Short Stories Collection

5. Teatime (Carmen & Lolita)

   "Mr. Moreno, your sisters have arrived. Shall I send them in?"

   "Yes Anna. Gracias."

   The maid left the room following the man's orders. She walked through the long and dark corridor to get both sisters to meet with their older brother. When she reached the huge door at the end of it, she opened it and watched them as they stepped out of the car; big smiles stuck on their faces, meaning that the mission had gone as predicted. Their brother would be pleased.

   While the blond sister stayed behind, lightning a cigarette and flirting with their driver, the brunette kept elegantly walking to the entrance of their house.

   "Welcome home Miss Carmen. Your brother wants to meet with you and your sister in the drawing room at once."

   "Of course." She replied and removed her dark brown coat and matching gloves, handing them to the maid, who noticed a few blood stains all over it. Carmen then turned in the direction of her sister calling her "Lolita, leave the poor man alone and come inside."

   Lolita winked at the man and turned around to follow Carmen and the maid into the drawing room, after giving her coat and gloves to Anna, that were as ruined as her sister's.

   They stepped into the drawing room; their brother observing the greyish sky through the large window, a cigarette on his right hand. He turned around smiling at them.

   "Well... did you do it?"

   "Oh we did it alright." Lolita said indifferently whilst retouching her red lipstick.

   "But you of course already knew the answer Daniel. Why bother asking?" Carmen interrupted tediously.

   "Porque... well we should celebrate, right? This was a very important mission, was it not? And you arrived just in time for tea, my dear sisters." After that he called for Ana, who arrived quickly.

   "Would you like me to bring some tea sir?"

   "Oh no, not today. Today you bring us some whiskey and cigarettes, and put on some music on that old gramophone." She did as she was told, and the three siblings got seated on the large sofa.

   Carmen and Lolita shared a look while taking a sip from their drinks. They already knew what would come next. Their brother would start with the questions "How was it", "How did you do it", "Was there any complication? Anything I should know about?" and he would expect them to reply accordingly. But not this time, this time they had promised not to tell him a single detail. They always did the dirty work while he sat on his desk planning the next mission, and they were done with it. Not that doing the dirty work was a problem to them, no... they thought of it as a way to escape the boredom of their lives. What bothered them was Daniel. He would never do anything out of his desk but would get furious at them if something went wrong.

   "Won't either of you tell me how it went?"

   They had just arrived at the place and time of the meeting. In front of them stood a magnificent hotel. Carmen and Lolita stepped out of the car and followed a butler to a private room where the meeting would take place.

   "You can sit while you wait for Mr. Simmons and his sons. He'll arrive shortly." He made a small bow and left them alone in the private room.

   It was a dark room with dark red walls with only one window facing the fireplace. The floor was dark brown and had a round carpet in the middle, where three sofas stayed on top of it. The sofas were of a lighter red than the walls. They approached a painting that hanged on the wall opposite the door when the men entered.

   "I was expecting your brother to come, not you" he started watching them suspiciously.

   "Our brother had other business to take care of, and he trusts us to do this for him so shall we start Mr. Simmons?" Carmen eyed them while readjusting her hair. She had a short temper and hated to be in her brother's shadow when it was she and Lolita who did all the hard work.

   "There's no need to call me that, you can call me Lawrence." He gestured them to sit, while introducing his sons "And this is Elijah and Nathaniel, they will take care of my business one day."

   Lawrence had about fifty years old and a tired look rested on his face, while his sons who appeared to be on their twenties, looked full of life, expecting to discover the dangerous aspects of life. They sure wouldn't have to wait much more, as business with the Moreno sisters usually ended violently.

   "They will, if you agree to our brother's new conditions or else I'm afraid you will lose everything Lawrence. You see, you were supposed to give him 60% of your last heroin export, but he only received 40%. You should know better than to mess with our family." Lolita was so straightforward that people would usually stare at her perplexed. She leaned back while lighting a cigarette, looking between the three men defiantly, awaiting an answer.

   "If you had come with us, for once in your life, you would already know how it went. That family is full of pricks, brother."

   "Well that must have been a mistake. We surely wouldn't do that to you, of course."

   "You know Lawrence," Carmen left a puff of smoke out of her round lips. "my sister and I have the ability of knowing when someone is lying, which you clearly are, so you either tell us why you did it and maybe you'll be spared or... well you don't have a choice, actually."

   "Are you calling my father a liar?! You?! Who the hell do you think you are?" As soon as Elijah finished speaking he received a glare from his father. He obviously was new to this world and didn't know who he was messing with.

   "We have already discuss this. When people, especially men, look at you they do not expect you to be as dangerous as you are beautiful. This way I can run the family business while you easily deal with the rest. But don't think I don't appreciate your work. Sois lo más importante de mi vida."

   "You should have taught your sons to have some respect, but one can't expect much from a man who doesn't fulfil his part of the deal, right?" Without warning, Carmen grabbed her revolver and shot Lawrence Simons in the head. Blood spilling to their clothes and to the furniture. Lolita pointed hers at the two sons who had been caught off guard without being able to protect themselves.

   "Tell you what... you give us the 20% your father stole from us until the end of the week, or you'll receive the same fate of your father, eh?!" She finished speaking and fired onto the ceiling while the two brothers just stood there baffled and petrified.

   "The most important, sure Daniel...just remember that without us you are nothing, because we are the ones who do your dirty work!"

   They both got up, leaving their brother bewildered at their behaviour, and went to a nearby pub looking for some trouble.  

***

Hey! 

I hope you like this short story. It was inspired by Peaky Blinders, my favourite show ever, so it's normal if you find some similarities. If you do not know this show pleaseee go watch it, it is spectacular!!!

Have a nice day,

Ynes :)