Sleeping With Money (MewGulf AU)

🌻Chapter 41

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No matter how hard Gulf tried to defend himself, the punches pinned him down so he could barely move.

AA leaned over to grab something shiny off the floor, the business card holder Mew had given him.

"Pretty fancy deal you got here," AA remarked.

"GIVE IT BACK!" Gulf screamed.

AA opened it and took out a card.

"Lovely Kantou Branch, Assistant to the Branch Manager, Gulf Kanawut. So! The Hinodegumi kicked you out, and now you work at Lovely," AA said viciously. "You must be really close to the branch manager, that one who's gonna be president."

Suddenly AA smiled.

Does he know about us?

Did AA know about him and Mew? Gulf had a bad feeling about this.

AA glared at Gulf, still hanging inches from the floor.

"You may be assistant to the branch manaher, but you haven't changed one bit," he muttered. "Since when does an honest Lovely employee start a brawl here? You can't have worked there for very long. What if we call the police? I can see the headlines now! 'Lovely employee, ex-gang member, charged with assault'. 'Lovely suspected of criminal activity.' This won't be just your problem. All of your Lovely friends will be in trouble. I heard your profits rose after that kitty commercial. But what will happen now?"

"Shut the fuck up. Cut the bullshit, AA," Gulf growled.

Gulf talked a good game, but he knew he was in big trouble.

Mew will go down with me...

That damn business card! Now Lovely itself was at risk. If there was a lawsuit, Mew would have to be involved. Gulf hated to think that Mew could take the blame for his foolishness.

They'll extort all his money.

Sometimes, gangs blackmailed companies beset with scandals that would wreck their image if made public. Gulf hated himself for setting up Lovely like this.

"You guys will look bad, too!" Gulf insisted. "You'll be a laughingstock for beating up a regular guy!"

"Who gives a damn? I could care less about my image," AA scoffed.

"Give me back the cards!" Gulf yelled.

"Not without an apology, Gulf," AA retorted. "Throw yourself on the ground and say you're sorry."

He looked Gulf over, like a snake sizing up its prey. He wouldn't let Gulf go, not just yet.

Like hell I'll kneel on the ground, Gulf thought, gritting his teeth.

He was too proud for that, but he had another problem. If he didn't bow down now, AA would be sure to get at Mew. That was the only thing that stopped Gulf from resisting.

Damn it!

He was angry, but had no choice. This was his only option now. He would only lose his pride, after all, nothing really important.

"F-fine," Gulf spat out.

AA ordered his henchmen to release the captive.

Gulf put his hands on the floor and bowed. Inside, he boiled over with anger and humiliation, but he lowered his face to the ground as humbly as he could.

"I'm sorry. Please forgive me," he mumbled, his voice trembling with rage.

AA kicked Gulf's head even lower. "Too high. Get closer to the ground. Give me a real apology."

Gulf lowered himself further, his face so close he could kiss the floor.

"I beg you to forgive me. I have behave badly," he groveled. I'm doing this for Lovely and Mew, he reminded himself.

"Good. Look up now," AA lifted his foot fron Gulf's head.

Gulf looked up to see AA smirking at him. He seemed to be getting some perverted pleasure out of Gulf's humiliation.

But Gulf's ordeal wasn't over yet. Now AA rifled through Gulf's pockets and pulled out a wallet. He removed all the 10,000 bills, then glanced at the gorgeous watch on Gulf's wrist.

"Doing well for yourself, aren't you? Where did this come from, the president-to-be?" AA asked, his eyes dancing. Then he reached over and grabbed the Rolex, too.

Bastard!

Gulf couldn't bear to lose the watch, his first big gift from Mew. He reached out to get it back, then quickly stopped himself.

But AA still noticed, and started to tease him. "Yoh never used to make faces like that! I cried for joy when the Kantou Hinodegumi kicked you out. Wanna know why? Because I hoped then you'd work for us. How about it? Give up that brown-nosing day job and work here. It'll be good for you. We have lots of dangerous stuff to do, more suitable for a guy like you."

AA wasn't being kind. All he wanted was a disposable foot soldier. Gulf knew that AA would use him only for his dirty work. If anything went wrong. AA would deny everything, thus saving the Seishoukai's reputation.

"Unfortunately for you, I have cut my ties with the Yakuza world," Gulf gritted out.

"Like that's possible," AA chortled. But his smile disappeared in the next instant. He glared at Gulf like he was boring a hole right through him. "Sorry to hear that. But Yakuza never give up the lifestyle that easily. Now that I know where you work, maybe we can do business together."

His words chilled Gulf.

So this won't be the end of it.

That's what AA really meant. Now that he knew how Lovely operated, he wouldn't be satisfied with Gulf's simple apology. Gulf quickly realized just how naive he had been, and this was only the beginning.

AA took a card and slippednm it into his pocket, then threw the cardholder back at Gulf.

"Do you wanna join me, or do you wanna be foolish?" he asked. "You have until tomorrow to decide."

TBC