One

"Rodrigo, listen to me. I'm only saying this once and for all. I have absolutely no reason to feel even the slightest remorse when it comes to what I do. This is a special job. One that I'm happy to do," Keisha Martins spoke soothingly, as if her words were voicing the best of intentions.

Given, she was convinced she was doing the world a favour. She surveyed her new nails with a smirk of satisfaction. Oh, how she adored the colour red on her stiletto-shaped nails. She furrowed her brows.

"Where is this coming from? Don't tell me you want out," she said cooly, although she couldn't quite hide the nervousness in her voice.

Rodrigo Gomez was silent on the other end of the line. After a while, he sighed. "I don't know, it's just don't you ever wonder who Draco is? I mean what if he isn't what we think he is?" Keisha listened without interrupting and still kept her silence when Rodrigo finished speaking.

"Oh, is this the part where I convince you that we're the good guys?" She asked sarcastically, making Rodrigo scoff on the other line. "If you need convincing, Rod, then I implore you to think of your monthly bills and all the other responsibilities that come with this thing called life. You need more convincing? Think of the kids that lost their home because some rich, selfish guy saw the space as a good business investment."

She stared at the stars through her apartment window and sighed. "Look, I understand where you're coming from. We both have never met Draco, but he sure knows how to pick the scum and our job is to simply make those scum pay while getting paid, might I add," she paused and stepped away from her window. "I mean, we should be glad it doesn't get bloody. Can you imagine if we actually had to shoot people?"

"That would be..." Rodrigo started but was stopped by Keisha's much excited tone.

"Fun, right? Oh, it would be so much more fun." A vibrant smile appeared on her lips as she threw herself onto her queen-sized bed.

"Yeah, I was about to say dangerous and extremely illegal. I don't know about you, but I want to live the rest of my life out of jail." Rodrigo pushed his glasses up his nose and closed his eyes, allowing himself a moment of reflection as he swung his chair around.

Keisha scoffed loudly.

"Not every exhilarating thing has to land you in jail. I mean, I could just graze their kneecaps or something. Just enough pain to let these obnoxiously filthy rich people that someone's got their eye on them. Keep them on their toes, you know?"

"Seems you forget easily just how filthy these people can be. What you need to do is be thankful that we don't deal with the big sharks. I doubt even Draco would be able to stop their wrath."

Keisha yawned, all the running around she had done during the day finally getting to her. "You think? And who do you have in mind, my dear partner?" The mockery in her tone was conspicuous, almost palpable.

"Oh, I don't know. How about the mafia, for starters? Politicians? These are just some of the powerful people out there and they play really dirty too," he paused and righted his chair. He pulled his glasses and placed them on the table before rubbing his eyes. "You were right about one thing though. We should be glad it doesn't ever get bloody."

Keisha stood up and walked out of her bedroom to the kitchen, appreciating her apartment as she went. "Yeah, I don't know if I've said this before but the money is good and honestly, that's all I'm in this for."

She looked around her spacious kitchen with it's wide kitchen island and marbled kitchen tops. Everything was exactly how she had envisioned her life being when she was younger and didn't have much to her name. So, it was no lie that she was in it for the money because it certainly had certainly paved the way for the soft life she now led.

Rodrigo rolled his eyes, despite the fact that he shared the same sentiments regarding the matter. However, he hardly ever agreed with Keisha because he knew better and that was not to hype her.

"You have said that before. Way too many times for me to try to even forget about it. If I remember correctly, I probably dream about it every now and then." Rodrigo shook his head, the dream he had had about her resurfacing at the top of his mind.

"Oh, you dream about me?" Keisha cooed with mirth in her tone. "I'm honoured, Rod."

"Dream implies that I actually enjoy seeing you in my sleep and that's not the case at all. Nightmare would be the proper word." He paused, a frown marring his facial features as he pondered about the word. "It is definitely the right word considering how you always seem to be cackling like a damn witch every single time."

Keisha's boisterous laughter roared through the phone, making Rodrigo mutter an internal thanks for having put the phone on loud speaker. "It's not funny at all," Rod chastised his partner, glaring at the phone that was lying on the table.

"Too bad then because I think it's funny. You know what else I think is funny? It's you playing guilty with me when we've been in the game for this long." Keisha cackled, unable to hold back how truly amusing she found the matter to be.

Rod drove his hand through his hair and hissed. "I was just checking if you still had any humanity left in you. Looks like you don't."

A scoff left her lips as she rolled her eyes to the ceiling and back. "You're right, Rodrigo. I don't, so don't get your panties in a twist. Now, please can we move past this conversation already? It's getting stale."

"Not like you wouldn't if I said no anyway," Rod deadpanned.

"I'm glad we're on the same page," she responded cheekily, the smile in her tone obvious to her partner. "I trust you received the files I sent you."

"Files received; all safe and sound. You must be ecstatic about what comes next."

Keisha grinned and twirled around her tiled kitchen floor with bare feet. "Oh, you got that right." She closed her eyes and let herself revel in the money she would be receiving soon enough.

Despite himself, Rod chuckled lowly. "Enjoy it. You worked hard for it."

"I know," she cemented with a tinge of pride in her voice. "We should go and celebrate."

"Yeah thanks but I'll pass. I'm beat and just want to bury myself deep in my girl..."

"Stop!" Keisha shouted, her face contorted into a face of disgust. Rodrigo was like the brother she had never had and she didn't want to know about his sexual activities. "I don't wish to know that information, so please."

"As I was saying, my wish is simply to just bury myself in..." Rod grinned widely when the phone beeped, signalling that Keisha had cut the call.

"My girl's arms," he carried on to speak the rest of the statement, knowing very well that Keisha was no longer on the other end of the line.

With a shake of his head, he put his glasses back on and pushed his chair under the desk. He cracked his fingers once and set to work. The keyboard complained under his expertly fingers. His gaze never wavered off the screen as he clicked all the buttons until finally he hit send and the email addressed to Draco was successfully sent.

Sure enough, their next mission was sent alongside a congratulatory email alerting him of their successful payments. "Thompson King?" He read the name written in bold out loud in question.

Opening a new tab, he put his research skills to work. There were too many profiles that popped up under the name but one look at the brief information sent alongside their new mission, it was easy to find their next target. An old man who was in his late seventies popped up and Rod was not all too surprised about that.

He was slowly coming to accept that the people they always dealt with happened to be dirty, old men who ought to have been fishing by the lake at sundown, simply appreciating the years they had lived through. Not out and about causing big trouble for those that still had their whole lives ahead of them. With a twist of his lips, he redialled Keisha's number.

"What in the world do you want now?" She could not have hidden the annoyance in her tone if she liked.

"Chill, princess. This is a serious matter," he explained, although his voice was laced with mirth.

"Okay, what's this about?" She asked offhandedly, eyeing the bowl of ice-cream she had been about to dig into.

"Does the name Thompson King perhaps ring a bell?"

Keisha blinked. "I mean, it depends. Is it supposed to? Never mind that, why are you asking me about him? Whoever he is." She paused for a few seconds, hoping Rod would get what she was trying to say. "Come on, you know the no work policy still applies for my weekend."

"Judging from what you just said, I'll take that as a no. And I trust you already know that everything flows from Draco down to us. I'm just following through with the instructions," he explained briefly, continuing to click on the keyboard.

"With that being said, you will be happy to know that your next client is none other than Thompson King. He's known for making large scale donations to small scale companies. Has helped revamp the central hospital down south and.."

"Hold your horses, Rod. I'm not interested in knowing about his schemes. At least, not today. I told you that I don't operate on weekends. You know this too." Her voice was firm, leaving no room for discussion and Rod knew very well that she meant it.

"He knows it too, but by the looks of it, the matter is clearly slightly more urgent. So, what do you say?"

"I mean he could actually be a she," Keisha responded off-handedly with a raised brow, scooping two spoonfuls of her ice-cream and gulping it down quickly.

"Eh, what?" Rod stopped typing and stared at his phone like it was Keisha in the flesh.

"I mean, you keep referring to him as a male when none of us are aware of his true gender. What if Draco is a woman?"

"Are we seriously having this conversation right now?" Rod asked calmly, although he felt like shaking the senses back into her.

"Why not?" She countered and giggled when he called her name out.

"Fine, I'm sorry. This is not the time for playing. But, it is time for me to tell you no because I need to lay to rest and my weekend is for doing just that. So please, pass my gratitude to Draco for having such faith in me but I won't be taking the job."

"You sure? The money is good." They both knew that Keisha's weakest point was money and Rod was using it to bait her.

"Umm," she pondered over the matter and bit her teeth down in annoyance when she realised that she was actually contemplating taking the job up. "Nope, it's a hard no big fella. We don't go back on our word on this end, so I'm good. No is a no."

"You sure?" Rod questioned slowly, sounding unconvinced by her words.

"Hell yeah, I'm sure. I told you I don't work on weekends and I never break my rules.

"Since when was that one of the rules?"

"It was a vow before but looks like I need to officially make it a rule now in order to stand firm against last-minute missions like this one."

"Why are you so hung up on rules anyway. Don't you know that they eventually end up broken?" Rod shook hus head and carried on typing on his computer.

"Not mine. That's why I'm turning you down right now."

"You sure you won't regret this?" Rod asked earnestly, stopping his typing when Keisha remained silent. "Keisha?"

"Nope, I won't regret this. And I won't be doing this mission," her voice was even firmer than before, as if she needed the convincing. Rod picked up on that and smiled. "Have yourself a good night Rodrigo."

Keisha did not give Rod a further second to speak and cut the call. She eyed her phone with a hint of satisfaction before tossing it on the couch, just next to her laptop. She picked up her bowl and sat more comfortably.

"I mean, it's not that hard to say no. And I'm capable of doing just that too," she scoffed and ate her ice-cream with gusto.

:::

"Are you in place?" Rod's voice sounded unusually annoying through the earpiece she had on.

"Yes, I'm in place," she muttered, rolling her eyes. "Now, shut up. I need to focus."

That seemingly set him off as he burst into laughter, making Keisha wish she could pull off the earpiece and only put it back when she was sure that he was done laughing.

"Cackle like that into my ear one more time and I swear I'm walking out of here."

She eyed her destination which was just a short distance away and brought their conversation to a stop. “Gotta go," she spoke abruptly and pulled the earpiece off and hid it inside her bra. Better safe than sorry.

One might say that she may have spoken too soon. Here she was approaching the King residence under the guise of Moesha Smith, a new maid for the King family.

"I can't believe I'm doing this," she mumbled to herself, keeping her face neutral. Her eyes wandered over to the mansion that she could spot in the far distance, but couldn't quite make out, so she dragged her eyes from it.

Two humongous statues of lions sat atop the ends of a tall iron gate and she couldn't keep her eyes off them as she rang the intercom. She licked her lips nervously, but instantly shook off her nerves. She had lasted so long at this job because she had a strong head on her shoulders, not because she was a scaredy-cat.

"King Residence, good morning. How may I help?" A clipped female voice suddenly spoke through the intercom just when her attention was fully spent on the long driveway that was lined by tall trees and a large expanse of land covered by a rich green lawn.

Involuntarily, she jumped a little in surprise. With a small shake of her head, she cleared her throat.

"Good morning, this is Moesha Smith, the new maid."

Keisha wasn't surprised that her voice sounded confident, despite having been completely thrown off a few seconds ago. She was a good master of her emotions and knew how to behave appropriately in circumstances that she needed her to.

There was a short pause on the other end but Keisha didn't allow her mind to run wild. She trusted Rod; herself even more. Mutual trust was what had brought her here and she couldn't afford to doubt Rod's skills which had led to her getting hired, so she waited patiently.

"Miss Smith, welcome to the King Residence. We hope that you will work to the best of your ability and enjoy that start of your career here," the voice echoed, just as the gates slid open. "A car is already on its way to pick you up, so please come inside and take a seat in the visitors' waiting area."

Keisha slowly pulled her bag up and walked in, trying her best to ignore the cameras that were stationed at the gate. Sure enough, on the immediate left, there was a small building with a large sign on the front written 'Visitors' Area'.

In no time at all, a sleek black car slid to a stop before her and whisked her up the driveway and to the mansion. The driver had said little to nothing from their first meeting and during the entire drive, so Keisha had also kept her silence.

However, as the mansion unfolded before her and she finally got a good look at it, she couldn't hide her awe.

"It's huge!" She exclaimed, looking out through the window, just as the car snaked around a pond and came to a stop. The driver just smiled and came round to open the door for her.

"Welcome to the King residence," he spoke in a formal tone, once he had brought her luggage out of the boot.

The mansion stretched upwards and outwards, standing so majestically. If anything, it looked like she was standing before a castle than a house. It was something between modern and vintage; just perfect. However, if she had to pick one word to describe it, vintage would be her best bet.

The suited driver cleared his throat and Keisha twisted to face him sheepishly. "I'm sorry, I don't usually get so easily distracted."

He just nodded in a cordial manner, indirectly assuring her that he probably had witnessed her reaction way too many times to be fazed by hers. Keisha's eyes followed his pointed finger to a solid mahogany double door which had a long line of steps leading up to it.

"That's the main entrance; strictly for the family and visitors. The staff do not use it. We only use the back entrance. If you follow that path, it will lead you straight there. I'm sure someone will already be waiting there to escort you inside."

"Got it, thank you," she said earnestly, glad the driver wasn't stuck up for someone that worked for such a high profile family. So far so good.

She walked round the mansion, trying her best to ignore the guards stationed at different points in the yard. Although their eyes barely shifted from surveying the area, she was still slightly wary of them because they all looked like they had been bouncers before being employed here. In no time, she arrived at her directed destination.

Sure enough, a maid that she guessed must have been around her age was standing outside the back door. Keisha bared her teeth at her, hoping to get a smile in return. However, the maid just nodded and asked Keisha to follow her. She trailed behind her, trying but failing to not get confused by all the twists and turns they were taking.

It was just one day, she reminded herself. By tomorrow, she would have forgotten all about being hired help in that mansion and gone back to her life.

Just you wait, Thompson King.