Mafia's collateral

The shadow at the window

>>Seraphina

"I want names," Azef walked further away from me and I saw him step into the open kitchen.

"Names?" I asked, "What names?"

He walked to the water dispenser and put a cup under it, "Of all your distant relatives." The sound of water pouring into the cup wasn't much different from the pattering of rain outside the house.

"All of them?" I was surprised.

"All of them," He turned the tap off and drank from the cup, "Don't miss out any one," He placed the cup down while he looked directly at me, "No matter how far they live from here."

"..." I had to comply, "Okay," I rubbed my legs, trying to wake them up, "I'll text them to you." I'll have to wrack my brain a little to remember where they're living exactly. I might not even remember them all, so that would be extra work too.

But I do want to help him. I'll try my best.

"You can help yourself to anything in the fridge." Azef said, "Since you'll be living here for a while, you can use the kitchen however you like."

"Okay," I glanced towards the kitchen, "I'm not really hungry though."

"Then go and rest." He looked back at me, "And remember, you can't go into other rooms. None of them. Just stick to your own room and the public area. "

"...I see," I am still an outsider. I wasn't planning on going into other rooms but still, being told not to makes me feel it's a little harsh. But of course, I shouldn't complain. It's his right.

"There are four bedrooms. You'll be using one and the other three are occupied as well. And then there are two store rooms, there are personal things there."

Huh?

OH!

He must have noticed my downcasted expression and decided to explain. That's actually sweet of him.

Azef's eyes traveled to the window and his eyebrow twitched, "You should go and rest now, you have to start working again from tomorrow."

"Yes," I stood up. My legs had gotten better, "Thank you for your help." I was able to say what I had originally wanted to say

Azef didn't reply to me and I turned around and took the stairs to go up.

"Wait," He called me and I stopped

"Yes?"

"If your father calls again, I'm the first person you tell, understand?"

I nodded my head, "I will," I answered and started ascending the stairs again.

The rain continued to drum against the windowpane. I walked into the room that was given to me and glanced at Eris. She was still asleep and that brought me peace. Closing the door behind me, I went and sat down on the bed, my back against the window.

"It was a tiring day, wasn't it?" Gently, I tucked Eris's hair behind her ear. After seeing her chest softly rise and depress, I took out my phone and opened the texting app

'Dear Mom, today was another tiring day. Eris burned the apartment down in which we were living and she almost burned in it as well.' I sent the first text.

'Thankfully, my boss was there, he got us out and even got us treatment. He's a very odd person. I still don't understand if he's a good guy or not but all I can do is take my chances.'

I sent the two different messages and then closed my phone.

I'm so glad she's safe. I stared into space. And I feel like Azef is way better than all the other thugs I've met in my life. If he wasn't, he wouldn't have done all this for us. Giving us a place to stay, saving Eris, giving us food, he gets absolutely nothing out of being kind to us.