"Tell me again, why are you here, right now?" Mia asked as she unlocked the apartment door.
Tony gave her a silly smile and entered the house after her. The door shut itself with a loud thud that echoed in the house.
Mia had been living in this place for quite some time now but it still felt cold. The white curtains danced with the wind that blew from the windows.
"I guess, Sugar is asleep," Tony remarked and grabbed water from the kitchen.
Mia slowly went towards the couch and took a seat. She tried to keep her actions quiet. She knew that Samantha was a light sleeper, everyone in the mafia business was actually a light sleeper.
They were always on their toes. They were trained to react to even a tiny fraction of noise near them.
"Yeah, try to keep it low." Mia shushed Tony as his throat made weird noises when he gulped the water.
He stopped immediately and softly closed the bottle's lid. Keeping the half-empty water bottle on the kitchen island, he also took small steps towards the couch.
"She must be tired today. She has been tracking Carys' movements." Tony softly said after taking a seat right next to Mia.
Mia slowly nodded and stared at something in oblivion.
Mia looked like Mia right now. She looked like someone Tony used to know. Her face was small and innocent. It felt like Tony had just gotten back the fifteen-year-old Mia. Everything was beautiful before the curse fifteenth year occupied Mia's life.
"You look different today." Tony softly whispered towards Mia.
It made Mia immediately turn her head towards Tony. She looked at him and made a confused face.
"What's different? Is my makeup different?" Mia touched her face and questioned.
"I didn't mean to say that." Tony peeled his eyes off Mia's face. It was awkward looking at Mia for him. He would always get lost in her, in her eyes.
"What do you mean then?" Mia was adamant.
Tony shrugged. "Forget it."
"You know, I hate when you do that." Mia rested her hands in front of her chest. She had an irritated expression on her face, clearly visible to Tony.
"Don't be mad at me." Tony cheekily said.
"Don't do that then." Mia pointed.
"You'll wake her up." Tony shushed her and gave out a light laugh.
Silence followed when Mia rested her head back on the couch and closed her eyes.
She was tired. It was not because of all the socializing that she had done today but because of the last sentence that Carys had said before throwing up all over the table.
She had to call the server and apologize on his behalf. She had then called Tony and pushed Carys away in a cab.
It had been an embarrassing event but it was the least of Mia's worries. Mia's worry lay somewhere else, like in between the moments when Carys had grabbed her wrist.
"What did Carys say to you?" Tony had asked. Mia suddenly opened her eyes and sat straight.
Did she give it away? Was she so transparent?
"He kept saying, 'I shouldn't have said that to her' when I was shoving him inside that cab," Tony added.
Mia's mind was at ease for now.
"How do you know that he was talking about me?" Mia casually asked.
"There was no other 'her' there, Mia." Tony pointed out and it made Mia bite her tongue.
It was not a secret but Mia wanted it to be. Right now, she cannot afford any distractions.
"Lily?" Mia questioned.
"She left early. You guys took your sweet time calling the cab." Tony immediately regretted saying that.
Mia was silent.
"I didn't mean that." Tony quickly added. It was foolish of him to say that to Mia. Mia wasn't Mia, she was Pericolosa too and nobody had the right to question the leader.
"He was throwing up. What do you expect?" Mia answered.
Tony was astonished to see that Pericolosa had decided to forgive the blasphemy that he had just conducted.
Maybe, today it was actually Mia talking to him on the couch and not Pericolosa. Her childhood best friend, Mia.
"Now, go and sleep," Mia said, standing up from the couch.
"I know why you walked me here." She added after walking softly towards her room.
"Good Night," Tony replied and walked out of the house.
Mia stood at her bedroom door until Tony was out of the house. She knew why Tony was here instead of his own apartment. It was late and he was just doing his duty of protecting Pericolosa like he always had.
She slowly opened the room's door and walked to her desk.
The computer screen was lit up. The footage from Carys' house played in front of Mia.
She carefully took in all the cameras and gave out a deep breath.
Why was it that three words from Carys were making her anxious? She was not able to concentrate on anything other than those words coming out of Carys' mouth.
She couldn't feel anything other than the warmth that Carys had somehow tattooed on her body.
She was still warm.
But what was the actual reason that had made Carys say those words to her? She had never been nice to him. She had always tried to avoid him.
What was so special about her boring eyes? She wondered.
She could do nothing but wonder.
A sudden movement on her computer screen took her attention and she leaned into the computer to see what was going on inside Carys' house.
It was a great idea given by Tony. The opportunity to access the security cameras had opened a lot of gates for Serpents.
Samantha had been tracking Carys' and his parents' movements since the day the cameras were hacked. They now had every possible schedule of the Jones family, they could end this mission on any possible day.
The main gate opened and Mia saw Carys entering the house.
She leaned in closer to take a good look at him. He seemed a little sober now but still walked with a lot of weak steps.
Carys then entered the living room and Mia looked for the living room camera on her screen. On finding the correct window, she clicked on the maximize button and let it occupy her whole screen.
Carys plopped himself on the big couch placed in the living room. He lay down and closed his eyes.
He must have been a little too drunk; Mia thought to herself.
"It was just a drunk thought." Mia talked to herself and focused on Carys lying down on the couch.
There was no movement for a long time. Mia just stayed on her desk and stared at the screen. Carys slept on the couch with his legs crouched up by his chest.
"He always sleeps like a baby." Mia found herself saying and then immediately stopped.
What was she even doing? She was watching Carys sleep on a couch. She was weird.
She decided to shut down the laptop but before she could go ahead with that thought, there was a movement on the screen.
It was Carys again. He had woken up from his slumber and now he was looking for something.
He sat up straight and tapered on all his possible pockets. He tapped his chest and then his Jean's pockets.
Mia looked at the screen with curiosity.
Carys looked at the couch and then looked at the small coffee table right in front of the couch.
"Is he looking for his mobile phone?" Mia asked and leaned more into her computer.
Leaning would do nothing in favour of Mia, she couldn't possibly get a clearer image of Carys, but she did it anyway.
Carys finally stood up and looked at the place where he was sitting.
His phone lay exactly where he sat.
The scenario made Mia chuckle whereas it was irritating for Carys. He picked up the phone with shame and sat down on the couch again.
He then opened her phone and tapped on it. It was security camera footage so Mia couldn't see who Carys' was thinking of in the middle of the night when he was this drunk.
He took his time and finally closed his phone. He rested his head back on the couch and closed his eyes again.
Suddenly, a ping was heard in Mia's room. She looked towards her phone laying on her desk right next to her laptop.
She picked it up with curiosity. Who was texting her in the middle of the night?
Mia almost let out a gasp when she saw Carys' name flash on her screen.
Carys was texting her?
'I know it is super late but I totally forgot to ask you this. Would you like to come to the product launch party of my Dad's company on Saturday?'
She stole a glance at a peaceful picture of Carys sleeping in front of her and sighed.