They waited for me.

I walked into the living room to see them sitting around a table, staring at me. Father sat in the middle couch. Jhanda Guru and Kashem Khan were sitting to his right. Jhanda Guru had his trademark broom in hand. Kashem Khan had his leg up, his glorious baldness winking at me. On father's right were Shagor Vai and Morjina. They were sitting a little too close. Right now, though, they both looked at me.

There was an empty chair opposite to where father sat. I pulled it and sat there.

"Why are you sitting?" Asked Father, "stand up and show them what they did to you."

Awkwardly, I stood up again. So much for dignity.

I worked through the buttons as fast as I could, not wanting to initiate another response from father.

My wound was still messy. The scar was not straight. It turned left midway, and so did the stitches. It didn't hurt as much, but it had angry looking blotched of dark red flanking it from both sides.  I would've expected a collective gasp from any other audience. This one stayed silent.

"That's fake," Kashem Khan declared.

I gawked.

Fake?

I went through that hell just to be called fake?

"I can..." I stammered, "you could... It hurt."

"I'm not saying your wound is fake, kid," Kashem Khan crossed his feet, "I said the situation was all wrong."

Father stared at Kashem in dead silence.

Kashem Khan looked at everyone else, "Look, this kid here is a son of the Sardar dynasty. Look at the wound. It's broken."

Everyone, except father, looked at my wound and solemnly nodded.

Sooo, what if it's broken?

"Shamshir would not think about that sort of strategy; he's got half a brain. And I believe, this kid," Kashem Khan pointed at me, "Can sell Shamshir thrice in the vegetable market without Shamshir even realizing what the fuck happened."

I could. But you're not supposed to realize that.

Morjina saved me, "What were you doing there, kid?"

"I was, uh," I glanced at father and his expression was set in granite, "I was flirting with the local girls."

"Oh, really?" Morjina fake-fanned herself, "Well, Shamshir was very attentive to his women."

"Not the time, Morjina," Kashem Khan interrupted.

"No no, I wanna see," Jhanda Guru said, brushing a hand through his Rasputin-like beard, "show me how you flirted."

Wait, what?

Jhanda Guru saw my expression and smiled like a shark.

"Well, come on!" He gyrated his shoulders, "Show this old man some action."

Okay, ew.

I looked to father and became convinced his facial nervous system was not working, and he was stuck in perpetual cold face.

"You're, um," I tried to quick draw a pick-up line from my head.

Something I once saw in the internet came out.

"You have two hundred and six bones in your body," I pointed at Jhanda Guru and struck a pose, "hope you don't mind one more."

For a moment there, they were all quite.

Then they burst out laughing. Jhanda Guru laughed almost toppled over.

Except for father.

You know what? I won't even bother anymore. Wherever there is a show of any emotion in my father's presence, be it a laugh or a cry, know that father has maintained his resting bitch face.

Kashem Khan had a lopsided snicker, and Morjina was giggling like a schoolgirl. A forty year old woman. Giggling like a school girl. Try and get that out of your head. Sagor Vai was chuckling half mindedly, as most of his concentration— and all of his gaze— was pointed towards Morjina's cleavage, of which she displayed quite a portion over her collar, and was jiggling as she laughed.

"Now that might actually have you end up in a torture chamber!" Jhanda Guru yelled, loud enough for an echo to be heard.

"Yes, very funny," Sagor Vai said, still looking at Morjina's cleavage. Morjina glanced at Sagor Vai and looked away.

"I believe him!" Jhanda Guru yelled.

Kashem Khan shook his head and looked at father, who looked back at him, and then to Morjina and Sagor Vai.

"I believe him too," Morjina said, "he's cute." Then she pressed closer to Sagor Vai, "Don't you think so too, Sagor?"

"Ah yes," Sagor Vai spared me a glance, "Very cute. I believe him."

"Then we can unequivocally decide no principal of contract was broken?" Father finally spoke.

"I'm not convinced," Kashem Khan said.

"We win one to four," Morjina said.

"By literally what logic?" Kashem Khan pulls his head back and sighs.

"For one, there's really no point in taking over the area of Shamshir for Sardar," Jhanda Guru answers that, "What does it get him? What does it get anyone? Shamshir was idiot enough that Sardar could rally troops in Shamshir's bedroom and Shamshir wouldn't notice."

Kashem Khan lifted his face, almost wanting to say something, but didn't.

"Okay, then, that's settled," Morjina said, "Sardar abided by our agreement when he raided Shamshir's warehouse. The boy is cute but can't flirt for his life. And we don't have a resurgence in hand, clear?"

Nobody said anything.

"Can we get to my case now?" Morjina asked.

"Go ahead," father gave her.

"One of my girls went missing two nights ago," Morjina detached herself from Sagor Vai, "She was servicing a local rock band; they were a regular customer. They told me they let her sleep in after the fun, but when they woke up, she was gone."

"It could be," Kashem Khan proposed, "That they accidentally killed her and aren't telling you."

Morjina shook her head and crossed her arms, "No, they had 'accidentally' killed a girl once before. My girls aren't the spare change you find down in Vorapukuria. My customers know I excuse accidents, only with a reasonable fine. Why would they hide it?"

I stared at Morjina and a slow finger of shivers went down my spine.

"It's a girl lost anyway," Jhanda Guru said, "why fret about it?"

"Because if she's not dead," Morjina rolled her eyes, "she might tell somebody about it. I'm pretty sure the police won't do shit, but if she gets one of the NGOs onboard, that'll be messy. And you know they are crouched down to jump onboard with these cases."

"We will look for her," father declared, "What's her name? How old is she? What does she look like?"

I didn't close my eyes, but I almost forced my vision to go black for a second. Someone had crawled out of literal hell on Earth, and they were plotting to drag her back down into it.

"Julia. She's thirteen," Thirteen. Damn, "White skin. A little on the skinny side. Nice teeth, like a rich girl—"

"Write it down on a paper and send me by tomorrow," Father waved her off, "We'll arrange a light search party by the day after. I'll expect payment after she's captured."

Morjina started to whine, "If it were faster—"

"Won't be," father stopped her, "Doesn't need to be. She has nowhere to run."

Morjina leveled her gaze, "If she dies, you'll have half the pay. I expect a girl to take four nights before they become unusable. She's only had two. Not many customers for a corpse."

Father nodded, "I'll see to her being alive."

They both nodded and I know this topic was down.

"Compared to your ones," Kashem Khan said tiredly, "I have a very straightforward problem."

He looked at everyone, expecting a response. Everyone just looked at him calmly.

"Five cold storages near the northern district haven't paid anything for two months now," Kashem Khan leaned on one of his hands, "I gave them warnings, they didn't listen. Yesterday, my boys told me they brought some people with guns, to guard the storage, I guess."

"We'll take care of it," father announced, "and I want my usual fee." To which Kashem Khan nodded.

Then father turned to Savor Vai, "Will a shipment of Twenty Two Rounds be available by next Monday?"

Twenty two rounds? But why? As far as I was concerned, we had ammo. We had enough ammo in our gang to overthrow a small military outpost.

To his credit, Shagor Vai wasn't staring at Morjina's breasts at the moment, "The Bouri canal is dried now. The boat will have to pass under Lord Goring bridge. It'll be trickier."

"You will be paid one and a half times the usual," father repeated, "Monday?"

"Monday it is," and Shagor Vai scratched his crotch.

"And I'll take some Vaang!" Jhanda Guru chided, "For the kids. Keep them happy, you know?"

"How much?" Shagor Vai asked.

"Forty thousand rolls," Jhanda Guru slurped on his saliva, "for huddling together in the winter. Like a big, warm family, you know?"

"I suggest, Guru," father said, "that you make slightly less use of Vaang on the kids. I bought some from your recent batch, and they seemed to be in withdrawal."

"Hey," Jhanda Guru smiled in a way he might've thought innocent, "I just want my kids to be happy."

"And I want my men to be effective," father cut him off.

"You can't take an unfinished product," Jhanda Guru explained, "and expect it to work as well as the finished one."

"If you can't give me what I want," father replied, "I'll find someone else's finished product, that does have what I want."

Jhanda Guru leaned towards father and asked in a quite voice, "Are you trying to threaten me, Sardar?"

"No," father didn't even flinch, "I am instructing you as your chief customer."

Jhanda Guru stared at father for a while more, and then snickered and backed away, "I'll listen to my customer, then. Make that Twenty five thousand rolls of Vaang, Sagor."

"You got it," Sagor Vai replied.

"Well, then," Kashem Khan stood up, "I don't see why we're here."

"You go," Jhanda Guru beckoned them, "Me and Sardar here have some matters to talk about."

"What?" Kashem Khan asked, looking back. Morjina and Sagor Vai went out the door and away.

"Familial matters," father replied, "You are expected to go, Kashem."

Kashem Khan stared at us for a couple seconds, and then stomped away.

They waited for Kashem Khan's footsteps to fade away. Once they did, I pulled a chair and sat on it. My legs were getting tired.

"That went better than expected," Jhanda Guru grinned, "Almost got busted there, kid."

I swallowed, "You mean... You know?"

"HAHA!" Jhanda Guru bellowed, "Sure I did! Why did you think your uncle Jhanda suddenly tell you to flirt?"

Oh.

I looked at father. He still had no expression, but his face was less tense.

But what?

"But Kashem Khan wasn't convinced," I added.

"That was expected," father replied, "the whole point of this meeting was to convince Morjina. It seems that she is."

"And if Morjina is convinced, Shagor will follow those boobs," Jhanda Guru leaned back, "And crisis averted. Thanks to your uncle Jhanda."

It seemed my role was over. I was gonna stand up and head to my room, "May I go to my room, father?"

"No," father also leaned back and crossed his legs, "Your opinion is needed here. We're about to discuss your sister's wedding."

(I just wanted to drop by and say that every crime and atrocities shown into this book are, although dramatized, things that actually happen in real life. You can contact me via PM if you want to read the original articles about them. I'll send you the links.)