She just started crying when she saw my bloodied figure. She wordlessly brought a towel out from the linen closet and began mopping the grime off me. With the exception of a few stains, most of the blood was wiped off. Seeing how I was only lightly wounded, her tears stopped flowing as intensely. I still winced as she touched my tender flesh. While wiping me down, she held grabbed my hand. She didn't seem to mind that some of the blood was splattering onto her clothes.
While my sister was cleaning me up, the other girls were doing their best not to so obviously stare. They hid behind their phone screens while staring discreetly at us. I could see they were just burning with questions.
Eve ripped off my torn shirt and inhaled a quick breath seeing more wounds. She dabbed at them with the towel and took a glance at my half-naked body. For the first time she wasn't reacting in a lustful manner. Instead, she looked genuinely worried. After finishing cleaning up my wounds, she dropped the towel and gave me a look that meant business. I wasn't stupid enough to not see that she was clearly angry.
"This has gone on long enough! I've had enough of you sneaking around. Might not be my business but I can't help but worry! I thought you were with Yvonne and texted her but she says you weren't. You'll be fessing up to what you've been up to lately mister."
"I can't say no can I?"
She furiously shook her head. I felt a headache coming. "Can we at least just talk it about it in private?"
"Hah? Anything you say can be said in front of them!"
I was a little surprised. I knew that she was bonding more than ever with her fellow models, but to this level? Color me surprised. As if reading my thoughts, Eve shook her head again. "I'm fine with discussing stuff like this in front of them. BUT I won't give you up to them!"
I half-heartedly laughed. Now that was more like my Eve. Her complaints had grounds. We had gotten a little bit more distant what with her upcoming show and my dealings with the mafia. I decided to explain a little bit. Of course I wouldn't tell her I joined the mafia. To be honest I was a little worried about her finding out. I didn't want Eve to have to deal with any more problems again. I walked over to the cabinet and took out a glass. I poured myself some water and leaned against the fridge. I opened my dried lips. "Well I've gotten a side job."
They all shared a look of confusion. Eve was the first to speak. "Why? We don't need to worry about money with my pay."
"It's a special job that I wanted to do for myself. I can't really get into the details."
Eve was looking at me suspiciously. I'm sure she could tell it wasn't the full story. After all, what kind of job leads to coming home soaked in blood? The room was tense and it seemed like the others would start bombarding me with questions. I was too tired to humor the questions that would certainly be coming so I pointedly walked into my room and closed the door, ignoring their protests.
Even with the door closed, I could still hear the fierce whispered discussion and someone whining. It seemed they were talking about me.
By the time I woke up in the morning, they were all gone, having left for their own homes sometime later that night. Most noticeably, I woke up alone in my bed. It turned out Eve was sleeping in her own bed. I would be lying if I said I didn't feel a little disappointed.
–––––––––
During my briefing last night, I had learned that Viktor the Cruel wasn't a popular guy in the family. Plenty of people had wanted him gone but he had done something important for the group several decades ago. Though he had slipped into bad habits and alcoholism, making everyone uncomfortable with his excessively debaucherous behavior, he was still kept around out of respect for his past actions. Knowing he was a piece of shit only made me feel better about holding no remorse for killing him.
The next day was my first meeting with my direct superiors. It was also my first day as an official member of the mafia. The family was organized into several different levels, with each level having significantly more power and respect than the previous. As a brand new member without any achievements, my status was lower than human trash. I had several bosses, though I only had to report to one. After a short shift at the restaurant that Yvonne was absent from again, I made my way to the address that was given to me the other night.
I stood before an office building. I handed the receptionist a business card that had my name on it and they nervously pointed me towards the elevators. I pressed the button that would take me to the basement floors. The elevators opened up into a white-walled foyer with a single door built into the room's walls. A slick camera was watching my every movement and the door opened automatically upon my arrival.
There were several people inside, most of them around my size and build. Everyone seemed around the same age as well. There were none of the giants or toughened members I had seen yesterday. I figured as much. As a grunt, I expected this would be the janitorial division. The family used achievements for promotions and status. I hadn't even gone on an official job so my achievements were at an impressive zero.
I wasn't surprised being placed in this lowly division. Rather, I was more intrigued with the apparent leader. I recognized her as the woman who had stood up in the audience last night. Now that I had a better look at her she really reminded me of someone...
She was the only woman in this group and gave off a very, very arrogant attitude. Her defined eyebrows wiggled at my appearance. I wasn't late but I still felt like apologizing for some reason. Her sleeves were rolled up and her black gloves were pointing at something on a map. She was dressed rather dangerously and her Adonis belt was being exposed and flaunted. Shockingly, none of the guys dared to even look at her with a hint of lust. They were clearly afraid of her. Seeing as I had interrupted something, I gave an awkward chuckle and turned around. "Wrong room ahahaha."
I was going to leave but she moved faster than I expected. Like a viper she dashed across the room and grabbed my forearm, then started to drag me back inside the room. Her fingers dug into my skin and I couldn't help but wince at the pain. Was she purposely holding onto the bruised parts? She tossed me aside and looked disappointed when I didn't fall flat on my face. Instead, I just slightly lost my balance. I was a little surprised when she spoke. Her voice was surprisingly graceful. She sounded like she belonged sitting on some throne not babysitting a group of low-tier mafia members. "You better have a good excuse why you're late or I'll rip your throat out with my own hands."
To emphasize her point she tossed a dagger that appeared out of nowhere and embedded itself in the floor dangerously close to my privates. I brushed myself and gave her an innocent expression. "Am I though? I don't remember getting a message that the meeting time had changed..." She frowned and slammed her fist on the table. She didn't seem to like that answer.
"Shut the fuck up and don't question me! Didn't they teach you shit during those lessons? You don't ever, ever argue with your superiors!"
She mumbled something afterward. "Father's such a dick! That motherfucker gives me the dumbest bricks in the group on purpose! Looking at this group of stupid shits I can already see we'll be ranked at the bottom again. ARGH and this is my last chance to prove that I can run things better than big brother Mil!"
Hold on. I remembered learning something off the books from the instructor. He had spent a day talking about the hierarchy of the family and the several family heads and bosses. What I knew about the top members of the family was that there was one in particular who had two children also working in the business. There was a third who had been rumored to have been disowned several years for crossing paths over a marriage proposal. Anyways, the first one was my former coworker Milkovich and the other one was rumored to be a woman. Don't tell me...
I cleared my throat. The woman snapped her head towards me, her long, blonde hair whipping around. The other guys were looking at me in horror. Apparently, it was an unspoken rule not to interrupt the mistress? "I was wondering what your name was? I'm afraid I wasn't around for introductions."
I remembered it. The instructor had said her name was - "Yelena Marie." She gave me a condescending look and then took the time to glare around her. "But you maggots will be calling me Mistress or Big Sis." The daughter of one of the upper echelons was my boss.
Yelena Marie. Another of the rumors surrounding Yelena was that she was notorious for being the leader of one of the branch groups with the lowest success rate for completed jobs. I really did end up in some third-rate group. I didn't expect much but I internally groaned. Did they really see me as an incompetent?
After some introductions from the other guys that I barely paid attention to, we were divided into smaller divisions of two and given assignments. So the others paired off and began heading out. Except for me. Yelena told me to stay behind. She was sitting against the wall while lighting a cigarette. She took a deep breath and blew out the smoke. She dropped the cigarette and stomped on it with her heels, all while staring at me in the eye.
I broke the silence first. "So we got ah any cleaning up to do?"
She only snorted in response. "What, you killed someone last night and you're already thirsting for more blood? You goddamn psychopath."
I didn't bother replying. She continued on.
"I gotta admit this is the shittiest group in the whole family. Of course, we don't get important assignments like killing. No way the higher-ups would risk their reputation by giving the group with the lowest success rate a job like that."
She lit another cigarette and puffed at it thoughtfully. "Hmm you don't really look the part so it looks like it'll be safe. Good news squirt," I winced at that. She was barely older than me and was calling me a squirt? "Turns out I do have a job for you though. Here, take this package to my sister. It's her birthday and I don't have the time to go myself."
She took out a present wrapped in a cute pink ribbon from under her desk. "Here's her address." She handed me a piece of paper. I didn't know what to say. An errand boy? I was crying inside but convinced myself that this was only a phase. Surely I'd climb the ladders, right? As I walked away with a slight slouch, she called out. I thought she was calling me out for looking like a bum, but it was something else. "Oh and by the way if you do anything to her I'll kill you, understood?" What kind of crazy bastard would dare to harass the sister of a mafia leader? I only waved behind me to acknowledge her. As I left the room, I could tell she was seething at me for dismissing her like that.
I stared at the location and realized it wasn't too far away from my restaurant. I took the bus out into the city and found myself passing the bus stop by the restaurant. It was only two stops away from the address. It took me to a residential neighborhood and I walked up to the doorstep of a modest brownstone. There was a convertible parked outside and a well-maintained lawn. I contemplated just knocking and leaving the present on the porch. But I shuddered, imagining what would happen to me if the present got stolen or damaged. So I waited for the door to open.
It did and I was surprised when a man answered it. He was pretty young and had glasses and messy hair. We both stared at each other dumbly. Didn't Yelena say she had a sister? I cleared my throat. "I came here for Miss Yelena's sister's birthday present."
The man visibly relaxed. It looked like he was nervous at my appearance. Did I really look that scary... He even sighed a breath of relief and turned around. He called out. "Babe come out! Someone that knows your sister is here!"
I heard a muffled voice crying out "Just a second. Be right there!" Then the thuds of footsteps. Standing in the doorframe was Yelena's sister. I couldn't believe who it was and could only gawk at her. At the same time, we pointed to each other. "Y-y-y-y-y-you!"
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A.N. Real mfs will notice how Yelena has the same surname as a certain waitress. Thanks for reading.