The Hitman and His Consort

LIV - Left

Third Person P.O.V: ---

[24 hours ago]

“I need a f*ck ton of money and for you to pass a message for me,” Valentin said in a harrowing tone that it made Rodrigo suck in a deep breath and stiffen his shoulders, raising his palm to put a pause on the younger man’s words.

“Hold it, why… why does it sound like you’re going to do something stupid?” the doctor intercepted, earning a scowl from Valentin. Rodrigo believes, albeit in fragile faith, that he’s shared enough conversations with him enough to detect tones in the man’s voice that could sound a distress alarm.

Valentin reached the final phase of his initial clean-up, not that he will be following up on this, after all, that was not a part of his freshly established goal for the time being, “I won’t be doing something stupid, I’m already thinking of ways to detoxify, don’t ruin my momentum,” he said as he slung Julian’s body bag over his shoulder like a sack of onions.

“What does this vehicle need to keep at this momentum?” Rodrigo asked, not quite looking forward to this new idea that Valentin proposes, yet mildly impressed and hopeful. He’s been around for quite a while, enough time to see that despite being impulsive, Valentin had things that would be considered a routine for him.

Like being impulsive. Impulsiveness is a routine for Valentin. So are sudden life-changing decisions that he made within a span of a fleeting moment that he will persistently follow through like a short-lived dream and fueled by fervid hyper fixation.

In other words. This will have to pull through now or, as the man himself said, the momentum will be ruined.

“Money, a fake everything, and for you to leave everything to Madeline,” Valentin enumerated.

“What does everything entail?” Rodrigo clarified,

“Bleaching this place, Pierre, Arthur, everything else, except my parents,” he replied, looking directly at Rodrigo and pointing his index finger at the doctor, “My parents, I leave to you,” he finished making Rodrigo rub his forehead with his palm.

“What am I going to do with your family? I need you to be more specific here, Valya,” the doctor said with a begging tone, watching the younger man pace around the room for his other stuff.

“Whatever you need to do, tell them whatever they want to hear, you’re a smart guy, you’ll figure it out, doc” he assured making the doctor in question bury his face in his hands again, in exasperated frustration. It didn’t help that he was actually making sense of Valentin's words, and he’s more than certain that the man was barking no mere orders.

But rules and instructions. Rules that a master of the house would tell his servants or the people that he will leave his house to as he left.

“Are you seriously thinking of leaving?” Rodrigo groaned,

“You’re the one who suggested I do, what’s the issue here?” Valentin spat back making the doctor nod as he clasped a hand to his mouth, not sure how the following events would turn out and if he could truly support Valentin’s absurd resolve on such short notice. Yet he found himself making mental notes and nodding along as he shifted on his feet.

Not a single cell in his brain was calm as he absorbed the gravity of this situation.

Valentin walked out of the garage with Julian’s body bag over his shoulder, his disguise once again equipped. However, being the ones that listen to the whole ordeal, both Denis and August were on edge at his presence. Denis more than the pharmacist, in fear that perhaps his brother developed something worse than what he already has.

It made him afraid to know what kind of extremes Valentin jumped over. Either way, Denis trusts his brother, he’s young, and Valentin did just recently prove that he’s capable of growth if not affection, perhaps there are other avenues for his brother that wouldn’t end up with him being a full-fledged monster.

Then perhaps, someday, he would see his brother create connections apart from that of colleagues or doomed love interests, maybe finally make friends. It may seem a long way to go from here, but at least it’s be something that’s on the road. A destination that he will arrive at, eventually.

“Had fun?” Denis asked, his eyes darting to the speckles of blood on his brother’s white shirt that was hardly covered by the trench coat that he has on.

“Immensely,” Valentin replied, his eyes also falling onto his shirt before landing on Rodrigo, “Do you have spare clothes?” he asked.

The man sighed as he nodded, excusing himself as he went to his bedroom and returned with another white button-up. Valentin dropped the body bag on the floor, making a sinister thud that made August flinch, and Denis’s heart sunk that something like this was one from his brother’s will and not because it was work-related. Valentin shed his clothing then and there, taking off the trench coat, the scarf, before changing into the cleaner shirt and putting it back together again.

As Valentin lifted Julian back over his shoulder and walked to the doorway, he felt a small tap on his hand. He turned to look directly at Rodrigo, discreetly handing him a card wrapped in a piece of paper.

They both know what this meant. They shared a subtle nod before Valentin completely left the scene. Once everyone left in the clinic collectively heard the car zoom away, the thick air gradually dissipated, making it easier to breathe in.

“What did you two talk about?” Denis was first to prod as he straightened his back,

“Nothing important, how are we progressing in the public release?” Rodrigo said, averting the topic to something that seemed more pressing at the time,

August hummed as she flicked through, occasionally taking pictures of the files using Denis’ phone and sending it to their remote accomplice, Christopher Gilmore, a.k.a 'Chris'. Denis from the start has three select friends, listed Rodrigo Mancuso, Javier Ahn, and Anselmo Cruz, which is one of the alters of Christopher who’s diagnosed with DID.

They eventually became friends with Chris, who’s a more reserved and shy individual compared to Anselmo, who usually fronts in the system. Christopher is more than qualified for things like these being one that’s involved in the law business while having a talent for manipulating and existing in the cyberworld.

“We’re actually doing better, maybe we should release this one by one… or should we just dump it all at once?” August answered, following with a suggestion. Rodrigo shook his head,

“Not one by one, not one whole, do clumps, something with enough weight until we gather enough info to post another set,” He said, Denis nodded, handing Rodrigo’s phone back to him.

“We’ll do that, but since we’re not waiting or watching over a psychopath you should go and call the others, check on them because obviously, Valya has no intention of doing headcounts and proof of life to keep us up to date,” the brunet suggested.

‘That’s not the only thing you’re not being kept up with, this is going to be really messy,’

The doctor stared at his phone for a moment before sighing as he realized why he’s frozen, “I… don’t know who to call, Inka broke her phone and… I don’t think Arthur has a phone at all, and Madeline, well when I first saw Madeline I assumed that our only mode of communication would be via crow,” the man reasoned before looking at August,

“No offense to your lover,”

“No, none taken, you’re probably right,”

The woman said with a firm nod and thumbs up before returning to her task. Thus a minute passed where Rodrigo debated whether he’s going to look for them or if he’s going to call Valentin to make him fill out the blanks that he left. Until a text from the devil himself arrives, which consists of a short message of ‘Wait for me’, noted to be a message for Arthur and a phone number. One that’s already saved in his phone as ‘Gabriel’.

“You’ve got to be f*cking kidding me,” He said to himself, making the two others dart their eyes to him,

“Did something bad happen?” Denis asked,

“No, everything is… fine,” he trailed off as he distance himself from the two and dialed the number. It took a couple rings before the call pulled through.

“Hello, cradle robber,”

“Good afternoon too, Gabriel, by any chance is there a group of—“

“Yes, there are people I don’t know in my house, and I don’t know where Valya is,” the man on the other line complained,

“Don’t worry, that makes two of us, Denis is here with me in my clinic, could you hand the guy named Madeline the phone, please?” Rodrigo asked and he could hear the father of his girlfriend click his tongue, followed by echoing footsteps,

“You know, I’m not sure if I hate you or feel bad for you,” Gabriel said to fill the silence,

“The latter, that’s yours and Vanessa’s daughter, Gabriel,” Rodrigo replied, making the man chuckle, and quicker than the doctor anticipated, the phone was handed over to Madeline.

“Hi, Rod,”

“Madeline, listen to me, everything is on you now,”

“excuse me?”

“Don’t tell anyone, Valentin’s gone, imagine a father faking his own death to escape child support,” Rodrigo whispered to the receiver,

“uhh—what?!” the man on the other line exclaimed, not the subtle reaction that Rodrigo would’ve wanted to not break the news out immediately.

“Calm down, everything’s on your hands, Pierre, Arthur, everything, he left you to tie all loose ends,” Rodrigo said in a firm tone. A moment of deafening silence went over the conversation.

“That asshole!”

“I’ll help you, don’t worry, we’ll need to hold the fort for the meantime until things eventually work itself out,” Rodrigo assured, unsure where his confidence came from but he was partly aware that this may be bluffing and they’re up for a challenge.

“Thanks… but why did he leave?”

“I…I’m not so sure, it may be my fault, but I’ve done my reflecting and therefore decided to share the burden,” Rodrigo said with a sigh, making Madeline scoff,

“Nah, it ain’t your fault, he already does things on his own, you don’t have to take responsibility for him,” Madeline comforted, making Rodrigo chuckle. Finding hope that at the very least, Valentin has a group of people who would be more or less happy once he returns.

“Well, that’s it, have fun—oh, can you pass the phone to Arthur?” Rodrigo asked. Madeline hummed as he glanced at his unconscious sister.

“Uh… she’s actually knocked out,”

“Goodness, is she alright?”

“Your patient sucked her life force,”

“I’m very embarrassed about that, but tell her to please see me when the things finally die down, I have a few things to tell her,” Rodrigo said, Madeline replied with a casual ‘gotcha’ and the call ended from there. Rodrigo turned to face his two companions, who seemed too immersed in their task to take notice of the discussion in the call.

‘I hope you know what you’re doing, Valya,’ Rodrigo thought as the separate teams started to progress in the plan, unaware that the leader of this particular mission already abandoned it as he embarks on a new one.

One that Rodrigo hoped would be as fruitful as this one.