“Please follow me.”
I slid my gaze to the waiter who had spoken. It was the same man who had eavesdropped on us last time and who had led us to the meeting with David. As I met his gaze, I idly wondered if he ever had any days off or if David kept him in this restaurant as a spy all the time.
“The boss will see you now,” he finished and motioned towards the same back room as last time.
Irritation flickered through me as Callan and I rose from our seats at the empty table and followed him. There were far too many people in this city who considered themselves to be the boss. And I wanted to poison every single one of them.
Only the clinking of utensils and soft murmur of people filled the silence as we made our way towards the door set into the back wall. Afternoon sunlight spilled in through the windows and set the delicate glasses and pitchers sparkling on the tables. I exchanged a brief glance with Callan before the waiter opened the door and motioned for us to enter.
It looked exactly the same as before. Dark wooden walls and floor, with only one table in the middle of the room and four chairs around it. And just a single thick candle atop the deep red tablecloth.
“Your little stunts were the talk of the town this morning,” David said from where he sat in the same chair as last time.
I bristled at him referring to our beautifully destructive raids as little stunts, but managed to suppress the urge to choke him to death and instead stalked up to the table. Without being invited to do so, I simply slid out a chair and dropped into it. Wood creaked faintly as Callan lowered himself into the seat next to mine.
“Yeah, I would imagine so,” I replied with a nonchalant flick of my wrist. “We were pretty thorough.”
David studied me intently, but all he said was, “Indeed you were.”
“Alright, we’ve struck a blow to Levi’s reputation,” Callan said as he leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms over his muscled chest. “What’s our next move?”
Light from the candle glinted in David’s shrewd brown eyes. For a few moments, he just watched us in silence as if he was assessing us. It only added to my already rising annoyance, and I curled my hand into a fist under the table.
“We want you to continue pulling those little stunts to mess with Levi’s reputation,” he said at last. After shifting his gaze between us, he lifted his shoulders in a casual shrug. “Maybe blackmail. Extorting people for money. Something along those lines.”
Crackling tension filled the heavy silence as Callan and I only stared back at him.
“Excuse me?” I said eventually, and I only managed to keep part of the sharpness from my voice.
He gave me a patient smile while raising his eyebrows, the epitome of innocence. “Which part was unclear?”
“I’m not sure. Either the part where you somehow think that you give us orders or the part where you think our skills are best suited for… little stunts. Or maybe both.” I flashed him a smile dripping with sweet poison. “Take your pick.”
To his credit, he remained entirely unfazed by my thinly veiled threats. “I thought we were on the same side. That you wanted to take Levi out just as much as we do.”
“Correct. But we are far too skilled to be doing these kinds of menial tasks.”
“Perhaps.” He stroked his moustache. “But Mr. Gale is the main player in this game, so he calls the shots.”
“We could always just leave you to your… game, and go at it alone instead.”
“You could. But then would you still be allowed to stay in Malgrave after Mr. Gale has killed Levi?”
“I would be very careful with those threats, if I were you.”
He raised his hands in an appeasing gesture. “It is not my intention to threaten you. But the fact of the matter remains that Mr. Gale is the one who calls the shots in the organization that I work for. So if you want to continue to collaborate with us on this mutual problem that we have, then you will need to follow his instructions. If you don’t want to follow his instructions, you are always, like you said, free to walk away at any time. But if you walk away, you will lose the backing of a powerful player. Both while we try to kill Levi and after that has been accomplished.”
“Blackmailing people and trashing gambling houses is still far below our skill levels.”
“I know. But until Mr. Gale has seen how reliable you are and feels ready to trust you with more important missions, that is what you will need to do. If you want to continue this joint effort.”
“David,” Callan said before I could shove a mass of poison down the arrogant idiot’s throat.
He slid his gaze to him. “Yes?”
“You knew who I was when you approached us. Which means that you know the reputation that comes with my name.” Callan gave him a smile so cold that it could have coated the walls in ice. “Don’t make us wait too long.”
David shifted slightly in his seat while a tight smile slid across his mouth, his first sign of unease since we walked through the door. But all he said was, “Does that mean that you will accept the mission to blackmail people under Levi’s protection?”
We remained silent, watching him with sharp smiles on our faces, for an uncomfortably long time. Then, right when the first flicker of worry appeared in his eyes, we leaned back in our chairs and shrugged as one.
“Sure,” I said with a casual wave of my hand.
David seemed to be about to exhale in relief, but instead cleared his throat. “Excellent. I’m glad that we can continue to cooperate like this.”
Neither of us replied.
He cleared his throat again. “I understand that it has been some time since you were last in Malgrave, which means that you might not be familiar with the current standing of the different establishments. The hits you made, while thorough, were unfortunately against gambling houses with a… lower standard. For this next mission, I would advise you to use The Black Rose as your hunting ground for people to blackmail.”
It took great effort to hide the spark of recognition. The Black Rose. That was the name of that glittering cabaret place that we had met Levi in earlier.
“It’s one of the more popular cabarets at the moment,” David continued. “And Levi himself has been known to visit it with his wife from time to time. So to have its patrons blackmailed would be a great blow to his reputation.”
Callan and I exchanged a glance. I assumed that he had also been planning on consulting Levi about which blackmail victims would cause the least amount of harm, but that would be very difficult now. It would look incredibly suspicious if we picked any other place than the one that David had so helpfully suggested.
“Yeah, I remember The Black Rose,” Callan said with a casual shrug. “We can hit that.”
A satisfied smile stretched David’s lips. “Excellent. I’m sure I will hear the whispers about it afterwards. I’ll send word for you then.”
Callan and I only watched him with hard eyes for a few seconds, to make it clear exactly what we thought about him sending word for us. He gave us a strained smile.
Our chairs grated loudly against the floor as we made a point of standing up very slowly. After staring David down for an extra second, we turned and headed for the door without another word.
As it swung shut behind us, I swore I could hear the arrogant advisor blow out a long breath.
The waiter who had brought us into the back room stealthily tracked our movements as we made our way towards the front door, but the rest of the restaurant continued eating and chatting, blissfully ignorant of the bloody schemes that were being planned out of sight.
Warm afternoon sunlight caressed my cheeks as we at last stepped back out onto the street.
As soon as the door had been closed behind us, Callan let out a low growl.
“I fucking hate that guy,” he ground out.
“Me too.”
He flexed his hands as we started down the street. “Hell damn it all, I just want to shove a force blade through his throat and cut his inflated head off his damn shoulders.”
Amusement pulled at my lips as I glanced up at his scowling face. “Again, me too.”
After letting out a long exhale, he looked down to meet my gaze. A wicked grin ghosted across his mouth. “How about blowing off some steam?”
An answering grin slid home on my own lips. “I’m listening.”
“We need to take out our frustrations on someone.” A predatory glint crept into his eyes. “Someone who has it coming.”
“Ah.” Understanding clicked into place. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
“Yep. And I know exactly where to find them.”
