Although the day felt like it'd never end, it finally did. I thought back to the twenty minute shower I had taken which was well needed. It pained me to see the shallow pink water pool around my feet. The tiny drops of blood came from Tang and had dried on my shins, were now running down the drain. I remembered scrubbing my face roughly, as if I could wash my mistakes away. Conveniently, there was shampoo and conditioner as well as feminine products already arranged which I refused to allow myself overthink on. I didn't need to worry how many other females had been in here before me to where there's enough feminine products for me.

Jay had asked me to come down and talk to him after I got dressed but I didnt. The second I slipped on the tiny black tank and sweats that were laid out on the guest bed for me I practically passed out underneath the covers.

Well only for a couple minutes. Every hour or so, I'd have a horrifying nightmare that left me shaking, sweating, crying and gasping for air. They were all about the possibility of my family dying and Tang's death, which seemed to be branded into the front of my mind. I'd never experienced such violent nightmares before and I was afraid to sleep and afraid to stay awake... I just wanted the thoughts of everything bad happening around me to stop for a moment.

I decided to finally give up at 4:25 am on sleep, and head downstairs for a glass of water. I didn't know the way around Jay's ginormous place, and I figured it was none of my business. To the kitchen and back.

When I got on the first floor, I wandered around until I found the kitchen and living room, where Jay had fallen asleep on the sofa.

I turned towards the kitchen practically tip-toeing towards the glass and cups cabinet.

"Need something?" A tired, raspy voice from behind me question.

"Oh my god Jay!" I exclaimed terrified. "I thought you were asleep." I remembered I was mad at him, so I told myself to keep my conversation stoic.

"Please, call me Jhope." He corrected me "Now is there anything you'd like?"

I was confused as to why he was trying to act friendly but I knew I was thirsty so I complied. " Yeah just a glass of would would be fine I guess." I asked meekly.

He clapped his hands then repeated my request to the robot, Claudia I think her name was.

The robot handed me a glass and I reluctantly walked over to the sofa where Jhope was lying down, face-upwards and with his forearm over his eyes. He sat up when I approached him.

"Thanks for the water.... Jhope." I said before turning on my heels ready to return to the failing attempts at sleep.

Before I could walk away far enough I felt Jhope gently touch my wrist in attempt for me to stop. I turned around, resisting every urge to sharply recoil my arm. Just his touch sent goosebumps up and down my spine.

I hate him.

"Let's talk." He told me this time, instead of asking.

I sat down a comfortable distance away from him but it didn't matter, he got up just to sit directly on the cushion in front of me.

"What's there to talk about?" I didn't look him in his eyes. I was done searching for his soul.

He ran his fingers through his bed hair, which I peeped at the corner of my eye. Every angle of his sharp facial features caught a soft glow of light even when it was pretty dark.  I couldn't deny he was attractive but I now was able to distinguish how I felt. I didn't like him anymore romantically, I didn't feel butterflies... I felt dread.

"I'm sure you have many questions. One probably has to go along the lines of why you're here." He still looked me in the eyes although I was looking right past him, as if he wasn't even there.

I was curious about a lot of things yes, but I decided to keep quiet.

"Well I'll do all the talking, as long as you're listening I know you understand. First and foremost, I'm gonna give you some background:

I didn't grow up with much money, and when my father died, my mom's government checks just weren't enough for our family of three. So I decided to teach myself magic and I tried to start a dumb YouTube channel. I know, I should've gotten a job but I was sure I was make it big any day back then. Well surprisingly, I was really good at magic. And of course, magic didn't exist so basically I was good at deceiving people. When the wrong people took notice of that, I signed a contract under some guys that weren't technically legal in any way.

To keep it short, I'll jump to the part where I became a professional con artist, and also wound up in a gang. I didn't care though, because the cash flow was coming in like crazy! Some of our biggest accomplishments could get me years in prison, especially since I robbed a bank as a minor. Moving forward, I never felt guilty about anything that happened... until the members of the gang started getting greedy. They needed me, as I was the "mastermind" behind almost every single scheme that paid off our yacht gas. Yeah, I'm talking that rich. But back to the story. The members of the gang got desperate for more, to the point where all of us could loose everything due to how dangerous their request were.

So I started to want out, which was impossible because the only way out was through death. At the time, the only thing keeping me young and happy was dance, but everything boiled to a point that I couldn't handle anything anymore. I was simply a pawn, and my actions were unforgivable. My best friend and opponent, Jimin, was the son of a stockholder in a company we were planning on shutting down to take all of their profits. He was never supposed to get involved, however before the competition, Jimin had overheard some of my boys talking about the plan... and they gave me an ultimatum."

Jhope paused, he was starting to get sentimental at this point in the story. I finally looked him in the eye and wanted to offer him a tad of pity but I knew I couldn't. Murdering people to save your own ass is disgusting.

He took a deep breath and continued " So they told me Jimin was going to have to die regardless. They would let me free out of the gang without hurting my family or taking the money if I took care of Jimin...or I could refuse and we both die. I fought and fought for any other option—

"What about turning yourself in?" I butted in.

He nodded "There were too many dirty cops. I came clean one night, and the same night the boys came and beat me up so bad I ended up in the hospital. They threatened my baby sister as well, and ever since I've kept my mouth shut. So I let Jimin win the match, I couldn't stand to let him loose, only then to kill him. Plus if I got caught, it would give the police a cause so they wouldn't find out it was planned and meditated on by the gang.

After that traumatic event in my life, I tried starting over many times but each time I got found out and had to move. Hopping locations wasn't enough, and with the police actively looking for me I had to take my cash, forget my family and start over. Giving up would not only mean going to jail, but also giving my family up.

The only decision left for me was to completely start over. I was a con artist by heart still so decided to use it to my advantage, faked my death, and hid out for two years. I let the police find my "body" and I even left a note. I did my best to wipe my tracks clean and embrace my new identity but I failed to a college freshman." He cocked an eyebrow at me. "I never anticipated you would get involved. I had a plan, everything aligned in a way that kept me from ever going to prison, kept me out of the light of the gangs, and gave me a way to still contact my family anonymously.

It hurt so bad, reading about my sister's testimony in the newspaper. They had eluded to the conclusion that I'd killed my best friend because he beat me in dance and then ran off. Just looking at her face and how disappointed she and my mom were—" he shook his head a bit to regain focus.

"Anyway, that's where we are now. Currently, my situation is very bad, maybe the worst it's ever been. It's only a matter of time until the cops find out who's responsible for the death of your friend... and that leads to me. I wasn't exactly careful this time around because of the time crunch. Also, did I mention I ripped my former gang members off and took a huge portion of the cash for myself? Yeah, that's why they're extremely angry as well and hotter on my tail than the police. Ryan shooting me and potentially getting me on the news wouldve exposed myself to a lot of the people I conned for millions of dollars, so naturally they would want me dead. I needed to be ready at any moment, so that's why I had a gun in my drawer at school which Rat Ryan found... what a dumbass."

"Wait, stop." I interrupted him. There were so many parts that didn't make sense, maybe because I haven't paid attention I wasn't sure but I didn't see how I came into play. "So why am I here?"

"You're here because ZIN87 gang, the former gang I stole 3.2 million dollars from exactly, thinks you're involved with me."

"Involved?" My arms crossed over my chest in disgust.

"They think we're together, I don't know. And they go after anyone involved with me. Since they can't locate my family due to all ties being cut off, they're going after what they see and they see us. That's why the threats are rolling in because they think I care about you." He said calmly.

"Well shoot your boys an email letting them know that is absolutely not the case." I snapped.

"Esme, calm down." He warned. " At this point it doesn't matter, you're a target and the safest place for you is with me. I'm gonna handle this shit for good, because although I don't, you deserve a regular life. You only got into this mess for being nice to me even if it was for your own selfish motives."

I gagged. He knew I had the hots for him.

"What about Ryan?" I asked trying to change the subject off of my prior actions that only occurred because I was Infatuated by Mr.Jung.

"The fewer people that are out there knowing who I am the better. Besides I practically saved Ryan. If ZIN87 found out he knew who I was they would torture him to death for every drop of information he didn't have."

I nodded, "So we're here for you to keep an eye on us?"

Jhope furrowed his eyebrows because that wasn't exactly the take away he wanted me to get from his whole speech. "No, you are going to make them think they are right Esme. You're going to play the part of a girl that is in a committed and in loving relationship with me because to fight them, we have to be one step ahead. We're going to make them think they are right, and lead them straight to us. Do you understand what I am saying?"

I felt my face getting hot with anger. "You fucker... you're using me as bait?"

He gave me a reassuring smile that didn't make me feel better at all.

"Oh Esme, you are going to save all of us."