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JACK'S POV
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Am I not allowed to breathe even for a day without any of these annoying humans disrupting my time with Annie?
I grasp Pattie's wrist and drag her out of the kitchen. I do not stop nor give in to her squeals as I continue pulling her along the hallway and into my office.

The door shuts with a bang before I toss her in front of me.
My hand suddenly curls around her fragile throat, but it regulates its strength so as not to choke her too much. I still need her to give birth to that baby.
"What the fuck, was, that, hm? Didn't I order you to behave around her?"

Her nails start scratching my hand, her face begins gaining a pink color as her veins surface from under her skin. All I can feel is pure disgust and loathing for her. If it wasn't for the baby's sake, I'd have ended her story months ago.

"Ja...Ja..." Pattie chokes. The fierceness is now gone, replaced by the pleading eyes that continue bulging as the assault continues.

'Stay calm. Annie may get mad seeing this.' Reason reminds me, having me let go of the evil woman standing in front of me.
She suddenly doubles over, coughing so loudly that it makes me feel as though I'd have killed her if I continued for another second.
What a drama queen.

"So you know why I keep you here?"

"To moni-" *cough* "-tor me."

I hear myself laugh before walking past her. "You think too highly of yourself. You're only here because of that baby."

Silence.
"Now what you've just done back there is foolish and dangerous. Or have I been too forgiving with you that you've forgotten what my wrath feels like, hm?"

I get to the desk and sweep a finger on its surface to check for any dirt. When it comes spotless, I slowly turn around while lowering my butt on it. "Tell me, do you know of a man called, Zack?"

Since the phone call, which was untraceable even with my advanced technology, I started piecing together all the scattered puzzle pieces. The person whom I had always felt like he was watching me for years, turned out to be my brother. A brother who is supposed to be dead.

"Who is Zack?"

I sigh, feeling horrible about myself for the things I might do next to the poor thing carrying my child.
"Don't you dare protect him, Pattie! Your family may suffer the consequences... Just because I cannot touch you, doesn't mean I don't have my ways."

Her head suddenly darts up, throwing her blonde hair all over her face.
She straightens in that pretty blue gown she must have worn to seduce me. The amount of cleavage left in the open is absurd. Who wears such a seductive gown to a normal dinner with enemies?

"M-my family?"

"Yes, dear Pattie. Oh, and let's not forget about a John studying in Australia I think. I hear he scores-"

"Please don't!"
For the first time ever, I see what is supposed to be fear all over her face.
Like a second skin, it glows to catch any eye looking without having to stare at all. "But Jack, I don't know Zack."
Her eyes seem to be telling the truth even though it's hard to believe given her Master's degree in lying which I no longer fall for.

"That day Annie was kidnapped, did you have anything to do with it?"

"What day?"

"Don't play with me!" I hiss frustrated.
She's about to start taking me on a spin marathon that will have me coming back to my initial questions over and over. "The timing was too perfect."

"I don't know what you're talking about," she cries, shedding tears that look a bit real. "Believe me Jack. I might hate her, but I would never do anything to harm her... I know how much you value her."

Listening to her words, I start to laugh, feeling an irritated kind of amusement. Oh, how pathetic she lies.
"You would never hurt her? Believe you? Are you the same dirty hoe who drugged and slept with me?"

"I...that, that was a mistake."

Hearing her make an excuse for her sexual assault instead of owning up to it makes my rage boil even further.
I had thought that I could let go of what she did, but after she claimed to be pregnant, her goal became clearer than daylight.
It had been a trap all along.

I get off the desk and walk towards her.
"Stay, please stay away from me," she whispers starting to back away from me.

"Stay away? You have done so many wrongs to me and the one person I care about. I've given you too many chances for you to reform. But fuck, you only keep growing worse."

Her back slams against the wall next to the door.
When she eyes the lock, I dash forward and smack my left hand on the wall next to her head.
Gawd!
I feel like squeezing that neck till her eyes roll back and her body drops lifeless.

In the underworld, there is no gender leniency. If such a mistake is made, the men always end up dead.

I grip her by her lower face.
"You, disgust me so much Pattie. Your existence makes me want to pull my eyes out so that I'll never have to look at your face ever again. Never forget that you exist, because that baby exists. If anything-"

"Jack?"
Annie calls opening the door.
Without any time to move away from Pattie, Annie's eyes land on us. They move from me and then onto Pattie.
Confusion and traces of anger pour into her brown eyes.
"Sorry."
She hurriedly shuts the door, her jealousy painted on her adorable face like a mask.

"Annie?"
I push Pattie to the side before I open the door and run after the only woman I want beside me even in our next lives.

She is running, running away from me as I chase after her.

Good gawd, who would have thought that at forty-two I'll be running after a twenty-three-year-old girl who had misunderstood what she had seen?
Never in my life, after building Shadows, did I ever think I'd ever fall in love.
In a dangerous game played by powerful figures, I had slowly entangled myself in romance without even planning it.

And here I am, a grown-ass man going after her.
But, she is the reason I still fight the WSG. The reason I get to feel warmth in my heart. The reason I have t turned into a ruthless killing machine after all the blood I have touched in my whole life.