''Hmph.''

Lilac hoisted her bosom and eyed her visitor with curiosity. Leaning back in her luxurious hand-beaten leather chair, she raised one hand in the air to signal for him to shut up. He stopped talking immediately and cleared his throat in an attempt to also rid himself of his nerves.

She studied the boy, taking in his rapidly eroding cockiness. He shifted in his boots, disconcerted by her gaze and even more so by the treatment she seemed to give her chest when she was deep in thought. He remembered seeing his mother do the same, though he had always put that down to the enormous size of her assets.

He was quickly snapped out of his reverie when Ms Delaney rose to her feet and bellowed, ''Right, boy! Get your coat on and come with me.''

She strode across the office with a sense of dreadful purpose, wagging her finger at him as she went. He felt he had no option but to follow her, despite knowing in the pit of his stomach that he would regret it.

Several moments later, they arrived outside another office within Dalle Ceneri HQ. This door was a little different from the others; it appeared to have been varnished with some kind of sparkly substance and a bright pink, phallic-shaped handle had replaced the standard issue steel that was bestowed upon the other doors. Lilac rapped her knuckles on the glittery wood.

''A-hellloooooooooo?''

With a deft kick, Lilac caused the door to swing open and marched inside the office, her boots click-clacking off the marble floor. ''Mr Silva, I've brought you a project. I'm afraid I don't have the time to take care of this one, but he's eager. I know how you like them...eager. Enjoy!''

The boy felt his heart plummet and his balls shrink as he watched Ms Delaney sashay from the room, twisting a lock of hair around her finger and whistling some unknown tune. Just before she crossed the doorway, she turned and put a hand on her hip.
''Now Raoul, either be gentle or feed him up first. I've had more hot meals in the last six hours than that cub has seen in his life. He's nothing but bone and gristle; my boys are made of sturdier stuff. Young boy, once Mr Silva has had his way, you will no longer recognise yourself. You will have become a man.''

As she disappeared from the doorframe, the boy detected movement behind him and turned around. Raoul sat perched on the edge of his desk watching him ever so closely, a wide grin crossing his face as he twisted a feather boa between his beefy man-fingers and let out a long, happy sigh.