26 – Cypress Mosaic

A ​worn-out, ​ordinary ​bar ​in the South ​Bronx.

Joshua ​Lockhart ​occupied ​a ​stool inside the massive ​bar ​counter.

Walls of exposed ​red brick, a ​gloomy ​dark ​wood ​interior, ​and ​stools covered in ​red ​faux ​leather. It was ​the kind of place ​he would ​normally never ​set foot ​in.

Men hitting ​balls ​in ​front of a ​pool table ​chatted loudly in Spanish. ​Since the area had ​a high population of ​immigrants from ​Puerto ​Rico, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, or ​Central America, Spanish sounded ​as ​natural ​as ​English.

Despite ​his inconspicuous attire, ​Joshua was ​clearly ​an alien presence ​in ​that bar. From his hairstyle ​and demeanor ​to ​his bored, arrogant ​expression.

Joshua’s ​movements ​as ​he ​drank his ​whiskey ​were more ​agitated than usual.

Having ordered it on the ​rocks for no ​apparent reason, he ​drained nearly all of ​the amber ​liquid before the ​ice ​had even begun ​to melt.

With every ​breath, his ​broad, ​thick shoulders ​heaved. ​He looked ​as ​though unauthorized copyvisit our sitehe ​had ​just ​come [unauthorized copy]from a ​frustrating ​encounter with ​someone.

“Another ​one, ​same ​thing.”

As he ordered another whiskey from the bartender across the counter, a man entered through the door, which had rarely been used.

Dressed in a piqué polo shirt and a thin windbreaker, the man grumbled as he brushed droplets of water off his shoulder.

“Damn it, why is it raining when it wasn’t even in the forecast…”

As if dealing with someone he met here at a fixed time every day, he didn’t even look at Joshua and flopped down onto the stool right next to him.

The scent of rain wafted strongly from the man.

Joshua immediately frowned.

“Why don’t you buy some perfume and wear it? I wonder where you’re pouring all your legal fees.”

“Everyone has their own circumstances.”

The man grinned, baring his teeth.

A face that was neither beautiful nor ugly—an ordinary face one could see anywhere.

Clothing that was neither sophisticated nor shabby.

With salt-and-pepper gray hair neatly combed back and silver-rimmed glasses, the man was dressed tidily enough that he wouldn’t draw suspicion wherever he went. That only made his impression seem more ordinary. After all, being too shabby was its own way of standing out.

He was a man so bland it was disappointing; if asked to recall his appearance after they parted, there would be nothing particularly memorable.

With a rounded tip of the nose and thick, short eyebrows, he gave off a fleeting impression of being generous and docile. However, if one observed him closely, they would notice: eyes that glittered like a rat scavenging in the dark, and a sinister expression hidden behind the skin of his face.

Receiving a new glass from the bartender, Joshua got straight to the point.

“Did you find out?”

“Well… it’s not easy.”

“You still haven’t found out?”

Joshua’s voice rose instantly.

It was enough to make the few customers in the bar turn around simultaneously. Forcing his voice down, Joshua spat out each word through clenched teeth, filled with explosive frustration.

“He’s just a kid working at a bar. Why is it taking this long to track down a mere server?”

The man smirked.

“Your fiery temper is as consistent as ever.”

“If you know that, then you should bring me the information.”

“First, let me order a drink. I’m thirsty.”

Joshua wanted to seize [Read on Read BL Novels]the [stolen content]man’s [Read on Read BL Novels]throat right then and there, but he endured it by biting his lip harder.

After ordering an expensive drink and wetting his throat, the man finally spoke.

“I tried to scour through the colleagues he worked with at the bar.”

“And?”

“They say he didn’t get close to anyone.”

“Even if he wasn’t close, they must know something.”

“They don’t know where he lives, nor do they even know his real name.”

“They don’t even know his name?”

“If I could find even one of those two, I could hunt him down like a dog even if it took time, but…”

Muttering this, the man sipped his drink.

Joshua felt his thin patience nearly run dry.

However, this man was the most skilled fixer—or private investigator—he could find within his own information network.

The man knew this, which was why he dared to act so nonchalantly in front of Joshua. That didn’t mean he could continue to provoke Joshua Lockhart’s temper indefinitely.

Joshua blocked the man’s hand just as he was bringing a straight shot of whiskey to his lips. The sloshing liquor overflowed onto the back of the man’s hand. Without caring in the least, Joshua bared his teeth at him.

“So, you showed up here with zero results?”

Until now, Joshua had met all sorts of beautiful men and women. Delicate, elegant, voluptuous, cute… all types of beauties naturally flocked to Joshua Lockhart. Consequently, his standards for beauty were inevitably high.

When he saw someone with exceptional looks, he would reflexively think they were beautiful, but it was rare to find someone who piqued his interest beyond that.

But ‘Rian,’ whom he met at the bar in Tribeca, was different.

It was almost a shock.

If it hadn’t been for that, he wouldn’t have done something like just giving him a business card and letting him go. That was Joshua’s own form of respect.

A minimum level of respect for a piece that would become the rarest in his collection.

And that respect had been splendidly betrayed. ‘Rian’ had not contacted him, and he had vanished from that bar.

It had been a week since he contacted this fixer. Hearing that Rian’s whereabouts were still unknown pushed Joshua to the brink of explosion.

“Who is the actual owner of the bar? If the coworkers don’t know anything, you can just dig into the higher-ups.”

“Mr. Joshua, you know very well that I prioritize safety and confidentiality above all else.”

“Why bring that up all of a sudden?”

“That is precisely why you seek me out, Mr. Joshua.”

Joshua removed the hand that had been blocking the man.

The fixer, who downed the remaining liquor in one gulp, wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

“It’s a membership bar targeting the upper class. Whether it’s about the guests or the staff, security is their lifeblood. And the owners of such bars are usually kept secret.”

“Isn’t that why I hire someone like you? To investigate things that are kept secret? Hmm?”

There was a threat laced in Joshua’s voice.

The man gave a wide, toothy grin.

“I mean, it’s not impossible, but…”

Joshua’s face distorted with disgust as he realized what the man was asking for.

“I’ll pay you as much more as you want, so just find out where that man is.”

“I shall do so.”

Letting out a mean-spirited chuckle, the man ordered another drink.

In terms of taste in food and drink, the man was incongruously high-class.

Having emptied half of his straight glass, he tilted his head.

“By the way, isn’t it suspicious?”

“What is.”

“The fact that he hid himself so thoroughly and didn’t socialize with anyone.”

“……”

“He must have had some purpose for working at that bar.”

“What purpose.”

“Who knows.”

“Your nonsense has increased lately, hasn’t it?”

“Listen to me.”

The man turned his stool toward Joshua.

“The goals of the people working at that bar are obvious, aren’t they? They use their looks to hook a wealthy sponsor. And you, Mr. Joshua, would be the most fitting target for that purpose.”

As if telling him to ramble as he pleased, Joshua half-listened to the man’s story while folding a napkin provided on the counter.

“Yet, even though you showed interest and left your number, he didn’t contact you. Far from contacting you, he vanished. Like he was a scent, not a flower.”

“Are you writing poetry these days? What is your point?”

“The point is that despite working in a bar like stolen contentthat with those looks, his goal wasn’t [visit our site]to Read on Read BL Novelsfind a sponsor. Furthermore, he never mentioned anything about his personal life to anyone. Something is not ordinary.”

Folding the triangle-shaped napkin in half again, Joshua muttered.

“He mentioned the hourly wage. That the bar paid more.”

A membership bar for the upper class.

Whether man or woman, Alpha or Omega, it was a place that hired people with decent looks in exchange for generous pay.

“If that’s the case, then all the more reason why you, Mr. Joshua—”

“He probably just didn’t want to get money in that manner.”

Stopping his hands for a moment, Joshua swallowed several gulps of the strong liquor down his esophagus.

Recalling Rian’s blue eyes as he had pushed against his chest, he added.

“There are people like that in this world.”