Lykos ✓

Chapter Forty Four | Drink

The remains of George were not worthy of a burial as they left them in the middle of the forest to decay.

Meanwhile, inside the mansion, Aiko watched from the window from the moment she spotted Rafael and Micah half-dressed entering the forest. She waited for their return, anxious that George might've done something to them again. She was interrupted by Sandra, who knocked on the open door twice.

"They will be back. Micah mentioned something about an execution earlier," Sandra said upon seeing the stress on Aiko's face.

"I hope so," she replied, turning back to the window to quickly check if they had returned in that time. They hadn't.

"We got interesting mail." Sandra waved the envelope that had been addressed to her. She had opened up and read the contents and though confidential, she knew it would take Aiko's mind off the progress in the forest.

Aiko moved away from the window to read the contents of the letter. She quietly read the list of names. It was all affluent members from the underworld.

"Who sent this?" Aiko traced each name that was typed out. The list was not super long.

"Talia did by the looks of things but there's not signature." They both knew she had left, quitting her job after the mission. The note mentioned completing the job on hand. It seemed she had held up her end of the bargain and now planned to disappear into the world again, with no indication of her future plans.

"That was kind of her," Aiko responded.

"Kind of who?" Rafael asked, entering the room. The brothers had returned from the forest using another route and all went to shower in one of the many mansion bathrooms. There was no need to wear the blood of their enemies longer since it was tainted with loverage.

"This list was left by Talia," Aiko explained, while Sandra stood their quietly. Rafael took the list from Aiko's hand and read through the names. The surnames were familiar from all his work. This was a list of the remaining fools who felt like they could mess with his family and get away with it. Micah arrived not to long after Rafael, having heard about this list. He snatched it from Rafael, who's attention had moved from the list to Aiko.

"Where is she?" Theron asked, entering the same room. He could smell her scent all over the package but she was nowhere to be seen since they finished their mission earlier.

"Gone," Rafael replied, honouring his deal. He didn't ask where she was going and had no plans to track her down. The same could not be said for his brother.

"What did you do?" Theron asked, frowning. The meaning of Rafael's words could mean multiple things. They had made many men disappear before.

"She wanted to leave, and I gave her the right to do so," Rafael replied, clearing up any misconception. He hardly saw his brother and did not expect their relationship to be repaired to such lengths but hate and common enemies always helped with bonding.

"We will discuss that later," Theron brushed it aside, taking more interest in the letter that was delivered.

"Is this my execution list?" Theron read the names. None of them familiar to him at this time. He could become familiar with them by finding out everything he needed to know in order to successfully kill them.

"Let's take a step back and have something to drink," Sandra interrupted. The take of death was the equivalent as talking about the weather in this house. That didn't make it any less uncomfortable for Sandra who had dedicated her life to saving people. The group left the room and moved to a common area that held a bar.

Micah took it upon himself to serve everyone something to drink. He handed his brothers something strong while opening a bottle of wine for Sandra that was her favourite. He handed a wine glass to both Sandra and Aiko. Theron was lounging on the sofa while Rafael had pulled Aiko onto his lap. He was busy playing with strands of her hair.

"Getting a drink was a brilliant idea," Theron said, breaking the silence. He lifted his glass in salute to Sandra. The emotional toll of the day was slowly settling in as they all visited unwanted memories of the past thanks to George.

Sandra smiled politely at Theron, causing Micah to growl. Theron just laughed, not taking the threat seriously. He had no interest in Sandra like that. Micah sat down next Sandra, throwing his arm over shoulder, pulling her closer to his side, where she belonged.

"So, who do execute from top to bottom or in alphabetical order?" Theron resumed the earlier conversation. While the death of George would bring so sort of closure, there was way too many people with the knowledge of their weakness. The last thing they need is more labs popping up to make a mass production of loverage when Micah had spent many years making the plant borderline extinct.

"They will be prepared as soon as the first person dies. These people are a bunch of gossips," Micah replied. It was worse with technology since the messages would be passed in a blink of an eye. That would ruin all elements of surprise. Furthermore, without Talia, they needed to find another expert hacker since the low level ones were not proficient enough to block all messages.

"Then what should I do?" Theron had taken it upon himself to get rid all the people on the list and it seemed neither one of his brothers were going to bother joining him. Why would they when they had something anchoring them in one place?

"I have a better idea," Micah leaned forward. If they couldn't take them out one by one, they needed to just herd them together and take them out together.

"Please share with the class, brother."

And so, Micah hatched a plan that they all agreed on. 

~*~

Nice to see them getting along.

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