Chapter 4: No Disappointment?

Chapter 4: No Disappointment?

Eltan Storm

The room was small and the lights dim, with no windows. The walls used to be white, but they had been stained red over time and one had heard more gut-wrenching screams than one could count.

In that room, there was only me on a comfortable black leather chair and a familiar face quivering in fear on a steel chair, tied with chains. He was unharmed yet, but the sweat beads rolling down his face clearly indicated that he knew he wouldn't remain unharmed for long. Well, he wasn't wrong.

I caressed the sharp knife in my hand as I looked at the in charge of the cargo.

"I won't ask you why," I uttered coldly.

"I am sorry, Capo," Meris murmured.

I snickered. "Meris, my boy, you should have thought about the consequences of betraying your capo before. Then again, if you had thought about it, you wouldn't be here at the torture cell, now would you?"

I got up and walked toward him.

"Capo, they... they bribed me..." he tried to reason out.

"Then you should have told me about that. I would've given you a raise seeing your loyalty toward the Thunder. Since you decided to betray the Thunder, bear the consequences."

I grabbed his right hand and chopped off his thumb at that instant. His screams echoed in the room, making me smirk.

"You swore to be loyal to the Thunder by making your thumb bleed slightly, remember?" I asked, and when he started crying without replying to me, I grabbed his hair and ordered, "Fucking answer me."

"Ye...yes..."

"Remind me again of the procedure to dedicate yourself to the gang?" I was as calm as ice. Dealing with traitors personally gave me inner peace.

"I... I had to cut the thumb of my right hand and use that blood to put my fingerprint on the contract to dedicate myself to the...gang..." Meris managed to say.

"Excellent." I cut off his index finger next. "Now, watch me cut each finger of yours one by one."

He hissed his pain. "Capo, I am sorry. Forgive me, Capo," he cried.

I shook my head. "Don't worry. I will just cut off the fingers of your hands. Denver will do your legs, and then, my executioner will shoot you in between your eyes."

I chopped his other finger as I further spoke in between his screams, "I would have loved to kill you personally, Meris, but I have some important work to do, you see."

After all, there was someone I had to meet tonight. I had told her that her boss might surprise her, and I did genuinely want to see her surprised look. I never imagined that something as simple as that could get me giddy. Screw staying away from her.

Without dragging the torture session, once I was done butchering all of Meris' fingers, I called Denver to handle the rest.

"Will you be heading home now?" Denver asked when I came out of the restroom after washing the blood off my hands. He gave me a suspicious look, his eyes checking me from tip to toe. It was because I was careful not to let any blood splatter on my suit tonight. Wouldn't want to scare Faith right off the bat, would I?

"No, I'm going to the Berserkers," I replied, starting to walk toward the exit of the underground port station.

"May I know why?"

A small smile formed on my face at the thought of Faith. "I have been receiving some complaints from there. It's about time I took some action against them."

###

I walked into the casino club, my eyes searching for the familiar auburn hair.

And there she was.

My heart skipped a beat, looking at her as she handed a female customer her cosmopolitan.

Faith looked just as ethereal as the first night I saw her there. The golden lights in the bar area made her skin glow and highlighted her dimpled smile all the more.

For a long moment, I just stood admiring her from afar.

Maybe I had been right. I had decided that if I saw her smile again, I would be a whipped man, and that was exactly what was happening to me right now. I knew the dire consequences, and yet, I came here. Why couldn't I stop myself from being attracted to her? Guess I would find out later. But now that I was already here, I might as well talk to her.

As soon as I took a step toward her, an obstacle appeared, which happened to be the casino manager.

"Mr. Storm, what a pleasant surprise! I didn't know you were coming tonight!" he exclaimed, attracting all of the nearby employees' and customers' attention, including Faith.

Faith was looking at me with wide eyes as if she wasn't expecting to see me tonight at all—that was the reaction I was hoping to see tonight.

As my eyes didn't move from her, our gaze met, and she gave me a small polite smile as a greeting. That gesture made me want to pull out my gun and blow out the loudmouth of the manager so that I could go and talk to her already.

Frowning, I then looked at Mr. John. "Yes, same here. Now, if you will excuse me—" he cut me off.

"Mr. Storm, if you don't mind, can I ask something?"

"Yes, I do mind, and no, you may not," I replied without beating around the bush. "I've some business to attend to here, so—"

"What business here? You haven't come here for the last two years. Speaking of which, that is the question I wanted to ask you. Why did you come to the casino so suddenly after so long?" He was smiling, but his tone wasn't welcoming at all.

It didn't take me long to understand why he didn't want me here. Faith had told me that she wanted to complain about the manager. In my absence, the manager must be thinking he was the boss around here.

"Recently, it has come to my attention that my employees are dissatisfied with me, because of me not coming here and handling things on my own. Actually, Faith here," I motioned toward Faith whose eyes widened like saucers, "showed me how wrong I was to do that. That's why I have decided to correct my mistake."

The manager glared at Faith out of the corner of his eyes, probably already planning to give her an earful. But unfortunately for him, he wouldn't get that chance.

"With that note, Mr. John, you're fired," I concluded and breezed past him toward the bar counter, making his jaw drop to the floor in shock.

I saw the big surprised look on all the employees faces who were around there and started to thank Faith out of excitement.

"Good riddance! Good job on complaining, Faith!" the blonde woman from the earlier night exclaimed and gave her a tight hug. Candy was her name if I remembered correctly.

"I didn't do anything. I don't even remember—"

"What? You don't?" I asked, feigning a little hurt, and Faith gave me a confused look. "We just talked this afternoon." Her confused look increased. I almost wanted to laugh at her cute frown. "At the restaurant? The stranger? You were bitching on the phone about your boss?"

She stared at me blankly for a moment, then her hand flew up to her mouth as a surprised gasp escaped her lips. "Oh, my God, no wonder why your voice sounded familiar!"

I chuckled and sat on one of the bar stools. "'Your boss is a horrible, detrimental person,' you mean this voice?" I changed my voice into that croaked one I used this afternoon.

"I did not say that!" Faith protested immediately.

Candy gave Faith a pat on the shoulder and said, "Girl, you have a knack for getting in trouble with your boss." With that, she walked away, leaving the two of us alone at the bar counter.

"I seriously did not say that. There has been a misunderstanding," Faith tried to explain, calmer now.

I chuckled and leaned my elbow on the counter. "But you did complain about me on the phone, didn't you?"

Her eyes widened once again. "Oh, God, you're going to fire me tonight, aren't you? That's why you're here, right? I better tell Mr. John to wait for me then. We can go together and—"

"No, I already fired your manager—"

"Then, you will cut off from my paycheck, won't you? Please don't. I need to pay rent this month," she requested.

It was fun to see her so panicked about something I would never do. So I decided to have a little more fun.

"Well, perhaps, I won't. That is, if you give me Faith's special drink in under a minute," I told her.

I didn't even need to start the countdown as she hurriedly started to prepare the drink while my eyes stayed glued to her.

In only forty-five seconds, she served me the drink. I smiled, accepting the glass and taking three slow sips.

"You're an expert," I compliment.

She smiled and said, "When making drinks is all you have been doing for almost four years, it would be a shame to not be an expert, right?"

I nodded in agreement. "So do you feel like shifting jobs, if you're bored?"

For my sake, dear God, I hope you don't.

She chuckled. "No, of course not. I already told you that I love this job, don't I?"

"That's true," I said, feeling a little happy. I looked down at my drink, and an urge occurred. "Hey, why don't you get yourself a drink, too? I don't feel right drinking while you're just standing."

She shook her head. "Employees aren't allowed to drink during work hours."

Without giving it a second thought, I offered, despite knowing she didn't drink alcohol, "Then, drink with me tomorrow after you're off work." Realizing how weird and out of nowhere it had to sound, I corrected, "I mean, I'm free tomorrow night and it would be nice to have a drinking partner. Plus, employees are allowed a free pass in the club after work hours, so why not? You don't even have to consume alcohol. You can order an orange juice, for all I care."

Faith smiled, and at that moment, I felt I could kill the rest of the world just to see that smile.

"So does that mean you will be coming tomorrow as well?" she asked a little reluctantly.

"I will try to come every night from now on," I told her.

"Why is that?" she asked, genuinely curious.

I stood up and leaned forward toward her to bring our faces closer. Her breath hitched as my gaze pierced into her amber ones.

"Because I don't want to disappoint you."