THIRTY-ONE
Callie

I run a hand stressfully down my face and look up at the gloomy grey sky. It's been an hour since the police showed up, everyone was removed from the building apart from Nix and Ev. Miller, well all I know about him is that he's now in police custody with his brother, for a reason I have no idea about.

"I blame this shit on you, you've made them weak." Penelope steps up to me, so I don't back down and straighten my back. "Since you've come along their work has been sloppy, you're a distraction, a bad one. A bit of a whore to be fucking all three of your bosses, don't you think?" She looks me up and down and I smile.

"Penny—"

"It's Penelope." She hisses and I nod my head, a smirk etching onto my face.

"Okay, Penny. Who says I'm fucking my bosses? As far as I'm aware, they're your boss too, so bad-mouthing them isn't going to go well when they find out." I tilt my head at her, and she clenches her jaw, her pale face turning a light shade of red. "And if I were fucking them, it wouldn't be any of your business anyway."

There's no denying Penelope is a beautiful woman, but her attitude is ugly, and I won't stand for her torturous words.

"So why are the police searching the building? You're supposed to be their fucking assistant, no? Maybe you're the one slacking on the job." She scoffs, and I feel my anger hanging on by a thread.

"I'm a good fucking assistant." I retort. "And have you ever thought that maybe you're the fuck up since you like to take charge on the illegal side?" I hiss and watch as her face hardens.

"You better watch what you say next, bitch, or I'll—-"

"Or you'll what?" The sound of Nix's voice has my head turning. I watch as he steps up behind me, his hard glare on Penelope's slim figure in front of me. "Go on." He ushers her to continue, and I turn back to her to see her face even redder.

A smile forms on my face.

"She's not good for business." And I roll my eyes as she continues.

"Callie is an important asset to this business." Phoenix defends and my heart warms because an hour ago he was ignoring and glaring at me, and now he's sticking up for me.

"And your bed?" Penelope scoffs and I step forward, but Phoenix wraps his arm tighter around my waist and pulls me back.

"Shut the fuck up!" He growls out and fear crawls onto her face. "Get the fuck out of here, Penelope." I watch her huff and storm away like a little toddler.

He turns my body to face him and looks me over before reaching up with his hand to stroke my cheek. I step back slightly and look up at him with furrowed eyebrows.

"I understand why you're upset, but can you stop glaring at me like you want to kill me?" I whisper, and his face softens gently. "You're right, I should have listened and not walked out that night, but I worry, that's all. I'm sorry." I admit, my heart feels like it's clogged up in my throat.

Phoenix's face falls slightly, and he nibbles on his bottom lip.

"I've been a dick to you, and I'm sorry. I was angry because of how close that bullet was to killing you." He says, avoiding eye contact with me.

"It's not just that though, is it? There's something else." I tilt my head and a small sigh escapes his mouth, and he nods his head. "You don't have to tell me, but you know I'm here if you need to talk," I assure him and a small smile etches onto his face.

"Thank you, princess, however, I need to speak to you about what's going on at the moment." I nod my head.

Phoenix begins to explain to me that someone tipped off the police about us. They said that we're money laundering through the business, which is not the case. The police haven't found anything, but now we're right under the spotlight, and they're going to get more suspicious as time goes on. It doesn't help that we have no idea who is trying to destroy all of our representations.

I suddenly get a weird feeling and slowly turn my head.

"Baby, what is it?"

"What happened to that man that worked for security? John?" I keep my eyes focused on the black hooded figure, my eyes falling to the tattoos on his hands that I manage to recognise.

"We fired him, he was shit, and he kept perving on you. Why?" Phoenix questions.

"Well, why am I staring at him and why does he look sketch?" I feel Phoenix's body tense behind me and his arm wraps back around my waist.

"Where?"

"Across the road near the traffic light."

"I'll sort it. Baby, what I need you to do is go down to the station, Miller and Mason have been arrested because this business was originally their parent's. The police are trying to pin this on them." My eyes widen. "Call River too."

I nod my head, and he smiles, leaning down to kiss my forehead.

"That's my girl." I smile brightly at the praise.

•••

"This is fucking bullshit!" I jump as I watch a red-faced Miller slam his hand on his desk. "Fucking bullshit! We've kept everything on the down-low, so who the fuck tipped us off?!" He yells.

I've never seen him this mad, I thought the last time when we saw his brother at the restaurant was bad, but this tops it.

"We'll sort it, Mill. We're not gonna let you go down for this." Everest speaks out, and I hear a scoff behind me and turn to a tied-up Mason.

"Yeah, just forget about me." He rolls his eyes and this time I scoff.

"Everest is right, Miller, we're not letting you go to prison." I walk over to him and run my fingers through his hair. His head falls onto my chest and his arms wrap around my waist.

"Ugh. You all make me sick." Mason says but we all ignore him.

"You know what, Mason. You're going back down to the basement, you've had your day out now come on." I watch in amusement as Everest drags him out of the room, getting an earful of Mason's protests on the way.

"How's your wound?" I question in concern because today was meant to be a rest day for him, but the universe had other plans.

"It's okay, my love." He whispers tiredly. "I love you."

"I love you." I lean down to kiss the top of his head.

"Callie. I just need you to know that from now on things are going to go to shit, I want to promise you that everything will be okay, but I can't. All I want is for you to be safe." I slowly nod my head. "You're going to see a side to us that you haven't seen, and I don't want to scare you."

"You won't scare me, Miller. I promise I'm a tough nut to crack." He chuckles lightly and goes back to burying his face in my chest. I love this feeling. "I'm staying with you all, I'm not going anywhere," I reassure him and his arms tighten around my body.

The opening of the door has me turning my head and I smile when I see Phoenix.

"I-Erm... Can I talk to you, Cal?" He runs the back of his neck and avoids eye contact again.

"Sure." I smile and make my way over to him.

Phoenix grabs my hand and leads me down the corridor. As we walk — to which I assume his room — I can't help but think about Miller's words.

'Things are going to go to shit.'

A/N
Just a reminder that I love you all 💙