Stranger at the door- Part 2

"You didn't have to fire her!" Mira said while walking behind Lucian. 

They exited the boutique and the driver waited behind the car with the boot open to get the stuff in. Two male attendants carried the bags ahead and hurriedly towards the car. 

"She was judgmental and that can make me run at a loss. Chasing my customers away, ruining my establishment? I will not have that. She will have a replacement in a day or two." He replied. 

"The lives of others don't seem to matter much to you, does it?" she asked. 

He paused his steps and turned towards her. She didn't expect his face to be that close when he did. 

"Tell me, how did your feistiness not play there? Because it makes no sense to me how you are always so defensive around me but a fellow woman mistreats you and you just somehow learned to remain calm." He said. 

"You came in when I was about to do just that and then you showed up calling me your  girlfriend. I dislike that. Do not repeat that." She warned him. 

He scoffed with a smirk. 

"You are my P.A. A lot about you will tell a lot about me. I wanted you out but you chose to stay. You represent my image, and my dreams for the company, and I will not have you make others believe we are the type to easily be knocked down and if you think I enjoyed referring to you as my girlfriend there, you must be dumb." He said. 

"I will not have you insult me to my face!" She responded in an upset tone. 

"I wish you used the same tone, you could have attracted more respect." He said. 

"You are all about power and control. That's not how the world should work. People like you are the reason the system is messed up." She told him. 

"Perhaps you are right but in all my time in the system I can guarantee you that without power and control, there will be no system, no you, no me, no world to live in, no air to breathe, no nothing! And the moment you see things for what they are, the better chances you will have at survival." He told her and turned away. 

Rolling his eyes from side to side, he turned back towards her and was met with her angry look.  

"You have a soft spot for women," he said. 

"Well, I am a woman." She responded harshly. 

"So does that make you gender biased or simply gay?" he asked. 

"Do not say another word or else I will ignore who you are." She said. 

"You have never issued a warning before being defensive. I take that as a yes." He said. 

"You do not know me! And what? You don't like gays? They bother you that much?" she taunted. 

He turned to head toward the car. 

"Beliefs are diverse and mine is there is a reason we come in pairs." He answered before getting into the car.  

— 

The clouds darkened before they should have, and Lucian's car had just entered an amazing white mansion. 

He got out, looking around like a stranger. He walked in but every step was skeptical.  

He turned the lights on and met with someone else. 

"Tom." He voiced. 

"Hello, cousin," Tom responded. 

He was sitting on a long couch with his arms spread out and a smile on his face. 

"When did you get out?" Lucian asked. 

"Ah..you sound like you didn't want me out," Tom replied. 

"Don't be ridiculous," Lucian replied. 

"Ridiculous. That word sounds familiar. Like the one I use to describe all of this." Tom said. 

"All of what?" Lucian inquired. 

"Hmm." Tom sighed. 

He was a tall guy about the same age as Lucian. He had blonde long hair held together behind his head. He was wearing a black leather jacket, a grey polo on the inside, and black leather pants with white Nike. He had his hands in his pants pocket as he ascended from the couch. 

"It's so empty. You feel it?" Tom said, looking around. 

- "He was always mean to me and sweet to you. Nothing I did was good enough for him but you. Oh, you. He wished you could have been the kid he adopted instead." Tom said. 

"Do not even begin with this," Lucian said, walking towards the bar area. 

"You know it's true!" Tom yelled. 

Lucian paused his steps and turned towards Tom. 

"He loved you," Lucian said. 

"I don't know, he never showed it," Tom said. 

"You kept hurting him," Lucian said. 

"He made me," Tom responded. 

"Stop." Lucian sounded exhausted. 

"Stop what? Telling the truth?" Tom became defensive. 

"You tell no truth and you know it," Lucian said. 

"I see you have gotten used to taking my place," Tom said. 

"There wasn't a place to take. I did my best as your cousin,  you damned my efforts. He played his part but you were just too angry to give in." Lucian said. 

"He didn't care!" Tom said. 

"The man is dead!" Lucian yelled. 

—"Enough with the blame game. You chose to do drugs. He didn't put it in your mouth or nostrils, you did. 

He didn't make you force yourself on Gilda's daughter, you did that alone. 

He didn't have you join some silly cult and steal from people to the point you believed robbing a bank was some adventure, you dumbass.  

The old man is resting. Free from all headaches and heartaches you caused him. You shouldn't be here," Lucian said. 

"And you should? Do you think yourself to be righteous? Jesus?" Tom said, walking towards him. 

"He had the power, the connection to get me out of that hell hole but he didn't! You didn't even help make him. I thought we were brothers? I wasted away on mistakes I made at eighteen while you both played Daddy and Sonny. Fuck this, I don't have the time to play words with you." Tom said, pulling out a gun from the back pocket of his pants and pointing it at Lucian. 

Tom added, "Give me back what's rightfully mine.". "Or it ends here and now."