Mafia's collateral

Trouble is never far

>>Seraphina

Right,

My usefulness, what else could it be but this. This is the sole reason I'm here, and most likely the only reason why I'm safe and sound.

"I see..." I looked at him and noticed him staring at me. His eyes lingering on my face, especially my eyes, "Um..." I didn't sense anything bad in his gaze but it looked like it was full of disbelief, "Is anything wrong?"

He closed his eyes, "No," Let out a sigh and got serious when he looked at me again, "Do you know where your father runs off to when he leaves the house?" He got straight to the point

I thought he might ask me a question like this. So, I decided to think of the possibilities. This would be an obvious fact that I'm not close to my father and we rarely ever talked even when he was home but I still wracked my brain beforehand for anything I could find, "I don't know for sure," I spoke hesitantly and then spared him a glance. He didn't interrupt me, he just kept his eyes on me with his arms folded, so I continued, "He once mentioned going to Loca island."

"Loca island," He repeated the name. That's the place he ran off to once he ended up in trouble with some other mafia, "Anything else?"

I shook my head, "He didn't want us following him, so he never said anything about where he goes when he runs away."

"Then where does your guess of Loca island come from?" There was something intimidating about Azef, or maybe I was just scared of the whole situation, "Just because he mentioned it?"

"He's an alcoholic," I replied, "And this one time he was dead drunk," I recalled that gloomy midnight where he sat in the corner under the dim light and I stood in the door frame, "I asked him where he was the whole time," He was so out of his mind, that he ended up saying it, "He said, 'Loca Island'"

"Hmm," He raised his brows in contemplation, "Well, at least you weren't completely useless," He stood up to leave

"Uh- Um," I don't know why I stopped him, I just saw him leave and felt like I had something to say. He stopped and looked back at me,

"What?" He wasn't pleased that I stopped him in his path.

"Thank you for the food..." I looked down, "And the medicine," I glanced at the tablet, then softly looked back at him.

...

He didn't answer, he kept his gaze on me for a few seconds with a frown, then looked away, and without a word he left the apartment.

***

Azef didn't specify anything on his visit. He didn't ask about anything else other than my father. So, of course, he didn't put any sanctions on me either and I still have a debt to repay, which he told me is my problem and I should deal with it on my own too.

I gulped as I walked towards my part-time job early in the morning.

Dragging my feet to work so I could earn some money, a knot of anxiety twisted in my stomach. I knew it wasn't safe. Merely a day had passed and I was out walking on the streets again. The fear of what awaited me was gnawing at my resolve, but bills had no sympathy for apprehension. So, there I was, walking to work, hoping everything would be fine.

When I reached the store, my heart sank as I spotted them – the debt collectors. They had the store surrounded, as if they knew I would come here. A chill ran down my spine, and I instinctively tried to backtrack.

I shouldn't have come here.

"Hey!!" One of them caught sight of me during my escape, "That's her!" He pointed at me and all of them turned to look at me. Panic set in as I broke into a desperate sprint, my heart pounding like a drum.