An Apple Away From Sin

3. They meet again

"Why am I not surprised?" Dex asked sarcastically.

It was evening and they were hiding behind a building opposite to the Stripper's club. In answer to his question Kabira gave out a sound which sounded partly amused and partly disgusted.

"Are you sure you want to go in there? You know I can get the information al-"

"Dex!" she said exasperatedly, "We," first she pointed towards herself and then at him, "are working together. So stop treating me like an amateur know-it-all rather than an experienced person. Moreover, we have had this bullshit conversation several times now. We are going to enter there and work separately. I will try to meet and squeeze out more info from the owner and then get the hell out of there while you will try to know more about the building. We have gone over this again and again. That's final. And we both know James Stevens is crueler, shrewder and more cunning than his, let his soul never rest in peace, elder brother ever had been. So forgive me if I'm too eager to have your back." She added the last sentence with sarcasm.

"It's time," she whispered after a while.

"Kabira."

"Yes?"

"I want to see you alive after this."

"You will," She smiled and came out from their hiding place.

She didn't turn back to see what Dex was doing. She kept walking confidently, showed her fake ID and walked inside. Once inside, she was bombarded with loud music, neon lights, strong smell of booze.

She weaved through the mad crowd. She wasn't in her uniform. She wasn't sure about this owner, Ethan Tate. The name sounded too superficial to her, she didn't know why. Even in that situation, Kabira felt like laughing. She had always been jealous of people with a good name... unlike her. She closed her eyes and composed herself. Now that she was inside, she took her time to look at her surrounding. Nothing was special. From her position, she could see the bartender working. 

She took a deep breathe. She was already feeling slightly claustrophobic... like she always did whenever she was in the middle of a crowd she could not control. A plan was forming inside her head. Admittedly, it wasn't the best plan. In fact, under a normal situation, she might have even called it under-average but she needed to meet the owner and get out of here as soon as possible.

She pulled out strands of hair from her tightly done ponytail and ruffled them so that they looked messy and hastily done.  The she pulled on her best sob face and went over to the bar and slid down on a bar stool, looking tired and rejected. 

After a while, she heard a voice. "Is everything alright, lady?"

She slowly shook her face. She spoke in a hoarse voice, "These men disgust me." She looked up at the bartender.

"Uh... do they?"

"Do you want to know exactly why?"

"I'm curious," he shrugged, "If I can help in anyway."

She gave a mirthless chuckle and looked away. 

"Because my husband is one of them too." her face contorted in pain. Beneath the bar she exchanged her mother's ring from her right hand ring finger to her left hand ring finger.

That got his attention completely. "Your husband?"

"Yes," she said with the right amount of desperation and sniffed. She placed her hands on top of the counter and made sure he could see her ring.

"Well what can I do for you? Is he here now? Do you need help?"

"I need your help but not in this. Please take me to the owner. I want to talk to him... or her," she knew who the owner was but she faked innocence.

"You- what?" he looked surprised. Then his surprise turned into suspicion. "Why do you want to talk to the owner?"

"I... I'm frustrated okay? Every fucking day I've to come here or to any other bar like this and drag him home. I feel so fucking worthless. I want to request the owner to not allow married men inside the club," she ended with a small sob. The bartender looked torn. He wanted to help her but it seemed like he was forbidden.

"I-"

"Please," with that she let tears roll down her eyes freely.

"Lady, lady stop."

But she paid no heed to it. Her sobs just got louder and louder while she mentally patted her own back for her excellent acting. After a while, the situation started attracting people's notice. Seeing that it was going out of control, he shot up both his hands up in the form of surrender and said, "Okay, okay. I'll take you to the owner. Now stop crying."

"You will?" she sniffed loudly.

"Yes."

"Okay," she wiped her tears and ended her show with few small hiccups and said, "Let's go."

Where is the standing ovation when I fucking deserve one?

"What kind of a person is-" she asked as soon as they left the room and took a flight of staircase.

"He." he added grumpily.

"He? I mean what kind of a person is he?"

"You'll find out yourself."

She considered that for a while and decided that was a better way to judge the owner's character and squeeze out information about the Stevens. Rest of the way, neither said a word. At last he paused in front of a door and said, "Mind your tongue and you might get your wish granted."

She nodded her head solemnly and waited behind him while he knocked at the door and informed whoever was inside about her arrival.At last he got an affirmation and turned around and said, "Go inside but don't anger him."

Anger him? She slightly snorted. She was more inclined on scaring him. However to manage that little slip, she hurriedly assured him and walked through the door the bartender had pushed open.

As soon as she entered the room, the first thing she noticed was the dark colored walls. The room was empty of any furniture other than a desk and a chair and there were many people standing inside the room. She tore her gaze away from the distractions to look at the man sitting on the leather chair. However, as soon as her gaze fell on the particular person her heart skipped ten beats. Wasn't the owner's name given in the document, Ethan Tate?Then how-

"Sir, this is the lady I was talking about."

You are so helpful. He was the owner then.

"I see. So glad to finally see you again, Ms Davis." he said in his baritone voice.

He knew her. Where was Dex? Was he okay?

"Don't stand in the doorway. Please come in." his otherwise polite words were laced with cruelty. She snapped out of her surprised state and whipped out her gun and shot. It was as if he was waiting for it. He moved away swiftly and the bullet hit one of his men in the abdomen. But before she could shoot again, she felt the prick on her neck.

She immediately knew what it was.

Bloody coward!

The drug kicked in almost instantly. Her knees buckled and she fell on the floor. As she lost her consciousness, she found herself staring at the cruel, smirking face of her enemy.

Of James Stevens.