Criminals Intellect

Chapter 4

"Hey, Dimitri! Did Max make it home okay?" Ellie asked, skipping up to said boy. Dimitri sighed as he took off his shoes. Dimitri nodded and walked past Ellie grabbing his head in pain. "You good Dimitri?"

"No, Vincent and Alexei are arguing," Dimitri grumbled as he sat down in a chair in the family room. "Wait, when did I get here?"

Ellie hummed, grabbing a book, and sitting next to Dimitri. "What are they arguing about?"

Dimitri grabbed his head with both of his hands and curled in on himself. "I don't know. Their words are overlapping." Suddenly Dimitri stilled, not focusing on anything at all. His jaw went slack, drool slowly dripping off his chin. Ellie noticed, reached into her pocket, and pulled out a handkerchief, catching the drool in it.

Ellie leaned back as she saw his eyes focusing again. "Hey there, whos fronting right now?"

"Vincent. Thanks, Ellie." Vincent turned and smiled at her, looking at himself he sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "Dimitri was fronting last, right?" Ellie nodded and Vincent groaned. "Why did he have to take Papa's fashion advice? I look like a monkey."

Ellie shrugged and threw her handkerchief in the laundry bin under the banner. "Dimitri said you and Alexei were arguing. Do you remember if it was about the incident at dinner?"

"It most likely was. I do remember everyone yelling at her during her lecture from you and Mama." Vincent looked down at the book Ellie grabbed. "Was that book for Dimitri?"

"Yeah. By the way, I have a question." Vincent nodded along as he picked at his fingers. "I've noticed that you are very attentive around Max and ignore everyone else. Do you like him or something?"

"What? Ellie, why would you ask that? No, I don't, hes just an accomplice". Vincent stuttered looking away when he started to feel heat on his face. Ellie smiled; she was going to tease him till the day he dies.

"You are acting the same way I did when I found out I was in love with Sophie." Ellie giggled as Vincent flustered about. "Come on! Just admit it! You like him!"

"I don't want to like him! You know what will happen in our line of work! I just don't want him to get hurt!"

- - - - -

It was week three of the assignment Max and Vincent were paired up for. They got most of their work done, just needing to finish one more paragraph; but they were snagged by Alina and Eleanor for dinner. After the first dinner Max had with the small family, he started to get used to Alina's amazing food that Ivan helped with, surprisingly. Max even caught a few small smiles directed his way.

Tonight, they were eating Solyanka, Veal Orloff, and Vinegret. Max loved these recipes; it was like his tastebuds were dancing with joy. Alina looked up at Max, swallowing the last bite she began to speak. "Max, since youve united with us, I think it would be fair if weve become acquainted with your family!"

Max stilled, his fork hitting the plate. His father never stopped hurting him, it had especially gotten worse ever since he found an unknown camera in the cross. Max chuckled nervously, "I don't know. We recently found out that someone was spying on us from our cross, by far the weirdest place to put a camera in my opinion."

Eleanor's face darkened as she turned away, unbeknownst to Max. Alina cast a petite smile and leaned her head to the side. "Well sure that can be concerning, but what you say about your family doesn't really seem that important to anyone. Whoever is spying on you must have realized this and stopped paying attention! Anyways, well mostly be in the foyer and dining room, we won't step foot in your living room."