Boxes & Smoke

Box 9

Alexei

Travis stumbled on his feet as blood flowed on his leg. Carver shot him just before anything could happen.

"Why are you protecting that woman!?" Travis exclaimed. His teeth were gritted as he gripped his left leg tightly.

Paisley's hands were on her mouth after she let go of Alexei. She stood beside him as the man moved in front of her.

"The Lacroix needs her," Carver said. At this moment he didn't care if the heiress had heard that.

Travis' gaze buried him deeply. The handgun he held was lying on the floor and before he could move to reach it, Carver kicked it as it slid on the floor.

"You've become softer because of that bitch. Those are not your real emotions, she tricked you! She did something-"

"What is he saying?" Paisley said in between sobs.

"Shut the hell up and stop your acts, tell him who the fuck you are!"

Carver gazed at the heiress. When their eyes met, Paisley reached for his hand. "I don't know-"

"Every S-tier assassin was always hidden in the dark. They're not supposed to show themselves to people. Which is why we haven't met them. We don't know their faces or who they are. You're an S-tier rank–Carver of the Lacroix. And even knowing that fact, they made you work for the Schleifer." Travis' eyes changed to Paisley's. "That woman doesn't know how to fight which is a fucked up thing for a mafia heiress. Every kid that would hold the throne next to their parents should have known how to deal with fighting and stuff. But that woman had given you every shit ton that she knew"

Paisley held Carver's hand tightly as she pulled him to look at her. But Carver batted her hand away, which made her step back from him.

"Do you know what that means Alexei?" a laugh escaped from Travis' mouth as his eyes remained on the two of them. "The murder of that drug lord you two have investigated."

Was he always watching us?

"There is no reason for a Schleifer to bring a new employee there. For years, the Schleifer organization had kept their doings to themselves. And even men who had worked for 3 years in their organization don't have the luxury to be left with the heiress all alone. That woman had led you to ideas. She made you think that she didn't know who you really are in the very first place. A real heiress of the mafia wouldn't put her immediate trust in a person she had only met for hours. That only means that she had known you way before you came to know her,"

Alexei didn't bother to glance at Paisley. His eyes darkened. And his hold on the leather string of his rifle had tightened. "Speak," he said to her.

"I don't know what he's saying. Believe me, I- I didn't even know who that person was!" she said. Her voice held sobs.