Chapter 14: In Which Things Are Tense

Ashton was taking off his yellow Hazmat after a harrowing clean up of four serpent gang members, Ashton could only imagine what might have happened for the Takaheshi to go head to head with the serpents like this.
"Hey you! The boss wants to talk to you" one of the guards standing at the door called Ashton out.
Ashton's brows furrowed in confusion as to what boss they were talking about but he followed any how.
There was a Limo parked outside, when the guard saw him approaching he opened the back door.
Ashton got the hint that he was expected to get in the car.
He warily stepped inside, ready to throw punches if anything went wrong.
Ashton came face to face with a man in his late fifties, he was of Asian descent, his face naturally kind with wrinkles at the corner of his eyes.
He looked at Ashton with a small smile. He seemed familiar somehow.
Then the memory came back to him.
He was seven, his father was holding his hand while his other one clutched a toy car.
They had been walking for a while now and they were searched several times, one of the guards even tried taking away his toy from him but Ashton threw a big tantrum, holding onto it with dear life until the guard gave up.
He didn't know where his father was taking him but this place huge and fancy but he only wanted to go back home and sit in his make shift fort corner.
They finally came to halt.
"Mr. Takaheshi will be joining you, wait here" the butler told them and his father nodded.
"I wanna do home dad" Ashton complained.
"This is just gonna take a few minutes boy, be patient" his father's tone was agitated and scolding which made him pout but none the less he quietly waited impatiently.
Soon enough the big brown doors opened and a man dressed in a brown suit came out fixing his watch.
"You made the right decision to show up Raymond, it'd be a shame if the child were to become an orphan" he said, at that time Ashton's childish mind couldn't comprehend what this whole ordeal was about but later he understood that if his father would have ran away from his debt he would've been killed.
"Come here boy, I got something for you" Ashton heard the noise of a packet and he looked up the man in front of him standing at a little distance with a packet of snickerdoodle chocolate.
What kid could resist that.
Ashton let go of his father's hand before Raymond could catch him and ran towards the man to get the treat.
He grabbed a hold of the bar and was going to run back to his father with a quick thank you but the man stopped him by the shoulder, crouching down to him.
"You're quite a lad, I am sure you'll grow up to be of great service to me. Tell me would you like to work for me?" He asked Ashton.
At the time Ashton thought about it and he thought it sounded cool to have a job like a grown up.
"Yes! Will I get more chocolate?" He asked excitedly, the man chuckled at the young boy.
"That and more" there was an unsettling glint in the man's eyes which didn't feel right to Ashton even as a child but he was too young and innocent to under stand at the time.
And now those same eyes stared back at him. He had aged but it was clear that it was him, Takaheshi himself.
Ashton's blood ran cold at the sight of him but he dare not show it on his face, however, he was thinking, thinking of how he might end up like the bodies he cleaned up, thinking how this might be the last breaths he took, thinking how he might never see Sora's sweet face again.
His thoughts were running wild because he did not know why the mafia leader himself had requested his presence, it could only be bad.
"I was right, you grew up to be a handsome young lad and you have been extremely useful to me over the years" he said.
Ashton was speechless, he didn't know how to respond to that so he stayed quiet.
"Relax boy, I am not going to give you a hard time" he said noticing how tense and on edge Ashton was.
"What do you want?" Aston finally asked.
"I see, straight to it then, what I want is for you to be the head of clean up operations, I want you to be my left hand man, I already got a right hand so you know, I want you to be in charge of covering up our traces, that means responsibilities like the ones you already have and more, you'll have men working under you and the pay would be enough for your future generations to never have to work" he said.
Ashton wasn't happy about it, he didn't want more money and he definitely didn't want his future generation to be tied up in this mess and he didn't want to do anymore than he already does for the mafia.
"And if I refuse?" Ashton asked because he knew he won't be off the hook that easy.
"Oh son, you know better than that" Takaheshi looked at Ashton with a scrutinizing gaze, the small smile long gone.
Ashton knew he had no choice. Takaheshi was an evil man and Ashton wasn't alone anymore, he had Sora with him and he didn't want to let her go but he also didn't want Takaheshi sniffing around and finding out about her.
"Fine. Don't ever call me son again" Ashton replied, jaw clenched right.
His hand was itching to wrap around Takaheshi's throat and squeeze the life out of him, it would be quite easy right now but the consequences would be dire.
"The details will be emailed to you, your pay will be increased by the next job" Takaheshi said fixing his watch.
Ashton knew there was nothing more to talk about so with one last nod he stepped out of the car and took long strides towards his own truck, still on edge even though the Limo had driven off now.
God knew what this new job enrichment would ask of him.