<div align="center"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 20pt;"><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: verdana;"><strong>Chapter 2: …Goes Unpunished</strong></span></span></div><br/><hr/><br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 18pt;"><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: georgia;"><strong>A</strong></span></span><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: georgia;">mbrosia Koslov sat in the back room of her floral shop pruning a group of snapdragons and carnations in preparation for the arrangement she was currently working on piecing together. She loved her floral business as much as she had ever loved anything or anyone and it showed in her attention to detail and the focus she gave her work.  That focus was evident as the young girl who worked the front of her floral shop escorted a small group back to her private work area. Pausing just inside the doorway, the young girl crossed her hands at her waist, gripping her right wrist with her left hand, and waited silently.<br/><br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 18pt;"><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: georgia;"><strong>A</strong></span></span><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: georgia;">mbrosia had arrived on the mean streets of Persephone five years ago as an unknown. Almost overnight, she became a prominent player in the underground information enclave, black market, organized crime syndicates, and nearly all other less than legal organizations on the bustling moon. However, her swift climb up the criminal corporate ladder didn’t come without an abundance of planning, scheming, conniving, backstabbing, blackmailing, cheating, and murder on her part, not to mention the talents and connections required to become as successful as she did as quickly as she did; talents she had learned during her training and tenure as a registered companion, before she was ejected from The Guild for violating several Guild laws. She was no longer the companion known as Ambrosia Koslov, but the shrewd and successful business woman known to everyone on Persephone and the surrounding planets as “Ferret.”<br/><br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 18pt;"><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: georgia;"><strong>P</strong></span></span><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: georgia;">icking up a pair of sheers, Ferret leaned in close to one of the salmon and ivory colored "Apple Blossom" snapdragon stems and lovingly snipped an errant bud. Leaning back once more from the workbench and the vase perched upon it she admired the delicate beauty of the eye pleasing floral arrangement as it began to take form, shaped by her own hands. A slow smile of admiration curved her sensual lips upward as she gently placed the shears back on her workbench.<br/><br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 18pt;"><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: georgia;"><strong> “T</strong></span></span><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: georgia;">hank you, Charlotte,” she said to the young girl, her eyes still fixed upon the snapdragons, “that’ll be all.” Raising a slender hand in their direction, she beckoned her visitors closer. “Please, come in so we can talk.” Only now did her baby blue eyes shift in their direction, quickly assessing the trio as she began greeting them all in her typical fashion. “Miss Dearing,” she said with an appreciative smirk as she made a cursory glance over the younger woman’s lean, fit body and her intentionally distracting attire. “Ever the heart-breaker you are, my dear Sasha.” <br/><br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 18pt;"><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: georgia;"><strong>S</strong></span></span><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: georgia;">hifting her attention to Simeon, she looked him over closely. She had always admired his sense of fashion and today was no different as the twinkle in her eyes might indicate to someone trained to notice such subtle physiological signs. “Mr. Gaorong, the epitome of genteel chivalry. So good to see you again. You look as dashing as ever. ” <br/><br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 18pt;"><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: georgia;"><strong>S</strong></span></span><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: georgia;">lowly tearing her gaze from Simeon, she focused her attention on the unfamiliar man, her keenly observant eyes scrutinizing him closely. “Wo de ma, who’s the beefcake,” she asked looking back to the door leading to the front of her establishment as though she were expecting to see someone, someone who was missing.  <br/><br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 18pt;"><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: georgia;"><strong>S</strong></span></span><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: georgia;">hifting her focus back to Sasha once more, her eyes narrowed suspiciously and her posture stiffened. Wetting her lips with a slow swipe of the tip of her pink tongue, she leaned back in her chair, her voice losing its cordial tone as she glanced off to her left. “Damek, where’s Griffin Kingston?” <br/><br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 18pt;"><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: georgia;"><strong>A</strong></span></span><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: georgia;"> large black man dressed in urban fatigues stepped from the shadows and into view as he approached Ferret. The imposing figure wore a Marakov AMG50 slung over his shoulder and a silenced Avenger, sidearm holstered at his hip. He pressed the receiver into his ear and repeated the question, pausing a few seconds before he answered.  <br/><br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 18pt;"><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: georgia;"><strong> “H</strong></span></span><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: georgia;">e’s on Persephone, Lao ban ni'un, but he’s headed west. It seems he has some sort of mechanical part with him. I think it might be something of value he’s trying to fence to a competitor.” <br/><br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 18pt;"><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: georgia;"><strong>F</strong></span></span><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: georgia;">erret glared at the man silently for a moment before she retorted in a cold tone, “I don’t pay you to think, Damek, do I?”<br/><br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 18pt;"><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: georgia;"><strong>T</strong></span></span><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: georgia;">he large man shook his head and quietly replied, “No, Lao ban ni'un.”<br/><br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 18pt;"><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: georgia;"><strong>“N</strong></span></span><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: georgia;">o, I think not. That’ll be all for now, Damek,” she said, and the big bodyguard slid back into his position in the shadows.<br/><br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 18pt;"><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: georgia;"><strong>G</strong></span></span><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: georgia;">lancing back to Sasha, her smile returned, though not to its full, former luster. “So, to what do I owe this unexpected pleasure, Miss Dearing?” Her tone was more professional this time around, having dispensed with the pleasantries to her satisfaction.<br/><br/></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><hr/>Wo de ma = Mother of God<br/>No, Lao ban ni'un  = Female boss or operator of a business<br/><br/><br/><br/>