The Story of Blood and Roses

"You mentioned that Anthony picks up strays... Tell me more about that."

"Let\'s start from Sean because you know of the conditions back at home." I nodded. "The boy is just fourteen years old and lives with his mother. His father divorced her when he was seven because she is a drug addict. For some odd reason, the man never tried to take custody of the poor little boy. He grew up keeping away from his mother\'s sight and trying to stay at school for most of the time. He avoided her for obvious reasons. She couldn\'t stand to look at his face. Apparently, the boy was a mistake she despised and she used to mentally abuse the poor boy. It\'s actually surprising because she adopted the boy when he was small. She didn\'t offer him much to eat and didn\'t have the money to feed himself. So, he took a job at a local cyber-cafe as a helping hand. That was when he was nine or so. The owner knew him and gave him the job. Sean grew interested and started tinkering with computers. That\'s how he learned everything. After robbing that bank, he had enough money to run away, but being just a child, he didn\'t. Anthony heard of this boy from the spy he had in the law enforcement and caught hold of him. He presented a job opportunity in front of the boy because he saw how much potential Sean had. And they\'ve not looked back ever since."

Hearing about Sean\'s story left me a little numb. Sean had never told me the whole story, but it sounded better to have joined the mob than what he faced at home. With Anthony he could hone his skills and have a decent shot at doing what he loved to do, morality be damned.

"Continue," I choked out.

"Many of the other hackers that work for Anthony also didn\'t have the money to go to college. So, Anthony loaned them the money in return for their services. They\'ve all paid him off in a few years of taking the loan. Anthony likes intelligent, educated people working under him. He considers them invaluable assets."

"I think you could say that he saved Cienna as well. She was a prostitute in the shadiest parts of town with a wicked sense of marketing. She found ways to sell herself that most couldn\'t even imagine. She was famous, alright. She was making more than most working people did in town. Anthony had been down on business in those parts when he found her. She was inebriated and at the edge of dying of an overdose. He hauled her to the hospital, having heard of her and when she recovered he wanted to cash in his favor. He ordered her to leave her line of duty and join him. The offer was one she couldn\'t refuse. She joined and Anthony has never sustained a loss ever since. Her wicked sense of marketing gets better and better day by day."

"Wait, what?" My voice was close to a scream. "She was an escort?"

"Way to put it mildly," he said. A snort followed soon after. "Yes, she was and a brilliant one from what I have heard. You don\'t need to worry, though. Anthony got her tested before he went anywhere near her." He gave me a wink. His gaze was filled with mirth.

"Thanks for the information, but I don\'t think I\'ll need it. Continue with the story, will you?"

"The only stray left is me and I don\'t think that I want to share this story. I\'ve been generous enough."

"You have. I guessed that you wouldn\'t speak about yourself. Even though I\'m choking with curiosity, I will not force you to speak," I said in a soft voice.

Everyone had a right to choose the time when they would share their own story. It was a private matter and no one would understand it better than me, probably. It was ironic to acknowledge this because it was my work to push for information, but I knew limits. One has to respect the boundary of others to gain their trust and respect. That was part of the process when it came to Ethan. From what I remembered from Sean\'s comments, Ethan had a horrible past. I would let him tell me at his own pace if I wanted an ally in him.

The doorbell rang then. Before I could manage to get up, I saw Ethan jumping off the couch and rushing towards the door. He pulled with open with immense force. He had effectively blocked my sight of who was standing on the other side, but I was sure that it was the delivery man, guessing from the enthusiasm that Ethan showed. I dug out my purse from the pocket of my pants and then moved towards the door. I had to push Ethan aside to finally take a look at the man. The delivery man seemed a bit scared as he looked at me and then let out a sigh of relief.

"Your order, ma\'am," he said, handing me the bill. I pulled out the money from my purse, even though Ethan tried to persuade me not to. In the end, I did pay. Then when the man tried to hand me the food, Ethan got in the way and took it instead, sending the man into another fit of fear. The scared man mumbled a thank you before rushing down the stairs.

"Thanks for scaring the man. He\'ll probably never want to make a delivery to my house ever again."

"I was hungry and he was late. He had to leave a little scared. It would have hurt my pride if he had remained unaffected to my rugged and dangerous looks." He wiggled his brows at me before merrily looking inside the package like a pleased man. "Now let me eat, woman." He skipped towards the couch and plopped down on it. "Come over fast. I\'m a minute away from burying the gentleman and gorging on the food, myself!" I hurried towards him with a hearty laugh and found myself seated beside him. We didn\'t bother to get ourselves plates and ate directly from the containers.

He did have a good appetite and he complimented me of having a decent one, as well. He mentioned that he\'d seen \'too many hare-brained women eat like sparrows\'.

The evening was a success and ended with me having a feeling that Ethan would become one of those resources that I could count on gaining information from.

We said goodbye with Ethan asking me to go over to his place one day and a friendly, but tight hug.

I\'d been busy cleaning up after Ethan (for a lack of a better word) when I felt my cell phone vibrate in my pocket. Fishing it out, I saw that I had a new message. Opening it, I was left with a sense of smugness.

[I am impressed by your work ethic, but contain your excitement from next time. I will call you when you are needed. –Anthony.]

It was good to know that Ethan and Anthony indeed gossiped like grannies. Just made it a surety that any information I received from Ethan would be true or wouldn\'t be relayed to me. Now, it would be a pleasure to work with them.

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