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“This doesn’t seem like your kind of place, Boss,” Carlos commented on the fancy brick road him and his leader were strolling through.
Nob Hill was the hub for high-end shopping in Stilwater. It wasn’t just the buildings and sidewalks, everything up here had an air of wealth surrounding it. The way everyone dressed, the cars driving by, hell, even the trashcans looked nice. The two Saints looked quite out of place here, wearing their usual attire consisting of white and purple clothing from On The Rag.
She looked a little offended, “Why, too fancy for me?”
“Uh, no it’s just,” he stammered, realizing he had messed up, “um…”
Her frown faded into a smile, “Relax, Carlos, I’m just messing with you.”
The young Saint let out a sigh of relief.
“Truth is, you’re not wrong,” she admitted, causing him to look at her in surprise, “I don’t feel as comfortable here as I do down south.”
Carlos nodded silently, he thought he understood what she meant, but refrained from speaking so as to not say something wrong again.
“Anyway, we’re not here to shop,” she reminded him.
“Right,” he remembered what they had come for originally.
This neighbourhood used to belong to the Ronin, but after defeating the Japanese gang and taking their territory, the Boss was looking for ways to expand her influence. She was interested in businesses in particular. She knew that the Ronin had run protection for several shops around here,
but now that they were gone, she was hoping to have the Saints fill that need.
They continued walking for a bit when the redhead suddenly stopped in her tracks. Carlos didn’t notice at first and took a few steps ahead before turning around to see her staring at a shop window. The young man walked back towards her to see what had caught her attention.
He was familiar with that look in her eyes, it meant she was extremely interested in someone or something. Like a cat preparing to pounce on its prey.
Curious as to what had her so distracted, he followed her gaze, which landed on a glass sculpture of a horse of some kind. Upon closer inspection, he realized that it was in fact a unicorn. Carlos raised a surprised eyebrow at the unexpected item. Knowing her, she was probably wondering if she could stab someone with its horn.
“See something you like?” He asked her, breaking her out of her trance.
She slowly averted her gaze from the object behind the window pane, “It’s nothing,” she lied without looking at him.
Then his leader began walking again, “Come on, Carlos.”
Carlos took another look at the unicorn. Seeing the price tag almost made him faint. He nodded and followed her, thinking about what this meant. It was obvious to him that she wanted it. Why, he had no idea. It seemed like a very girly thing, and honestly, the Boss didn’t strike him as the right demographic.
Anyway, the reason wasn’t important. All he knew was that this was something she wanted, so he was going to get it for her. The price, however, was more than he could afford. As he saw it, there were two options; either steal it, or save money to buy it. Under normal circumstances, the answer would have been obvious. Why spend money on something when you can take it for free? But this wasn’t a normal circumstance at all.
This was about the Boss. Would she really enjoy a gift that was stolen? Honestly? Most likely, yes. But he shook that thought from his head.
Buying it with cash he had been saving up would show dedication and commitment.
Carlos mentally put getting the unicorn on the top of his priority list. This was something that he felt he needed to do.
However, getting that amount of money wouldn’t be easy. He’d have to do a lot of jobs in order to afford it. But he didn’t care, he had set his mind to it. He would get her that sculpture, and if it was the last thing he did.