For the longest while, there was nothing but this profound silence in the air where no one moved and no one spoke.

Not the remaining guards, standing pure in bafflement over what just transpired. Not me, who was at a complete loss for words, and certainly not the mob boss, who had somehow managed to regain his composure and was staring at Ash like never before.

It was only after Ash tried to take another step towards him that his bodyguards finally spurred into action, immediately surrounding her in a circle with drawn weapons and pointing their guns at her.

Ash, unamused by this, slowly folded her hands into closed fists, I saw her braced into a stance… any second now she was about to move, but then…

“Stand down!” The man barked, slamming the end of his cane to the ground. “This woman had a gun to her head, was shot, and it barely even fazed her and still you’re going to try and riddle her with bullets? Are you people truly idiots?”

I’d have laughed if the situation wasn’t so dire, especially afterward when all the guards started fidgeting uncomfortably in place, lowering their heads and mumbling stuff like “My bad, boss” and “No, of course not boss, sorry boss” before walking dejectedly back to their positions.

After a weary sigh, the man’s eyes confronted Ash’s once more.

“Well, I’ll admit it. I confess myself to being impressed by you.” He said, nodding his head at her. “Ash, was it? I’ll be sure to remember you.”

“Withhold your flattery, you fiend, for they’ll only serve to enrage me even further,” said Ash, her nostrils flaring. “Instead do what is wise. Free my master now, before further trouble ensues.”

“Master?” Said the man, raising a brow towards me. “Really now? Is that what she calls you?”

I narrowed my lips. “She’s only here to help me out.”

“Hmm… Well, now I’m curious as to what you have done to earn the loyalty of someone of her capabilities. Do you mind sharing?”

“I was kind,” I simply said. “Try being that for once, it might just surprise you.”

“Perhaps…”

“Enough talk!” Ash shouted, taking another step. “Will you concede, or will you not? Answer now!”

The man slowly shook his head and walked off to the left of us. “Do I even have a choice?”

From out of a file cabinet in the far corner of the room, he pulled out a sheet of paper, and then as he slowly made his way back towards us, the paper was held out in front of Ash and me to see.

“Yours, yes?” The man said.

It was my contract. My name, my address, my number… everything about me was all contained in that little piece of paper. I tried to reach for it, but the man withdrew his hand back before I could take it.

“I can get rid of it. Tear it to pieces in front of your eyes if you want, I’ll even forget about it,” said the man again. “But the people above me? My superiors, well they – they have a far better memory than I do.”

Ash scoffed. “A small loss in the grand scheme of things, I’m sure. Why does it matter if a single debt goes astray? I doubt they’d even cared nor know of my master’s existence and involvement in these affairs.”

“Oh, you’d be surprised.”

She made a confused frown. “Explain yourself.”

I didn’t need an explanation. Slowly through the course of the conversation, I was starting to understand. The mob had deep roots in the city’s lifeline. It all made sense to me now. How I was scammed, how I could never hold onto a job here, how I eventually got into debt with the mob.

No unlucky strings of unfortunate events. There was a reason for it. One man was to blame for all this, and I think I knew who.

I looked at the man straight in the eye and took a deep breath. “Don’t tell me,” I said. “Is it my father?”

“Made a lot of enemies in his lifetime,” The mob boss gave another smile. “Tell me, how’s he doing now?”

“Better than how I’m doing, I can tell you that much,” I groaned and placed a hand onto my forehead. “I can’t believe even here… so far away from home… I still somehow can get caught up in his bullshit.”

Ash just looked even more confused, shifting her focus onto me. “Perhaps context is needed. Master, in regards to your father, how is he possibly involved in all of this?”

“I can answer that,” said the man, now with a smile broader than ever. “See, his father got entangled with the wrong crowd a long, long time ago. Then when he wanted out, they weren’t too happy with it but they can’t touch him, they couldn’t, really. He was far stronger than they could ever be, probably scared of him too. Fast forward to the present, and there comes along his son, hopelessly in need of cash. What a grand opportunity this was, indeed.”

Yep… dear ol’ dad. You never really talked a lot about your past, I knew you were involved in something. Why else did we have to keep moving every couple of years? Now it’s come back to bite me in the ass, and you couldn’t even be bothered to reply to your son’s text messages? Really?

Dad of the decade.

“So you’re saying even if I did manage to pay what I owe now, they still wouldn’t let me off the hook?” I asked.

“Precisely,” the man nodded his head. “What the girl here said earlier was right, they don’t intend on letting you go. Their way of revenge, I suppose.”

Ash tightened her jaw. “Children should not be made to carry the sins of the father. It is simply unjust.”

“In a perfect world, perhaps,” muttered the man.

“What do they want then?” I asked. “They want to go through me to get to my dad? He doesn’t even know, he isn’t even answering my calls.”

“It’s pure spite, kid. They don’t need a reason. Whether your father knows or not is irrelevant. So long as you’re paying, they’re already as happy as can be. You don’t pay… well, at least then they have a reason to pay you a visit themselves, don’t they?”

“Oh.”

My eyes fell to my feet. It was a lot to take in. Honestly, it was hard to wrap my head around it. I never made any enemies growing up. So to be told that there were people who were taking pleasure at my expense, people I never even knew existed… well, it’s not really a relishing thought.

My mother isn’t exactly feeling her best for some time now. Dad’s tending to her… so I don’t believe they can spare me any expenses, and I really don’t want them to. I don’t want to be a burden to them. And I can’t just drag him all the way out here when there’s no one to look after my mom in her current condition.

I somehow find the money and pay, and then I’ll just be doing what they want. I walk away and run, and then it’s someone higher up that I have to deal with. Someone probably even more ruthless and what’s more, with a grudge.

Screwed either way… was there even any other option?

Ash apparently thought there was. The sudden sound of ripping and tearing brought my gaze back to the forefront and there she stood, with my contract in her hands, which was now torn in half down the middle.

Nobody tried to stop her, not even the boss, instead he was just standing there watching her, a mildly amused expression on his face.

Torn into fours, then into eights. All with a determined look in her eyes.

“Let them come,” she said, flinging the remains into the air. “Let them try.”

Shredded remains were all that was left strewn onto the carpet, right under the mob boss’s shoes. Ash walked away, stopping briefly by my side to say, “Shall we, then?” before making her way to the elevator.

I stood there for a while longer, staring at the man, wondering to myself… wait, was that really it? Rip up the contract and bounce? Can’t be that easy.

But apparently it was.

With caution, I turned the other way… took a step and no one came to stop me. So I took another and continued from there. Once Ash and I were nearing the exit, only then did the man call out to us from the other end of the room.

“Your father was an idiot. Never did he ever stop to think about the consequences of his decisions,” He said, limping his way back to the window, cane in hand. “He’s said stupid things, acted in even more stupider ways. But for how much of a fool he was back then, one thing was for certain – he wasn’t a bad guy.”

I called for the elevator, and it came to life with a silent whirring.

“And if it weren’t for him that day,” the man continued. “I would have been left with a lot more than just a limp leg.”

The doors parted open and we entered the lift, and as we turned to the front, our eyes locked with the man again for the last time.

“So if you don’t see any unwelcome visitors at your door for some time…” he nudged his head at me. “Be sure to mention to your father that we’re even now.”

Before I could even respond to that, or give any reaction at all, the elevator doors closed shut.

The nightmare was finally over. Or at least, for now.

I felt relief coursing through me like floodgates being parted open. There were so many things that could have gone wrong there. The amount of times I thought I was about to get a bullet to the head or worse… I couldn’t even keep count.

Ash for her part looked no worse for wear, despite literally getting a bullet to the head. The whole debacle just felt like a mild inconvenience for her whereas I was frozen like a statue, desperately clinging on for dear life.

“So, uh… thanks for everything back there,” I muttered to her. “Really, thanks a bunch. I mean if it weren’t for you, I don’t think I’d even be standing here right now.”

She looked back at me, her glare gone, a warm smile returning a kind expression on her face.

“Think nothing of it,” she said. “Though I do believe what I’ve done back there might have exacerbated matters instead.”

“Maybe… but at least I don’t have to pay anything anymore. Plus, it’s as you said right? ‘Let them try’.”

She nodded her head firmly. “Indeed. Whatever happens, come what may, I’ll be there for you.”

Now it was my turn to start smiling.

Having an Elf-Knight as a companion wasn’t exactly part of my plan in life. Can’t say for sure what the future may hold having her by my side. But now that she was here, her bright green eyes sparkling in the sunlight from the opened elevators doors…

I can’t say I have any complaints whatsoever.