Heartless

Mr. Smith

*The Death Stance, jk but this stance means business

~

"Why did you call me here, Mr. Shelby? We weren't supposed to meet until next week." A man said.

"Just have a seat, Mr. Smith, all will be explained." Tommy said.

He stood behind his desk in his customary regal manner; his hands were in his pockets and a cigarette was in his mouth.

"Alright, Mr. Shelby, as you wish," Mr. Smith said, setting down in front of Tommy.

"May I have a drink?" He asked Tommy.

Tommy looked at him and said, "No."

"No?" The man laughed nervously, "I can't have a drink?" The man took his cap off, revealing his balding head, and anxiously wrung it in his hands, "Geez Tommy, what is this about anyway?" He asked.

"Do you know what happened to my wife?" Tommy asked plainly, looking the man in the eyes.

"Y-yes Tommy but-" He stammered.

"I hired you to keep a security detail on her house twenty four hours a day, did I not?" Tommy asked.

"Yes, you instructed me to keep a watch on her, that she wouldn't notice, so she would not feel spied on. Those were your orders exactly, sir." The man said.

"My orders exactly..." Tommy repeated, taking a long moment to look in another direction and remove his cigarette, blowing out smoke.

In this uncomfortably long moment, Mr. Smith tried not to squirm from anxiousness.

"Mr. Shelby-" he spoke up.

"How did those men find her house, Mr. Smith? And how the fuck did they break her twenty four hour guard?" Thomas spoke up.

"I-I-I don't know sir, it-it must've b-been a-"He began.

"Spit it out, Smith." Tommy said.

"The men must've followed your brothers...to her house. That must be how they found her." He said.

"Are you saying my brothers are dumb enough to not notice if they were being followed?" Tommy asked with rising hostility, his patience was slowly ebbing, giving way to a deep anger.

"N-no Tommy that's not what I meant." He said.

"I received information...from contacts. They informed me that you were bribed. They also informed me that you instructed Mrs. Shelby's guards to, and I quote, 'take the day off.' So cut the bullshit and give me a reason not to put a bullet in your head right now." Tommy said.

The man gripped the armrests of his chair. He was sweating terribly.

"Look Tommy, you know I owe everything to you. Without you, I would be dead right now. I have so many enemies who'd put that bullet in my head for you. B-but I'm sure this attack was just a coincidence. They only found Mrs. Shelby's house by luck. They probably didn't even know who she was. Might've thought she was a maid. You've got to believe me Tommy, we have history-" The man's rambling was cut off by a firm knock at the door.

"Who is it?" Tommy said, obviously annoyed at the amount of shit presently spilling out of this man's mouth.

"It's Toni," came a muffled reply.

Tommy's heart leapt slightly at the sound of her voice. But he could not show it, not it front of this scumbag.

"Come in," he said.

Toni walked in slowly, almost meekly. It seemed that all of her courage went away as soon as she saw Tommy. He looked angry enough to strangle her.