I  ducked just in time to evade the assaulting fist of one of Hugo's men, or was that one of the rampaging gamblers? I couldn't tell anymore. It was a riot, literally. It was like a mosh pit during a BTS concert, if you replace the BTS, the songs, the girls, strobe lights, and over-all party atmosphere with burly men trying to punch the face off the other. 

I looked at the prone figure of Gab being hauled off by some of his colleagues. Before this chaos descended, he professed his feelings to me, and I sort of...panicked and smacked his head a little too hard than I intended. He fell unconscious shortly after that. Apparently, viewers liked to enjoy a long and fulfilling brawl which I did not deliver and felt cheated. Add to that all those gamblers who betted against me, the idiots that they were, and felt that I cheated. Of course, there were those who just like to punch people whenever an opportunity presented itself. Put these things together, and you got yourself a full-on riot.  

A hand grabbed me from behind and pushed my head down. I seized the offender by his clothes and shoved my knuckles to his face. I heard a familiar grunt, followed by a more familiar curse. 

"What the fuck, Reianne?" Michael's irritated voice competed against the screams and grunts all around me. 

"It's your fault for being within punching distance! This is your doing anyway!" I shouted back at him. I was about to nag Michael to death about the impropriety of spreading false rumors when I was suddenly lifted up by a strong pair of arms and hurled on the now-familiar shoulders like a sack of potatoes.  

"What the--put me down!" I protested.

"Talk later. We have to get away from here now," Gio said, as he strode past wrestling men with his long legs. 

"I said put me---"

"The police will arrive soon. If I put you down I might lose sight of you, and we'll never be able to get out of here in time."    

"Are you calling me a shorty?!" I yelled at him indignantly. 

"Actually, yes," Gio stated as a matter of fact. 

"Hnnn," I retorted, very articulately.    

After ten minutes of evading charging crazy people, we finally reached the outside and my feet mercifully touched the ground again. The cool crisp night air swept past my tiny frame, a welcome refreshment from the hot and humid testosterone-filled atmosphere inside the brawling fiasco. Michael was beside me and Gio in an instant, his face sporting some bruises but not enough to wipe that irritating mischievous grin off his face.

"Fuck you," I told him flatly.

"Language," Gio berated me. I gave him a stinky side-eye followed by my middle finger.

"You might want to rethink that," Gio said while giving me the most innocent smile he could muster. I rolled my eyes at him.

''I don't think we've been introduced properly,'' Gio addressed Michael who, I knew, was suppressing laughter for the sake of decorum.

''I'm Giovanne Markus Lee.'' Gio extended his hand to Michael, who took it.

''Michael Romero, Reianne told me who you are,' he quipped.

I could hear a very slight tinge of warning in his voice like he usually did when he was feeling protective of me and Marie. It annoyed me the first few times he did that, but now I just found it cute.  I stole a glance at Gio. The warning was not lost on him, but that slight upward twitching of the corner of his lips said that he just found said warning amusing.

The shouts inside the venue grew louder as the door burst wide open, followed by people punching one another. Bodies were thrown against nearby stalls that promptly collapsed from the force.

The more sensible ones scurried out and ran for their lives.

A whisper of sirens echoed off a distance. All three of us retreated from the glare of the streetlights, and took shelter behind the shadow of a tree at a corner.

''If the obligatory machismo is over, I'd like to know how we'll proceed now. I've knocked out Gab, but what about Ivan?'' I asked. 

''Well, you know, apparently, they don't remember the Reaper as a girl," Michael replied, as a matter of fact.

I blinked.

"What? So all this was for nothing?" I screamed in disbelief. They both shushed me. We looked around to look for possible eavesdroppers. There were none. 

"Well, Ivan remembers the Reaper, but not you as a girl. Gab remembers the Reaper and Anna, but as separate individuals. Apparently, he was on some high-quality shit that night. He thought Anna was a one night stand turned fiance  by accident," Michael whispered.

"And how did you know this?" I asked Michael, with my hands on my hips.

"Did you just doubt my skill as an intelligence agent?" Michael mirrored my stance.

"Humor me."

"I talked with them. They told me all the details of the night you broke into Hugo's mansion, and in return, I told them a secret about the Reaper." He winked at me. That irritating grin was back. Ugh.

"You'll pay for that, I swear."

"I'll be waiting,' he answered as he strode off, still wearing his red costume.

"Wait! Keep Gab away, at least."

Michael, still with his back on me, waved his hand. "Na-ah, can't abuse police powers, totally can't take him in--"

"Oh, come on!"

"...and it will be fun to watch," he finished. He disappeared at a corner and I swear I could hear him laughing.

After a couple of seconds, I let out a sigh. ''Oh well, I have to leave too. Reaper has some mob boss to visit tonight,'' I said, giving Gio a wave. 

Suddenly, Gio's strong arms pulled me back and I found myself enveloped in his warm embrace.  Not gonna lie,  I wanted to soak up all the warmth Gio's arms offered. It was oddly comforting to be in his embrace. I couldn't even remember the last time I was hugged like this. 

"I hate the thought that you'll be in that jackal's den tonight. Alone." Gio embraced me so much tighter that I could feel his heart beating against my chest.

"I will be alright. I have my needles with me."  I patted his back.

In response, Gio's embrace tightened some more. I could feel his warm breath on my neck. I had to fight the urge to just forget everything and call it a night. Not far from where we were I saw a passerby stole glances in our direction.

"Uhm, unless you want to explain to the press tomorrow why the billionaire Gio Lee was embracing a teenaged boy out on the streets, I suggest you let me go." I heard and felt him sigh when he unclasped his arms around me.

Walking away from him, I sent a silent thank you to the heavens above that I still had my wits about me, and that there were not enough street lights to illuminate my red-as-tomato face.

"Let's get down to business."

I pushed down the urge to burst out into a Mulan song and complete Hugo's line. He might not be a fan of Disney princesses and I had to maintain my reputation as the Reaper.

He sat with his elbows on the mahogany desk, his chin resting on the back of his joined hands.

Hugo, except for a few more prominent wrinkles, was the same round, overweight,  disgusting mob boss  I remembered him when I was still his little street urchin, stealing money from the hapless crowd or if there was no wallet to grab that day, begging from sympathetic passers-by. His eyes were the same deceitful, merciless gray orbs,  always assessing, always planning, always on the look-out from where the next betrayal would come from. 

As a child, I was nervous each time I saw those eyes and  I could never understand how it matched that perennial smile he wore.  He would torture someone to death with that freakish smile on his face.  I knew this because I saw it happened to a fellow street urchin.  He was known in the streets as the Smiling Demon for a reason. Fortunately for me,  he doesn't remember my stint at his organization and my previous handlers were either dead,  in prison,  or did not care enough to remember a grubby street kid.  Street urchins were cannon fodders.  Disposable.

''Scotch?'' Hugo handed me a drink as his eyes bore into mine, watching for the least hint of hesitation.  I gave him an assured smirk, took the glass,  and downed it in one go.  Satisfied, he appeared to relax and sat back on his plush chair.

''Good scotch,'' I said, twirling the glass.  If it were any other paying client,  I would have refused the drink.  My clients knew not to offer me any and not because I didn't drink on the job.  It was because I didn't trust them not to put funny things in it.  However,  I had to make Hugo feel special for this to work, and the Reaper wanted to play.

''Now,  what do you want the Reaper's services for? '' I laid back on my seat--the one where I strapped Ivan days prior, and crossed my legs,  my hands rested on my knees. Hugo gestured to his men inside the room to leave. 

"I'll be blunt,  I am having second thoughts.  The work I have in mind might not be up your alley. ''

I tilted my head to one side. ''Does it involved getting into secured places?''

''Yes,  definitely. ''

''Does it involve retrieval?''

''Yes.''

''Then,  what seems to be the problem?" I shrugged for emphasis.

''Because what I want is not a thing, but a person. '' Hugo handed me a picture which, at first glance, I thought to be Harley Quinn. It took me a couple of seconds to see that what I was seeing was Quin,  with loads of make-up and hair color.

''That's Ranya Lee.  Wife of the business tycoon Gio Lee. Bring us to her and you can name your price.''

I had to bite the inside of my cheek to force myself to stay in character.

''Consider it done, and I require fifty percent downpayment,'' I said,  my eyes never leaving the picture. If Hugo got a look at my eyes,  he would see the truth in them. 

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