The Penny

Chapter 15: A glass of wine

The dinner flew by pretty quickly, The kids fought, Vincent and Ryan talked about 'Ryan's imaginary Restaurant Business' and work in general. Well, Vincent did all the talking, Ryan didn't know anything about what Vincent was talking about, Ryan just nodded and gave out an occasional 'Yup,'

'I know right?'

'Really?'

'wow'

Anyone with the right mind would've figured out Ryan didn't have a restaurant. But Vincent didn't seem to mind. He was a very down-to-the-earth person, but he does have an intimidating appearance and aura around him, but don't let that appearance fool you. Whoever married this man is very lucky, he's handsome, he's fun and rich. Ryan couldn't help but wonder where these kids' mother was. She didn't join them for dinner.

Vincent led Ryan to his 'Weapon collection room' after dinner. The same one Ryan stood by during the tour.

Vincent pushed open the beautifully carved door, which made a creaking sound.

Ryan gasped at the sheer beauty of the room, Shiny marble decorated the floor, and Ryan almost slipped and fell.

"This is awesome," Ryan complimented.

Vincent nodded and smiled at him.

Ryan looked up, the ceiling was a circular dome-shaped appearance, below that was a second floor, it looked like a library. The dome had beautiful paintings on it, one of which was a man slaying a dragon.

Ryan changed his gaze to what was in front of him, A shiny metal armour, right in the middle of the room. Ryan almost bumped into it when he was looking at the ceiling. Vincent left his side to dust some dust off of a glass box encasing a katana.

The katana had a shiny golden handle which led out to a razor-sharp blade which had dragon engravings on it. The blade had streaks of shiny metal on either side of the blade.

"Pretty sweet huh?" Vincent asked tracing his hand over it.

"Yea," Ryan said as he looked around. He had way more awesome swords and katanas than the one in the glass box which hung freely on the wall, even a guy who knew nothing about them would tell that the one hung high up on the wall with shiny gems on it was more expensive than the one in the box.

"You seem to like this one very much," Ryan asked.

Vincent nodded and stared at the box as if recollecting a memory.

"She gave it to me," Vincent muttered in his husky voice. "My wife," He said looking at Ryan.

So that's why he's cherishing it. "That's nice, glad your wife acknowledged your..." Ryan said gesturing to the room "Sword frenzy,"

Vincent laughed, "She sure did," He said frowning his eyebrow after. "She did," He murmured.

Where is she now? Ryan wondered. Ryan bit his lower lip to stop himself from asking him, What if they're not together anymore? What if something bad happened in their relationship? He didn't want to remind Vincent of those sore memories.

"Do you drink, Ryan?" Vincent said removing his gaze from the katana.

Drink? Yea? I drink water? And iced coffee Ryan thought. "Y-yea,"

"Follow me," Vincent said climbing up the stairs.

The stairs creaked as Ryan stepped on them. He claimed the circular staircase which led to a nice and cosy library with couches and a nice table. Damn, that's a nice table Ryan thought.

The floor was made out of dark-coloured wood. It made the same creaking sound as the stairs.

Vincent pressed a button on what looked like a control panel next to the couch. A bookshelf moved making a virring sound virrrrrr

Holy moly, What other secret room does this man have! He has one just for water, he wouldn't be surprised if he showed him a secret room filled with more priceless weapons.

"Come in," He said as he gestured towards Ryan and walked it.

Ryan followed him which led to another pair of stairs going down. This is exactly the kind of place where someone gets murdered.
They ascend to a dimly lit room filled with shelves upon shelves of bottles,

this is some fancy water

Vincent tapped the shelves as he moved forward, finally stopping at one of them and picked up a bottle.

"This one?" Vincent asked Ryan holding the bottle in from of him.

Ryan tried to read the logo, but they were in a crazy spiky don't, so he just nodded.

Vincent switched on some table lights and sat on a couch. "Take a seat," He said as he gestured to the one opposite to him.

"Nice secret lair you have here," Ryan complimented as he sat down.

"Thanks," he paused to open the bottle. Pop. He poured a dark brown liquid into two glasses and dropped some 'frozen water' in them.

"I don't want the kids poking their heads around expensive bottles of wine," Vincent laughed as he handed Ryan over a glass.

"Right," Ryan said as he took a glance at the drink, it's definitely not water.

"Where are you from, Ryan?" Vincent asked in a cold voice looking directly into Ryan's eye as he took a sip from his glass.

Ryan gulped, "uh--" Ryan took a sip from his glass, Holy shit, Ryan screamed internally as he felt the wine travelling down his throat with a hot sensation, it burned and chiselled in his chest.

Vincent raised his eyebrow, "are you okay?" He asked.

Ryan swallowed the lump in his throat, "yea," he said taking in another sip. What's that place which He told Haylee he belonged to? Sa-Las veggies?

"Las...Vegas?" Ryan said with hesitation.

"Really?" Vincent said as he took another sip, you don't look like you're from Vegas,

"Oh," Ryan sighed as he took in another sip, Aw the burn. Yeowch.

Vincent looked at Ryan up and down, "You look pretty fine for a guy who took two daggers to his back," Vincent commented.

"Thomas told me the exact same thing," Ryan said. "I-I didn't take two daggers to my back, it's a lie, fake news," Ryan declared.

"But Cassie-"

"She over-exaggerated the whole story,"

Vincent nodded, but he didn't buy it, something was off.

"Once again, Thank you for saving Cassie," Vincent thanked. "I'm really grateful for everything, She is priceless to me,"

"You really don't have to thank me, I just did the right thing," Ryan shrugged as he took another sip.

"I have to do something for you," Vincent said tapping his glass, "ask me anything,"

Ryan looked down at his glass, this is the right opportunity, he could finish this whole mess and go back to his old life. He could ask him for a place to live or-

"It's fine," Ryan refused. Vincent looked at him with confusion. "Like you said, you're daughter's life is priceless, I'm not going to put a price on it," Ryan concluded.

"No...No, Come on," Vincent placed his glass on the table. "I can't let you go empty-handed, you saved my girl's life, I have to do something for you," Vincent insisted.

"If you insist..." Ryan paused. "I would like a job,"

A job?

"A job?" Vincent asked pouring in another glass of wine.

"Yea, I don't have one, and I'm kinda broke," Ryan confessed.

"I could arrange something," Vincent said sipping his wine. "Give Thomas your number while leaving, I'll call you after arranging something,"