02. Blood & Kill

 Ethan POV

 I kicked the blood-soaked body several times in front of me. Lying on the floor, he didn't move at all except for a moan that escaped his lips.

 It didn't matter if he would die if I kept doing it or not, but the upset I felt was still insatiable, as if I wouldn't stop if this man hadn't died.

 "Get Gilbert here." My orders.

 Frightened, he ran out of the room to call a man named Gilbert.

 While waiting, I pulled a handkerchief out of my pocket to wipe away the blood on my black shoes. It was disgusting; it was the first time my shoes had been soiled like this by someone whose life wasn't worth a penny.

 Finished wiping and throwing a dirty handkerchief full of blood on the man's face, I walked back to my table, poured vodka into a glass, and then drank it greedily. There were not enough glasses, so I poured another and drank it to the end. 

 The one I had asked Gilbert to bring returned with an old man only briefly after that. His bald head was only slightly above the ear, coiled to the back of the head. At the same time, the middle part was slippery and shimmered somewhat when exposed to the lamp's light.

 I refrain from laughing as much as possible, even turning my face away so I don't show a smile in front of them. Because to be honest, every time I see Gilbert's hairstyle, I always want to laugh.

 Gilbert looked at me in horror. His old body trembled while I furrowed my eyebrows, annoyed.

 "Come over here." 

 The man pushed Gilbert's body forward to approach my desk. Several times, he almost fell because he tripped over his own feet. Still, finally, after being forced many times and shouted at, Gilbert was able to arrive in front of my desk.

 I put my foot on the table before interrogating Gilbert. "Is it true that you know nothing?"

 Gilbert nodded vigorously many times. "Y—yes, Alpha! I mean it, I don't know!" he exclaimed, reinforcing the alibi he had. 

 "Then how can the transaction fail?" I asked again.

 Gilbert shuffled. He looked more and more frightened. His eyeballs moved to the right and left. I knew he was trying to make excuses. One second, three, until a minute passed in vain without the answer I wanted. I glanced at one of my two men still holding Gilbert by the neck, one strangling him, then slamming the man's bald head against the floor until his forehead bled.

 I could hear screams of pain from his mouth. It sounded like a very beautiful instrument in my ears. He wept, begging for his life to be spared.

 "You think I don't know what happened while you were there? What other reason do you have? Please, I still have two minutes to hear your defense." I looked at my watch, giving him a tension that probably made him shiver from within because I was constantly pressuring and intimidating.

 But look at him. The old man with his ridiculous-looking hairdo is still shaking his head, rejecting the accusation I gave.

 "Please forgive me, Alpha. I really don't know why it happened," he clasped his Palm, begged as he crawled in front of me, begged me not to do anything, and turned to believe all the nonsense he said. 

 However, my two minutes were up. I shook my head with a smile; it was seen and understood by one of my several wolf guards, who immediately pulled out a gun and shot Gilbert in the head until he died; his blood came out and hit my cheek a little; it was disgusting.

 "Get rid of the body, and take care of that man as well. I don't care what you guys are going to do to him. And also, catch everyone who messed up our deal last night. I don't want any more losses." I said, wiping the traces of blood on the cheek.

 "Yes, Alpha." They answered in unison.

 While massaging my forehead, I saw my people, who were the Wolf guards, hurriedly pulling Gilbert's corpse as well as the man I had beaten to death. Cleaned the floor full of blood and gave me another bottle of vodka after they saw that the bottle of vodka I had been drinking had almost run out. 

 "How much is left in our storage?" I asked the others.

 "The one that escaped due to the failure of the transaction was twelve kilograms of Marijuanda, the rest is still intact in our other warehouse, Alpha." He replied.

 I'm glad they managed to steal so little from me. However, twelve kilograms is enough to buy cigars and vodka for a year. I will take it back, forcing them to overpay for what they have already stolen.

 "Bring it all here. I want to count it myself." My orders to them.

 "Yes, Alpha."

 While they took what I wanted, I grabbed the cigar on the table, cut off the tip with a double-bladed cigar cutter, burned and smoked it slowly, felt the sensation of rolling at one point five million dollars of tobacco, and blew the smoke into the air.

 The room, which initially smelled of sweat and blood and was quite dense, was now switched on, replaced by smoke from cigars with a distinctive aroma of Himalayan tobacco. When I visited there, an Alpha gave me a gift to do a little cooperation.

 It's not my favorite tobacco, but it's enough to make me feel like it's worth enjoying when my head feels like it's about to burst after all this mess about a deal that was supposed to bring me fifteen billion dollars in profit.

 But look at me now. Not a cent goes into my pocket. And it didn't pay off only because of Gilbert's death. It's like bullshit to me.

 It didn't feel like the cigar I was smoking, now half gone, when my Wolf Guards carried the suitcases in one big trolley and put them lined up in front of the table, letting me see the object in the perfect position to examine guys. Was what they told me true? Everything intact, except for my twelve stolen?

 I stood up, approached, and began to open the suitcases one by one, checking without gaps and nodding to ensure my count did not decrease when I did it yesterday. But twelve pounds really makes me sick.

 "Did you get a picture of them?" I asked, still counting.

 "We checked the CCTV footage, but we haven't found anything for sure. Of all the people, there was a woman with them."

 "A woman?" I repeated.

 It's quite unusual. But why should I be surprised? Isn't it common for a thief to put a woman in the position of 'lure' to flirt and expose their target to deception?

 Again, I puffed cigar smoke in the room, "Okay, leave this and get someone to track that woman down, then have you found a new location for the next transaction?"

 "Y—yes, Alpha, I found it. In a town near the western peninsula. It was a city that wasn't too big but safe enough to make the next transaction," he explained.

 "Have we done it before?"

 "Never, Alpha, that city was a recommendation from Sir Chen Lien, he said that it was safe. There is an abandoned building complex there that has never been controlled by anyone, including the police. It is also a small pack that started cooperation with us this year. Their Alpha said, he will protect our transaction until it is completed."

 "A new place? Quite interesting, after all, I rarely go to the city close to the border like that." I murmured, considering that the proposal given by Chen Lien was indeed worthy of appreciation. I'll treat him next time.

 "Keep all these things and take them when I meet Chen Lien. Then also prepare the goods for the next transaction, and I don't want any more mistakes like this."

 "But—but, Mr. Chen Lien won't be in England in the next few months, Alpha."

 I squinted, looking at him with a feeling of disbelief. "Did I ask you to wait for him to come back?"

 The Wolf guard needed clarification. He knew that he had just said something wrong. His mistake made him lower his face and apologize with sweat that began to pour out; he panicked and frightened.

 However, I, who never tolerated anything, stopped smoking a cigar and extinguished the fire on the man's right cheek.

 No screams of pain. He held her like a good child, even though her whole body trembled, and her face turned pale with a pair of red eyes, to the point of tears from enduring the pain. 

 I threw the rest of the cigar on the floor and stepped on it until it was flattened, but the man was still standing.

 "I never asked you to speak other than to answer a question from me. Now put this thing away again, and prepare a plane for me. I want to see that place before making a transaction there." I ruled.

 "It's not like that, Alpha." He spoke and stopped me from leaving the room. But our people have found him. You should look and see if it's really her or not.

 "Where did you find her?"

 "West Peninsula, our new place of transaction."