Along Came A Spider

We had just pulled into his driveway ,I made sure to take time to inspect his property and I did so with serious focus. Someone's been getting bonuses. I check the time ,7:30pm. Just in time for dinner,exciting. I stepped out of the car. Ensuring that i adjusted my suit jacket and pants. I wanted to make sure to look amazing for dinner. One of my men hands me a gift bag carrying Dom Pèrignon Rose 1959 champagne.We head to the door to join the dinner. Some seconds later , the door opened and a heavily pregnant lady stood  before us. 

She surveyed us glancing from left to right. Hesitation was written all over her face,I notice her fingers tightened around the door.I took it as an invitation to announce myself. "Excuse my manners ,I'm Athena an associate of your husband's. Sorry to drop by uannounced silly me.I hope we haven't missed dinner?"

She's alarmed and knows the level of seriousness of the situation. She steps to the side to allow us in. I entered first followed by 5 of my men two remain outside. She shuts the door behind us.I handed her the champagne. 

"You should take it easy , how far along are you." I smiled at her ,she gave me a weak smile back.

"Uhm ,8 months take a seat let me just check on the food." She hurried out of the room. I pranced around the house with my heels,taking my time to admire the scenery. A big living room located in the center of the house , attached to different passages that led to different parts of the house. Not far from me I could hear her talking on the phone. She expressed urgency  Sounded like she was having a chat with her darling husband. 

I instruct my men to patrol the house. 

"Mummy,look what I colored. "  a little voice shouted from the top of their staircase. Soon after a little girl with the most gorgeous set of golden her wanders into the room. Her mother hurried into the living room.

"I thought I told you to colour from your room sweetie." She clutched her daughters hand tightly ,showing her protectivness.The little girl looked at all of us confused and innocent. 

"Zabrina ,we have guests say hi." 

She looked at me with her big brown eyes. 

"Hello ,uhm who are you ?" She asked. 

I crouched down to meet her level. 

" Someone you shouldn't have as a guest."

Her eyebrows knitted into confusion. I let out a chuckle then stood up. I was growing more impatient as the seconds went by. "Pass me my phone." I instructed. One of my security details scurried around to retrieve it. As soon as I received it I dialed my associate who was running late. It rang twice before he picked up. 

"Mr James ,you're wasting my time."

"Uhm ,look I'm on my way please don't harm them." His voice was strained ,nervous and hoarse. 

I could hear the sound of the car gear  shift into greater speeds.

"No more excuses Mr James,maybe if I shot your daughters leg you'd be more motivated." 

"No! Look I'm pulling into the street please." 

Zabrina stumbled back to her mother's side ,and hid behind her back. I tilted my head to look at Zabrina ,who kept peaking at me. Fear radiated in the room. Mrs James glared at me ,she held onto her children with a protective grip. A true momma bear.

"Come here Zabrina."  She stayed glued behind her mother. I handed the phone over to one of my security detail.

"Keep him on the line,Zabrina come here." Her mother released her grip. She slowly made her way to me. Impatience tickled my skin like a feather. She stood a few feet from me. I adjusted my suit jacket,unbuttoned it revealing my colt 1851 navy revolver gun tucked in my pants.Mrs James fell to her knees.

"Please,don't hurt her please I beg you."  

My gaze fell on her. "Stand up Mrs James  ,you're jumping to conclusions."

She wobbled onto her feet with some difficulty. 

"4minutes Mr James, 4 fucking minutes."

Zabrina's eyes swelled with tears. Mrs James shook and quivered,tears fell down her face in multitudes. Life's a cruel bitch when you lack power.

"Mrs James do you trust your husband?"

Silence. I hated having to repeat myself so I waited on her answer with thin patience.

"Sometimes , sometimes I do."

"Today you'll have to trust him fully , if he values you he'll be here before the stopwatch ends."

I adjusted my cuffs. One hand tapped on the butt of my gun the other stroked Zabrina's hair. I could feel her body shaking.

"Calm down love,daddy will be here soon. Hopefully."

She whimpered.

"Mrs James take a little stroll to the kitchen. Cool down, I can feel the fireballs that your glare sends my way."

"If you harm my daughter in anyway-''

I cut her off. 

"My word is my word,we still have, I pause to check the time. "2min and 10sec,oops 9 seconds you know what let's just say 2min."

"I'm not leaving the room how can you stand yourself as a woman doing all this!"

My fingers stopped tapping against my gun. 

"We all live our lives differently Mrs James." I check the clock, One minute and twenty seconds remain.

"Let's all take a seat shall we ,my feet are killing -

Zabrina hiccups at the mention of the word.

"I mean my feet hurt,slip of tongue." I chuckled lightly after. Mrs James doesn't find humor in the joke. Can't blame her. We took our seats. I stopped stroking her hair. I repositioned my hands on my laps. 

"Mrs James ,your husband should never put you in such a position ever again. You may think I'm a monster here and now. But ,there are much worse people out there that would do more than wave a gun around."

I watched as her shoulders deflated ,as she fidgeted with her fingers and battled with her fear.

80secs.

The door opened rather roughly it's hinges squeaked so loud that I thought they would to fall off. The man of the hour waltzes into the room. Zabrina jumped off her seat and ran to her father. Mrs James made her way to him as well. He embraced them. I let them have their moment before I interrupted by pushing their expensive lamp of the counter. It clattered and shattered with a bang that got their immediate attention. My patience was tiptoeing at the edge of the cliff. I took to my feet and walked down the hallway to what I presume to be his study. To discuss business. He trailed close until we entered his study. I leaned against his huge brown mahogany desk. He stood in the corner hands folded. 

"You had the nerve to come to my house and threaten my family?"

His voice is laced with anger. 

I laughed. The audacity of this man.

"Dont grow a pair of balls Mr James ,do not forget who I am or what I can do. If I wanted I could have shot my way into your house. "

He started pacing around the room.

"You didn't pick up my calls ,I hate it when someone doesn't pick up my calls." 

I quickly remove the gun off safety and shot at his little lamp. Pieces flew all over. The damn lamps in this house had gotten on my last nerve. He long stopped his pacing and stood glued at the center of the room. 

"You wanna be angry,be angry with yourself,you put yourself and your family in this situation. That's a shitty thing to do."

I placed my gun besides me on the table. My gaze followed the trickles of swear that ran all over his neck.

"Sign the damn papers so I can get out of here ."

He hurried to his desk and retrieved the documents. He then found a pen and skimmed through the documents. 

"The greeed almost cost you your life and your family's life. Word of advice Mr James?"

He signs over the documents then hands them over to me. 

"I don't want any advice but since you politely threatened me go ahead. "

I don't miss the heavy scent of sarcasm stinking from his words. 

I chuckled. 

"Buy a house out of state, grow old and die happily and peacefully."

One of his feet tapped against the floor. I relished how impatient he was for me to leave. 

"Your money will be wired to your account on Friday."

"But it's Monday,give me my money and I'll disappear. I ....I need it."

I made my way to the door. 

"Maybe next time you'll answer your fucking phone ,and won't take your sweet time to sign documents." With that said I walked out. I didn't even get to have my dinner ,what a shame.