The 28th Stop [ Yandere x Reader ]

29 - Tempest (Part 3)

Misha took out a phone from his pocket, dialled a number and put it on speaker. He held the phone between them so that it faced the ceiling.

"...Hello?" said a heavy, measured voice. It rebounded off the walls. "Misha? Why are you calling me at this hour?"

Misha pinned Asher with a cool stare. Smiling, he put a finger over his lips, indicating that Asher should be quiet for now. "Sorry, Big Boss. I'm afraid it's something urgent."

'Big Boss?' Asher glanced at Wellington's corpse sprawled on the floor.

"Well? Out with it."

"It appears that a terrible...accident happened. It has led to possibly one of the biggest losses for the organisation." Asher snapped to attention. "Almost all of your men are dead. Thirty men. Including our late boss, Wellington."

The silence encumbered the air. Misha allowed it to stretch on for a bit, giving the man on the other side time to process his words, to properly register the enormity of the situation. The line buzzed with the sound of breathing, which grew slightly staggered with each second.

"...Who?" he rasped. "Who did it? Who do I have to kill?"

Asher listened to the voice and a thorny sensation gripped his chest. It was somewhere between the collected tone, steeled by decades of experience actioning his wrath, and the weight each word of his response carried - the weight of intent - that made it difficult to ignore. This was unlike the threats made by Wellington, whom Asher hardly deemed a threat. He could imagine the eyes on the other end of the line. Empty, except for the thrashing rage he held under a muzzle, collar and leash, with hands that knew real power. Hands that would find Asher as soon as he learned the name, and squeeze every drop of life out of him. Throat parched, Asher found his heart beating erratically again.

Static cracked and hummed. Misha stared at Asher, who returned it with eyes widened in panic.

"Not who," Misha replied, without breaking eye contact. "It was...a massive wildfire, Big Boss. It's not just your men who died but innocents too. About twice as many townspeople according to the authorities."

'What is he saying?' Asher's lips parted in disbelief.

"Unfortunately," he continued, "the town is a humid place. It's always sunny. Sounds great on paper, except the sun is brighter and hotter here than any area on Earth. The last time a disaster as big as this occurred was about twenty years ago, so it was completely unprecedented. The authorities were woefully unprepared. They say the death toll this time was almost a hundred but they're still counting. Many lives were lost and your men were caught in the crossfire. Literally."

"What? How– How are you still alive, then?" asked the man on the phone.

The irony of being asked that question himself did not escape Misha. His chuckle was soundless. "Luck, I guess. I know. I shouldn't be."

A deep, prolonged sigh came from the other end of the line. "What about the girl? Our money? Wellington told me that her brother - Cyril, is it? - owes us a couple hundred thousand–"

"–You don't need to worry about her anymore. Nor her family."

Several beats of silence passed.

"You...You have 800k?"

"Oh, much more than that." Misha's lips curled. "So you can take her brother off your radar. No need to waste resources by chasing someone whose debts are null. We have no more use for him."

The irregular breathing settled; the heat of the man's rage subdued. A brief quiet stretched as the 'Big Boss' pondered over his cards.

"Then, it looks like your term is now finished," he finally replied. "I will wire your money, per your contract, as soon as you wire mine. You are hereby removed from my company and from any association with it."