Annie could feel the muscles of her chin tremble like a small child, There's static in her head once more, the side effect of the constant fear, constant stress she lived with.
"Anna?" At the sound of her mother's trembling voice, It takes somethin...
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There was something about the markets in Sydney, she felt an overwhelming sense of ... home. Crazy considering she'd never really felt content in one place, well, ever.
See, the thing about Australia, thanks to transportation in the 1700s so many British criminals were transported straight to Australia that over the years the streets were littered with razor gangs and pickpockets. Car thieves were common and you'd often have to watch what men you'd park your vehicle near ... that's what made it so easy for her.
Who'd dare suspect the young, fair- haired girl with the pretty smile?
Annie tried to be an ethical thief, only stealing off the ones with the expensive suits and the flashy cufflinks. She soon found herself becoming knee deep into whatever shit she had going when she started the blackmailing. Men and their secret mistresses ... oh how much they would do for their wives to not find out.
It wasn't long til she had a few of the city's finest men around her pinky, maybe it was just in her blood to be working against the law, perhaps that was how she became the city's very own busybody, was it just in her nature to run things?
She didn't go seeking for information or anything. She would just do her thing, flow along, enjoy the day and stuff found her. It was weird like that.
As she walked around the store, she grabbed at whatever interested her, new perfumes, lipsticks, and body creams, she walked up to the til dropping it all onto the desk.
"I'd like to return these items." She says with a blank expression.
"D'you have a receipt?" The lady at the til questioned.
"It's all sealed, I haven't even used them." She answered, truthfully.
"I'm sorry, it's compulsory."
"This is ridiculous," she complained, "You know what, forget it." Annie grabbed the products, frustrated, she looked back up, "thank you for absolutely nothing, you useless sod."
The woman behind the desk nodded, awkwardly and watched Annie walk away, She strutted through the exit door with ease, the products still in her hand and a small smile on her face.
"Too easy." She sneered.
As she exited the store, she noticed a man in a grey suit leaning against the door, he wore a black fedora, and it covered most of his face. Something about how he watched her as she walked away, how he let his cigarette drop to the floor and pushed himself off the wall to walk in her same direction didn't sit right with her.
She sped up, he didn't reciprocate, that should've been enough to calm her. Had a man not emerged from the same corner she was just about to turn, smiling in her face, it would've been enough.
"Annie Belmont?" The man asked, standing just an inch away from her, his chin held high, his stance exuded confidence. Her brain froze as he pronounced her surname, technically, it wasn't actually her surname. They were to be married but the ceremony was never carried out. Something about his name coming out of the slimy man standing in front of her angered her to the core.
"No, but I've just seen her enter the butchers shop, it's just down the street. Wouldn't recommend that place to my worst enemy, rats and roaches just running free, it's proper vile." She lied, effortlessly. She figured her English accent would've been a dead give away, so she tried her best Australian accent. She attempted to walk past, gritting her teeth as he moved to the right slightly, preventing her from leaving.
"You could lie your way out of Hell." Came the voice behind her. It became quite clear to her what the meaning behind this was.
Edison. Her teeth grinds together in vexation. The man in front of her forcibly grabbed at her shoulders and spun her round to meet his eyes, her stolen products fell from her hands.
"What the hell do you want, Edison?" Her real accent was hard to name, unbeknownst to him, it was because she never settled in one place as a kid. She'd been adopted countless times, a pretty young daughter is what they saw first, the flowing lies and issues that came with the orphan they figured out over time , to which they usually dumped her back at the institute. She never lost her Birmingham accent, it always added a sweet tang to whatever she said, mostly when she was angry or frustrated, it came out strong. But overall her accent was just a Brummie accent that had watered down over time.
"You and me, we're gonna have a talk."
"Over my dead body." She went to turn, but Edison's guard was still behind her and she came face to face with him again. "That can be arranged." He seethed.
"Now now, Bobby. We want little Annie in one piece."
"Bobby? And you expect me to be intimidated?" With a sigh and a roll of her eyes, she turned away from Bobby and faced Edison again. Edison was handsome, to say the most, he was nothing special to look at, his hair was a dull sandy colour and his eyes were black like coal.
"How's my precious Bentley? You know, the one you retrieved from me. Illegally, might I add."
A small smile of elation threatened Anna but she managed a small smirk. "I'm sure my client is relishing in the freshness of it as we speak. You know how it is with new cars, we can never get enough of it. the interior was simply riveting. That was your touch, was it?" She raised an eyebrow.
Edison scoffed, looking up and crossing his arms, he was quite clearly irritated, not being used to just blatantly being disrespected. "I did my research on you. Apparently you're fucking dead."
Annie raised her eyebrows, smiling. She wondered how long she could go before someone asked her that.
She smirked.
"Don't smirk, you're a child."
She rolled her eyes.
"You're going to work for me. Ain't seen no one hijack a car that fast, let alone Edison Richard's"
"But I'm just a child." She teased.
He didn't say anything. He just stared. Stared into she spoke again. "First. Pick my shit up off the floor." She pointed to the products that fell from her grasp due to his henchman's roughness. He sighed and nodded, leaning down to retrieve the products and she held her hand out for them, to which he handed them over and waited for what came next.
"How much you paying?" She raised an eyebrow.
' ... somewhere between life and death' Will this decision cost Anna?
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