Deals Written In Shadows
928 Words
Episode 6
The Hall tighter now.
Like the walls were listening.
Dielle didn’t move.
The Mafia Boss stood too close—calm, composed, like he already owned the moment… and her reaction.
“Cleaning up your mess?” she repeated quietly.
He tilted his head, studying her.
“You catch on fast,” he said. “That’s dangerous.”
Dielle folded her arms, steady.
“Then maybe you shouldn’t have come here.”
A faint smile touched his lips.
“Or maybe,” he stepped closer, voice low, “this is exactly where I need to be.”
Her pulse quickened—but she didn’t step back.
“Your man is in custody,” she said. “That doesn’t look like control to me.”
He chuckled softly.
“You still think he’s my man.”
That made her pause.
Raven’s boyfriend sat forward now, no more relaxed posture.
The officer slammed the table again.
“Start talking!”
This time—
He laughed.
Not nervous. Not scared.
Just… amused.
“You really don’t get it,” he said.
“Then explain it!” the officer snapped.
He leaned in, voice dropping.
“I don’t work for him.”
Silence.
“I clean what he leaves behind.”
The officer frowned. “That’s the same thing.”
He shook his head slowly.
“No…” his eyes darkened, “it really isn’t.”
Back in the Hallway
Dielle’s eyes locked onto the Boss.
“If he doesn’t work for you… then what is he?”
The Boss didn’t answer immediately.
Instead, he reached out—
And brushed a strand of hair away from her face.
Slow. Intentional.
Dielle froze.
“Careful,” he murmured. “You’re asking questions that pull you in.”
She slapped his hand away.
“I’m already in.”
That made his smile deepen.
“Yes,” he said softly.
“That’s exactly the problem.”
Inside Again
The officer leaned closer.
“Who are you really?”
Raven’s boyfriend exhaled slowly.
Then—
“I fix consequences,” he said.
“People like him make chaos…”
A pause.
“I make sure it disappears.”
The officer’s expression hardened.
“And if it doesn’t?”
A small smile returned.
“Then people disappear with it.”
Hallway – Tension Rising
Dielle’s phone buzzed again in her hand, but she ignored it.
“Let me guess,” she said. “He’s your clean-up crew.”
The Boss shook his head slightly.
“No,” he said.
“He’s what happens when even I lose control.”
That hit differently.
Dielle’s brows pulled together.
“So you’re saying—”
“He doesn’t answer to me,” the Boss finished.
Silence stretched between them.
Danger shifted.
This wasn’t just Mafia anymore.
This was something… looser. Unpredictable.
He leaned in again, closer this time.
“Now,” he said quietly, “we talk about you.”
Dielle didn’t flinch.
“I’m not interested.”
His eyes flickered—amusement, but something darker underneath.
“You should be.”
“Why?”
“Because,” he said, voice dropping,
“you just arrested the only person who keeps my world… contained.”
Her stomach tightened slightly.
“And what does that have to do with me?”
That’s when—
His expression changed.
Less playful.
More serious.
“You have two options, Dielle.”
There it was.
The shift.
“Option one,” he said,
“You continue doing your job… and everything spirals.”
His gaze held hers.
“People you care about get caught in it.”
A beat.
“Maybe your sister.”
That landed.
Hard.
“Option two?” she asked, quieter now.
He stepped even closer.
Close enough to feel his presence, not just see it.
“You work with me.”
Dielle’s jaw tightened.
“Not for you,” she corrected.
A smirk.
“We’ll call it… an arrangement.”
Her eyes didn’t leave his.
“And what do I get?”
He leaned in, voice barely above a whisper—
“Control.”
A pause.
“Over him.”
Dielle’s heart skipped—just once.
Because that meant—
Raven’s boyfriend.
The one person who didn’t even answer to the Boss.
“You’re lying,” she said.
“Am I?”
He straightened slightly.
“Ask yourself,” he added, “why he let himself get caught.”
That thought hit instantly.
Too clean.
Too easy.
Too intentional.
Inside the Room
Raven’s boyfriend leaned back again.
Calm returning.
Like everything was going exactly how he wanted.
Back to Dielle
Her mind was racing now.
Pieces clicking.
Too many.
Too fast.
“You planned this,” she whispered.
The Boss didn’t deny it.
Didn’t confirm it either.
That silence said enough.
“Tick tock, Dielle,” he said softly.
“You don’t have much time to decide.”
He stepped back—
Finally giving her space.
But somehow making it feel worse.
“Join me,” he finished,
“or watch everything fall apart.”
He turned to leave—
Then paused.
“And when he starts talking…”
A slight tilt of his head.
“Make sure you’re ready for what he says about you.”
Dielle’s breath caught.
"About her?"
When he brushes her hair back—
Her breath caught—
not because of the touch…
but because she remembered it.
He used to do that.
Before she knew who he really was.
AND THEN—
When he says “You’re already in”?
To be Continued....
- Writer
