It was a timely nine am when Tony rapped his knuckles against the LeTale door, thanking their housekeeper as she let him in.“Tony” the petite redhead almost purred at him in greeting, make Tony awkwardly chuckle not really noticing that Maria had already appeared on the stairs and clocked the exchange.Dressed in a pair of flared burgundy trousers and matching jacket with a black strap top that didn’t hide her cleavage as much as her mother might prefer, Maria warily eyed the way the housekeeper was looking over at Tony. As if they shared a secret, or a past even. The woman was quite young and Maria couldn’t help but wonder if the housekeeper were much older than herself, which inevitably led to thinking about Tony’s wife. He still hadn’t mentioned her and Maria didn’t know whether to be offended that he didn’t seem to think it mattered. Was that because his personal life was none of her business and this was just a bit of harmless flirtation or was he purposefully harbouring the tru

Tony stayed silent until he heard Maria get in the car, looking down on Jerry who was lulling in and out of consciousness. What was it about Maria and not wanting violence, didn’t she realise the business they were in? Didn’t she understand what Jerry had been hinting at?“You’re f**ked” Jerry spluttered, blood in his mouth as he did so yet he still managed a bleak laugh. “I ain’t never seen you look at someone in that way,” Jerry coughed through his laugh, “He will kill you Tony” the man warned him gravely.Tony tensed slightly, his brow furrowed as he looked towards the door where Maria had left moments before.“It was a slip” he told Jerry gruffly, “I’m not an idiot, I know shes off limits. She’s just so damn interesting… not to mention beautiful and she had a rough night, shes hurting” Tony grumbled in an explanatory way, standing up from his position of straddling Jerry to hold him to the ground.“Are you going to tell him?” he asked Jerry point blank, his hand resting on his gun

The sensory deprivation of the cloth bag was disorientating Maria as the car rallied through the city, going God knows where. She could hear gun shots, mostly firing from the car she was in. Instantly, Maria knew it was because they knew she was in there. The odd swerve of the car told her that whichever of the LeTale soldiers were chasing them had been ordered to be cautious of shooting at the vehicle Maria was travelling in.She was breathing quite quickly, trying not to go into full blown panic mode but they had been driving at least 15 minutes and she still had no clue whether the body next to her was alive or not, whether it belonged to Tony or someone else. She should have shot Ricky when she had the chance, Carlos seemed much easier to evade. Now was the time to gather herself, she had to be strong, she was going to have to negotiate herself out of this mess. She stiffened sharply as she felt the body beside her shuffle a little and then she felt it, the lightest touch from a