THE COMPLIANT

Could you find a way to let me down slowly?
A little sympathy, I hope you can show me
If you wanna go then I'll be so lonely
If you're leavin', baby, let me down slowly

***

CW: S*xual Assault

CHAPTER XXXIX

*****

“WHY HAVE YOU locked yourself up in here all day?” I asked as I let myself into Pablo's room, using my hand to fan away the smoke from his cigarette as the darkness enclosed us once I closed the door behind me.

Even though I couldn't see him, I knew he was watching me as I made my way across his room to open his blinds and the window. It was only after he noticed the expectant look on my face that he answered my question.

“I didn't want to smoke around Mateo.”

“So, you're trying to tell me that you've spent the whole day in here smoking?” I asked, giving him an incredulous look that let him know I knew he was lying.

He rolled his eyes at me but didn't bother to try and defend himself. Either because he was too tired to or because he felt there was no point. Instead, he patted the space beside him on the sofa, asking me to sit with him. Deciding not to argue, I made my way over to him, delicately holding the skirt of my dress so it didn't drag against the floor before I lowered myself down on the sofa beside him.

Immediately, he wrapped his arms around me in a tight hug, pressing his cheek to mine like the way we did when we were younger. Something that Mateo did as well which I hadn't realised he had learnt from me until now. He really did act exactly like me sometimes.

“You know you're my little sister, right?” he said, his voice quiet and croaky since I suspected he hadn't been using it much before I came. Who would he be talking to alone in his own room? “If you come back with even the smallest scratch on your body, I'll kill him.”

“Nothing will happen,” I said partly to comfort him but also for Daniel's own sake. It was clear who Pablo was referring to. I took the cigarette out of his mouth and put it out in the ashtray beside him before turning to him with a frown. “You need to stop worrying.”

He said nothing but I could feel his eyes on me, scrutinising every inch of my face before he let out a sigh. “Why do you even want to go and watch him kill that many people in the first place?” he asked, sounding like he was tired of fighting. I couldn't pretend that I didn't know how that feeling was like.

He asked a good question that I wasn't entirely sure how to answer. Why did I want to go to this ball with Daniel and watch these people die? Well, one answer was because I felt like Daniel was fighting a battle for me and a part of me didn't want to leave him alone to do that.

But the truth had been something much more sinister. The real reason I wanted to go along with Daniel this night was because I was power-hungry and my lust for blood was reaching an all time high. I didn't find joy in killing people, but there was something particularly satisfying about hurting those who had hurt you. I wanted to go because I wanted to look the Ivanovs in the eye when they took their dying breath so they'd realise that I wasn't called Venom for no reason and that they had chosen to mess with the wrong bitch. I wanted to rub in their faces that the same woman that had killed the main member of their family was now there to laugh in their faces before killing them too.

Pablo looked to me after my long silence, but I didn't respond because I knew that my silence told him everything I needed to say.

“You need to get a life away from Daniel,” he said, getting up out of his seat and heading to the door. “Your personalities are merging and it's scary.” I followed him out the door, not wanting to be alone in the dark room as it felt like the monster inside me would manifest into some physical entity and attack me. I followed behind Pablo into the hallway where he stood waiting for me to exit so he could close the door behind me. He let his eyes roam up and down my attire before speaking again. “Don't get blood on your dress. I like it.”

Pablo walked the other way without wishing me a goodbye, briefly looking into Mateo's room to check if he was still asleep most likely before making his way down the back stairs that led to the kitchen. I walked the opposite way, making my way down the main staircase that overlooked the sitting room, careful not to step on my dress. Immediately as I came down, Daniel who was standing by the door speaking to a guard, turned to look at me, his eyes slightly widening in surprise as cliche as it sounded.

Yeah, self-awareness was not lacked.

I hadn't intended to look so extravagant and fancy for the ball since I knew it was only going to end messy, but once I started putting my outfit together, I couldn't physically stop until I was satisfied. No matter how hard I tried, I didn't think it was possibly for me to ever wear something that I was completely confident in.

The dress had been one that Daniel had got for me last minute and while, at first, when I looked at it, I wasn't the biggest fan, once I saw it on my body, I fell in love. It was a simple black dress that looked deep blue under the right lighting. It had a sweetheart neckline with thin straps that rested off my shoulders. Just under my breasts was a belt of diamonds designed into intricate little flowers before the soft material flared out past my ankles, leaving a modest slit along my right thigh.

To match the elegant style, I had my hair stretched out and done up into an elegant bun with wisps of carefully curled hair framing my face and coming out from my bun as well as a black clutch with silver designs and engravings and black pumps with a diamond latch around my ankle.

Once I had reached Daniel, he immediately wrapped his arm around my waist, pulling me into his side. “Do you know how fucking gorgeous you look?” he said into my ear in a low voice, making me bite me lip and squeeze my thighs together to hold myself back.

“Thank you,” I responded, not wanting to stand there for any longer under his intense gaze so I wouldn't just take off my panties and ask him to rail me. “You don't look too bad yourself,” I commented as I gestured to him in his suit. He always looked good in a suit so where was the surprise?

He only chuckled and escorted me out of the house, making sure to hold the door open for me to get into the car before we finally drove off.

***

Upon arriving at the venue, I couldn't help but be left in awe at how extravagant it was and we hadn't even gone in it. A minute had passed beteeen us until Daniel finally stepped out of the car, jogged over to my side and held the door open for me to come out. As I did, I couldn't help but try to read him and figure out how he was feeling, yet he kept his face blank and his gaze unwavering.

He slammed the door shut and made to walk towards the building, but then I caught his hand, making him turn back to me confused.

“How do you feel?” I asked, looking straight into his eyes so he couldn't lie to me.

To my surprise, he only let an easy-going smile slip onto his face as he pulled me in closer and kissed my lips. “I feel fine.”

“You're not scared? Nervous? Nothing?” I continued to prompt, but Daniel only watched me silently until I was done, making me realise that he must've been in that state of mind again. The one where he gave a fuck about nothing except for eliminating the people he had a target on. I could see that it was almost like a trance for him.

“Are you done?” he asked sarcastically, his arms wrapping tightly around my waist as he pressed his forehead to mine. I was surprised to see that he was still affectionate towards me despite his words and tone of voice, but I appreciated it.

“I just wanted to reassure you,” I said quietly, but he only smiled again; this time genuinely.

“I'm reassured,” he said with conviction as he began pulling me towards the large building with beautiful golden lights and a dome-shaped rooftop. “You're here.”

I almost missed the last bit of what he said, but thankfully it had someone made its way into my ear, making my entire body tingle. The guard at the gate took both our names which had surprisingly been on the invite list. Obviously, I knew mine was only on it because of Daniel, but I didn't realise that Daniel got invited to these type of things because I had never seen him go. Clearly, he did get invited, he just always rejected the offer which actually made sense for him.

After searching us for any weapons and coming up empty, the guard finally let us go through and beckoned the next couple over to him. As we stepped in through the foyer and past the cloakroom, bright majestic colours like gold and creamy white found my gaze, having me stare in awe until we had finally reached the balcony overlooking the ballroom.

From the height, I could see all the dressed up socialites of America and unfortunately, I could already smell their snob like the rank smell of fresh sewage. I had every intention to stay near Daniel the whole night because I wasn't about to be left alone at the mercy of their judgemental gazes to be poked at and asked humiliating questions about how it felt like to be poor. I had no longer been poor, but it was like they could smell people who weren't rich or who didn't come from old money from a mile away. That's why I chose to stand near Daniel, because he ticked both of those boxes.

It became apparent that he had no intentions of following through with my plan the second he had dropped his hand from mine. As I looked at him, confusion clear on my face, I couldn't help but become anxious over what was going to happen as he kept a blank face and calmly ignored me.

“Daniel—”

“Don't touch me,” he said quietly, stopping me from touching him like I had intended to. “Follow me,” he said again, “but don't make it obvious.” Then he began walking as if to make his way down the stairs but made an abrupt stop and stepped into the room that remained on the side of the wall, proving to be the staff bathroom.

As soon as I stepped in after him, he locked the door behind me and before I could understand what was happening, he kissed me. Lost in my confusion of feeling both rejected and wanted, I stood still allowing him to kiss me for a moment before suddenly pushing him off me and wiping my lips.

“What's wrong with you?”

“Don't hate me,“ he said, grabbing my face and forcing me to look up into his brown eyes which finally seemed to look lighter as he stared down at me with genuine guilt. “Promise me you won't hate me.”

“I pro—” I began to say mindlessly like I always did whenever he asked me of something before finally letting my senses kick in for the first time. I stepped away from him, into the counter and watched him with suspicion due to his odd behaviour. “What should I not hate you for?” I finally asked, making Daniel shake his head and reach out for me again, but I only pulled myself out of his grip and glared at him.

A part of me felt bad because I could honestly see just how tormented he was on the inside but another part of me didn't care because I knew that if whatever he was going to tell me had this kind of effect on him, it was going to wreck absolute havoc on me.

It seemed though like I was punishing him for something he hadn't yet done. Unless he had done it and only decided to come clean now. “Did you cheat?” I suddenly accused, but he only shook his head, his face contorting in disgust at the idea. “Then what did you do?”

“I'm going to cheat.” My eyes widened at his words, my whole body freezing as I stared at him, unsure of how I was supposed to respond to that. That he was going to cheat on me. “She's here and I can't...”

“You can't what?” I demanded, glaring at him.

“I can't pass up the opportunity.” By now my heart seemed to have shattered in my chest but then he finally got a grip of himself, shook his head and quickly rushed to grab me. “I didn't mean it like that,” he quickly backtracked, the guilt on his face only amplifying once je noticed the tears gathering in my eyes. “Fuck, don't cry, Araceli. I mean, I want to use her. I know she works closely with the Costillo's so I want to see if I could persuade her to... you know,” he said, unable to finish what he was saying as I assumed it disgusted himself as much as it did me.

I couldn't help but stare at him, significantly relieved that he didn't intend to cheat because he wanted to be with another woman. Seemingly, this wasn't even cheating either if I was giving him my blessing, but that was when the problem arose. I didn't want to give him my blessing, but it wasn't like I had a choice. At the end of the day, he was going to do what he felt he needed to irregardless of my feelings about it.

I pulled away from him and sat on the sofa in the bathroom, finally letting the tears fall freely from my eyes. “Why do you keep doing this to me?” I asked, unable to keep my voice steady no matter how hard I tried to. “Every time things are going well, there's always another woman. Some other woman,” I stressed, my words almost hitching in my throat with my sadness. “Why do you keep hurting me like this?”

“Araceli, understand me please,” he begged desperately, but dared not to approach me. “I found out we have a snitch so I and Pablo have been planning this for a long time,” he explained. “I didn't know she would be here. If I did, I would've made Pablo come.”

I could only stare at him in shock and all the rage I was desperately trying to repress. How was I only now finding out that we had a snitch? Why was I always the last person to know things even when it had something to do with me?

“Say something,” he said at my silence, his voice uncharacteristically shaky. “Please.”

“Just go,” I said, waving a dismissive hand. “Leave me alone.”

“Lee—”

“Don't call me that.”

“Ara—”

“I said go, Daniel,” I hissed, just wanting him gone so I could cry in peace. “I'm letting you be with your bitch, so go be with her.”

“You know it's not like that,” he said, but I only shook my head from side to side, glaring angrily at him.

“No, I don't,” I cried, shooting out of my seat as I glared at him. “I really don't! I don't know half of what you know and you won't tell me even when I ask!” I exclaimed, unable to hold it in me anymore. Tears of frustration slid down my face as I tried to compose myself but the harder I tried, the more they kept coming. “You want me to stand at the side and watch you laugh and flirt with some other woman and okay, yeah, I get why you're doing it but don't you think I've had enough of seeing you with other women and acting like I don't exist?” I asked, digging my finger into his chest as I hiccuped over my own tears. “Don't you think I'm tired of that shit by now? I'm not trying to be ungrateful; I know this is hard for you too but maybe if it had occurred to you to tell me that we had a snitch, I'd be at home with my son instead of standing on the sidelines watching you flirt with someone else.” By the time I had finished giving out to him, I had lost all of my energy, letting the sadness completely take me over as I allowed him to pull me into his chest despite my protests. “Do you understand where I'm coming from?” I aske quietly.

“I... do,” he hesitated before nodding his head with conviction. “I understand.”

“Good,” I said, nodding my head before pulling away from him and wiping the tears from my cheeks. “So go out there and do whatever it is you've convinced yourself you need to do but have it in the back of your head that you're hurting me in the process.”

“Forgive me, amor,” he said, resting his head on my forehead but I only shook my head and pulled away, ignoring the hurt expression on his face. He didn't get to be hurt by my rejection when all I had ever been was rejected and belittled by him.

“Don't ask for my forgiveness when you're only going to hurt me again after I do,” I said, unable to look him in the eyes. My gaze remained on his chest. At this point I had realised that I wasn't only angry at him, but I was angry at myself too. “In fact, don't ever ask for my forgiveness again because you know I'm going to forgive you either way. I always fucking do for some stupid fucking reason.” I shook my head and quietly stewed in my own self-hatred right beside him. “I'm so fucking stupid for falling in love with you. Don't act like I'm not because I can read you like a book and I know you agree with me,” I hissed at him before setting back down on the chair I had been on and burying my face in my hands. “I'm so tired of this shit. I don't know how much more I can take.”

“Listen to me, amor,” Daniel said, crouching in front of me and taking my hand in his, making me let out a sob as I tried to pull away.

“Dani—”

“No, listen,” he cut me off, making me finally comply once I had noticed the look of desperation on his face. He really didn't want to lose me, huh? “I just want you to be safe,” he explained, taking my face in his hands and wiping away all of the tears I had missed. “Understand that I'll do anything to keep you safe. I'd go to the end of the earth for you. This; all that I'm doing now is for you, for us, I swear. So we can live together, just you and me and our son, you understand?” he asked yet I couldn't bring myself to answer. “It'll only be us three once our enemies are gone, and we'll be happy. Okay?”

The tears that he had just wiped away were quickly replaced, but I couldn't fight him. I could never fight him, so I nodded my head and despite my obvious heartache, I agreed. “Okay.”

“Thank you,” he said, sounding genuinely relieved. “I love you.”

“I wish I could believe you,” I blurted out before I could stop myself, making Daniel look at me with the most hurt expression I had ever seen on him. My heart began to beat harder in my chest as I stared into his eyes, realising that his eyes were bloodshot red and he was just barely keeping back tears himself.

“I do love you, Araceli,” he insisted, but I couldn't fight him, so I just nodded.

“Okay.”

***

It took me a while to fully compose myself after he left, but once I did, I decided that there was no point staying cooped up in the same place for the entirety of the night. I knew I most certainly was not going to enjoy myself with Daniel off frolicking with someone else, but I figured that there was really no true harm in trying.

Throughout the night, I tried to engage my mind in other affairs like actually talking to people. Of course, I avoided the ones the were very obviously snobby like the plague but the people who seemed to come from something called "new money" were nice enough. They were very interested in hearing about my fashion "brand" and I had even given out a few of my business cards and email address when some women I had spoken to actually recognised myself and my work.

Despite feeling sad about how the night had began, I couldn't help but feel somewhat better; at least in regards to my career. Money seemed to be almost as effective as therapy was.

A couple hours had ticked by and not being able to bare seeing Daniel and his pretend mistress almost everywhere I went, I decided to resign myself to only the upper balcony where only a few rich snobs also lingered. Fortunately, they shared my same sentiment and stayed as far away from me as I had wanted them to.

From the high ground, I freely looked over everyone present, letting my eyes follow Daniel and his concubine as they talked and laughed like they hadn't a care in the world. I wondered if she felt genuinely enamoured by him even though he was lying to her. I wondered how she would feel once she found out that this entire thing had been a lie.

Despite my obvious dislike for the woman, I couldn't help the part in my heart that felt pity. I also couldn't help but consider that perhaps the way Daniel was playing this woman could've been the way he had been playing me this whole entire time and I hadn't known any better. He had made me feel like I was special, gifted me so many highly valuable things yet everything could've been a bitter joke to him. And I would never know any better.

I gulped down the last of my champagne, just wanting the night to end so I could run back home and hug Mateo. It was about my third glass, but it must've been very weak because I still felt completely alert. As a matter of fact, the only thing the champagne had seemed to do was make it easier for me to ignore the intense stares I received from the horny men that were there. Only problem was that it wasn't enough to help me ignore Daniel's stare.

As soon as his eyes found my figure, standing on the balcony overlooking him, he hadn't removed his gaze until the woman he was escorting took notice of me too. He had looked away quickly, but she didn't. Her burning glare matched mine as a smirk slowly crept across her face. Not wanting to look at her anymore, I turned around and made my way into the powder room. At least, that was what I thought they called it.

I took a seat on the sofa, allowing myself to calm the rage that was just beginning to boil over the edge when the door had creaked open. Looking up to see who it was, I couldn't help the way my heart dropped in my chest as the familiar face finally registered in my head.

“Lola,” I muttered under my breath, almost unable to believe that it was actually her I was looking at. She looked the same, yet so different at the same time.

Her hair was no longer short and was now to her shoulders which was still so different to how long it used to be. On top of that, she looked aged as well. Not old per se, but she looked the same way twwenty-something-year-olds looked after a long life of immense suffering and pain.

“Ara,” she smiled almost sweetly as she made her way further into the room. For a second, I briefly wondered if she had changed due to her calm nature now, but something within me was telling me not to trust her so I didn't. “It's been a long time. I was just thinking that we could catch up?”

“I actually need to go,” I said, getting up and making my way towards the door until her next words halted me in my tracks.

“And your son must be at home, I suppose,” she said, making me turn back to glare at her in suspicion. How had she been keeping all these tabs on my life to know I gave birth to a boy? “You really shouldn't leave him alone.”

“He's not alone,” I warned her, but left out information about who exactly he was with. That was none of her fucking business anyway.

“Right,” she said, making my suspicion of her only heighten. I wasn't sure what her plan seemed to be here, but I wasn't taking any risks. It was clear to see that there had been very little change in Lola since she had left and I didn't care very much to find out just how much about her had actually stayed the same.

“I need to go,” I said, making my way over to the door and twisting the handle only to see that it had been locked. I quickly turned back around to her, the rage I had felt earlier now returning with vim as I glared at her. “What the fuck, you psycho bitch. Where's the key?” I demanded, making her feign offense.

“Such rude words coming from you,” she said in a chastising tone despite the amusement obvious on her face as she dangled the key from her finger. “All I want is to talk to you.”

“And all I want is to fucking leave,” I hissed, marching up to her and trying to snatch the key from her hands but she only dodged me, taking a step back from me as she buried the key within her palm.

“But I'm not don't talking to you,” she said with a pout that only made me want to hit her more.

“I'm done listening so anytime today would be nice,” I said angrily, gesturing towards the door to which she just chuckled at me.

Without much more argument from her, she tossed the key at my feet, making me wonder if this was just another one of her tricks. As I bent down to pick up the key, careful not to take my eyes off her, she spoke.

“I just want to let you know one thing, Ara.”

“Oh yeah?” I said sarcastically as I made my way back towards the door. “And what's that?”

“Everyone around you is in grave danger and it's all your fault,” she said, making me freeze for a second before I could insert the key and look at her.

“What?”

She smirked and walked up to me until she was right up in my face, only inches away from me. “The only one I have an issue with is you,” she declared as if I didn't already fucking know that, but then she continued. “The only one that all of the people that are after you have an issue with is you; and you alone. Daniel, Mateo, Pablo, even Anna are all in so much danger yet they're completely innocent because of you. The longer you involve them in this, the more danger you're putting them in.”

Before I could even compose myself, I had sent my fist into her face as hard as I possibly could with anger. “So it was you this whole time?” I asked with barely contained fury.

“You're particularly violent this evening,” she chuckled as she finally raised herself up, revealing the stark contrast between the blood pouring out of her nose and her pale porcelain skin.

Before I could stop myself again, I had hit her a second time  taking the opportunity to drive my knee up into her face as she doubled over in pain and then again into her stomach.

“Leave me alone!” I yelled, brutally beating her as she barely defended herself. “Leave my family alone! What have I ever done to you, you psychotic bitch?”

That had seemed to be the thing that made her lose her cool because instantly, she had pushed me with so much strength, I went flying against the wall.

“Don't ever ask me that again, you homewreckig bitch. You ruined my life!” she screamed, grabbing me in my disoriented state and slamming me against the floor. Thankfully, I had been able to save my head from the impact but she was soon on top of me, beating me as hard as she could. “You killed Carlos! You killed my baby! You made me lose everything!”

“I didn't—”

“Shut up,” she hissed, cutting me off from defending myself as she got up and unlocked the door. Before my eyes, she allowed two large men into the room, making me scooch as far away as I could from them. I didn't like the way they glared at me. “I'm tired of waiting for the Costillo's,” Lola declared, making me question how she knew that name. “Don't let her leave. The bitch is dying tonight.”

She gave me a twisted smile that almost looked real, uncaring of the bruises and blood all over her face and body before she made her way out the door, leaving me alone with the two men.

As soon as she had left, I took my opportunity and tried to walk out after her, but one of the guards grabbed my waist before I could and threw me hard against the sofa. The other guard laughed as he turned to his companion.

“Hey, Tonio,” he said, referring to the large blond man that had thrown me like I was a sack of potatoes instead of an actual human being. “You think her tits are real?”

I wasn't sure if I was allowed to express horror and disgust in front these two or if that would only aggravate them, but deep down those were the exact emotions I felt as I stared at them blankly.

“I don't think they are, look at the way they're shaped,” Tonio commented, not bothering to hide the way he was outright staring at my chest, making me try to inconspicuously cover them. “Too good to be true.”

“Go find out,” his friend encouraged, making me sit up and cover myself in fear. “I'm sure she won't mind.”

“Don't come anywhere near me or else I'll gut the both of you,” I threatened, unable to hide the disgust any longer.

The two men just laughed as Tonio approached me, making me get up and try and make another beeline for the door. This time, it was the unnamed man that caught me and pushed me roughly into Tonio's chest, making me let out a cry of horror as I watched him slam the door shut.

Tonio's grip on my arm was hard and left red marks on my skin, but it soon ended once he forced me to lie on the floor, flat on my back. He pressed but his knees on my hands, pinning them down and making me let out a cry of pain. Meanwhile, his friend sought the opportunity to feel up my chest until he had declared that they were, in fact real.

By then, I had easily slipped out of the torture as they became more aggressive, squeezing my eyes shut as my head immediately filled with memories of being trafficked again. Desperately not wanting to recall that bad memories, I kicked my legs out wildly in an attempt to escape, not caring how Tonio was still kneeling on my hands.

Fortunately, in my daze I had accidently kicked his friend between his legs, making Tonio get up from my hands briefly to slap me. I only appreciated the pain as it had helped take my mind off the thoughts racing through my head before I grabbed my shoe from my feet and stabbed the heel as hard as I could into one of their shoulders. I wasn't sure who I was attacking. I wasn't even sure where I was anymore. I just blindly hit them, not stopping until I had picked up the shaded iron lamp on the coffee table and beat them several times over the head as hard as I could.

It was only after the man that I was violently beating stopped groaning and succumbed to his injuries that I had woken up from my violence induced stupor and finally taken in what I had down. Tonio was lying down in front of me, his face bloodied and beaten as he struggled to breathe out of his nose and his other friend was also lying beside him, knocked out with a gaping hole in his shoulders and many other holes on his body.

I stood up, slowly looking into the mirror only to see that I looked untouched. I had bruises all over my arms and my chest for reasons which weren't lost on me, but my body looked completely free of all blood despite how I had brutally between the two men. I looked back again at my crime before abandoning my shoes and making my way out the room before Lola could get back.

I didn't want to risk anything anymore. All I wanted to do was go home and Daniel was the only one who could take me there. I couldn't take any of this anymore. All I wanted was to die.

*****

I've had it up to here with this fucking chapter. On top of the beginning not reaching my expectations, the whole chapter had the absolute audacity to develop a formatting error with the quotations marks reversed. If you find any mistakes with quotation marks, lemme know. If you find any other mistakes, ignore it. I literally don't care.

Anyway, how do you feel about the chapter? Idk why but I love the part where Ara calls the girl a bitch, mistress and concubine and then goes on to refer to Daniel as an escort (prostitute). God bless that girl.

Anyway, I had a Spanish grammar question but I'm too lazy to ask it so I'll just make the mistake and let the Latinas correct me when I post lmao I'm sorry.

And finally, before I leave, I'm getting word that yall think the last chapter I posted is the final chapter??? And like???

I don't know if its funny or offensive iwl. No, that is not the last chapter, neither is this chapter or like 10-20 of the coming chapters the last chapter of this book. This book isn't ending any time soon tf who do you think I am? Like I just can't wrap my head around that, I can't.

Anyways, I haven't been posting much lately because i had to do part of my exams and my birthday was also like two weeks ago so I'd like birthday wishes k thx bye

Oh and ps the title is compliant NOT complaint.