Three sheets of paper down and it was only ten o’clock. Quick abbreviations and numbers bundled in squares to make it easier to know what numbers belonged to which appointment.

“Let me see,” Mr. Asche took the clipboard and Seren sat back in their chair.

“Is that all?” They asked as he inspected their work.

“No, there’s a few more scattered throughout the day.” He said absently.. “Besides that, there’s bookkeeping to be done and payments to be logged.”

“Oh,” Seren said. “I didn’t know there was so much going on.”

“Mm, normally your job doesn’t concern the backdoor finances.” he said with a nod. “Your penmanship gets a bit better from page two on. You should practice more.”

“Okay,” Seren nodded. Easily finding the hidden compliment among the criticism.

“But we’ll leave that for after breakfast.” Mr. Asche put the clipboard down on his desk and stood up.

“You don’t have breakfast before work?” Seren asked, also standing up.

“Too much to do and not enough time to do it.” He said.

“Is that why you haven’t been sleeping?”

“Do you ever stop asking questions?” He walked around the desk and Seren bounced along behind him.

“No, I don’t think so.” Seren said, thinking for a second. The intercom crackled and Mrs Houper’s voice came out.

“You have a visitor.” she said. Mr. Asche sighed and rolled his eyes. He went back to his desk and pressed the button.

“Who is it?” He asked.

“A lawyer,” She said through the intercom. Mr. Asche stood up and looked at Seren who froze.

“Send them up.” He said. He released the button and motioned Seren over.

“Did I do something wrong?” They asked as they rounded the desk again.

“Not sure yet, lawyers are a pretty common occurrence but I’m going to have you wait on the balcony, just in case.” Mr. Asche opened the windowed door and let the cold winter air in. Seren went out onto the covered balcony and shivered. The balcony door was left cracked open and all the shades were drawn to hide Seren from view. They huddled close to the crack so they could hear what they’d done wrong.

“Come in!” Mr. Asche called, Seren couldn’t hear the door open. “Oh, Mr. Prasad. I’d say it’s nice to see you but you always bring me unfortunate news.”

“I wish this time was different,” a second voice said. “However it is once again, unfortunate news.”

“How bad is it?” Mr. Asche sighed.

“Well it certainly isn’t the worst. Mostly just inconvenient.” Mr. Prasad said, Seren heard the shuffling of paper. “Unfortunately one of your clients has passed on.”

“Ah, very inconvenient.” Mr. Asche agreed, Seren heard more shuffling and drawers being opened.

“Their next of kin are currently settling affairs. Which includes settling debts. I have an itemized list of-”

“Oh hold on,” Mr. Asche interrupted. “According to my records, this account was closed yesterday.”

“Really?”

“Yup, right here. Yesterday they made a decent payment that was enough to close the account.” Mr. Asche said. Seren heard a binder close.

“That’s very interesting, how exactly was that payment made, if I may ask?” Mr. Prasad asked.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“Why? Is it relevant?” Mr. Asche asked.

“It is, the next of kin has noticed a missing jewelry box filled with family jewelry and there are witnesses to say an enforcer belonging to you entered and exited the house.” Mr. Prasad said, rustling some more paper. Seren felt their heart sink, eyes immediately beginning to water as they remembered the jewelry box. They felt like they were going to throw up.

“Yes, there was an enforcer over yesterday. According to the report, the client made them a bit uncomfortable as they mistook my enforcer for a grandchild.” Mr. Asche said as he rustled some more papers. “When the misunderstanding was cleared up the client paid using ingts.” Seren sat up and clapped a hand over their mouth to stop themself from objecting. They felt tears lining their wide eyes.

“Is that true?” Mr. Prasad asked.

“Are you calling me a liar?”

There was a very tense silence. Seren held their breath as the second stretched forever.

“The next of kin wants them back, and will seek legal retribution against whoever took them.” Mr. Prasad said.

“Unfortunate for whoever it was.” Mr. Asche said without a hint of emotion in his voice. Seren was spiraling, the guilt was crushing them to the cold stone of the balcony. They heard the guards' words ringing in their ears.

“Indeed.” Mr. Prasad said. “Well I would love to speak to your enforcer.” Seren sat upright. Both hands tightly over their face. Cutting off their airways as well as their speech.

“Of course,” Mr. Asche said with a yawn. “Being a lawyer, I’m sure you already know who you’re looking for.”

“Are you obstructing the law?” Mr. Prasad accused.

“Of course not, you came to me with accusations that my enforcer isn’t operating legally which is simply untrue.” Mr. Asche said, his chair moving. “I also have worked with you in the past and know how thorough you are. You’ve already done your research and I am very curious to know what you found.” Another silence.

“It seems all the records to do with Serenity Winters are sealed.” Mr. Prasad said tensely. “Which is customary for you to do. But only you.”

“It should be customary for everyone.” Mr. Asche said. “But not everyone protects their enforcers like I do.”

“Very funny,” Mr. Prasad mumbled dryly. “Mr-”

“Mr. Prasad, I think you have taken up enough of my time insulting me.” Mr. Asche cut him off harshly. “I have work to catch up on and I’m sure you have others to accuse baselessly.”

“I apologize, I didn’t mean to strike a nerve.” Mr. Prasad said. A few more papers rustled. “I’ll leave you to your business. I hope this doesn’t jeopardize our working relationship.”

“We’ll see.”

“Interesting.” Mr. Prasad’s voice grew farther away. “I look forward to hearing from you in the future,” The door shut and Seren finally took in a breath. The cold instantly set in and their teeth started to chatter. Mr. Asche opened the balcony door and looked down at Seren.

“C’mon get inside before you freeze.” He said, stepping aside for Seren to get up and enter the study. Seren saw a report on the desk and walked over to read it.

“Don’t worry about that,” Mr. Asche shut the balcony door and swiped the document up, but it was too late.

“Is it my fault?” Seren asked, still shivering as the cold radiated off of them.

“Did you kill them?” He asked.

“Well I-”

“Did you physically grab a knife and kill them?” He cut them off and silenced them.

“No,” Seren said quietly.

“Then no, you can’t control anyone’s actions. Only your own.” Mr. Asche said sternly. “Now put it out of your mind.”

“But you l-” Seren was silenced when Mr. Asche lunged and grabbed their jaw hard. He glared at them and then looked up to the door. He released their jaw and went to the door. Seren felt the ache that was left in their jaw from how hard it was seized. Mr. Asche peeked out the study door then shut it and turned back.

“Yes, I lied. It’s a part of the job.” He said. Seren looked at him betrayed. “Don’t look at me like that.”

“But isn’t lying bad?” Seren finally asked.

“Look kid,” Mr. Asche sighed. Sitting behind his desk. “Life isn’t black and white like that. Nothing in the world is all good or all bad. It all comes down to what the intention is. In this business the intention comes down to the numbers.”

“Numbers?” Seren asked as they sat down on the chair brought for them.

“Yes. We agree that when you borrow something you have to return what you borrowed. Fair is fair.” He explained. Bringing out the clipboard as reference. “All our appointments so far have borrowed from me, and everyone you collect from have also borrowed from me. My intent is to get back what’s mine.”

“But what’s that number then?” Seren asked, pointing at the INT% symbol on the paper.

“Interest rate.” He said. “The longer it takes for a client to return what they borrowed, the more what they borrowed is worth.” Seren stared at the board.

“Then why bother?” They asked.

“Because you have to have money to live. Life can be very expensive.” Mr. Asche put the clipboard down. “And not everyone is willing to do whatever they have to for an income. You can capitalize on pride and shame.”

“That sounds kinda… mean.” Seren said slowly.

“You don’t get ahead by being nice, kid.” Mr. Asche stood up and pushed in his chair. “You want to make something of yourself, you have to claw your way up and shove the lesser out of your way.” Seren watched him walk to the door. They couldn’t help feeling that sentiment was a little off.