Looking around the place was nice, although the layout made no sense Some of the upper rooms were small and where were the windows? He couldn’t understand the layout. Only a few windows in the back of the house and the sides, but nothing in the bathroom, kitchen or even the Tea Room. He wanted to ask about it but figured that Van would tell him in time, like why there were windows in front of the house but none in the kitchen wall where the front of the house starts.
Shaking it off he figured it was alright since the sun shown through the back of the windows and the sides mostly it was still bright enough. The wall colour was also interesting, it was white but on closer inspection it’s really powdery pastel pink like. Did this house belong to a woman at first and he’s just too lazy to change the colour? He had discovered a few days later that his daughters room was pink and at night was full of glow in the dark stars. They weren’t stickers they were actually painted on and it had a dimmer switch near the back of the room. He figured that out when Ari said that she didn’t want the nightlight anymore, he wondered what this room used to be for it to be like this. Same with the Tea Room, The ceiling had a crazy pattern when the light affected it, it was very interesting. And he figured that the gym and Ari’s room were once the same room, since stars were on that ceiling as well.
This house really was interesting, Maybe if he looked online to see what the place used to be like he’d get an idea. Or maybe old photo albums? A house like this he’d at least have one somewhere. Well since he has some time now, he could look through those boxes, Van did say that he could do whatever he wanted with them so keeping a few things from them wouldn’t hurt if they seem useful.
He picked up Ari’s Princess Steps and brought it to his room where he could reach the top box and bring it down. He put it on the bed and started to poke through them. It wasn’t interesting just old curtains maybe bed sheets, he’ll throw it down to the laundry room later, he put the box outside the room beside the door and went up for another box. Bringing that down and looking through it he found some interesting glass figurines. They were actually really nice. He looked them over and found the name ‘S. Wolfe’ on the bottom and wondered if Van’s dad or mom made them, hell it could even be his sister. He never got the name of his sister so maybe?
Carefully taking them out he seen that they were movie characters from old cartoons. The Little Mermaid and all the characters, Beauty and the Beast and all it’s characters including the Rose in the glass cover. He looked at it more closely and it came apart in his hands when he was turning it. Relaxing that he didn’t break it he looked at the rose and seen that it could also be removed. This was so clover and delicate there’s no way his father would be able to do this so it had to be his mom or sister. Taking out the rose he found that it was on a chain with a metal tag that said ‘Eternal’ on one side and ‘Love’ on the other. The engraving was so delicate looking and the rose had a tint of red in it and green. Was this for someone? He carefully put the rose back in it’s place and set it aside and looked at the other glass figurines wondering if they did the same thing. He went through the whole collection, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Swan Princess, Mulan, Tangeled, Princess and the Frog, Cinderella, The Jungle Book, The Lion King, The Pebble and the Penguin. Some of them were broken, like the Beast, the Swan, a few of the Lions, the Apple, the Frogs, and most of the Princes. He also noticed that some of the characters were missing, were they also broke beyond saving or were they not made? He looked at the remaining figurines and gently placed them back in the box and put them in the corner of his room so he could display them later.
Looking through a few more boxes he found dresses, high heels, fancy looking purses, well used make-up ,could this be his mom’s? Or sister? Does he have a girlfriend? Or had? That is a possibility but there’s no way that he could have made those glass characters. He’ll ask about it but it seems like these boxes are throwaways. He went up for a few more boxes until he noticed a hidden door. He figured that he’d get through the boxes first then the door but why hide the door? Is it where he puts his latest victims to murder or... shaking his head he tried to get through as much of the boxes as he could before it finally got the best of him.
Moving a few boxes aside where it wasn’t blocking his way he turned the door nob but it didn’t open. He noticed that the key lock was on the outside. He stepped back a few paces bumping into the foot of the bed and realized that the key was on this side. So locking someone in that room was a huge possibility. Is that why he was leery of him when it comes to the room? He didn’t want him finding out that this was a hidden door?
“Is Ari in danger? Am I in danger?” he quickly left the room and went to see Ari, he found her taking an afternoon nap in her room. He sat next to her and tried to think of what to do next. Was there a reason that the contract is in his favour? Could that room be the In-Between-The-Lines that he was searching for? What does his boss actually do?
“Mr. Sen? Have you prepared lunch?” Greenbell walked in, scaring him from his thoughts.
“Oh, uh, no. Sorry, I lost track of time.”
“Alright then, I’ll see you tomorrow then,” she turned to leave.
“Wait, uh, I was wondering... about the uh,” locked door in his room, was his boss a murderer, is he the next victim.
“About?” Greenbell prompted.
“The Glass figurines,” he decided.
“He made them for his girlfriend. Every holiday and special occasion.”
“Ah, I thought a women made them, they looked really well made.”
“No, he made them. You can ask about them from him, is that all?”
“So the women’s clothes and make-up was also his girlfriend’s?”
“I didn’t think she would leave all that behind when she left to Paris for her cooking career. I think you should speak to him about all that, he knows this place better than me after all.”
“Right,” he said, said his good-bye’s and went back to the room to clear it out a bit. Although he figures he won’t be able to rest in it until he asks Van what it was all about. He decided to start cooking to pass the time until Van comes home, he can at least ask during dinner. Speaking of, what did he say he wanted?
No text for lunch, maybe that’s why he forgot? Also no text for dinner or maybe it’s too soon, well he can at least make something quick for him and Ari. He’ll need the snacks for their Tea Time and what tea will he make this time? He looked towards the hall to his right where Van’s room lurked and shivered. ‘Am I living with a killer?’ he thought then shook it off and started on making small sandwiches for their Tea Time snack and quickly made some brownies as well. The tea was Mixed Berry juice and the healthy snack was a fruit salad. Setting those aside he started working on dinner. It was quick and light since Van would be coming home soon.
He set out dinner for Ari and himself and waited a few minutes before starting to eat. He figured that Van was running late today. He cleaned his and Ari’s plates and set out the tea and brownies for her to start Tea Time.
It was well into the night and Ari finished tea without her companion and went to bed. He told her that he was working late tonight and that he’d be back when she woke up in the morning. He had put his plate in the fridge and sat on the couch watching a movie before bed.
The movie had ended and he heard the door open and close.
He got up and went to the landing and seen Van stumble on the stairs up.
“Are you ok?” Sen asked suddenly worried.
“I’m fine, just a bit exhausted. Sorry I’m late, I’m taking tomorrow off and the weekends now.”
“Ari would be happy to hear that, she missed you at Tea Time.” Sen moved out of the way as he slowly walked up. “What is it that you do?” the question flew out of his mouth before he could process what he had said.
“I own a few businesses,” his answer was simply vague.
“About those boxes in my room,” he stopped and turned to him this time, his face strangely unreadable and he got the feeling that this was a dangerous topic. “There’s a few that belonged to a woman, should I put them somewhere or...?”
“Anything in that room is yours, I don’t see why you would bother with asking me what you should keep or shouldn’t,” he sounded angry.
“Ah, but Greenbell said that they might have belonged to your Girlfriend.”
“She hates old things and she doesn’t like wearing the same thing twice.” he turned and started walking to his room again muttering, “Thought she threw those away, why were they in the boxes. Hm,” he disappeared in his room. Sen felt a little better but still a bit uneasy, he didn’t even get to ask about the locked door. Could the key be in the un-searched boxes? Could be, he stopped before he finished the boxes or even the dresser that he was delaying on using until the boxes were out of there.
He hasn’t come out after an hour and wondered if he fell asleep. It could be possible but just in case he figured he should tell him about dinner in the fridge. He gathered his courage and knocked on his boss’s door, partly shocked that it opened to a dark room.
“Ah, uh, dinner is in the fridge if you want any.” he quickly said and rushed to his room saying a quick goodnight.
He hardly slept at all, his gaze often went to the looming door, he got up and started breakfast. He noticed that the dinner he set out for Van was no longer there, he felt bad for not making him lunch but felt happy that he ate dinner. It was almost like receiving a hug for a job well done. Sighing he decided to make something a bit more special today, pancakes and fruit. It’s been quite a while since he last made pancakes and sat down to enjoy them with Ari. It always felt like he was just too busy before.
“Moo Ring, Daddy,” he heard Ari say and forgot that he put her stairs in his room.
“Morning, Sweetheart. Sleep well?” He walked over to her gave her a hug and placed her in her chair.
“Mm-hm,” he smiled and went back to start breakfast.
Lunch would had to wait, his men told him
that they couldn’t handle a client that refused to pay so he was
called down to take care of it. He walked in and seen the stand off
between his men and the gang. Why would they do this? They obviously
had enough to pay him back yet they want to start a war?
“David Candle,” he said in a bored tone, he walked between them and faced the offending people.
“Why if it isn’t the infamous Dragon Prince, here to throw a tantrum?” David mocked.
“I’m here because you owe me money, but I wouldn’t mind redecorating this place. Do you think Red would look nice for the wall or the floor?” David frowned then snapped his fingers together. Clicks were heard from both sides ready. “Do you really want to do this?”
“Absolutely, fire!” Silence. “What are you waiting for? Kill him!” David called out.
“Sorry to say but they work for me, I lent you my men for this project remember.” David froze. “It’s been 3 years, your time is up. Either pay now or take a trip to hell.”
David took a trip, he left the place and started going to the other destination with the others, figuring that he needed to get out to stretch his legs. He walked in and sat himself down in the head office chair to wait for his target to return from a meeting. The man returned and stared him down.
“Successful business you have here, I’m guessing my threat when you borrowed from me didn’t plant in your thick skull.”
“Dragon Prince, I was about to pay you a visit next Friday.”
“Ah, adding more money to pay me, how sweet.”
“I only borrowed $10,000 nothing more than pocket change to you, what was the interest? Two dollars?”
“You owed me that amount originally when you got your first paycheck, after that it’s $10,000 a week for not paying. You racked up $2,500,000. Should have paid me when you had the money,” he looked at his paling face. “You tossed a lot to my line of business but I can’t accept that as payment. What are you willing to do? To my understanding you only have about $30,000 in the company and $10,000 in your personal account. Not enough to pay me, I’m afraid. Should I count the $100,000 in your joint account with your wife? What would she say? You going to make her pay the rest with her $375,000? For shame, that leaves $1,985,000 left to pay”
“I’ll pay it all back within a month! Just leave my wife and children out of it!”
“What do you take me for, I leave the women and children alone. What I’m after is you and you alone. You can do this the easy way or the hard. Easy you work for me, hard you go bankrupt and send your own wife and child into poverty where I’ll rescue them and send them some place better.”
“Either way you won’t make them suffer,” his phone rang and the man picked up. “Des, why are you calling me at this hour?” He leaned back in his chair as the other man heard screaming and he could hear children crying.
“You misunderstand, I won’t lay a hand on them but my men have no such rule.” The man looked at the phone as it dinged and a look of pure horror was set in place. “Hm, she lost a finger? Did they take her eye? Maybe an ear? I don’t know what it is that they did but by the looks of it it can’t be good.”
“My children’s nose,” the man swallowed hard and the next ding sent the man yelling. “I’ll work for you! I’ll do it! Just stop this madness!” Van slid over a contract and the man quickly signed without looking at it.
“I now own your wife and children, you will divorce her and let her and her children go. They will not file for Domestic Abuse as long as you do this and send them money every month. You are to move out immediately, where you live is none of my concern as long as you do not return to - that place – your wife’s house.”
“You tricked me!” the man roared and threw himself over his desk.
Van quickly grabbed the mans tie and threw him on the floor and held his gun to the mans head. “I own you, mutt. You shouldn’t bite the hand that feeds you,” he growled and put the gun away and let the man up.
He took the contract and started for the door, promising to call when he needed him. He walked to his next target and it broke out in a knife fight. He held his freshly bandaged side as he walked up to his home and wondered if he was going to get yelled at for coming home late.
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