"And you guys just let her join?" Minnie asked, "We let you join, didn't we?" Radka asked back.
Nodding, "Fair enough." Minnie replied.
"With nowhere to go and nothing to do, Belkis started her new life working for us, at first she just acted as regular beginner girl in training, and for a while she would also babysit Nikolai who till today probably thinks Belkis was just another neighbor of ours, that was doing us a favor by babysitting him." Radka explained.
"At the time I was against Belkis coming into our 'criminal world' especially not with her husband being a possible criminal himself, but Radka saw something in this girl that apparently I couldn't see back then." Rushil said.
"Belkis was brave, unafraid and above all she was loyal to the people she loved, and she loved us for helping her...I knew I could find a use for a girl like her, with a little bit of training she proved she was a perfect fit in no time.
I don't mean this as an insult but she climbed the ladder faster than you Minnie." Radka explained.
"Belkis adapted so well to our lifestyle, I remember asking her how she's okay with all of this, she said that it was all destiny, and meeting us was meant to happen to her." Rushil said.
Nodding, "When she joined into our business, we didn't really have that favorite girl thing going on yet, and usually Rushil and I, we were always the only ones on the front lines of every important job.
Despite caring for the girls working for us, we couldn't trust most of them to do our business unsupervised, and because we did everything ourselves, we had almost no time for Nikolai.
It was difficult for us to manage this kind of life and be parents to our child at the same time, so Belkis came-up with this idea, the favorite girl." Radka explained.
"Belkis suggested that instead of us being on the front lines everytime, it should be someone else like a replacement or a representative, someone that we can trust with our lives.
Belkis said that she would do the job since she had no ties and no reasons to betray us, Plus without us she wouldn't even be alive, so we can trust her better than most girls.
Accepting her idea, meant that Belkis would manage everything herself while we get to spend more time with our child, but we will still be the ones with the highest authority.
Also, we had started setting headquarters in every location that falls under our control, and since we had the headquarters all connected to each other, even if Belkis was in a different location than us, we would still be aware of her every move." Rushil explained.
"Wow! so basically she did both of your jobs?!" Minnie asked.
"Yeah! Belkis has won our trust like no other girl has done before.
She was putting herself in lots of danger and coming-up with amazing ideas...We wanted to refuse her offer at first, for reasons such as both pride and guilt.
It was our business, and We just couldn't make any of our girls take our places and risk their lives by being decoys, we swore to protect the girls and to not allow any unnecessary bloodshed, but by the time Belkis came into our lives, we were exhausted and feeling like horrible parents too.
Belkis urged us to prioritize Nikolai...back then we barely had time to see Nikolai, we were gone most of the time.
And while we're gone, we'd have some of our girls pose as neighbors who would take care of Nikolai and babysit him, and since we moved a lot, those girls always changed.
So a big part of Nikolai's childhood, was spent as him getting babysitted by strangers instead of raised by his parents, he couldn't even make a long-term friend.
Times came where we only saw Our own son on holidays and vacations, like those times we went to the beach.
But overall Nikolai was raised by our girls without even realizing it." Rushil said.
"By the time Nikolai started to understand few things, he probably thought we were so poor we had to work all the time...which was the opposite...we had money and all, it just that we didn't want him to get sucked into our dark world for his own safety." Radka explained.
"But after we approved of Belkis's idea, it became much more easier for us to be around our child...
Although we did move houses again, it was fewer times than before, we managed to build a relationship with Nikolai and give him a sense of a normal life.
Nikolai was 11 or so back then and we needed to fool him better, so Radka told him she got a new job a 9:00 to 5:00, and she then would leave to go help Belkis in few things, While I said I quitted my old job and was going to be a househusband husband from now on, and then stayed by Nikolai's side as he grew-up more.
And as much as I regret fooling our child, it was the smartest thing to do.
Trusting Belkis was also the best decision we've made back then, and thanks to her creativity and bravery, our business thrived and so did our lives as a family too...But all good things must come to an end." Rushil said sighing.
"No one other than Me, is to be blamed for what happened to Belkis...I should've never let her join us.
Rushil was right that she was not made for the underworld." Radka said frowning.
"How did she die exactly?!" Minnie asked.
"She died some time before we met you Minnie, in fact when I found you...it hadn't even been to a full year since Belkis died." Rushil said.
"To Tell you the truth, it was a shitty year on all of us, so many things happened, it started with Belkis's death...then 'that kid', and Julian, then our son tried to kill himself...it was just too much." Radka replied.
"So I take it that 'That kid' is that woman's son...is that why you changed the role of favorite? Belkis's death?" Minnie asked.
Nodding, "After Belkis's death, we changed the role of the favorite and once more we went back to almost taking care of everything ourselves.
We did our best to be by Nikolai's Side when his misfortune struck, but soon enough...He left the house with John Crawford and he was no longer interested to be around us.
He was pursuing his career, and we thought we should just go back to the way things were before Belkis.
When I chose you as a favorite Minnie, it was because of my feelings towards you, like I said you're like the daughter I never had and i trusted you...maybe not as Belkis but you're close." Radka said.
"Although she took my last name, Belkis and Radka were the closest to each other, to me Belkis was a good friend but I don't think I was as attached to her as Radka was, which is why all hell broke loose when she died." Rushil said.
"Considering the amount of overwhelming emotions you guys are showing right now, I take it that Belkis was murdered." Minnie said.
Nodding, "Yes, and it wasn't a pretty death...that's why whenever you're in danger I just lose It...I'm afraid of loosing another daughter figure.
I'm sorry for the way I was behaving especially lately Minnie, how I hide things from you and get angry at your slightest involvement.
You were starting to remind me of Belkis." Radka apologize.
"I see...it's okay, though I was hurt by the way you were suddenly treating me." Minnie said.
"So hurt that you tried to quit?" Radka asked.
"Hold on, you know?!" Minnie was surprised, but then, "Did Jin tell you that?" She asked.
"Yeah, That's how I come to suspect that your kidnapping might've been the work of the traitor...Your circumstances of disappearance were almost identical to those girls who disappeared." Radka said.
Realizing something, "Wait, doesn't the traitor get rid of the girls?" Minnie asked Rushil.
Sighing, "Actually no, I help girls who wanted to quit but couldn't tell my wife because they're scared of her, to disappear.
the girls are very much alive and well..." Rushil Explained.
Minnie let out a big 'OH' and nodded.
Her lack of overreaction surprised Radka, "Just oh? don't you think what he was doing was wrong?" She asked Minnie.
"In his defense, you're actually very scary Radka...I was scared of confronting you about my own quitting to be honest.
If I knew Rushil was doing this kinda work, I might've asked Him to make me disappear." Minnie replied truthfully making Rushil give his wife the 'I-fucking-told-you' look.
Scoffing, "Wow! so I'm a monster now!" Radka asked.
"Ask the man you just murdered honey, oh wait! he can't reply because he's dead as fuck!" Rushil replied sarcastically.
"Ugh! whatever!" Radka replied rolling her eyes.
"Ok...now that one thing is out of the way, I need to know, how did Belkis's death, caused Nikolai to be targeted?" Minnie asked.
"Alright." Radka said, then she took a deep shaky breath.
"One day...Belkis was on a mission far away from our reach, it was supposed to be a smooth operation.
I had a team of girls especially there to protect her.
And I put that miserable 'Jenny' as her bodyguard's team leader." Radka said, and she noticed how Rushil tensed-up at the mention of 'Jenny'.
"Then came the shocking news." Radka said.
"Turned Out Belkis somehow got kidnapped while asleep in her hotel room at night.
We immediately launched an investigation, and eventually found out that Jenny was neglectful in Belkis's protection." Rushil said.
"At the time, no matter how hard we tried, for some reason it was impossible for us to track Belkis, it was almost as if she has vanished from the face of earth.
For few days we were confused, but our confusion came to an end." Radka said slightly shivering at the memory.
"For The longest part, we've managed to fool Belkis's husband to think she was dead, but by accident...Her husband was present at the same location where Belkis was doing our business in.
Her husband recognized her and realized we lied to him, and seeing how protected Belkis was, her husband decided to Hire another business owner this time to get him back his wife." Rushil explained.
"Long story short, the fucker had Belkis kidnapped and brought to him, where he tortured, killed and sent her back in pieces." Radka said.
Shocked, Minnie blinked twice "I'm sorry, What now?"
"He...murdered her, had her body dismembered and put into boxes and then sent it to the hotel where he kidnapped her from." Rushil explained while trying not to gag at the memory.
Minnie was speechless, she could see the pain that the memory has caused on each of her bosses faces.
"Because of what happened, I swore that I'll avenge Belkis, I went after her husband, and killed him the same way he killed her." Radka said.
"But You weren't done there honey, were you." Rushil said, "You told me you'll only go after the husband, but behind my back you were looking for the business owner who helped kidnap Belkis." He added.
"Did Jenny tell you all of this, is this how you found out?" Radka asked.
"No I heard it from you, you just don't remember...I was there when you were talking to Jenny about the business owner 7 years ago.
And btw Jenny wouldn't be able to tell me shit, because you killed her." Rushil replied making Minnie look at Radka.
"What do you mean I killed her?" Radka asked confused.