"Well, are you really, really sure that you have done nothing?" Josh asked with a turn of his head as he looked at the fox, who seemed like the leader of this little get-together. "Because the intel we gathered proves otherwise."
"I have no idea what you are saying." The little fox stammered even though he was scared out of his wits. His eyes wandered twice towards the windows as if he were trying to ponder his chances of escaping if he were to jump out of the windows, which were close to null because Josh wouldn't let him leave. Nor would his two friends.
Just then, Xavier stepped forward and glanced at the fox with receding red hair. As soon as Xavier stepped forward, the man winced as if Xavier had personally insulted him. Or like stepped on his tail. Personally, he wanted it to be the second; pity they couldn't torment those whom they were interrogating unless they gave them a reason to.
"Good afternoon, Mister Heatherson." Xavier gave a nod of acknowledgement and went on, "I would like to ask you something." He walked forward and picked up a chair that had fallen on the floor and slowly, languidly, sat down on the chair. His pace was exactly like that of a black panther as he gracefully raised his eyes and looked at the men in front of him. He turned his hand slightly and pointed at the fallen chairs in front of him before saying. "Please." They all heard Mister Heatherson swallow audibly. "Sit. There is no need for you to stand straight. This is simply a little chat; there is no need to be so worried."
Oh, if only it were that easy. Josh chuckled as he sat down next to Xavier, just as Jeremy took his seat as well. If he were in Mr Heatherson's shoes, Josh would have found it just as unsettling as Mr Heatherson did. Xavier was not your usual shifter; he was heir of the Black Panther clan, and the powers that he had could make anyone tremble in their boots.
"I have done nothing, Mister Noctis. This is just a grave misu—"
The temperature in the room suddenly plunged, and Josh grimaced. Bad move, really mad move. Smoke, like inky tendrils, started to flicker across the walls, and Jeremy leaned back in his chair. Xavier's eyes flickered as he continued in that low, gravelly tone of his, "Do not lie to me, Mister Heatherson. You do know that I hate liars. Now we will do that from the start, okay? Did you or did you not submit a false report?"
Mister Heatherson didn't dare to make a peep.
Xavier tapped on the armrest and watched the man who was shifting on his chair as if he were sitting on pins and needles. He sighed and continued in that voice which violently demanded attention, "I learnt the art of interrogating criminals from my father. You might be unaware of this, but the last time I tried to interrogate someone, they broke their defences within minutes, and that man was a serial killer. I don't think you have the same guts as those men."
"I don't want to use those skills on you, because if I do, then the worst possible outcome is you turning crazy or, worse, dead," Xavier said, gesturing at Mister Heatherson. "But you are forcing me to make use of those skills. And you won't like that, believe me when I say that you won't."
Mister Heatherson spread his hands in front of him. "Mister Noctis, please try to listen. I know how it looks, but that is not the case; we had no choice—"
"Now, I think you very well had a choice," snapped Xavier. "You had the choice to accept that you have committed tax evasion, instead of setting the shop on fire and then blaming it on one of our kids."
"She is a criminal—"
"Who is admitted to our academy, which makes her our student, and you have used one of our students to avoid a penalty that is not acceptable." Xavier took in a breath, and Mister Heatherson stiffened as if he was worried that the man would jump at him the very next second. He then rasped, "Now this is what we are going to do. The first thing that you will do is go back to the council and pay the taxes that are due; there will be no insurance paid to you for the damages done to your building because self-destruction doesn't get covered in the insurance of the building."
The man gaped at Xavier as if he couldn't believe what Xavier was saying. Mr Heatherson exclaimed, "You cannot do that to me. If you don't pay me the insurance, how will I pay for the furnishing and everything else?"
"That is not our worry." Josh got to his feet and smirked at the man before hissing, "You'd better come up with a way to clear the rumours as well. While we will admit that our dear student is a bit troublesome, there is no need to ruin her name by making her the public enemy. Or else I won't mind sending your pretty little wives black veils."
That's enough.
He heard Xavier speak to him through the mind link.
Josh rolled his eyes and turned on his feet before walking out of the room; however, just as he took a step out of the room, something came hurtling behind him, and Josh reached over his head to catch the fabric.
"What?"
"Wear your shirt." Jeremy scoffed. "We are still teachers and have some standards, you know? You cannot just walk around naked in front of the students. The last time you stripped your shirt off, we received more than ten complaints."
Josh rolled his eyes at the man. Nonetheless, he pulled the shirt on because Leah was around, and he wanted to meet her while looking his best.
He naturally despised the little girl. She was half mad, a crazy fanatic, and wouldn't mind stabbing a fork in his chest. And she was his mate as well.