JOSI

A glass hits the wall and shatters into bits. Then go the antique dishes and silverware. Shards of glass stain the floor, along with an untidy combination of mud and water. Nothing remains of the plant pots that once decorated the room. Not even the vase have been spared either. They hit the ground and scatter into pieces, adding their own touch of chaos to the marble floor.

Josi picks up a teacup and hurls it. There's still a lot more to go through, including the portraits and mirrors on the wall that have been left untouched. She picks up another dishware and smashes it on the floor.

Ainse Vanetti. That name alone currently haunts Josi. What else could he possibly be hiding? How much does he know? Has he been in the knowing all along? What are his motives? Josi has no answer. And it frustrates her. Greatly. She dreads the fact that she's no longer in control. She dreads the fact that she's been subjected to yet another conflict. Another bump in the road. Though this may not even be a bump, but a swamp that has completely severed her journey—and now the other side of the road seems unclear.

A man like Ainse won't stop until he's found answers to all his questions. His interest in Josi will drive him to dig as further down as he can until the truth comes to light. It will only be a matter of time before Ainse derives results. How does she counter this issue?

This question spikes Josi's anger. She pulls the window curtains down, then uses a broom to thrash the mirrors. The den has lost all its adornments at this point—everything that made it look presentable. The only things that remain are the windows themselves which Josi hasn't given much attention to due to the furniture.

Have things come to an end? Another question that drives Josi mad. Has her destination arrived much earlier than intended? Has Idris Night Verdonni won?

Josi ends her rampage and throws the broom to the floor. She surveys the drastic state of the den as her breathing returns to normal once again. There's not much left to the place, save for the walls themselves. She peers up at the chandeliers and frowns at its excessive gleam. It would have been a victim too if it weren't so high up.

Josi will run through the pits of hell before she surrenders. She will not rest until Idris has been toppled off his throne, not while she's alive and well. She has to pay him back. She has to exact revenge, the only thing that has carried her up to this point. And so giving up is off the table.

But Josi has to act quick. She has to take action before Ainse uncovers the rest of her secrets.

Josi quietly steps out the den and stands in front of the door, then motions over a maid who was just passing by. "I made a mess. Please have it cleaned up."

The maid nods and steps into the den. Meanwhile, Josi makes her way towards the mansion's garage with a pair of car keys. There's a guard in charge of the place who shoots to his feet when he sees her. "I'm taking this car out." She points at a silver Porsche.

The guard is perplexed. Clearly, he was expecting the couple, not Josi alone. "But ma'am, the boss–"

"Go call your boss if you're worried." Josi tells him, then hops into the car and drives towards the gate.

There is no plan without obstacles. There is no obstacle without countermeasures. Josi will find a countermeasure.

~《¤》~

AINSE

The rain is relentless. It drops and hits the ground with splashes big enough to drown out an insect. But Ainse is safe from it all. He's under an umbrella held up for him by some guard of his. He thinks a cigar is just right for the somber mood. He places the stick in his mouth and waits for the second guard to light it up for him. Then he peers up at the sky, at the vast stretches of dark grey, and simply smiles. He loves this weather most.

Ainse has his team with him. They're in an uninhabited New York style apartment. He has them move in and out the place, scouring the apartment for anything that could be of use to him. He stands in the middle of it all and simply spectates. His hands are behind, lips in a thin line.

"How long did he live here?" Ainse asks.

His colleague comes to a stop next to him. He hands Ainse a file and turns his attention to a piece of text on his phone. "Balty Walsh. Older brother and only documented relative of the subject. His time here wasn't long. He moved in mere months ago."

Ainse nods as he reads through the sheet of paper. He wanted more knowledge of the guard who died by Josi's hands. He'd sunk his teeth into anything he could find, scoured and dug into every bit of information.

Declan Walsh was his name. Born to absent parents in Brooklyn, New York, him and his brother never had much to their name. So they did the only thing they could. They committed theft and other miscellaneous crimes. It started off as a means for survival, then drastically snowballed into a twisted hobby.

The brothers were infamous around the borough. They led a small team of thieves who exacted crimes and would eventually be wounded up and caught by the police. But the brothers alone were able to escape. And once they'd made it as far away as possible, they'd snagged a job at the Verdonni estate.

"Balty was found dead at a shack out in Long Island a couple weeks ago." The colleague continues.

Ainse pauses. "Details?"

"A bullet wound to the head. It's stated he was surrounded by equipments slated for torture."

"What sort of equipments?"

"Scissors, injections, pliers, knives," The colleague tells him. "It's unclear what transpired, but is believed he got into a falling out with a partner of his."

Ainse scoffs. "Bullshit." He doesn't take much of the police sources into account. Their lazy deduction stems from the fact that Balty Walsh was once an infamous criminal. The authorities won't waste their time with people like him. They must be full of relief at the sight of yet another one of their targets dead.

Ainse will derive a conclusion all by himself. So he gets to thinking. Torturing was not something Balty Walsh did as a leisure. It doesn't state so in his records. He was a simple man with simple killing methods. A gun. That was all Balty ever needed.

So the presence of torture devices tell Ainse one thing. Balty held a grudge. You don't set up a station such as that in a secluded area without having it out for someone. He planned the whole thing. And he failed. Miserably.

Something crucial then finds its way into Ainse's web of thoughts. The scar. The scar on Josi's cheek. It's still fresh. Perhaps only a couple weeks old.

Ainse turns back to his colleague. "Bullet round used?"

"Forty Smith and Wesson."

The same one Josi uses. Ainse can't suppress his smile any longer. "Interesting."

His theory makes sense. Balty sought revenge for his brother and went after Josi. He wanted her to suffer, to beg for forgiveness, to regret her actions. But he'd only gone as far as a mere wound to the face before meeting his end. What Ainse wants to know now is how Josi managed to dig herself out of that predicament.

He lightly chuckles to himself. Fascinating. It's all fascinating to him.

"What did Idris have to say about the incident?"

"Nothing, sir. He disregarded it."

Ainse frowns. "Typical."

The search at the apartment goes on for a while longer. They ransack and turn the place inside out in search of clues — anything that can aid Ainse. He thinks Josi is a mystery he has to solve. And he will not rest until he's cracked the case. Until she's completely out in the open.

"Sir."

Ainse turns and finds one of his men behind him. He's handed a book the size of a journal. "We found this in the subject's bedroom."

Ainse flips to page One which details a random day in the life of Balty Walsh. It goes from his time at the Verdonni estate to a trivial odd job he handled. Ainse continues his journey through and finds the first mention of Josita Cade. It's a rant about her, about how she has no respect for the guards. The words used are graphic, so Ainse only skims through.

Then he comes to the latest page and pauses. This one talks a little about Declan's death with more mentions of Josi. Balty tells his journal about his plans to make her suffer. He writes it all out in great detail and spares nothing. But at the end of it all is the thing that really catches Ainse's attention.

I know what she did to Ramsey.

Ainse reads the words over and over again. The puzzle in his head has finally found all its pieces. They have arranged and placed themselves in the order they are supposed to be in.

Josita Cade had a hand in the capture of the ex-underboss, Ramsey.

Ainse covers his face with the journal and brings his head back. Then he begins to laugh. Laughter crafted from pure astonishment. He's cracked down on the case. He's opened Josi's chest of secrets and unleashed the darkest one of them all.

Ainse Vanetti hasn't been this excited in a while.

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