Revenge in Ruin

Chapter 3: Contract

“Soo, why did you guys call me?”

Aella leaned back in her chair, her eyes staring across the coffee table to the double sofa where Sloane and Jax sat side by side.

Sloane didn't answer right away. She pushed herself up from the cushions of the sofa and walked over to a side table, her heels clicking with an organized, robotic rhythm as she picked up a crisp sheet of paper. She knew Aella. Words were cheap air to her; without hard proof, the girl wouldn't even listen.

Jax, meanwhile, stayed planted on the sofa, not bothering to look up. His thumbs slammed frantically against his phone screen, a bright blue glow reflecting in his eyes as a explosion popped from his speaker. He finally broke the silence without breaking his gaze from the game.

“We heard you guys broke up,” Jax said, his thumbs twisting as he pulled off a combo. “And that you're alone now.”

Aella’s fingers twitched around her chair as she spoke. “Wow, word spreads faster than I expected,” she sneered, crossing her arms tightly over her chest. A bitter taste coated her tongue. She knew exactly why they were taking their eyes on her the second she was isolated. They wanted her under their thumb.

“I know you already expected us to contact you, so wipe that look off your face,” Sloane said. She stepped back over and sat back down on the double sofa next to Jax. With a flick of her wrist, she slid the paper across the table toward Aella. It stopped right in front of Aella’s hands.

Aella stared down at the white rectangle, her brow furrowing. “What’s this?”

“It’s called paper,” Jax deadpanned from the sofa. He paused his game for a split second, tilting his head with a mock expression of pure innocence.

“I know it’s paper, dumbass. But what is this?” Aella’s voice rose, a hot flare of anger tightening her throat.

“Don’t you know how to read?" Jax smirked, leaning his elbow on the arm of the sofa to rest his chin in his hand, looking across at her like a teacher dealing with a toddler. "I mean, I know you got kicked out of high school, but the rest of us learned how to read in the first grade.”

Aella’s blood turned to fire. Her chair rattled as she prepared to lunge across the table at the sofa, but Sloane’s hand slammed flat onto the wood.

“Enough! My head is pounding, and I don’t have the patience to listen to you two bicker,” Sloane snapped.

The air in the room instantly turned to ice. On the sofa, Jax locked his jaw and stared at his screen, while Aella glared from across the table. Sloane shifted her gaze, locking her cold eyes onto Aella. The sheer weight of the look made Aella’s spine go rigid, forcing her to sit up straight despite herself.

“Aella, arguing with you is a waste of oxygen, so I drafted this,” Sloane said, her voice dropping into a dangerously smooth tone. “If you sign it, it cures your problem, and it fixes mine.”

Aella’s ears pricked up. She leaned forward, the edge of the table pressing into her ribs. “What’s my benefit?”

Sloane let out a quiet, exhausted sigh, rubbing the bridge of her nose beneath her frames. Still the same greedy brat, she thought.

Tapping the gold rim of her glasses, Sloane looked across at her. “Your benefit is your rank. Work with us, and it climbs.” Sloane said with a serious tone.

Aella let out a sharp, mocking laugh. “I can climb just fine on my own.”

Sloane didn't argue. She just let out a soft, pitying chuckle from the sofa that made Aella’s skin crawl. “Honey, with that personality you will sink.”

The words felt like a cold bucket of water. Aella froze, her mind spinning backward, replaying the vicious arguments and the slammed doors of her last group. 'You're nothing without a leader you only focus on killing as soon as i leave you, you will go down, Aella.' The memory stung. Sloane was right, and the realization tasted like ash.

Forcing a tight, bitter smile onto her face, Aella swallowed her pride. “Fine. And what do you guys get out of it?”

Sloane’s lips curved into a triumphant line as she leaned back against the cushions. The trap had snapped shut. “Our benefit is getting our brat back. I don't care about the ranking system our group sits comfortably at rank 7 which you know is pretty high. Yours is dragging at 20. Aella So you need us.” Sloane offered a small smile at the end.

She stared at Sloane’s face, absolute disgust rising in her chest of having another group and not doing anything by herself but she knew she can’t argue. “Your benefit is completely useless, Four-Eyes Whale,” she hissed, looking down so she wouldn't have to see that smug expression across the table.

Snatched by a sudden burst of irritation, Aella grabbed a heavy metal pen, aggressively scribbled her messy signature at the bottom, and threw the pen so hard it rolled off the table.

“I’m done. Bye,” she said, her boots clicking loudly as she spun toward the exit. Before she could leave a strict voice came.

“Who said you could leave?”

Sloane’s voice didn't rise, but the absolute authority in it made Aella’s boots freeze against the floorboards.

Aella whipped around, her eyes flashing dangerously. “What the f**k do you mean by that? Since when do I ask for a hall pass to walk out of a room?”

“Dumb brat.” Sloane stood up slowly from the double sofa, towering over the desk. She walked past Aella, her perfume filling the space making aella slightly dizzy, and grabbed the heavy brass handle of the door. With a sharp click, she threw the deadbolt, locking them inside. Then, she pointed a rigid finger back at the empty chair across the table. “Clause four clearly states I am the leader. You move when I say move. Your first official task is to actually read the contract you just signed. Sit down. Jax, keep your eyes on her.”

Jax nodded, shifting his weight on the sofa and locking his phone screen.

“Stupid Four-Eyes Whale,” Aella muttered under her breath, her chest heaving as she stomped back. She threw herself into the chair with enough force to make it groan and yanked the paper toward her face.

Sloane tracked every micro-expression on Aella's face, completely unbothered by the tantrum. She turned her head toward the door. “Jax, I’m going to assemble the rest of the unit,” she said quietly, unlocking the door just enough to slip out before the heavy lock clicked back into place from the outside.

Left in the quiet office, Aella lowered the paper just below her nose, her eyes scanning Jax where he sat alone on the double sofa. “So... word on the street is you’re Sloane’s little assistant.”

Jax stopped tapping his fingers against his knee and slowly lifted his head, his eyebrows climbing up his forehead. “Where exactly did you dig up that garbage?”

“I have my sources,” Aella said, tilting her chin up, trying to look untouchable from across the table.

Jax stared at her for three agonizing seconds. Then, his shoulders started shaking. A loud, booming laugh burst from his throat, echoing off the walls of the office. “Dumbass, do you even know what the word misinformation means? You’re sitting there looking like a proud peacock over a source that fed you complete lies!” He wiped a tear from his eye, still chuckling on the couch. “I’m not the assistant. Dante is.”

Aella blinked, the pride instantly draining from her face. Her mind went blank. “Oh. Right. Okay, Dante is...” She paused, her jaw dropping slightly as she realized she was totally lost. “Wait, who the f**k is Dante?”

“Sloane is gathering the team right now. You’re about to meet the family,” Jax said, his voice dropping the playful edge as he stretched his arms across the back of the sofa and went back to his device.

“Meeting the whole group... interesting,” Aella murmured, a cold drop of anticipation settling in her gut.

The text on the contract blurred together as her boredom took over. Crumpling the edge of the sheet, she tossed it carelessly onto the table, reached into her pocket, and slid her thumb across her own phone screen to drown out the silence.