what he hoped was a nonchalant shrug, "I hear you pay better than the streets, so here I am."

Vito pink lips stretched into a smile- too pretty for a man who's in such an evil business, before wrapping around the cigarette stick and taking a pull, the butt glowing with the action, "we try not to encourage our newest recruits to be in it for the money, but who am I kidding? What else are we here for if not for the money? But tell me, do you think you can handle what we do here?" Smoke floated from between his lips as he spoke, his eyelids low but very aware.

He motioned towards the door, where the two men stood guard, "we'll see if you got what it takes, you and your...friend."

Elias tilted his chin up slightly, defiance in his grey eyes,"we have what it takes, it's on you to make it worth our time."

The two men standing by the door laughed, but Vito only smiled, a cold reptilian smile, "oh, I will."

Through his earpiece, Zayden could here Zenith telling Elias to shut the fuck up, it almost had him cracking a smile of his own.

Zayden subtly scanned the room, counting the possible exits, guards, and guns, in preparation for the worst case scenario.

Two guards, each wielding a gun, Vito also had a gun tucked into the waistband of his pants- that's three guns, and only one exit that led to more criminals with even more guns.

The odds were heavily against them.

They had to make this work.

Vito took another drag then blew the smoke towards the ceiling. "So," he said slowly, "what kinda work you two used to?"

Zayden shrugged his shoulders, "whatever pays."

Elias softly scoffed next to him before adding, "ran some protection jobs downtown, debt collection, and he..." He nodded towards Zayden, "...handles negotiations when things get messy."

That earned another low chuckle from Vito. "Negotiations," he repeated with a shake of his head, finding the word amusing for some reason.

The criminal's grin was so carefree and genuine that it lightened the mood, but just for a moment.