"Do you have any idea what kind of trouble your little stunt could've gotten this agency into?" Mr. Everette inquired in a calm voice that contrasted with his bellowing, furious thoughts.

"I know that I screwed up." Michelle agreed with averted eyes. She allowed her brown orbs to rest on the smooth ceiling as she sat across from the angered man in his office. She couldn't help but feel as though she were a child in junior high, waiting to be scolded by the school's wicked principal.

"I don't think you do!" The white haired man shouted, his sun spot covered hands rumbling his desk as he slammed them down fiercely. "If you want to be brutal or even straight up fucking sick with your retributions...that's fine, but you need to make sure that you cover your tracks, wipe your ass and don't leave a trail for every cop in the state to get ahold of!"

"I cleaned it up." Michelle promised through gritted teeth. "There isn't anything left, no evidence, not even a body. The police probably won't even have to get involved, his landlord will probably think that Georgie skipped out in his rent, no one really knew or cared about him, it'll be fine."

"That's not the point, the point is that you went in there and did whatever the fuck you wanted to do, like it was a free for all. There was no method to your madness, you had no regard for the agency or what we do, what we work so hard for, and to top it all off, I bet you weren't even gonna tell me. You were gonna go home and crawl into bed like nothing happened. Thank God I have Tyson to keep tabs on you."

"Oh, you mean your bitch?" The woman challenged with the raise of her brow.

"No, I mean the one that I can depend on, the one that will get shit done, the way that they outta be done without fucking it up. He called me after he helped clean up your shit show along with Nikita and Jim."

"Of course he called you." She muttered under her breath. She should've known that Tyson would've contacted the overseer to report her indiscretion.

"You're on thin ice." Mr. Everette declared, his icy eyes boring through Michelle's orbs. "I'd refrain from the side comments if I were you."

"Okay," Martin began nervously from the corner of the room. For a second, both Michelle and Mr. Everette forgot about his presence entirely. "let's all just try and calm down."

"Listen, I didn't even want to take this assignment, but you made me." Michelle argued, her eyes fixed on the overseer." I went in there unprepared because I didn't have the time to prepare, you forced me to go to a dangerous, roach infested, shitty part of town knowing that I didn't know anything about it. You knew that I wasn't ready and on top of it all you knew that I was dealing with some emotional shit and because of it I wasn't thinking clearly, I wasn't on my A game. I told you that I couldn't do it tonight."

"Oh yeah, that's right. Your mommy issues that root from your lack of having one." The older man sneered in a condescending tone. "Well, I've got some news for you, my mother's dead too, been dead a long time, but I get shit done...because I'm an adult." He leaned over the desk before speaking again, creeping impossibly closer to Michelle's face. "And if you can't work through your emotional stuff, if you can't perform your retributions like you've got some fucking sense, if being a member of Versa Vice Sensus is too much for you to handle...then we'll find someone else. Just as long as you're aware of the consequences of leaving."

Michelle clenched her teeth and rolled her eyes a Mr. Everett's assertion. "I'm going home." She swiftly rose from her chair, ignoring the overseer's objections.

"Hey, we're not done here!" He demanded with the slam of his fist, his knuckles turning a pale white as he balled them up, squeezing them tightly in anger.

"Mr. Everett." Martin intervened, grabbing the older man's arm in the process in attempts to keep him at bay. "Just let her go."

The overseer's keen sapphire eyes slowly sauntered from the now empty seat, that Michelle left behind, to Martin's brown irises. He squinted his eyes, his crows feet becoming more prominent than one could imagine. "Excuse me?"

Martin took a deep breath in attempts to maintain his composure and evade Mr. Everett's demonic glare. "She's right, she told you, I told you, we both told you. You knew that she was dealing with stuff, her mother's death is obviously really hard on her. She's never had a problem with her retributions before now, it obviously affected her performance. She gets that she screwed up, but she saw the problem and she fixed it. I think that she understands...you don't have to lay into her so much."

"I'm sorry...did you just say we?" Mr. Everette scoffed as he towered above Martin. "We? We told you? What?"

"It's just..." The asian man swallowed thickly, his throat growing tighter by the second. "she's a great retributioner, she's effective, loyal..." His voice trailed off as the overseer walked towards him, backing him against the wall.

"She's loyal, you say? Loyalty." He reiterated with an unamused look on his face. "That word makes me wonder...are you loyal to me, Martin?"

"...Yes, sir, of course. You never have to question that."

"You sure about that?" Mr. Everette protested, his warm breath blowing over the top of Martin's slick hair in the process.

"I'm certain." Martin declared. "My loyalties lie with you and only you."

"Well," He mused with a smirk plastered on his face. "I guess we'll have to put that to the test."

Michelle languidly tiptoed into her bedroom in attempts to not wake her husband. She crept towards their queen sized bed as quietly as humanly possible, her eyes flickering throughout the room while she tried to avoid bumping into the furniture around her.

"It's past midnight." Lincoln uttered, his quiet voice ripping through the serene silence like a bullet through flesh.

The ebony woman sighed deeply in defeat at the sound of her husband's words, her eyes straining against the harsh light that prevailed from the lamp as Lincoln switched it on. "I know, I know, I'm sorry."

"I've been sitting here for hours worried out of mind about you."

Michelle grimaced at her husband's confession, her eyes glued to the floor.

"We agreed that the two of us were gonna be together tonight. Spend the evening drinking wine, watching Netflix, just being with each other..." His voice trailed off as he waited for a response from his wife. "Don't you remember?"

"I do, I remember, I just lost track of time." The brunette lied. "I'm sorry."

"That's not good enough." Lincoln declared with the clench of his teeth. "Where were you all day?"

"...I-I-I...I just..." She stammered. How was it that she had the ability to get away with murder, every week for the last decade yet she couldn't manage to scrounge up a decent fabrication as to why she was coming home so late at night?

"Don't lie to me, Michelle." Lincoln begged as he approached his wife, his eyes staring caringly yet relentlessly into hers. "Just tell me...where were you?"

Michelle met her husband's pleads with sheer silence, she really didn't want to lie to him.

"...Are you...have you been..." Lincoln stumbled over his words while he broke eye contact with his wife. "You're not as affectionate, you spend less time with me, we haven't had sex in weeks." He rambled. "I mean you don't even seem to crave my touch anymore. Is it because you're getting it from someone else?"

"What? Lincoln, no." Michelle assured as she grabbed his sharp jaws, turning his head so that his eyes melted into hers. "Never, okay? Never. I'm loyal to you and no one else, do you understand me? I took your last name for a reason, I'll be Mrs. Russell for the rest of my life. That's not it."

"Then what is it?" He questioned with pleading eyes as he met Michelle's affectionate touch.

"...I wasn't okay." The woman reluctantly murmured in a quiet voice, averting her gaze in the process. "Earlier today when you asked if I was okay because of my mom, I said that I was, but I wasn't. I'm sorry that I went back on our plans, I'm sorry that I wasn't here, but it's because I went out of town, I needed to clear my head, to be alone. I guess you were right to be worried about me because her being gone, it really hit me hard today. It's like after ten years it finally sunk in that she's really not coming back." Michelle hated that her lies were able to spew from her tongue in such a rapid succession, she absolutely despised lying to Lincoln, after all these years, it never got any easier.

"Baby, I'm sorry." Lincoln whispered in a tranquil tone as he protectively embraced Michelle, while running his hand through her havana twists. "Why didn't you tell me? You know that you could've called me. Why didn't you call me?" He uttered as he pulled the two of them down onto their bed, cuddling her into his chistled chest like he longed to do all day. 

She grimaced at her husband's sincere words as she furrowed deeper into the warm embrace of his chest. "I know I should've, I just didn't want to talk about it. I still don't, if I'm being honest."

"I know you, I know that you absolutely hate it with a passion, being vulnerable." He continued speaking in a placid tone, not allowing Michelle to object. "But, I'm your husband. I want you to tell me these things, I understand that sometimes you need space to clear your head, sometimes you just need to be alone, but after you have your time to yourself, I want you here, with me. I want to know what's going through your head, I want to know how you're feeling. I don't want you to shut me out when you feel like this. I mean, sometimes even when you're here, it's like you're not even here, it's like you're in your own world. A world that I want to be a part of."

"You're right, I'm sorry." She agreed in a hushed tone, she wanted nothing more than for the lie filled conversation to end. "...How was work? Was your day as shitty as mine?"

"I feel kinda bad saying this, but, no, my day wasn't shitty at all." He chuckled before gently planting a kiss on the top of her head. "One of the couples that I've been working with, doing appointments and such, the woman, she went into labor today. They asked me to be the deliverer a while back...and today I did it." Lincoln remarked with a beaming smile as his twinkling eyes fluttered towards the ceiling in reflection of today's pleasant events. "She wasn't due for a couple of weeks, but...it was a set of twins. Beautiful twins, a boy and a girl, oh, you should've seen it. It was the most amazing thing."

Michelle couldn't help but smile at the heartfelt words that rolled off of Lincoln's tongue. No matter how many women he cared for, no matter how many babies he delivered, it never stopped him from talking as though it was the most captivating, most mesmerizing thing on God's green Earth.

That level of purity, that level of innocence, and love that her husband held in his monumental heart made Michelle's job as a retributioner that much more bearable and all the more meaningful. It did nothing but provide her with a sense of purpose and importance. Ending a criminal's life was a small price to pay so that good people could live. She'd do it everyday if it meant that Lincoln could live in a world where those beautiful, amazing children that he delivered, the children that always put a smile on his face, would be safe. For Lincoln...she'd do it everyday. 

Hey, y'all, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! I love, love, love reading your comments, so, please don't be a silent reader! Also, hit that vote button if you want a new chapter next Sunday. Thanks for reading! 🤗