It's All Just Business.
The bar was filled with people and that was normally enough to make one Jennifer Lowe very uncomfortable. So far she’d received two cat calls from drunken men and about three hands had touched her ass. People were drinking and generally getting rowdy, which was impressive because it was early afternoon as opposed to late at night. She wondered how many people would be falling into the hospital later, how many of them she'd end up patching up after a bar fight or a car accident.
After taking the location of the hatted man from the mind of the bartender - without him even knowing and, horrifically, she didn't even feel guilty for just plucking the information from his mind - Jenny had squared her shoulders and headed towards the back room, through a narrow corridor. Her heels made little sound on the cement walkway, which was a surprise, but then maybe each step was echoing. But then again she couldn’t hear anything over the sound of the beating of her heart that was hammering in her ears.
There was a back room ahead of her and wow, that wasn’t at all creepy or cliched. She swallowed, setting her jaw. She was doing this for Ben and for their parents. For her mom and dad who couldn’t bear to lose their son. Who didn’t even know that their son was in danger and who would be so very disappointed in their youngest daughter if they knew what she was about to do.
A flat hand rested against her chest when she reached the door and she was pulled from her thoughts when it stopped her movement forward. She blinked up at the guard on the door and then turned her eyes to the man on the opposite side of the door.
“No one gets past here without an appointment,” he said, voice gruff with another accent that she couldn’t place.
“No one gets past here without an appointment,” was echoed from the other side and Jenny wrinkled her nose and stepped back so that the man’s hand just fell uselessly to his side.
“You know, you gotta start getting your own lines,” the first grunt said and Jenny bit the inside of her lip.
“Fine. Do you have an appointment?” Grunt number 2 asked, turning to look at her. “‘Cause if you don’t, you get sent packing.”
“I don’t have an appointment, but you’re going to let me in,” she said confidently. “Because I’m here to pay a debt.”
The grunts faces split into identical grins and something in Jenny’s stomach twisted in disgust at the way they reacted.
“Usually he likes that kind of thing to be done at his hotel...”
Jenny rolled her eyes. “He’s making an exception for me. You gonna open the door or deal with him not being impressed when you’re keeping me out here when I should be in there.” She pointed at the door.
The Grunts looked at each other for a moment before they hesitated and then Grunt number 1 pushed open the door.
“Let us know when he’s done with you and we’ll walk you out. He’s in there. Be nice. He’s not in the greatest of moods.”
“When are they ever?” Jenny asked, turning her head and disappearing inside, shutting the door behind her.
Once she’d taken a moment to compose herself, she headed through the room, approaching the desk with as much confidence as she could muster considering she was about to face down a criminal. A criminal that was going to torture and kill her brother if he decided that her abilities and services weren’t valuable enough.
As she approached the table, it was lit with a low lamp and the man at the table was looking over some kind of papers. Just like in the image she’d been shown by her brother, he had the hat sitting low on his head and she swallowed. The smoke was thick in the air, heavy and hanging around his head like a mist and a mask.
He wasn’t wearing a jacket though, and she could see the dark lines of a holster on his shoulders and the edge of guns that did nothing to set her at ease. Absolutely nothing.
She resisted waving her hand across her face to dispell the smoke that was curling towards her and she merely brushed her hair over her shoulder, took in a slow breath and cleared her throat.
Now all she had to do was pretend that she wasn’t afraid.
His grunts had been kind to say that Joseph wasn't in the 'greatest of moods'. If anything he was carrying a black cloud above his head, taking his anger out on whoever said something stupid or didn't do their job as they should. He'd lost one of his own and that meant war, one way or another, even if he was already taking his enemies apart a piece at a time.
He'd been left alone for the last couple of hours as instructed, meaning he had time to pour over books and sheets of paper, names littering every inch of them with amounts and deadlines. Little did he know but one of those names just so happened to have a sister who was was on her way to see him.
"I told you I wasn't to be disturbed," he muttered as his ears picked up on the sound of footsteps. It was only at the throat clearing that he finally looked up, regarding the brunette from beneath the dark brim of his hat. There was a moment of silence before a slow drag was taken on a cigarette, smoke being exhaled out a second later. "Don't think I know you." His dark eyes dropped to his books and immediately they scanned the multitude of names, seeking out the fairer sex. He had plenty of them, all of which owed ridiculous amounts of money. Some had spent their ill gotten money on drugs, others had used them to better their careers by improving their physical appearance, and then there were those who had just pissed it away.
It wasn't often he had somebody who owed a debt walk into his office, mind you. He usually had to find them, drag them out of hiding and demand it back, more than willing to do whatever needed to be done to ensure some sort of compensation had been taken. "And unless you're here to discuss something important then I suggest you leave before I have you removed. I'm not in the mood for distractions."
Ash was knocked aside and Joseph returned his gaze to the pretty thing, looking for all the world like she was about to hide in the nearest corner.
Hide in the nearest corner or throw up. Jenny was terrified. When he finally looked up at her, Jenny almost lost her resolve. Somehow she managed to meet his gaze the second time he looked up at her and she swallowed, tensing her jaw and taking a few steps forward. Her heels clicked purposefully on the floor.
Stopping just in front of his desk, she once again resisted the urge to wave away the smoke and merely dealt with the unpleasant sensation filling her nostrils. She would take a shower when she left. If you leave a very unpleasant voice muttered somewhere in the back of her mind and she hushed it quickly.
"No, Mr Tropiano," she said, finally finding her voice, surprised at the confidence behind her words. There was a fine tremble to her hands, but the way that she had them clasped in front of her meant that it wasn't as obvious as it might have been. "You don't know me, but I know of you."
She'd seen his face - she had realised - from many of the men that had appeared in the hospital, battered and bruised and injured from abuse and torture, and fresh from the mind of her big brother.
"I'm here on behalf of someone that owes you money. I'm here to... negotiate."
Joseph's eyebrow lifted and he all but laughed as he leaned back into his chair and gave the brunette a once over, trying to figure out if this was a joke or if she was really serious. Judging by her nervous movements with her hands and the apparent determined set to her jaw she was pretty damn serious, which would mean she had something to bargain with.
"On behalf of someone?" He repeated, reaching down to pick up the book. "And who might that be? See, I have a lot of people who owe me money." Too many, the people in this city had been sloppy.
He took a final drag from his cigarette, stubbing it out in the nearby glass ashtray. "And if you're here to negotiate then you must have something valuable enough to risk your life."
Another deep breath and Jenny ignored the way her stomach tried to bottom out and her heart tried to leap into her throat at his choice of words: risk your life. Yeah, the things people did for their families.
"I do," she confirmed after a moment, a nervous glance at the door like the two Grunts would come back in and remove her forcibly. "I'm here to talk to you about my brother. His name's Benjamin Lowe. He owes you $40,000 and you gave him 'till the end of the week to get it to you."
Her look was distinctly unimpressed. "How you thought he'd get that much money in five days is beyond me." She shook her head and then blinked at herself as if she'd realised she had spoken quite... well, her tone hadn't been one that should have been used when talking to a Mafia guy with two guns (at least) within easy reach.
"But the deal goes like this, you- I work for you and you clear my brother's debt. What I can offer you is worth-" God, she felt dirty, this was wrong on so many levels, but it was her brother, what else was she supposed to do? "-far more than that if used properly. And I'm a doctor, I can imagine a man with your... business credentials needs a medic on the payroll, but obviously not on the payroll."
Benjamin Lowe... the name rang a bell and Joseph's mind cast itself back, recalling a rather cowardly young man who had wasted enough of his and everybody else's time. He was one of those gamblers, the sort that got in too deep and just kept digging deeper in the hopes of breaking even or scoring big.
"Your brother has had ample time," he pointed out. "Not with me, but with the former power in this city." He leaned forward, placing the book down, directing all of his attention to the brunette.
He reached out for a nearby bottle and helped himself to a drink, sipping at it slowly as he digested the offer the young woman was extending to him. "So, what? You're offering me your expertise as a doctor and I'm supposed to wipe $40,000 of debt clean?" He knocked his tongue against the back of his teeth and dragged his thumb along his lower lip. "Can't say I'm seeing the benefit considering I can get my hands on half a dozen doctors."
"Not many like me." Jenny said confidently, and this at least she was sure of. She wet her lower lip and took another step closer, putting her palms flat on the desk. Her eyes slid down to look at all the papers and books spread out over the wooden expanse. "I'm- How much do you know about the supernatural, Mr Tropiano?" she asked, tilting her head at him. "And I'm not talking about vampires or werewolves, I'm talking about the more human aspect, magic, telepathy... all that fun stuff."
Joseph merely lifted an eyebrow, fingertips skirting over a nearby cigarette packet. "The supernatural?" He repeated, mind casting back to the conversation he'd had with a brunette in a dark alley. "I tend not to worry myself with that considering I've got more than enough to keep me busy in this world alone."
He flipped open the lid with his thumb and retrieved a cancer stick, sliding it between his lips before catching the tip with the edge of a flame.
"You might want to be more specific, Miss Lowe. I only have so much time for games."
Jenny tongued her teeth and rubbed the back of her neck. "How valuable would it be if you were to have someone in your employ that could tell you where things were hidden without questioning, or tell you that someone's been hired to kill you. Avoiding bloodshed. Finding hideouts and all that fun stuff that your... unconventional methods can't always guarantee to pull out of someone."
She tipped her head at him, eyes suddenly sharper. Confidence almost appeared in her where it had been lacking before. "What would it be worth if I could tell you if someone was being bought by the feds, or one of your, admittedly pathetic, competition?"
Joseph inhaled and exhaled in the same drag, letting Miss Lowe talk. It might come to something or nothing at all, but he was a reasonable man and he tended to favour the fairer of the sex, which was lucky for Jenny.
He noticed the change in Jenny and tilted his head, letting his eyes wander. Her shoulders seemed straighter and her gaze held a fierceness that he hadn't seen before. "Depends on if it's true or if you're just that desperate to get your brother off the chopping block."
His gaze narrowed, intensifying for a moment. "Which one is it, Miss Lowe?"
Jenny's lips twisted into a half smirk. "You really think anyone would be stupid enough to come in here and bluff something like that?" she asked, knowing all too well that it was very difficult to pretend to be telepathic and not actually deliver. She wondered how many people Mr Tropiano had put down because they'd lied to him.
She'd never told anyone about her abilities with the frequency she had recently. Partly it had been her own fault, being sloppy with reading people, but... it felt like everything about about to change and maybe she needed to move with it, not hide away from change like she always used to.
"It's true, and I-" she swallowed, "if you need me to prove it, I will."
"You'd be surprised," Joseph pointed out with a rather serious expression. He'd met a lot of stupid people in his time, too many. He flicked ash aside and into the nearby ashtray, letting the cigarette linger there for an all of a few seconds before he was inhaling another mouthful of smoke.
He rose to his feet slowly and circled the desk, resting back against it as he regarded Jenny more closely. "And just for the record, I do need you to prove it."
Jenny lifted her jaw when he approached and just met his eyes again, somehow managing to not take several huge steps back and regain that distance that, to her, signified safety. She blinked a couple of times as the smoke curled around them both and she chewed the inside of her lip.
"Fine," she muttered shortly, "What do you want me to do? If you pick then you can be sure I'm not cheating."
Joseph turned his head to exhale the smoke he was still holding before turning back to Jenny, wetting his lower lip with his tongue as he considered what to ask her. "Fine," he echoed. "What man did I lose just the other night and in what circumstance?"
Only those closest to him would know that.
Jenny took half a step backwards, tilting her head and looking at Joseph for a moment. She wondered whether or not she should dip into his head, or look at the Grunts outside for answers. She decided it would probably be safer if she didn't go into Tropiano's mind without his express permission.
The focus went out of her eyes as she stretched her mind outwards towards those of the men on the door. She shifted through their memories, conscious thoughts getting in the way of the information she wanted, but she got it and grabbed hold of it.
Her fingers twitched like she was literally taking hold of something and teasing it out of someone's mind into her own.
When her eyes opened again, they were slightly pained, the things she had seen tugging an emotional chord within her. She swallowed, running a hand in her hair and curling her fingers there before she pushed past her nausea. "His name was Victor," she said finally, eyes moving from where they'd focused on the floor to look up at him.
"He died in your arms. There was... blood everywhere." Her brow furrowed, tension in her shoulders and arms. "You're- He was trying to prove himself to you and he got himself killed. He was just a kid."
There was a stillness to Joseph that hadn't been there before, a rigid set to his shoulders and a a tense line in his jaw. There was no way she could have known that, nobody had known his name, not even the men that had killed him.
Irrational as it was, Joseph reacted before he'd even had time to think, his fingers wrapped Jenny's slender neck and with all his force he slammed her into the nearest wall - the result was a resounding *thud*. He was breathing heavily, grip firm and eyes dark.
Seconds felt like hours until the grip loosened ever so slightly. "One last question," he muttered, accent now thicker than ever before. "My father's name, what is it?"
Panic had rippled through her when she was pinned against the wall, body going still and fear in her eyes. She didn't fight, but she knew that from his reaction alone that what she'd told him was the truth.
At the release of pressure against her neck she sagged a little but it did nothing to calm the beating of her heart, the blood rushing past her ears and she chewed her lower lip. Looking up at Joseph, her eyes lost focus again. The fear made it harder, having to push through the fog of her own emotions to get through to his mind.
He would have been able to feel the touch against his mind. She could be a lot more subtle, but she figured he might appreciate her letting him know she was there. It didn't take her long to find the thoughts of Joseph's father.
"Alex..." she breathed, coming back to herself a moment later and the corners of her lips turned down. "He died." Her voice was soft, shaking a little. There was always a little bit of emotional resonance when she went into peoples' minds, it couldn't be helped. "When you were younger."
Joseph's grip remained where it was before it finally released, even going so far as to return Jenny to her feet rather than the tiptoes she'd been balancing on before. He lingered for a few moments before turning away, returning to the safety of his desk and all that was familiar to him.
With back turned he picked up his cigarette and took a drag. "You have a trial period, 4 weeks. If you prove to be as useful as you say you will your brother's debts will be written off, bit by bit. Understood?"
Jenny sagged further against the wall, letting it support her weight. She tipped her head back and let out a relieved breath. That was probably the most danger she'd ever been in, of human making anyway. She rubbed her hands over her face, ignoring the way that they were shaking.
"Understood," she said quietly, clearing her throat like that would get rid of the tremble in her voice. "You need my pager number or phone number or something?" the young doctor asked, having no idea what happened now.
"Pass it to the men on the door," Joseph remarked, still not turning around to face Jenny. "You'll hear from me when I require your services, medical or otherwise." He lifted the cigarette to his lips and took a shaky drag, having had an unsettling brush with old long forgotten memories.
He turned his head ever so slightly. "Now leave before I change my mind about this."