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43| Fake niceties

M A L A C H A I

It's taken everything in me not to grab the champagne off the prick sitting across from me in the car, and smashing it against his big ass forehead. "Want some? It's a bit too flat for my liking- I prefer when the bubbles make my eyes prickle a little." Kace gestures towards the champagne bottle and I reach for it, rolling down the window and throwing it out.
Kace sips on his glass once more before rolling down his window and doing the same with it. "Good riddance. It was too expensive to be good anyway." He nods before clicking a button that shuts both mine and his window.

"Tell me," I begin, leaning back with my legs spreading out a little, "What's the catch? Why do you need me?" I ask, watching his lips twitch just a little, suppressing a smirk. "You're like a carbon copy of my sister. So perceptive; so curious." He chuckles a little, but I hold a straight face. When he realises i'm not exactly amused, he huffs; rolling his eyes. "What is it with you people and not being able to carry any sense of humour?" He pulls a snickers bar out of a drawer and unwraps it, biting down on it. "Want one?" He brings one out for me but I shake my head, "Too sweet." "Right. God forbid your bitter self consumes any form of sugar." He grumbles just as the car begins to slow down.

"Oh, I think I forgot to mention," He slides across the seats and pulls out a suit from a compartment, "You're going to need this." He grins, handing the suit over to me. It looks creepishly my size, which I find mildly unsettling. "Once you're ready, meet me inside." He nods, sliding the door open and hopping out.

I sit still for a couple minutes, unsure as to what he's playing at. Giving me the option to just leave if I wanted to? Surely not. Give it a few miles and i'll be sedated, just like the way he did when I got in the car, and brought right back like nothing happened. Little prick. He knows he has an advantage.

Once i'm changed into the perfectly fitted suit, I get out the car to be met with an enormous building decorated by guards all over the place. The sun is just past setting, so the light from the entrance beams brightly.
The guards don't bat an eye as I walk in to be met with a hallway which leads to an open space; a ball-type room with many men and women all dressed to their T's.

I make quick work of scanning the surroundings and just as my eyes pass by a woman in a long, skin tight, green, sparkling dress by the bar, they bat right back to her. Lilith. My feet start moving on instinct but a hand stops me mid-way. My gaze snaps away from her and to the dickhead smiling at me. "What?" I snap at Kace who holds a mock hurt hand to his chest. "This is how you treat the man who made you look like a million bucks?" He retorts. "Anyways, let's go make niceties."

He redirects my focus to a man around the same height as me, with tattoos clawing out of his collar, all over his neck. He reaches out a hand, tattoos peeking out the sleeve of his suit too and I shake it. "I've heard a lot about you, Malachai." His deep voice would be jarring if it wasn't for my own father's voice resembling it. "And who are you?" I ask, our hands clasping together in a firm grip. "I'm Natan." He introduces himself. "Have we met before?" I ask, but only receive a shrug of the shoulders from him before more people join the circle. "I'm Kace." Kace introduces himself, as though he isn't a mafia boss, and, to my surprise, Natan shakes his hand and reacts as though he truly has never heard of him.

Kace made it clear that I am not to walk over to Lilith and some part of me picks up on the fact that there must be a reason for that.
But that doesn't stop me from sneaking a glance. Her hair sits up in a sleek bun, a few curled strands out. She sips on her glass with a small amount of fucks given for the people around her, as though she sits dazed, unlike herself. Mild alarm bells buzz at the back of my neck, something seeming eerily off but I let myself be patient.

But in a split second, her eyes catch mine. A second or two pass before she begins to make her way towards me at a normal pace, squeezing in a smile as she brushes by people who greet her. She's a few steps away when my mouth opens to say something I am yet to consider, but she beats me to it, a professional smile on her face as she greets, "Hello, I don't believe i've introduced myself yet. I'm Lilith." Her eyes pad across the group of men, including me, and I immediately catch on. "Malachai." I reach out a hand, which she glances at, a head nod, before she looks to Natan who introduces himself and then Kace. "I've heard a lot about you." Natan's Russian accent comes through strongly as he speaks. "I do seem to be known by quite a few, though I don't recall how." Lilith throws an easy laugh following her words causing Natan to do the same.

"I've heard a lot about your father." Natan mentions lightly, taking a sip of his drink as he takes a careless sweep of the hall with his eyes to play his words off. At the mention of her father, my eyes drift to her, anticipating her reaction and hoping it won't be too messy. But instead she smiles and easy smile, "I think I would be worried if there was someone here who hasn't heard of him." I stare at her, dumbfounded at how she can be so stoic when the mere thought of her father has sent her spiralling on multiple occasions in the past.

Natan laughs lightly, "No, but i've heard rumours." Surely her heart is racing now. "Rumours?" She inquires, taking a sip of a drink I know she doesn't like by the way her nose lightly crinkles each time she swallows. "This is no place to talk such matters. Come after the showcase." He nods, not giving her so much as a second of thought before strolling off. The group of men follow him, and it's just me, Lilith and Kace.

I open my mouth to speak but, yet again, she beats me to it, "Excuse me gents, I have to go powder my nose." She nods her departure and my eyes follow her walking away out of my grasp once more. "What did you do to her?" Is the first thing I ask once i've watched her turn a corner, out of sight, my hunch about her being off seeming confirmed now. Kace just looks at me before taking a sip of his whiskey, "Don't you know you have to be professional on the job?" He raises a brow as if he did something just there. "You're one to talk." I grumble and he scoffs, "If people figure out we're connected to her, it'll cause trouble." He murmurs, scanning the area.

"Why don't people know you?" My eyes stay glued to the corner Lilith turned a few minutes ago. "I prefer working lowkey. Nobody knows who am I so nobody knows who to look for and behave around. It lets me receive a more raw attitude from people which I can use to make my own judgment. It's also why it took you so long to find me. Well, as a matter of fact, you didn't. I found you." He grins, proud. I grumble a few murmured words of raw negativity before an announcer taps on the mic, getting the hall's attention.

"Ladies and gents, it's time for the showcase!" The woman announces and cheers irrupt. I turn to question Kace on what this 'showcase' is, but he has now disappeared too.
Does the sneakiness just run in the fucking family or what?