Page 45 of Poison Aches

King:You better be there. Disappointing my wife is not a fucking option.

Me:Not my job.

King:It’s my job, yes, which means don’t fuck up.

Me:I said no.

King:Where the fuck are you?

Me:The shop.

King: …don’t you dare show up at my house with a drop of fucking blood on you. She’s sensitive to it.

Well then. He has an idea of what I’m doing even though him knowing was never part of the plan.

Everything I’ve done for the past nineteen years has been meticulously calculated.

The people in my life, despite the seemingly innocent film cast by our long-standingfriendship, are also part of a plan.

After all, when you have a specific target to hit, with not much time to do it, you go all out.

All the people in my life, all the strings I’ve pulled, the high-stakes game of chess I’ve been playing for years now… all of it has its intention and purpose.

And most importantly, it all has an expiration date.

King:Just heard. My wife says Ivy chose New York.. She won’t be around anymore so get it together.

Well then… Angel chose NYC, huh?

Likely doing damage and trying to catch smoke with her bare hands.

Pathetic.

And I did see the messages from weeks ago…only I already know that something’s off simply because her reaction was way off.

Me:Gossip is more up your lane than Noah’s. Do me a favor, keep it off my channel.

King:FU!

Low, tortured groans echo in the room. Then the bastard is splashed with ice-cold water… the sound closely followed by the buzzing of electricity.

“No, wait, wait a minute… just wait!!” A stilted shout rings across the room.“Eres el diablo!” the man yells suddenly

Here we go.

No matter how you try to camouflage yourself, when you’re hanging by your fucking balls, you’ll slip back into your default setting.

“The devil, huh?” I mutter faintly, and the room falls into a heavy silence.

My men take three paces back.

The room gets a bit colder.

“Seems like you know I’ve come to collect.”

“W-who… who was that?” the asshole stutters, now looking around with wide eyes and blood dripping down his fucking face. “Who’s there?!”

I ignore him and get back to reading the report.