Chapter 8 Trust 1

West has been in the bathroom for a long time. Finally, the bathroom door was opened and water splashed all over the vinyl floor. As he padded about the Brooklyn apartment he got last year from an anonymous friend, he thought about the meeting with the reporter.

Was he a man of virtue or a trap set to capture and pin him down? He hurried back into the bathroom and settled before a mirror to rehearse how he was to approach the woman in the picture for this was the first time he had to stand face to face with a woman and flatter her. At that moment, the sound of the doorbell made him flinch a bit. He took planned steps to the door, his left hand tightly clutched a fire iron while his right hand cautiously opened the door

"Are you Mr. west?" the delivery man asked quietly.

"Yes," west spoke calmly as he let down the fire iron behind the door.

"A delivery from Nica's bakery"

"Delivery?" west inquired for he had not ordered anything.

"Do you want it or not?" said the delivery man whose face remained impassive.

West was astounded by the impolite reply of the man. "No!!!" West snapped. The door gave an enormous sound when he slammed it against the delivery man. He had barely left the door when the bell rang again. On impulse, he spun around and opened the door to see the reporter; in hand, a cake bag labeled Nica's bakery.

"You rejected my gift," said the reporter as he pushed west out of the way.

"I did not know it was from you. West shrugged. Moreover, the delivery man was rude"

"Oh, you don't accept things you did not order?"

"Of course, that's what a normal human would do," West said as he moved over to the kitchen counter and poured two glasses of whiskey.

"Really but you did not order this place".

"You seem to know a lot about me" west raised an eyebrow.

"I make it my business to know who I deal with," the reporter said with a smirk. At once they both gulped down each glass.

"Excuse me, kind sir. He drew nearer to the brown cake bag on the table. I need to add a final ingredient to this cake" the reporter brings out a handful of hair from his pocket and sprinkled it on the cake.

"That's gross why would you do that?"

"What it works I watched it in a movie". The men talked about the plan to infiltrate the Badami family in a sotto voce.

"I don't know why you are doing this but if I find out you are a betrayer when I'm done with the Badami family I will come for you" west said, his eyes sending dagger gazes at the reporter.

"Hmm, I think right now you need to bother on how to be an angry customer" the reporter stroked agent west gently on the back.

Each man departed. Across the street Sarah and the reporter both exchanged looks. The reporter gave an approving nod.

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Few steps away from a shop with the sign NICA BAKERY boldly written on it. He sniffed. West could already smell the yeasty aroma of freshly baked bread. He opened the door and was intrigued to see a lot of children inside eating different kinds of snacks. The appealing sight made his mouth watery and he inhaled deeply again but this time the yeasty aroma was replaced by a scent repulsive to his sense. He felt a burning sensation in his nostrils and glanced around with his arm hanged across his nose. Instantly he realized the scent was from the woman at the counter who had passed by earlier.

Today is not going smoothly as he thought. For the universe seemed to be against him. These statements played in his mind over and over while he drew nearer to the counter he tried to get into character at the same time enduring the burning sensation in his nostrils.

"Please explain that!" he let out his opinion as though trying to get the customers' attention. The woman at the counter looked at him emotionless as she sighed deeply and looked inside the cake bag.

"What happened to the cake?" Asked the woman in her early 20s, her stressed and dull face failed in hiding her perfectly tanned skin with her dark hair nicely rolled in a bum.

"What! Is this how you treat your customers here". He threw his hands in the air. This time he did not need to yell for everyone's attention to be fixed on him.

"Please calm down let's sort this out" the woman whispered. She was already feeling embarrassed.

"Yes, how do we sort out the fact that I found hair particles in the cake I ordered!" He shouted. The murmurs of the customers made west happy because he knew everything was going according to plan.

"This is impossible because I always double-check each order before it is delivered".

"I have had enough of this, I want to see the owner of this place". He stretched out his neck looking for the owner.

"I am," said the woman at the counter. At this moment west's neck came down gradually.

"I think you heard me wrong I asked for the owner of this place" west gestured to the shop.

"And I have told you I am the owner please do not stretch this issue. Do you want another cake or a refund"

"I-i-i-i-i" west could not bear the burning sensation in his nose anymore and an outburst of water droplets rained down on the woman's face. The grimaced look on her face showed how disgusted she was.

"I'm so sorry. He let out another sneeze. So sorry." He hurried out of the shop leaving everyone bewildered. Outside, the west could not stop panting. He tried to get his head straight. Suddenly, a familiar voice called out, west slowly turned his head to see the reporter wriggling a folded newspaper at him

"What the fuck! Did you do in there" said the reporter, his eyes bright with anger.

"Hang on I need to catch my breath"

"You need to catch your breath, well congrats you have fucking blown the plan"

"Shut up! I said I need to catch my breath. He let out a gust of air until his body finally became calm. Your plan is screwed up from now on I will do this my way okay".

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Kate's car had just pulled to a stop at the driveway of Patricia's home when she is startled to see Mrs. Ferdinand lurking at the corner of the house.

She instantly found it creepy. On entering the house she realized that the guards on the ground were not the same ones as before. Seconds later a maid emerged from the kitchen and leads her to Patricia's bedroom. There she's greeted by the unexpected exit of Andy

"Your new play beast," she said with a smile.

Patricia smiled "we were discussing important business".

"business of the bed," she said laughing out loudly. Patricia felt a little bit uncomfortable about the fact that her niece has caught up with her affair.

"To what do I owe the pleasure," Patricia asked, trying to change the topic.

"Hmm pleasure," Kate teased. Patricia striving not to smile launched an attack with her pillow at kate. The pillow flew right past her which made her lay flat on the bed. The two women cracked up at their hooey.

"What's wrong with you I had a sudden urge" Patricia cried out.

"You know you are a seductress and if I didn't know better I would say Cassandra is your daughter"

"So what's up?" Patricia inquired.

"I met up with the don and I'm paying your favor but I need the documents". Kate said. Patricia walked over to the door to make sure that it was properly locked before going to the portrait of a knight holding a lance. She detached the portrait from the wall, opened a safe, and collected some papers before locking it.

She gives kate the document and assured her that the deal was a good one. Just then, there was a knock on the door. Kate stands up to open the door and a maid comes in holding a tray containing two cups of tea which she set down before Patricia.

"Did you hear about the news?". Patricia inquired of kate.

"What news" kate said with a surprised stare.

"Your father was shot"

"Well he had it coming one of these days"

"Kate I think it's time to let go of the past"

"You think?"

"Yes"

"Well that past feels like yesterday and I can't forgive the man who drove mom mad!.

"If it means anything he survived"

"Really".