Chapter Text
Under the shadows and the predominant smell of beer and piss, the echoing sound of the old wooden creeks kept dancing around the rainy alleyway. The sky was in shades of red and dark purple, hinting that a storm was approaching, but the life around the city was still going, ladies of the night hanging around the streets while old and drunk men parked their cars around, trying to get a full night of getting hammered and laid.
A man under the rain snapped his fingers and grabbed a silky handkerchief from the pockets of his well ironed vest and cleaned the bloody knuckles, scoffing from the sight while the droplets of rain painted the collar of his white social shirt.
Another man sat on his knees, blood pooling on the dirty floor, mixing with the filthy water and leachate from the garbage bins around them. One of his eyes was closed, puffy and the purple marks were already visible around it; his mouth coughed spit mixed with red and drooled all over his chin, sliding down his hand-marked neck. He watched the figure before him with a plead for mercy, praying to whatever gods were up there, believing everything and nothing at the same time.
“Are you done?” Asked the standing man, looking bored at the dramatic act in front of him. He fixed the cravat on his neck and put the handkerchief inside his back pocket, holding it only by the tip of his fingers.
“Please, mister, please have mercy!” Pleaded the desperate man, his hands on air, cautious by the other’s every move. “I swear, I have done nothing wrong! I have no knowledge of what you asked me!”
“Tch” the other man rolled his eyes and adjusted his cuffs, closing his knuckles again, wondering if he should give the guy another warning punch. “I know you’re lying. One of my men saw you buying a new pair of shoes for your wife-”
“Mister, please! It wasn’t me”
“-and some red lingerie for your mistress.” The other kept going, crouching down a little to get to the other’s eye level. “I gotta admit, I’m more interested in black sets, usually pops off way more on women, accentuating what goods they already have-”
Bruised eyes followed the man's hands, hoping for the worst while a faint sound of police cars echoed down the street, mixing with the soft jazz from the bar next door, along with the clinking of beer glasses and drunken out of tune singing.
“-also, how would Maria react if she knew about your side piece? She seems like a very sensible woman, I can see how hard working she is... taking care of the kids, waiting for you with a warm meal on the table. But that’s all she does, right ? She waits; but you never come.”
“Please, let me go. I swear I won’t tell anyone-” he pleaded again, now crying from the purple eye and snot falling from his nose onto his mouth as he talked “-you want me to drop my mistress? I will! I will be a better husband! I will do everything you want, just let me go!”
Staring down, the other man frowned even harder, eyes flickering from the sweaty bald head to the mud stains on the other’s pants.
“Huh? You thought I gave a shit about your relationships?” He held his cold gaze now into his eyes, not moving an inch. “I couldn’t care less, was just stating facts. And let you go? You are a complicit now. Just another stain-”
He stood in place, adjusting the wrinkles around his hips on his pants and taking the .38caliber from the holster around his thigh, fingers wrapping around the beautifully revested in mother of pearl grip, feeling the cold to his fingertips and pulling the safety, pointing it to the man’s head.
“-And I’m known for never leaving any stains .”