a late valentine for all of my valentines <3
“A trait that kept them vigilant, safe. One that Zayne prided of each of his younger siblings, but not one that he wished them to have to weaponise every single day. Not Callan, nor Brayden either.
Even as they sat to his right, staring down at the man on the opposite end who called out on, insisted upon, the mistake that had been made in the weapons he received.
This matter had to be handled meticulously.
Zayne leaned back in his chair, the movement gaining the full attention of Adrian, who had only been directing his complaints primarily to Callan and Brayden. Hands splayed over the table, head tilted forward, and eyes challenging, which would not do.
Callan leaned back upon seeing the man's attention had diverted, eyes flickering to Zayne with barely concealed exasperation. Zayne flexed his fingers subtly, allowing Callan a moment's reprieve as he addressed Adrian himself, for the first time since the meeting had begun.
"There was no mistake," he said.
Adrian paused. Then, he slowly removed his hands from the mahogany, leaving behind smudged marks that made Zayne's eye twitch. He leaned back, mirroring Zayne as he huffed.
"All due respect, Mr Verlice," he replied, "But my men counted a significant deficit of cargo in the shipment that was promised to us, and that poses a certain..." Adrian leaned his head back further into the chair. "Well, problem."
Zayne hummed, tapping his thumb once, twice against the arm of his chair. "A problem."
Adrian swallowed and took a moment before nodding haltingly.”
