Both women stared at Nathan as if he were a ghost. His demeanour changed from that of a naive kid to an experienced negotiator.

Even though it was just a facade, it was enough to fool both of them, Nathan thought.

“What do you mean by ‘my father was an informant’?” Mrs. Moore sat down, her eyes glued to Nathan’s face.

“I think it would be best to start by asking the obvious questions.” Nathan pressed his elbows against the table and crossed his fingers. “Do you know anything about an informant?”

“I—I can’t say we do.” Mrs. Moore and Dayla exchanged glances.

“No, we don’t. What kind of an informant?”

“Ah—” Nathan scratched his head. “This complicates things a little.” He twiddled his thumbs for several seconds, making both women nervous.

There was a long pause before he continued. “Roy will be coming back soon, I presume, so I will try to keep this brief. We can meet in private in the future to discuss the matter in more detail. However, the main idea is that my father provided inside information to Mr. Moore. My father, even though he is an assassin, dislikes the assassination practice. And I am no different.”

The women remained silent, so Nathan continued.

“However, my father was already suspected to be a spy, so establishing any form of contact with you ladies would be akin to signing a death contract. I, on the other hand. . .” Nathan trailed off. His posture became less dignified as he started giggling. But a moment later, the dignified negotiator persona was back. “As you can see, I’m a pretty good actor. I’ll manage. Everyone thinks I’m this naive and arrogant kid.”

The women just stared at him, their mouths agape. It was Dayla who broke out of her stupor first. She shook her head.

“So—so you’re saying that you’ll be providing us inside information? I mean, you act tough, but how do we know this is not just some scheme? We never heard of any informant before. We’ve never heard of you or your father. Why should we believe you, let you work with us?”

“You’re right. You shouldn’t believe me. That’s the first rule of this shitty business. That’s why I don’t ask anything in return. I will provide you with information. You just need to receive it. I won’t expect anything from you, apart from bringing this thing to an end.”

“You say that we need to receive information, but we’ve been doing just fine without it. We don’t need anything from you,” Dayla retorted, no longer shocked.

“I may be young, but I’m not stupid. Do you seriously expect me to believe that after the face of your whole movement was assassinated, you’re not facing any trouble?”

Dayla’s face turned sour. “How dare—”

“How dare I what?” Nathan didn’t have time to play nice. “How dare I state the facts? Or how dare I try to help you? I’m not sure. But I know one thing—you’re in trouble, and we all know it. You might’ve gained some publicity and some new sympathizers, but I am more than sure that more people are scared of being assassinated than motivated to end this thing.”

Dayla was fuming at this point, but a gentle hand on her shoulder calmed her down.

“I see that you’re a pragmatic bo—man. I think it’s wiser to call you a man. I will ignore the insensitive comments. After all, that’s what I would expect from an assassin.” Mrs. Moore’s voice was sour, and her eyes showed no less anger than Dayla’s. “What you say is, however, true, and what you propose seems reasonable. But as you said, you won’t be getting anything from us. This is not a mutual relationship. You inform us, and we give you absolutely nothing in return.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Nathan smiled.

“Good. Anything else you’d like to say?”

“There are a couple of things,” Nathan said, leaning back in his chair. “First and foremost, I don’t think I need to tell you that me being an assassin won’t ever be disclosed to anybody. The same thing goes for me being an informant.”

This would be a great time to release his killing intent, he thought. Rafael had told him about it, but he had no idea how to do so.

“Nobody will ever know,” Mrs. Moore repeated.

“The next thing: this is courtesy of mine, since I’m Roy’s friend, but I will make sure that he stays safe as long as he stays with me. I can’t guarantee anything when he’s not with me, but when I’m with him, he’ll be safe.”

Nathan wanted to make the women a little more enthusiastic about the whole agreement. The negotiation hadn’t been going as planned, but it might still be salvageable.

“Thank you,” Mrs. Moore replied, trying ineffectively to remain impassive.

Nathan smirked inwardly. A mother is a mother.

“My pleasure,” he replied with a warm smile. “And the last thing is this: we should probably establish some means of communication. Ms. Dayla, I’ve done some research and found out that you’re quite a successful piano player. Well, you see, that’s a real coincidence, because I was just looking for a teacher. Would you be willing to give me a lesson every week?”

Dayla was at a loss for words. This kid seemed to have the whole thing planned out in advance. She gritted her teeth. She felt she was being played, but she had no idea how to stop it.

“Thank you,” Nathan concluded. “We can discuss the fee and all that good stuff during our first lesson.” He stood up just in time to notice Roy coming from the hallway. “This is my number. I’ll call you later. And remember, not a word to anyone.” He placed a small business card with only his number on the table. He had printed it earlier in the day, thinking it would make him look a little more credible.

“Wha—what are you talking about? You seem pretty serious, all of you.” Roy walked up to the table. Even though he knew what they were talking about, he had to act like he didn’t.

Nathan took note of Roy’s acting skills. He was pretty decent. Not as good as he was, himself, but the kid had potential.

“I was paying my condolences. That’s why the mood is a little solemn. I think we should go and take a look at your room,” Nathan said, preventing anything more from Dayla or Mrs. Moore. He was concerned that Roy might falter if he got drawn into the conversation and he had to improvise.

“I see. Well, let’s go, then. It’s this way.” Roy walked out of the kitchen and Nathan followed suit, not looking back at the two women.

“How did it go?” Roy whispered as soon as they were out of sight.

“Like a roller-coaster,” Nathan replied, looking over his shoulder, his brow suddenly sweaty. “It started pretty well, but they had no idea my father was an informant. I expected them to know, but it seems your father kept it to himself, not wanting to endanger them any more than he had to.”

“But you made it work, right?”

“It wasn’t easy, but yeah. I managed somehow. We’ll be together a lot more from now on!” Nathan gave his words a burst of enthusiasm, then studied Roy for a reaction. Even though he tried to hide it, Nathan could see how happy he was. Nathan had had a hunch, but it really was true…

Roy stopped and puffed out his chest in front of the door. He threw it open and acted cool, but only until he accidentally smashed the door against his bed frame. He slumped down and inspected both the door and the bed.

“Well, this is my room,” he said, after assuring himself nothing had happened to either of the two.

Nathan walked into a typical teenage boy’s room—stinky, dull, and filled with manga and electronics. Roy seemed to be particularly proud of it, so Nathan acted as if he were witnessing a miracle.

And Roy didn’t fail to notice the reaction: “Pretty cool, huh?”

“Yeah, pretty cool. You read a lot of manga,” Nathan replied, turning towards a shelf filled with stacks of graphic novels.

“I’m honestly surprised you even know what that is.” Roy picked one book out of the stack. “This is my favourite: Don x Zieldette. Wanna give it a read?” he asked, handing the book to Nathan.

“I’ll have to kindly refuse. I don’t have that much time on me,” Nathan smiled. Even though the cover looked interesting, it was true. He was in a hurry.

“I have something that I want to ask you,” he said, preparing to leave.

“Sure, go ahead,” Roy replied, returning the book to the shelf.

“Why do you like me?”

Roy froze in place.

“Ho—I mean, what the fuck do you mean by that?”

“Come on… you don’t seriously think I’m an idiot, do you?”

Roy didn’t answer. Nathan wasn’t sure if it was because he wanted to say yes but was scared, or he was just so shocked he couldn’t speak. He hoped for the latter.

“You’re acting all weird around me. Like you’re secretly admiring me or something. Spit it out, or I’ll leave.” Nathan considered threatening him with a beatdown, but this was a more effective bargaining chip.

“Okay, okay. You win. I really do look up to you, Nathan. Who wouldn’t?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“You really dunno?” Roy raised an eyebrow. “It all started a few years ago…”