酷视

A look that I couldn\'t really see through. And assuming my feeling about it was correct, it was because Makary himself wasn\'t sure what to think about what I\'d just said.

"I don\'t have the time to waste here," he moved his arms back and, once again, crossed them on his chest. "Speak now, or gain the right to talk with me later," he commanded, going through the line of the least resistance.

Assuming he really was pressed for time, this was actually the right choice. After all, he still couldn\'t have a single clue what made me confident enough to demand him to call me!

"Then, I will talk to you on the morrow," I replied, once again picking an option that Makary didn\'t even consider. "I need to prepare some things, while I need you to prepare certain things for me," I added, pulling out my phone, opening up the notes, and starting to type away.

"First, I need a nice penthouse, with comforts befitting the beauty of my woman," I repeated my request for a house. "For that and other ends, I will also need some fake job to keep the treasury officers out of my ass," I added another demand while ignoring the stunned looks the other, lesser gangsters gave me.

\'In their eyes, giving demands to Makary must be a showcase of insanity, idiocy, or some great, fucking, courage,\' I thought, smiling at my own thoughts.

Yet, rather than waiting for the man to respond, I finished writing on my phone and lowered it down.

"Before I show you the last thing I need you to prepare, I just need to say one thing," I announced, taking a deep breath while raising my eyes to Makary\'s face.

Then, after giving the man some time to prepare, I brought my phone back up and passed it over.

The Makary first gave me a weirded-out but curious look, before squinting his eyes and grabbing the phone. And as he raised it to his eyes…

His expression didn\'t change. No, more than that. His expression froze as he clearly ensured I couldn\'t read his reaction to my last request of mine.

"This doesn\'t really fit well with what you said before," Makary pointed out as he finished reading the short note and passed the phone back to me with a sigh.

Despite his attempts at keeping a straight face, I could see some sort of emotion boiling at the very bottom of his eyes. What kind of emotion was it, though?

And how could a damn asocial introvert like me know? I only had Fay to thank for learning how to interact with people, even if she wasn\'t exactly a human herself. And I\'ve only known her for a measly few days!

"You have no idea what I have in store. It\'s simply impossible for you or anyone else to predict or anticipate it," I claimed, responding to the question I could see in the man\'s eyes.

After all, just like he said, the request I\'d written on the phone was pretty fucking far removed from one of the sentences I spoke just before.

"So, just take this for a gamble and organize everything," I suggested as I spread my arms out to the sides and shrugged them. "I will drop by tomorrow and prove to you that I\'m not acting stupid. Oh, and preferably," I made a short pause, "I would like you to send someone over to fetch us. After all," I smiled lightly, "I can\'t make my dear girlfriend walk that far on her two, precious legs, can I?"

Makary looked over at Fay\'s unbothered face. For but a short moment, their eyes meet… Only for the man to actually look away, surrendering to the silent strength of the girl\'s stare.

"Well, I don\'t think you are just a stupid kid who would make those ridiculous demands without a proper reason," Makary spoke before heaving a long, deep sigh.

"You can\'t be stupid, seeing how you decided against dealing with that stupid bitch right here and now, using my presence as an opportunity," he added, justifying his decision before his men… and while giving the police officers a long, scolding stare.

The officers, on the other hand, clearly felt the nudge directed at them, but save for putting on ugly faces, they spoke nothing.

"I will trust that you understand the weight of what you ask for," Makary then turned back to me, only to glance over at Fay. "Because if you do not…"

Now it was my turn to squint my eyes and do something anyone would consider stupid. And so, I cut right into Makary\'s words.

"I would suggest you not finish those words," I smiled at the man. "Because I, if made to, could at most kill you all," I spoke without a shred of arrogance, full of confidence instead.

And this one time, I wasn\'t acting. Now that the excitement of growing calmed down and allowed me to objectively judge the extent of my current abilities… this small army of armed men posed little to no threat to me.

"But you see," my smile faded, "I\'ve already seen what my dearest is capable of." A shiver moved down my spine, causing my body to twitch a little.

Strangely enough, the memory of all those mangled, brutalized corpses had a much stronger effect on me now that I recalled it than it had when I saw it with my own two eyes.

"And well…" my voice followed the example of my smile and faded away. "No, there\'s no point talking about it. You wouldn\'t believe it anyway," I ended up shrugging my shoulders. "Just remember, I can only hold her back for as long as you or your guys won\'t cross certain lines. Beyond that point…"

I didn\'t even bother finishing up my sentence. Yet, the unvoiced threat that was hidden in this sentence I\'ve cut short…

"Are you joking?!" Makary laughed out loud, either unable or unwilling to take my words seriously. And judging by the intensity of his giggle, he was genuinely amused by my balls to act towards him like that. "If so, you really should have…"

Raising his eyes from when he nearly bent in half from laughter, Makary gave Fay a quick look… Only to end up staring at her empty, emotionless face. And as his body gradually rose back to a proper position, the smile gradually vanished from his lips, replaced by first a surprise and then astonishment.

Looking to the side, I confirmed that Fay didn\'t do anything special. She simply had her arms crossed over her chest, with the fingers of her right hand slowly tapping at the elbow of her left arm.

In the end, the rapid changes to Makary\'s face ended with him slightly squinting his eyes.

"You are not joking, are you?" he muttered, turning his eyes over to me.

I slowly breathed out.

"I\'m equally as surprised as I\'m happy to see you actually get it," I remarked off-handedly while averting my eyes.

"Well, I\'ve seen some freaks of nature back in…" Makary\'s face suddenly tensed up.

Just like me a moment ago, he had to recall some unsavory images of his past.

"Well, nevermind," the man shook his head before turning sideways and looking towards the line of his men\'s cars. "I will send someone to fetch you at midday tomorrow," he announced before stepping aside and walking away.

Yet, unable to hold himself back… Or rather, unwilling to do so, as he passed by my aunt\'s car and looked inside to see her still seething in anger while she furiously called one number after another…

Makary sighed and pulled out the keys to his car. Yet, rather than lifting the lock on the doors with the press of a button, he brought those keys of his to the side of my aunt\'s car…

The air suddenly filled with an extremely unpleasant, metallic voice as the man drew a long, ugly line on the otherwise immaculate paint job of my aunt\'s car.

"I will see you tomorrow," he threw over his shoulder before raising his keys-wielding hand and drawing a small circle in the eyes. "Roll out, boys!"