"Hey, Mace."

Her brother stared at her, that familiar crinkle appearing between his brows, his mouth pressed into a thin line. Elodie shifted in her chair, pressing her fingers into the spine of her paperback book as she fought—just as she'd done everyday—the tears brimming in her eyes.

One would think that she would be desensitized to the pain of watching her brother lay in bed without any recognition of her, but it only seemed to worsen everyday. Plus her encounter with Luke had made her sleep fitfully, so she was emotionally raw and vulnerable right now; a by-product of the little sleep she was able to get in.

Too keyed up on her run that morning, she'd decided to visit Mace earlier than usual, grabbing her dog-eared copy of The Lord Of The Flies, a book by William Golding which explored the politics of boys whose plane crashed into an island without the supervision of an adult. It was a fun read for those who were looking to pass time, but was deep for those who loved searching for meaning in literature works, like she did. She'd read it enough times to be able to quote some of its passages offhand.

Elodie had sat down by her usual position by the bed, watching Mace sleep, and brought out her novel to get in a chapter or two, when she noticed that she was being watched. Mace had woken up, and watched her quietly.

"I made more money yesterday," she told him, smiling. "Two more months and I'll be able to get you out of here to get you the treatment you need. Isn't that great?"

He slowly blinked.

This made her grin. The doctor's had said that he may not recall who she was, but he heard her clearly and was able to process some words, albeit slowly than a normal, healthy human would. Mace's blinking was a way of communicating that he was with her.

"I've also made a huge dent in..." She swallowed. She'd been carried away by her joy that she'd almost brought up the one topic she was careful not to mention around him: their parent's death. Mace hadn't taken it well when they died, which was the main catalyst of all their problems. Bringing it up again could cause a relapse, and it was dangerous for him.

"Never mind," she said, and raised the book into his line of vision. "This is my new read for the month. Although I wouldn't call it new, seeing as I've read it over and over again. But it feels new to me each time."

He blinked again.

"Mace, I love you," she suddenly said. "Don't ever doubt that or forget it."

The door to the room slid open, and Mace's nurse, Adeline Adeleke, an African-American woman with tight curls and small smile, walked in bearing a tray filled with a syringe, two little bottles of liquid she recognized but couldn't remember its name."Hello, Ms. Evans. How are you doing today?"

"I'm fine," she answered, closing her book. "And you?"

"We take each day as a blessing."

Elodie watched as she began to setup the injection which she would inject into the IV bag connected to Mace's left wrist. "How's he been?"

Adeline drew the first liquid into the syringe, tapped it's tip, then set about drawing the second liquid into the same syringe. "Better, I believe. Last evening, he made a sound that could pass for a growl when I touched his right hand accidentally."

She sat up, heart racing. "What?"

Several times, Mace's former nurse had reported to her about how he'd make sounds, even eat and sometimes gag, but her brother never did those things when she was around. In fact, he only chose to stare at her, bit blinking at times, and sometimes he blinked, or simply shut his eyes.

Adeline paused in the act of inserting the needle into the top of the bag. "I did tell you that it's time to start thinking of moving him to a better facility. He needs a therapist that would constantly massage his body to keep blood from clotting in his back. I try my best, but he does need more care than this."

Elodie sagged into her chair, deflating like an overworked Ballon."I need more time is all. Just two or three months, and I'll take him away from here. But until then, please take care of him."

"It's my job," Adeline said, shrugging.

"Thank you." She shut her eyes until the nurse left, and then opened them to see that her brother was still watching her, but his eyes had gotten droopy. "I promise you, Mace. I'll get you out of here and into a better place."

And so she sat there, while the day slowly brightened and birds began to sign their familiar melodious tune, watching as her brother slowly succumbed into a deep slumber.

*

"How's he?"

Elodie, about to eat her pecan pie, froze, hand midway to her mouth. The question brought in the image of Mace laying helplessly on the bed, eyes opened but uncomprehending.

She dropped the pie onto her plate, and wiped her fingers and mouth clean."He's the same."

Jean was sitting across from her on one of the broken crates that was stored up in the alleyway behind the diner, eating her own coconut pie, which was one a paper towel. It was their lunch break, and since they rarely got customers on Wednesday afternoons, they both took their break at once.

Her co-worker had dyed her hair magenta and streaked it through with bright pink. The colour washed out the pallor of her skin, but far be it from Elodie to tell her that.

"Okay," Jean said, biting into her pie with a sigh. "I know I say this everyday, but you really do look like shit, El. What's happening? If Mason is doing fine, what else is bothering you?"

Jean was the second person who knew about Mason, Boss being the first, but Elodie didn't share with her the debts she'd had to pay after her parents demise, nor did she let her know about the night work she did. The Agency didn't tolerate loose lips, and while she knew Jean, Elodie didn't trust her...or anyone, really.

"It's all good. Sleep eludes me at night is all," she said, breaking her gaze away to stare at the overflowing trash bin; flies buzzed over the opened bin, and a faint smell of decay lingered in the air. "Besides, I told you about the night shift I picked up at a restaurant in Bayview."

"So you said." The other woman eyed her skeptically. "I still wonder how you got it though. Do you know how many times I tried to apply as a waitress in some of those fancy restaurants? I was dropped like hot potato the minute I mentioned that I lived in AB. It's like there's this stigma that's attached to living downtown. As though only criminals and sex workers live there."

"I told you that I got the job through a friend of my parents."

Jean kissed her teeth. "Where were those people when you needed them the most?" She balled up her tissue and tossed it in the direction of the trash, not looking at where it landed. "Rich people don't help the poor because they never want them to live the same comfortable life like them. Take my parents for example."

Elodie was familiar with the story. Her parents both came from a family of blue collar workers, and each of them slaved to put themselves through law school, and finally began practicing after graduating, and got married after Jean's father got his first job in a big law firm. The couple had risen in ranks, and in wealth, too. But they'd never given any member of their families their hard-earned money, even when they needed it the most. As a result, Jean and her brother never knew their family members as they all wanted nothing to do with them.

"It's not their fault that they were born into wealth, though," Elodie reminded her gently. "You can't see choose the family you're born into."

"Truer words have never been spoken," Jean mused. "Imagine if we had the power to choose our families?"

"Then the world wouldn't be as it is today. It would be worse."

Jean checked her old leather wristwatch, then got up with a sigh. "Lunch break's over. We better beat it before Stan comes breathing down our necks."

"Yeah." She rose to her feet, too, and tossed her tissue after wiping her fingers with it. "How's school been?"

"Awful."

Jean didn't sound like it was, though, so Elodie let her be.

*

It was sometime around three p.m. that Elodie got the call that would change her life forever.

After her lunch break with Jean, they'd gotten back into the swing of things, attending to the few customers that walked into the diner, hungry and thirsty from the sudden heat wave they were currently experiencing that afternoon.

The old AC had broken down, and Stan had been forced to call a handyman, who was yet to arrive, so they were also sweating, and had parched throats occasionally, which made them consume water at intervals.

Elodie was wiping down a table that was used by a trucker who just left, when Jean poked her head out of the changing room to say, "Hey. Your little baby's been crying."

Knowing that Stan could be watching her through the old, grainy but still functional cctv camera mounted on the wall behind the cash register, Elodie didn't stop wiping down the table. But her mind was a tsunami of questions: was it Mace? Did something happen to him? What had changed between now and then?

She'd told the home to call her in case of emergencies, but she'd never gotten one of those since her brother has been there, but that didn't mean there wasn't a first time for everything.

Once she'd swept up the crumbs with her towel, Elodie hurriedly made her way into the changing room, and went on a search and rescue mission of her ringing phone.

The number on the screen wasn't a familiar one, but she still held her breath, fingers trembling as she swiped the green button. "H-hello?"

"Angel E?" the familiar voice of Boss washed over her.

Relief made her joints weaken, and Elodie sank onto the floor of the room, not minding the germs that was sure to be residing there.

"Boss." She swallowed, her limbs still trembling, heartbeat slowly returning to normal.

"Can you come in earlier than usual today? There's something I need to discuss with you."

She'd never taken an off day from work before, so Stan wouldn't object to her taking one today. "Yes, Boss. What time should I come in?"

"Is four o'clock okay?"

"Yes."

"Good." She hung up.

Elodie dropped phone on her lap.

Jean poked her head through the doorway, a thin line pressing between her thin brows. "Is it Mace?"

She started to deny but thought better of it. That could be her ticket out of here.

Sorry Mace, she's a user, E2 snarled.

Fuck you! She told the bitch.

"Yes. I need to go and see him."

Jean nodded, pity filling her eyes. "I'll cover for you with Stan. Go ahead."

She didn't deserve these people in her life. Tears of guilt filled her eyes. "Thank you, Jean."

"Hurry up, okay? And call to give me updates or I'll worry myself to death."

Her throat became filled with debris, but she managed to choke out an, "I will."

Jean nodded, then closed the door behind her as she went back into the diner.

Not wanting to waste the opportunity she'd been given, despite the cursing weight on her chest, Elodie sprang to her feet and quickly swapped her clothes.

*

Boss was waiting for Elodie when she arrived, and wasn't seated behind her desk, but on one of the leather chairs by the coffee table. A piping cup of tea was waiting for her along with a plate of buttery scone that tasted like clouds, and melted on her tongue like snow.

While she ate, Boss had Henry, her own PA, bring in a black envelope with red seal on a silver platter. He set it on the coffee table with exaggerated flourish, then left the office just as quietly as he'd entered.

"I'm so sorry to call you in on such a short notice, but we're short of Angels at the moment," Boss explained, when she saw that Elodie was done with her scone and was sipping the sweet tea.

"It's fine, Boss," she lied.

Aside from the fact that she'd never be called in for emergencies, the presence of that black envelope made her nervous. Its texture bore resemblance to the ones she got for her jobs, and the ever present company logo was on it. Her guts churned with suspicion, but she masked it beneath a facade of calm.

"If you recall our last conversation, I mentioned having you work in a higher position in the Agency?"

"I do remember." Elodie put her half-drunk cup of tea on the table, and folded her hands on her lap. "You asked if I was interested in becoming a Dark Angel."

Boss sat forward, dropping her veneer of cool, and rested her elbows on her knees. "I normally don't ask this of the Angels, because there are steps and training you need to be a Dark Angel, but desperate times calls for desperate measures, you see." Her gaze held Elodie's captive, and like a train wreck, she couldn't look away. "This client is someone I've been courting for years, who'd also never used our services before. Bringing him onboard would give this Agency just the right amount of exposure we need. Are you with me?"

She nodded.

"Since we're short-staffed at the moment, I thought about who I could trust, and you came into mind." Boss held out her palm in supplication. "Think of this as a test practice to see if this is something you see yourself doing. And for this one job, I'll be paying you hundred thousand dollars."

100k?

Holy shit.

Just how important was this person for Boss to be willing to pay this huge amount of money?

"Preparations have been made to ensure that you fit into the criteria needed to fill in this role. All I need is just your consent." Then, Boss picked up the platter and held it out between them. "Do you accept?"

Elodie stared at the black envelope, conflict arising in her. Good sense fought the bad one, waging a fierce war of morals.

Everything Boss just said sounded enticing, good even.

This was a matter of money.

If she took this that meant that she would have to go outside the shield being an Escort offered her. She'd be shedding everything she knew for the unknown, that would lead to another phase in her life. On the other hand, hundred thousand was more than what she earned in a week, both in her day and night job.

This was money that would push her closer to her budget, and she could start scouring for a good place for Mace in Bayview for starters. She'd think about moving the both of them away from here when she saved up enough, and she could also quit working for the Agency.

"What do you say?" Boss pressed, holding the platter steady between them.

Greed fought against common sense as she stared at the envelope, wishing it would burst into flames by the power of her gaze alone, saving her the trouble from deciding.

And since it did not evaporate or  become engulf in flames, Elodie steeled her spine and made her decision.

Greed won out in the end.

A/N:

I think it's safe to say that greed is one of the motivating factors that push humans to doing things they wouldn't do in their normal, daily lives.

It's just like dangling a lollipop in front of a toddler, and asking them to repeat the words you say.

In just the same way, Boss knew what to do to get Elodie on board with her plans.

Qotc:

Do you think Boss knew of this client before approaching Elodie the day before?

Was it wise of Elodie to have let Boss and the money offered pressure her into accepting the offer?

Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

In the meantime, don't forget to vote, comment and share.

Until next time ❤️.