I felt like I was in an episode of the The Office. I wanted to turn my head and look straight into a camera with an exaggerated :O face except there was no camera and I was not, in fact, in an episode of The Office. However, I did feel as though there should have been some dramatic orchestra music in the background like there is in reality shows when something exciting happens. Or maybe a camera zooming in to my face really fast like in those teenage comedy movies where the main protagonist goes to school and realizes the embarrassing video of them doing whatever embarrassing thing has gone viral. 

It was a pretty riveting moment to find out that one of your best friends is related to a famous criminal.

The only thing I could utter through my shock was, "Clancy? Aunt? You? Whaa-"

Wolfe smirked. "You look like you're waiting for someone to put their dick into your mouth."

"-aat?"

He took the files from me and pulled out Clancy's medical history. "But here is what I don't understand." Wolfe said, all businesslike as if he had not just insulted me. "Under her family history, it's stated that Clancy Devans has no siblings. She was supposedly the only child."

Finally, I shut my mouth. Mostly because I was afraid a bug was going to fly in there. Trying to process everything, I glanced down at what Wolfe was pointing to. Printed in black ink, under her family history, was exactly what Wolfe said. Nothing. There was a little slash going through the line where the sibling names and ages were supposed to be listed. "That's right." I nodded. "Clancy doesn't have a sister. Or at least, she never mentioned one."

"Here's the thing though," Wolfe said. "Last week when we came to the shop, I asked Jasper to get me something of this Clancy woman so we could run a DNA test for confirmation. He swiped a coffee cup she drank out of. And guess what?" He slid me an opened letter. I pulled it out and read it carefully, still not believing it fully. "The tests came back positive. We're related by blood."

"But Clancy has no sister, Wolfe."

"Maybe they're estranged?"

"I don't know." I stared at the DNA results. "But even so, what brought this on? Is that why you came to New York? To find your family?"

"It was part of the reason." Wolfe said. "In criminal cases as mine would be if I went on trial, I would be given no less than the death penalty. That much I know. But the only witnesses that could testify against me is your parents, you, and my family. And the federal government would not be so honest as to take the testimonies for truth- they would plant the evidence needed for my execution. For any of my kin still living, they would be subpoenaed and forcibly held in court for a false testimony that would grant me a death sentence, as witnesses who are family members are usually valued above all else."

"I don't understand. Even if they did find out that Clancy Devans was your only family member still living, she wouldn't testify against you. They could force her all they want, but I know Clancy. She wouldn't have wanted this for you."

"I'm still trying to figure it out. Thanks for listening, Florence. Can you do me a favour?" Wolfe asked.

"Absolutely not."

"Can you not mention this to anyone?" Wolfe asked without acknowledging my blatant refusal. "I know you have a problem with keeping your mouth shut, but I'm asking you on this. Unless you'd like a repeat performance of one certain night, I think you have enough motivation to keep quiet. Just this once, please."

"You do realize that I'm just going to repeat everything you've ever said and done to the cops as soon as I get the chance, right? There is no-" I poked my chest and then poked his to emphasize. "-partnership here. Do you realize how much trouble you're putting my family and me into? Boy, you've got a bounty on the back of your head. I'd like to avoid a life sentence in prison, thank you very much. Although if they allowed me one Twizzler a day, I might reconsider the offer."

"Florence, you will not  tell."

"Will."

"You absolutely won't." First the request, now the threats. I was a tough cookie, but he was a tougher oven. I was about to be obliterated like salmonella bacteria from the raw eggs in the cookie dough. The author literally needs to shut the hell her mouth. He bent down and tapped the tip of my nose, glaring. "If you breath a word of this to anyone, I will personally be on hand to make sure you suffer for it. Is that clear?"

"No." I swatted his hands away, annoyed. How could I not tell my best friend that she was the aunt of one of the most wanted crime lords in the country? "Wolfe, you can't expect me to keep your secrets when they hold such a liability. When they find you, I bet they'll just tack on one more year in prison for me for every piece of information I withheld from them-"

"Please?"

"Okay. Alright. Fine." I groaned. "I won't tell anyone."

"Not even this Clancy Devans, okay?"

"Ugh."

"Florence, promise me."

He stuck out his pinky finger. With a roll of my eyes, I hooked my own pinky through his and shook on it. "I promise, Wolfe." I said. "Now can you please be so kind and take me back to the surface of the Earth?"

Wolfe didn't say anything for whatever reason so I thought this would be the perfect time to gently head butt him in the forehead with my own. 

Wolfe gave me an annoyed glance and moved away, shoving the folders back into the secret compartment of the giant black marble desk. He also locked it and pocketed the key while I waited patiently by the door for him to finally stop stalling around and take me back to the Espresso House. It had been more than thirty minutes, I was sure of it now. I was so late. I don't think Wolfe really understood the concept of a job. Or the fact that people still earned money the normal way and not from, you know, massive drug smuggles. Because let's be honest, not everyone can be a drug dealer. I know I couldn't. I could be a Twizzler seller, though.

"Make like a baby and head out." I unlocked the door and pushed it open, inching back out to the tunnels. I couldn't go anywhere until he did. As much as I disliked the company of Wolfe Sterling, it was better than trying to find my way back out on my own. Man, I should have kept a Twizzler and broken off little pieces to put on the ground like a breadcrumb trail as we walked. 

Wolfe grinned and thankfully headed towards me. Before we left, he shut off the lights and pushed in a code from the security system screen, which locked the door with a gentle beep-beep. We began retracing the steps back through the tunnels. This time, I made sure to notice where we were going. Around every corner or near it, there was a little security camera attached near the top of the ceiling that I hadn't noticed before.

I was walking a few steps behind Wolfe, clutching the back of his jacket in a fist when suddenly, Wolfe whirled around. He did it really quick too, so I hadn't realized it until his face was suddenly in front of my own. Out of pure instinct, I gave a little scream and may have jabbed his chest with some of my fingers as a defense tactic. His chest was really hard. It felt weird. 

"Have you noticed that my nose is completely at level with your nipples-" I started to say without thinking until I noticed Wolfe staring at me with a strange expression. A really intense look, kind of. Not exactly angry but not really...happy either. Not that he could ever really show happiness. It just wasn't in him.

Without breaking eye contact, Wolfe raised one hand and let his fingers brush across my collarbone. I, of course, was about to panic. Being the recipient of a Wolfe Sterling glare wasn't exactly an honor, not when he was looking at me like that. We were about five feet underground and completely alone and there was nothing but him and I and the darkness all around us. I opened my mouth to say something but the words wouldn't come out. They were stuck in my throat just like I was stuck against the wall (when did that happen?) with Wolfe's body blocking all possible exits. He was really warm but his fingers were cold. 

I saw his face moving closer, his lips inching towards mine. Wolfe didn't, like, attack my face like Ade had done. He came in super slow. Or maybe I was imagining it to be in slow motion because I was hyper aware of everything. It was like the very climactic moment in an action movie, where something very surprising happens to the main character, like taking a bullet, and the visual effects team slow the moment down to let the- oh, whatever. 

Wolfe Sterling was about to kiss me and I could not let that happen.

Why, you ask? Why would I not want to make out with the single most dangerous man in the country? Even though he's hotter than freshly brewed coffee?

The answer is simple.

I was a good girl.

Ever since Wolfe made that mysterious offer to me in the car ride back home from Prospect Heights, I mulled over my choices. My options. My opinion of who I was. I had time to think very carefully over the situation and I came to the conclusion that Wolfe was wrong. I didn't want the exciting life, I was content with my own average one. My home was Brooklyn, New York. What more could I need? Wolfe was completely, totally, and utterly mistaken. I was the blandest good girl in every sense of the word. And good girls do not make out with bad criminals.

Plus, I wasn't ready to accept my feelings towards Wolfe. We've had a lot of encounters. The late night at the Espresso House which still seemed like nothing more than a dream, his arcane words during the drive back home from Prospect Heights, the suffocating tension we shared in the tunnels, and now this. The moment of unforgiving, cold, hard, truth. I wasn't ready to face it. Or accept it. My feelings towards Wolfe, I mean. I wanted to keep the struggle between right and wrong where it belonged (hey, that rhymed). The mere fact that there were a fight for feelings, good or bad, in the first place was bad. 

I was afraid of facing whatever truth that lied in his waiting lips. Love was so not the word that would ever describe the relationship we shared. Love. As if he knew what that was. I wasn't going to let myself fall for a criminal, least of all Wolfe Sterling. No, that can't happen. I wouldn't let it. I wasn't going to end up with Ade but I wasn't going to turn to Wolfe, either. They were both wrong for me. I wanted a nice, unproblematic husband. Not a college cheeseball and not a dangerous mafia boss. I made this mistake of kissing one wrong boy, look where that got me. I wasn't going to repeat my mistakes. 

He was bad. So, so bad.

I knew that. Everyone knew that. Wolfe Sterling was a bad person. He wasn't outright cruel to me, maybe, but that doesn't mean he wasn't outright cruel to others. Just because I was an exception didn't make it right for him to hurt others, it didn't justify his actions. Wolfe didn't make mistakes, he wasn't delirious or stupid enough to act upon things he wasn't sure of. If killing came as easy to him as breathing was to others, then why did he get to be considered a human? Humans don't kill other humans. Not the good ones, at least. Lupus non mordet lupum. A wolf does not bite a wolf. That's because they kill.

I wanted nothing to do with that. With him.

So, it was with a completely clear conscience and set courage that before his lips touched mine that I smacked him in the face with my purse.