“There was no penetration involved.”

“He is a wimp.”

“How dare he waste a chance like that? That creature is incorrigible.”

“Well, this is not much of a shock either. You could say that Talon is incapable of disrespecting women in such a way.”

“Still, I am not impressed, man. He did not go to the extreme.”

“I must agree. It is not every day that you are given the chance to lead a lovely scheme.”

“Perhaps, it was a ploy to show more of his capabilities in the future. If went to the extreme, he might not have anything up his sleeve afterward.”

“You have a point, man.”

“That could be one of the reasons.”

“What do you mean?”

“Do you know anything?”

“He once worked for the girl’s family. It was thinkable that Talon had gone soft toward her because she was special.”

“That is a pathetic excuse.”

“Does he like the girl?”

“That would be impossible. Talon claimed before that he was no pedophile.”

“And you believed him? You are an idiot.”

“I do not have a reason to believe him, but I do not have a reason to doubt him as well. It is not like I care about whether he is or not, though.”

“What happened to the girl?”

“I heard that she was unconscious. She was not able to handle the situation well.”

One of the men cackled. “Weak girls do not deserve compassion, you know? What if Talon went to the extreme, then? This is bullshit. Why are we even talking about this?”

“One of the guards reported to me what he had seen. Even though Talon did not go all out, I still pity her.”

“What? You, too?”

“She was bloodied, beaten, and bruised. I did not even recognize her at first.”

“You went there, too?”

“When Talon was finished with her, he and his men left the girl alone, almost lifeless. Have you watched their recording? It may surpass the expectation of the lord.”

“What the fuck?”

“I have exclaimed the same thing, man. This shit is serious.”

“Well, that is that. The girl’s death will not go in vain anyway.”

One of the men cleared his throat. “She is alive, and is being treated.

“H-how?”

“Do not bother asking me. I am not an eye witness. I just heard—though I could be wrong.”

“If rumors run around here, you are aware that most of the time, they are true, yes?”

“Poor girl. If she died, it would have been over, yet she managed to survive.”

“She was not going to survive if you would think about the graveness of what she had experienced at Talon’s hand.”

“You mean—?”

One of the men hummed in agreement. “She has to survive. She is being forced to survive.”

“In other words, her torment is not yet over.”

Drixie Washington’s ears felt like exploding from all that conversation. Those men would not just shut up even when she threatened them that she would fire at them once she had reached her threshold.

Girl. Girl. Girl.

It was all she had been hearing today. She could not even understand herself either. Why was she feeling pissed anyway?

Daphne. Daphne. Daphne.

She would rather have her remaining eye gouged out than to hear any more about the young Garza.

“You look depressed.”

Drixie looked up at the man who stopped by in front of her. “What do you need, Red? This is not your territory.”

The man, whose name was apparently Red, smirked at her. His wistfully ambitious eyes reminded her of smoke, travelling the air for a short while with an obstructive force and fascinating presence, which would have soon gone pale as if it was emptying its will into the nothingness.

Drixie felt the oh-so-familiar ache dwelling inside her chest.

The presence of this man was enough to bring back memories—back in the day when she would hang out with them every once in a while after a grueling mission.

“I never said anything about that, Washington,” Red pulled a chair, and sat down across her. He watched her expression longer than necessary, so Drixie had no other choice, but to call him out about it.

“Do not mock me, Red. Your presence is not needed here.” Hell, those words stung even her own tongue. The bitterness in her tone managed to get out of her hold, making the man in front of her throw a look of concern.

“I am here simply because I have missed our raids, Washington.”

Drixie narrowed her eyes. “Red…”

He threw his hands up in mock surrender. “It is a touchy subject, I know.”

She had to look away.

His gaze was intense—yet almost pleading.

Drixie knew that Red was trying to cook something up. Her previous job was her lifeline, and she would not deny that losing her place in the squad would hurt like this. She was ready to face the physical damnation, but at the very last second, her mental state also got fucked up.

Once again, she was being made to realize that there were some things that could be saved, and some would be utterly hopeless in the face of their world’s law and order.

“This place stinks, Washington. Allow me to pull some strings, and I can get you out of here.”

Drixie, for the first time in a long while, cracked a genuine smile. “You wish to go against the one and only Revolution Templonuevo? Do not humor me, Red. You will get stripped off of your position faster than I, experiencing comfort that you intend to promise.”

“I would be a fool to do that,” Red replied lowly.

She nodded her head. “Do not act like me.”

Red carefully scanned the surroundings. The place was too small, yet crowded. Meaning, there was a lot of small fries here. Small fries were either assigned to guard the cellars or throw away corpses. Menial jobs were also to be expected, and most of the time, these persons ended up getting killed by their superiors.

It was normal.

Red knew the organization from the inside out. His intention was clear—and it was to bring Drixie out of her current situation.

“Ganaremos is not Ganaremos without you.”

I am not me without Ganaremos, too…

Drixie wanted to say that.

“You are quite sentimental.”

“Quit being so cold. Are you sure you do not regret it?”

“No,” Drixie snapped. “Dahlia Garza is a wonderful person. I have learned a lot from her. She will not be a victim of her own friend’s crime.” Sending out an unhappy glare his way, she continued, “I am not going out of this because of some stupid connections. I will have to earn his trust back, and regain the title with my own efforts. I will work hard, Red.”

Lord Premier…

I am really sorry for being a huge disappointment.

For now, all she could do was never complain about the tasks, and do sidelines.

Based on what she heard earlier from the conversation of the other small fries, it seemed Talon worked it out just fine.