Two Years Later
Alexis combed her fingers through her lilac-dyed hair, and then proudly nodded back at her hairstylist.
Vincent had offered her anything she wanted for her fourteenth birthday, but there was nothing she wanted more than lilac-dyed hair, lilac contact lenses and a lilac suit. He'd refused the contacts, but a tailor and stylist had been booked to deliver the suit and hairstyle in time for her party in the next few days.
Alexis had also requested a haircut, a little shorter than Vincent had permitted, but over her time with him, she'd quickly learnt that there were practically no consequences for her transgressions. A realisation that she'd pushed further and further each month just to see exactly how much she could get away with. It was all in good faith though as she also learnt, very quickly, the reason the other men of Blackthorn took an almost completely submissive role around him.
Behind his dark eyes and the veneer of organized crime and power, he had the most unexpected traits - kindness and sincerity.
Alexis had noticed as much on their first meeting. Vincent was fiercely loyal to those he considered family, and his gang members were more than just underlings; he considered them brothers.
In stark contrast to his ruthless reputation, Vincent was constant in ensuring the well-being of the men of Blackthorn, and there was no problem they could face that he wouldn't want a hand in, in order to help. They weren't obedient due to fear as she had once imagined but through his genuine sense of camaraderie and care.
The same was true of Alexis. Despite pushing the boundaries in all things trivial, she would never dare to directly go against his will. As far as she was concerned, she owed him her life, and she would willingly hand it over to him in a split moment.
After dismissing the hair stylist, Alexis dressed herself in her new suit and fixed her pocket knife into her chest holster.
The pocket knife had been a gift from Vincent, not too long after she'd arrived. He'd said it was so she wouldn't have to break any more dangerous objects and hide them on her body, and as long as she was responsible, she could carry the knife on her whenever she wanted. It was rustic brown with gold finishings, and Vincent had offered to have the linings changed to another colour if she wished. Alexis declined, feeling that being the new owner of Vincent's old knife was an honour and not one she wished to sully by having any alterations made to it.
After giving her new look one last glance in the mirror, Alexis left her room and made her way down to where the men were.
Geoffrey was the first she came across in the hall at the bottom of the stairs, which satisfied her greatly as he was the main person, aside from Vincent, whom she wanted to show her look to.
"Whoa," he said when he saw her and raised his hand in the air for her to jump and land a high five on it.
"You look cool," he said giving a small head nod as he spoke, and then after raising his eyebrows slightly added. "It almost suits you better than it suits me ... almost."
"Only because you're literally my role model I'm going to let you get away with that," she said with a mock glare. "But I'm going to make this look my own soon, you wait and see."
"I don't doubt you will," he said before giving her a gentle ruffle on her head. "Hey," he then called, turning to Thomas who had just entered the hall. "Look at my twin."
Thomas stopped and looked between the two of them, his expression not changing here nor there.
"Nice," he eventually said. "I can't tell the two of you apart," and then he continued on his way, which was, if you are wondering, quite a lengthy sentence for him to deliver in such a trivial matter.
Alexis was used to Thomas' lack of investment in anything Alexis. He was rarely invested in anything at all unless it was Vincent or a direct order from Vincent.
He was a quiet person who didn't involve himself in the games that the other men would play. On those occasions, he could usually be found lounging either in the garden or the library with his headphones on. However, despite his isolated nature, Alexis had spent plenty of time with him over the last two years, either while he was shadowing Vincent, or taking her to shooting practice as Vincent had instructed him.
Shooting practice was a lot more enjoyable than she'd initially expected, considering who her tutor was. Thomas in that field, was nothing short of amazing.
He knew everything about firearms, just as Vincent had told her. His expertise shone through in the way he handled his weapon, in his shooting technique, and in his instructions, which were always clear and concise.
He was also, peculiarly complimentary whenever she made a good shot, or when she beat her own time on disassembling and reassembling her gun. He was still fairly intimidating, but there was a calm, sombreness about him that Alexis found comforting as well as intriguing.
"We can be partners now, right?" she asked when Thomas had left, leaving her to get to her ultimate objective.
"Sure. Well, you already are my partner, princess," he said with a small wink. "That's why none of these fellas ever wanna play us in a round of poker. You and I always wipe the board with them."
"So, can I come with you on your mission today?"
"Mission?" he asked, feigning ignorance.
"Yes. I heard that The Cleaner will be needed, so …"
"And what makes you think that has anything to do with me?" he asked.
Alexis laughed internally. The members of Blackthorn were all expert liars, with not even a single trace of dishonesty appearing upon them whenever they weaved a tale. This was one of the most challenging things about their games of poker, but then, Alexis always watched them closely in all of their interactions and had come particularly clued on a lot of their tells too.
"How long do you all think that you can keep things a secret from me?" she asked. "I know all of your code names you know," she said before whispering, "You're The Cleaner."
Geoffrey's lip curled up into a small smile. "And what do you think it is that The Cleaner does?"
That was a good question, and one that Alexis had no answer to. The actual duties of the members were never mentioned in any of the talks that she'd heard. It would simply be things like, The Cleaner is needed at location three, or someone is in need of their prayers being answered and is looking for an Angel; The Angel being Joey.
What the cleaner would exactly be doing, or what answering someone's prayers looked like, Alexis had no idea.
"I don't know, but if we're partners you can show me, right? And give me a code name like, The Stick or something."
Geoffrey let out a laugh. "The Stick? What kind of codename is that?"
"You know, as in broomstick, since we're cleaning."
Geoffrey laughed at that. "I guess. But I'll tell you what. If you can tell me the codename of the next person we see, I'll ask Vinnie if you can be my new partner."
Geoffrey regularly called Vincent Vinnie and was the only one who did so. Meanwhile, Alexis hoped that Vincent was not the next person they came across as he was the only person whose codename she had no idea of, unless The Boss was it as she hadn't figured anything else out that could relate to him.
Thankfully, it was Ren.
He was a lot more impressed with Alexis' new look than Thomas had been, and after a short conversation went on his way.
"So?" Geoffrey asked, leaning in close to Alexis.
"Zeroes," she whispered.
"Wow, you have been paying attention."
Alexis nodded, proud of herself and the fact that she had made the correct assumptions.
"What does Zeroes mean though?"
"Haha," Geoffrey said. "I can't tell you that, but if you can imagine something that has lots of zeroes then you might be on the right track."
Lots of zeroes? Alexis wondered as she watched Ren from behind.
He most certainly was good with numbers and the strongest opponent in a lot of card games, so why would being good with numbers be an asset? She tried to recall some of the tasks Zeroes had had to deal with but was interrupted by Geoffrey.
"You do understand never to call anybody by their codename, right?"
"Of course," she said, wanting to add that she wasn't dumb, but expressing rudeness wasn't one of her attributes so she remained silent on that point. "So, you'll ask Vincent about the mission now, won't you?"
Geoffrey nodded. "I guess I'll go do that now," he said before heading off in the direction of Vincent's office.
A little over an hour passed and Geoffrey returned with a smile and told her that it was time to leave.
"We'll get a coffee on the way," he said after handing her a small rucksack and then he gave a gesture for her to follow him.
"Wow, are you for real?" she asked, amazed that Vincent had agreed so easily.
"You wanted to come, didn't you?"
"Yeah, but I was expecting a brief and things like that."
Geoffrey laughed out loud at that. "I'm guessing you think my job is a lot more glamorous than it is."
That was probably true. She'd figured out Blackthorn was a pretty high-profile criminal organisation and though she'd never been told exactlt what they did, she assumed that they were all assassins and drug dealers.
But maybe cleaning really was just cleaning, as in sweeping and mopping as she had joked, and not cleaning up the last members of a rival gang.
Well, whatever it was, she was about to find out very soon.