He looked around the room and seen that it had a bathroom, wandering over he figured a shower was in order. The soaps were nice and it was refreshing to smell like everyone else. He put on the gym wear and started heading down to brush up on his workout routine. There were a few early risers and late workers in the gym, it felt so calm and welcoming. He stretched out in a corner and soon went to work on his routine that his men had perfected over the years.
He had forgotten the whole thing but getting back to it was so easy, it was muscle memory that reminded him. He drifted out of his focused mind and listened to his surroundings, getting a sense that there were more people then what he started with.
“Look at him! No wonder they call him a Dragon!”
“You can see fire coming out of him when he breathes!”
“Is he touching the ground? I don’t think he is, is that what flight looks like?”
He ended the routine, breathing heavily, was this what being out of shape felt like? He heard clapping and looked to the gathered people. They quickly welcomed him back and said their good mornings. Then they went to work on their own routine with more energy than yesterday.
“Freeing, isn’t it?” his main bodyguard said. He remembered his name, Tony Morrow.
“Yeah, Tomorrow. I almost forgot how to fly.”
“Glad you remember, now get rid of the sweat your making the rest of us look bad,” he said then laughed.
He walked out of the gym heading for the room again, passing a few of his security, “Good work-out, Boss,” they said as he passed. He got on the elevator and a few people walked in with him.
“Hey Boss, my kid Rex you remember him? He got a good attendance award yesterday!”
“That’s great,” he told him and wondered if all of them told him things like that.
“My daughter is going to Collage, first one in the family to go. My son says he’s going to take a few years off to discover himself. I told him he should work here, best place to figure out what you want.”
“Isn’t it? Great skills to learn here, hell I’m still learning some new skills and I’ve been here for 6 years.”
“Do I even need to work here? It sounds like you made yourselves a perfect home,” he said.
“Haha, you made sure that we had everything we need. No Boss is as good as you other than your father. Oh, hey! I have a job down at The Lady Fortune tonight, first time I’m going to be working in a Casino. What do you think it will be like?”
“You’ll be put on the floor as security so you can familiarize yourself with the jobs. Duck will be with you for your first two weeks.”
“Duck? Oh Donald Duck, haha,” the two men conversed some more while he listened.
“Hey Boss,” the elevator dings and opened, “Oh, we’ll see you later, yeah? Have a good day!” the two men left and he was alone. Were they always this comfortable around him? Telling him of their day and little achievements, about their family and new jobs. Even if he wasn’t listening to them?
He got off on his floor and walked to the door hesitating for a moment, this wasn’t part of his routine. He shook his head and walked into his room, picking out some new clothes and showering. He felt more at ease knowing that he didn’t have the task of picking his new scent today but he still felt uneasy. He went down again this time with no companions to listen to then went to his office where his favourite box lay on his desk. He went to it and ate relishing in the warm and safe feeling, suddenly saddened that his mom wasn’t there to hug him. Then suddenly flinched when a loud sound rang through the room, he looked around quickly and found that nothing had made the sound.
Setting the now empty box down he got up from his desk and walked out of the box room, feeling uneasy all over again. Sounds were now amplified through the halls, his instincts told him to get to safety but he didn’t know where that was. He went to the elevator and let his body decide where it was safe enough for him to rest.
He found himself on the bed wrapped up in blankets looking out at the city with the last rays of sun going down. Sighing he decided that going back down was a good option, he got up and started out of the room and towards the elevator. The sounds were not as loud as before but still flinching at the slightly higher pitch sounds, he reached his office and quickly looked through the paperwork picking five that were due today. He knew he should have gotten it done earlier, why did he have to leave it to the last second?
“Boss?” Greenbell knocked on the opened door, he flinched at the sound and looked up quickly. He relaxed a bit and followed her out obediently and handed the papers to his waiting men. He got in the car and waited in anxious silence on the ride home.
He paced in his home, he didn’t know why he felt anxious he felt like he was on edge all day. He picked up his phone then discovered that it was dead. He quickly put it on the charger and waited for it to start up. While he did that he started to pace in his room, he could have sworn that he called last night so why was it dead?
Did he call her last night? He stopped pacing and looked at his phone, he didn’t remember going home yesterday. “I was at work. I stayed there last night and all day... I didn’t call last night. I didn’t send the morning e-mail!” He rushed back to the phone and tried to dial her number. It rang once and went to voicemail, hearing her voicemail message he felt relaxed and went on with his nightly call. Apologizing, that he missed her, then it ended. He didn’t know if it was getting shorter or if his messages were getting longer. He left his phone alone and went to wander around his living room, sighing he finally sat on the couch.
He sat there for a minute before getting up and going to the undiscovered rooms, two of them were empty and the larger one was a small gym. He got on one of the equipment and started it up, it was a treadmill, he must have figured he needed a run. When was he last time he went out for a morning run? Sighing he felt more at ease with the movement of his body, after an hour he stopped the machine breathing heavily he went to his shower.
He laid down and finally went to sleep.
He woke up past noon, his unused muscles protesting at his early movements of getting his morning routine done. He looked at his phone and seen that Greenbell had called him in the morning and sent a text message. He messaged her back and walked out into the hallway.
“I can see that,” Greenbell stated and took out the box from the microwave and passing it to him. “Well it is Friday, I’m sure the place won’t burn down,” She said. He ate happily feeling more calmer than yesterday but he still felt uneasy, he shifted on the bar stool at the kitchen counter and looked at Greenbell.
“Still no word but the offer is tempting, you’re okay with the cook staying here if he does decide to take the job?”
“Of course, I’ll just clean out the old room. It’d be nice to have someone living here,” he said and put his empty box in the garbage.
“Hm,” Greenbell said and stood leaving her boss to his tasks of the day. He walked back to his room and started wondering what he was forgetting.
“Ah, right,” he walked back out and looked at the door at the end of the hall. He didn’t want to go in the room, it’s where she loved to stay. It felt empty in the house even more so when he realizes that she wasn’t in the house with him. Was this the reason why he doesn’t go into any of the other rooms in his house? She was gone and he didn’t know what to do with himself?
He went to the empty rooms, he remembered the large room was for her art. A hobby of hers, she love the large window to the outside world. Maybe this room could be used instead of the other one? He went into the room at the end of the hall and seen the empty space that used to be her personal library. A small seat by the window was her favourite spot to read her books.
He thought about the cooking using this room as his bedroom but it would be much too small. “Looks like that room will have to do,” he looked to the other side of the house seeing the door. He really didn’t want to go in the room but he had to clean it out since it was the only room beside his own that had a bed.
He walked down the hall and stared at the door for a long while, he couldn’t stop shaking and finally decided not to go into the room and retreated to his own. “He can deal with it himself,” he muttered and grabbed his phone and started looking through some photos.
He opened his eyes and realized he had fallen asleep, he got up and started going through the house aimless until he stood at the minibar. He stared at the lined bottles then quickly went back upstairs, he didn’t like to drink he mostly had it for his guests. He walked out to the balcony by the living room and stood out there for a while. He looked to a small wooden box on the glass table and figured it couldn’t hurt to smoke.
He took out a pack and pulled one of the cigarettes out, taking the lighter from the box he lit the coffin nail and inhaled deeply. He suddenly felt like he could breathe easily now, the troubles melting away, the intrusive thoughts were no longer there. Leaning on the rails he looked numbly to the city starting its nightlife.
His driver returned just as he was finishing his second one, she walked in and decided to meet her in the kitchen. Putting the last embers from the cigarette he walked in and seen her putting his food down.
“Starting up smoking again, Boss? Didn’t you promise your ‘Goddess’ you’d quit?”
“She’s not here, she doesn’t need to know.”
“How bold,” Greenbell said unimpressed and pushed his food towards him, “other news, I might be getting a call from your favourite chef soon. I have men standing by to aid him.”
“Aid him? What happened? No, never mind. Just make sure that the contract isn’t a leash,” he shivered then remembered he didn’t close the balcony door. He’ll close it after, it was rather refreshing to have the cold air run through the house.
“Hm,” Greenbell took out the contract and started making some changes that would help aid the cook if he breaks the contract. “Alright give the contract a final look and I’ll have it printed.” He finished the food and looked at her small laptop seeing the major changes favoured Party B. He nodded and went to the balcony, opening the door he sat out there wanting to enjoy the city lights.
He breathed out closing his eyes, it was getting rather late now and he still had some unfinished business to take care of. He got up and head in planning on his nightly call then remembered he hadn’t sent his morning e-mail. She must be mad that he didn’t send her an e-mail. He’ll have to explain that, he knew she would be mad about his e-mail he also wondered if she was still mad about that day where didn’t give her a nightly call or morning e-mail.
Shaking his head he’ll just explain this morning’s e-mail and the rest in the morning e-mail. He relaxed at hearing her voice and told her how much he missed it instead of explaining himself. He was just getting to the part where he wondered why she never picked up until the recording ended.
It took a few minutes before he realized that he was being selfish, he was glad that he didn’t finish that message. He heard the door downstairs open and he went to look who it was, Greenbell was instructing some people on her phone.
“Pick up his belongings and take them to Storage E, Boss he has some new terms take a look. Bring over...” He tuned them out as he looked at the new contract, he discovered that there was a new Party in the contract.
“Who’s Party C?” he asked.
“His daughter.”
“Ah,” he walked to the kitchen counter and started typing his counter-offer. He stated that Party C will have money for their education and daily needs. If Party B breaks the contract they will be given $500,000, a new house in his father’s district and a car. He rose the payment from $10,000 to $50,000 a month. “Greenbell, have you looked into his debts?”
“Yes, Boss. We’ve just paid off the one for his apartment, he has a loan of $150,000 from who I’m still tracking them down. We’ve tracked all his cellphone bills and also got them paid off. So far it added up to $56,500 his manager asked for $30,000 for breaking the contract with Lucky Duke’s. He’s had $20,000 on his driver’s license for a crash that wasn’t his fault but lost the case and couldn’t get his license back.”
“If he borrowed $150,000 why didn’t he pay off his debts first? Or was it to another Shark?”
“Most-likely to a Shark and to shrink his apartment and cellphone debt.”
“Find the Shark, once you do tell me immediately and I’ll take care of it.”
“Of course, Boss.” Greenbell went to get the door and let in a few people and told them where to put the items. He watched them bring in a child’s bed and a few boxes for a child.
“When will he be here? Did you offer him a ride here?”
“He’ll be here in 2 hours, he refused the offer and only asked for the address.”
“What about the rest of his things?”
“He stated that he didn’t need it anymore but the men that tailed him said that the child was refusing to part with some of her things. If he wants the rest of his things we’ll bring them out from Storage E.”
“Hm,” he turned back to the contract and added to the Breaking Contract clause. “What do we have in Storage D again?”
“I believe your old Chevrolet Impala LT and a few nick-knacks.”
“If he breaks the contract give him the keys to Storage E, D and H. That should set him up in his new house.”
“Yes, Boss. If I may ask, why are you so willing to let him go after you’ve found... forget I asked.”
‘Two hours, while those guys are setting up the room I should keep myself busy.’ He moved from the counter to the other side into the kitchen and started rummaging through the fridge. He found ingredients to make some sandwiches and figured he should make lots, these men were working hard to put the room just right for the child.
The men were finishing up and took some sandwiches as they went by, wishing them a good night. It was still half an hour until the two got there so he put the rest of the sandwiches in the fridge and waited it out.
“Just a bit longer, Boss,” Greenbell said. He felt exhausted for some reason and wondered if it had anything to do with his training or maybe because he felt relaxed recently. He wasn’t quite sure where to place it and decided not to and just feel tired for the sake of it.
The doorbell rang startling him out of his tired thoughts and looked as Greenbell started her way down the stairs. He waited wondering if he should be professional about it or perhaps be cheerful? He wasn’t quite sure until he heard a small squeak. He looked to the direction and seen a small girl about 5 or 6 stare at him for a few moments then run back down stairs.
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