Dictator

24. Tamed Wolf + A Call for Vengeance

"For the last time, Ace. I am not your subordinate nor your slave." Tomie grumbled into her phone which she was holding up to her ear, grimacing. "The Casino is your mess. Not mine. I am not obligated to 'control' a fire you have started. Have a good night." She cut the line before she could hear further protest from the other man. Ace was another one of the executives, and although he was an executive, he maintained a fairly hostile relationship with his fellow executives. He was an arrogant, cocky and rude man who saw everyone else in the Mafia inferior to himself. He was someone who abused his power due to his high reputation, he was the kind that Tomie hated the most. She rubbed her temples in annoyance as she entered the Port Mafia's Dining area.

The Dining room was exquisite. Its walls were covered with a shimmering gold paper and in the middle of the ceiling above the carved oak table was a big chandelier. Down the center of the table was a runner that was colored in maroon and gold highlights. At each seat stood a tall empty wine glass and there were neatly folded napkins. There was hardly any light, due to them all being turned off. The room was only dimly lit by a few candles on the table. In the middle of the table stood a large plate of strawberry cake, ready to be eaten.

As Tomie approached the table, her eyes roamed around the room and her gaze fell upon a particular detail that stood out to her the most. It was a bunch of scribbles with colorful crayons on the napkins. They were likely done by none other than Elise. Tomie found herself observing the pieces of doodles closely. To anyone else, it might've came off as nothing but mindless, silly imaginations born from a child's creativity that made no sense at all, but Tomie knew better than most. This was Elise after all. She recognized the drawings pretty easily. One of them appeared to be Akutagawa. His neck looked a bit deformed. No one would fault a child for not knowing how to draw properly, it was only natural that they draw abominations. However, there red ink on his neck, almost imitating that blood was spurring out from his throat. The other drawing was of Chuuya. He was surrounded by bubbles, and he looked like he was floating. Almost as though he was in water. Then finally, the last napkin was a drawing of herself, where a big, red dot on her torso. The most notable feature that all three drawings seemed to share was they all had "exes" in place of actual eyes.

Tomie felt her stomach churn. She rested a hand under her chin as she smirked to herself, a bead of sweat trailing down her forehead. "Ah... She's been into fortune-telling lately?"

No one else besides herself understood what those words really meant.

The handle on the door twisted with a squeak, catching Tomie's attention. She turned around to face the person that entered. It was Akutagawa's dark figure. He politely bowed, he was holding a file of papers in his hand. "Ane-san."

"Ah, Akutagawa," Tomie acknowledged, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning against the table behind her. "The documents?"

"All here." Akutagawa replied with his monotonous voice, face equally deprived of emotion. "These contain the Weretiger's orphanage director's history." He finished by handing the file to Tomie. She quickly scanned through the papers before turning her attention back on Akutagawa. "Thanks. You've done great. By the way..." Akutagawa lightly blushed at the compliment, it was short lived as he immediately gave Tomie his undivided attention. "You seem a little more stressed out than usual. I've never imagined a mission being difficult for you."

Akutagawa's eyes widened at her blunt words, a small part of him was even offended. "Are you insinuating that I've slowed down?"

"Not at all," Tomie corrected, shrugging her shoulders. "I think every single one of us deserves a break, even the strongest of us. It's only natural, we're all human."