Chapter 540: Bad At It

Rum didn’t have a lot of things, so it didn’t take long for Gustav and Lukas to get him settled after one last check of Tinie’s apartment.

They had gone through the place a shit ton of times, but Tinie hadn’t left anything behind.

Not a clue. Not even a speck of anything useful.

If anything, his apartment looked as though no one had ever lived there.

"Feels like this place was meant to be abandoned in the first place," Rum muttered, lying flat on his back right in front of the door.

The apartment was big enough for him. Or rather, it was big enough for the entire crew.

But he chose to lie directly in front of the entrance like a dog waiting for its owner to come home.

He tossed a tennis ball into the air and caught it repeatedly, passing the time.

"This is boring." He frowned. "Red said to be myself, and Khan told me not to."

But that wasn’t his biggest problem.

His biggest concern was figuring out what else he could do to force Nikki to play whatever cards she had up her sleeve. He had been thinking about it for a while now.

"Fuck it." Rum sat up and crossed his legs. "I’ll just wing it."

He turned toward the door, stared at it for a second, then jumped to his feet.

Without another thought, he stepped out and headed straight for Nikki’s apartment.

Ding-dong!

He pressed the doorbell twice. When no one answered after five seconds, he pressed it again.

And again.

And again.

It probably took fifteen rings before someone finally came to the door.

"What?!" Nikki yanked it open, glaring at Rum.

Rum smiled and raised a hand. "Hey. Do you have water?"

"Huh?"

"Ah, not water. Maybe beer?" Rum corrected himself. "A glass of rum is what I’d prefer, but anything’s fine. Can’t sleep in there knowing the previous tenant just died. Kinda creeping me out."

Nikki frowned, crossing her arms as she stared at him.

Of course, she knew about Rum moving in.

When she walked away from Lukas because the man was simply too combative, she had watched what happened afterward through the security monitor connected to her door.

She had seen Rum moving into Tinie’s apartment.

Of all the people Ashley could’ve sent, why this guy?

It was strange, but Nikki could only interpret it one way.

Ashley was keeping an eye on her.

Child’s play, she thought. And here I thought she was supposed to be some genius strategist.

Still, this might not be such a bad thing.

This guy... was an idiot, after all.

Nikki studied the bright smile on Rum’s face before the corner of her mouth curled up slightly.

"Just one glass," she said, stepping aside before turning her back on him.

Rum’s smile widened as he followed her inside.

As soon as he entered, his eyes wandered around the apartment.

Nikki’s place was roughly the same size as Tinie’s, though the layout was slightly different. Unlike Tinie’s lifeless apartment, however, Nikki had decorated hers according to her taste. Everything looked sophisticated, deliberate, and meticulously arranged.

"Nice place," Rum commented, glancing at her.

Nikki had already stepped behind the bar counter. She grabbed a bottle of rum and poured some into an empty glass.

"Yours and mine are basically the same," she said casually. "It’s just that if I’m going to stay somewhere, I might as well make it livable."

"My apartment is livable." Rum approached the counter but paused when something caught the corner of his eye.

Nikki’s apartment was spotless. Everything had been arranged to complement everything else almost perfectly.

Which was why even the smallest mess stood out.

Rum turned his head, catching a wine stain marked the wall.

His gaze dropped.

On the floor, shards of broken glass were still scattered across the floor.

He whistled. "Well, someone’s in a bad mood."

Nikki paused.

She glanced at the remnants of the glass she had thrown a couple of hours ago. Her jaw tightened briefly before she slid Rum’s drink toward him.

"Who wouldn’t be in a bad mood when everyone openly hates you just because you chose survival?" she returned casually.

Rum looked at her.

"Get your drink and leave."

"Nah." Instead of leaving, Rum took the glass and climbed onto one of the stools. "I like this place. Want to trade apartments?"

Nikki stared at him blankly.

"Kidding!" he chimed, chuckling.

He raised his glass toward her as if proposing a toast before taking a mouthful.

"Goddamn!" Rum whistled as soon as the liquor burned its way down his throat. "That hit the spot."

"You know whatever you’re doing, Rum, it’s not going to work," Nikki remarked.

Her expression wasn’t combative, but her eyes were sharp.

"Moving in here..." She leaned against the counter. "You guys are focusing on the wrong person."

Rum blinked at her. "Huh?"

"You don’t have to lie to me." Nikki crossed her arms and chuckled faintly. "The madam probably thinks I’m stupid, but you should know me better than that. Why else would she plant one of her men right beside my apartment if not to investigate me?"

She shook her head. "You’re not going to get anything from me. I wasn’t part of Tinie’s scheme, and I had nothing to do with whoever he sold Dominion to."

"Damn." Rum sighed, studying her. "You knew?!"

Nikki didn’t answer. She simply stared at him.

"Oh, well!" Rum shrugged and took another mouthful. "Orders are orders. If you’re innocent, then you don’t need to explain yourself or convince me."

Nikki wasn’t surprised that Rum didn’t even bother denying it.

She had once worked with these men. Not that she trusted Rum, but there was no point hiding something that obvious.

Still...

She was curious.

Why Rum?

Nikki leaned her arms against the bar counter and studied him.

"Rum—"

"Don’t ask me to tell you what she told me! I’m not saying a word!" Rum suddenly jumped off the stool.

Before Nikki could react, he reached across the counter, grabbed the bottle of rum, and tucked it against his side while holding the glass in his other hand.

"But I will take these because I can’t sleep in a place where a dead guy used to live. It’s creepy."

With that, he turned and started walking away.

Nikki scoffed.

"I wasn’t going to ask about her orders." She watched him go. "I’m more curious about how the hell you think you can pull this off."

"Uh..." Rum stopped.

He looked over his shoulder, tilting his head as he studied her.

"I don’t know?" he said. "Maybe ask you to have sex with me?"

"What?"

He shrugged. "I have a pretty big dick, you know."

Nikki frowned.

"I’m serious." Rum wiggled his brows. "I’ll let you measure it."

"Get out," came her cold voice. "And bring back that rum."

Rum grinned, hugging the bottle and glass against himself.

"No way."

"Hey—!" Nikki called after him, but Rum had already bolted through the door.

In the blink of an eye, he was gone.

She stared at the empty doorway.

"That fool." Nikki clicked her tongue. "That idiot—how dare he?"

And that was exactly why Nikki couldn’t understand why Ashley had chosen Rum for this mission.

The guy was horrible at this sort of thing.

Rum was better suited for the field, where his combat skills and insane stunts actually served a purpose. He wasn’t the type who could slowly gain someone’s trust and subtly extract information.

If Ashley wanted someone good at that, she should’ve sent Vodka.

"What a fool." Nikki shook her head, running her tongue along the inside of her cheek before letting out a short chuckle. "She’s probably not as good as I thought she was. Everyone just hypes her up."

At the same time, Ashley stood by the window of her room, a faint smile on her face as she thought about sending Rum to live right beside Nikki.

"You’re still here?"

Lucian’s voice suddenly came from behind her.

Ashley glanced back and smiled as he approached. The moment he reached her, his arms slipped around her waist.

"You’re smiling," he pointed out, resting his chin on her shoulder. "Care to share so I can smile with you?"

Ashley let out a quiet chuckle. "I was just thinking about sending Rum right next to Nikki."

"Ah." Lucian nodded. "Why him, by the way?"

"Because he’s bad at this sort of thing."

Ashley cast him a brief glance before turning her attention back to the window.

"And when someone is bad at what they’re doing, people tend to lower their guard."