I sat there as Gus reset the chip installed in the back of my neck, tweezers in his small hand and a pair of large, magnified glasses settled over his slender, boyish nose before he wiped at the blood, stitching it back closed.

I opened my eyes, blinking them, feeling a light twinge in my head, somewhat like a small migraine as Ethan passed me a plastic cup of water which I gratefully took.

The chip was another one of my dad's inventions to help our brains think certain things, believe certain ideas and scenarios that weren't true to help us with our latest scams, ever since that one rich boy from Cleveland who almost caught me when I was put under a lie detector test.

His name was Richie or something, he was always skeptical about me, even as he began to slowly fall for me, he questioned whether Gus was my son or not.

The lie detector caught my lie of course.

Gus wasn't my son, he was my father.

The chip helped our brains to be trained to believe in the made up scenarios we would create to trick wealthy, privileged snobs to hand over their money, and if anyone questioned us, there would be no way for any lie detectors to catch us on any slips since our minds would be programmed to genuinely believe in these lies.

The whole act was fairly simple.

Gus would give us two rich, overly spoiled young adults as targets for us to get close to, my half brother Ethan with a rich girl, me with a rich boy.

We would get close enough to these people, keep our humble, down-to-Earth, hard-working personas going.

We've been doing this for so long that we ourselves were wealthy, wealthy enough to splurge some money on some fellow actors to help us out, to buy our own building and burn it as a part of our usual plan.

I would tell the poor sucker I was with that I had a son -maybe if he saw a picture of my dad or happened to bump in to him somehow- and tell my sad sad sob story of how I had him with Ethan, then give him up to my sister to take care of.

That's where my dad's birth defect comes in.

Gus was 52 years old, but due to some type of disorder where his pituitary gland couldn't make any hormones, he looks like a 12 year old boy.

Ethan and I shared the same father but were birthed from different mothers who were probably in jail as we speak.

Our dad Gus had always been a scammer, he used the fact that he was a pedophile's wet dream -looking like a kid but actually being old enough to have sex- really caught the attention of sick men and women who preyed on children.

Both Ethan's mom and mine were probably pedophiles and right after my dad fucked them and they gave birth to us, he threw their asses into jail, using his appearance to plead as a frightened, scarred 12 year old claiming he was "raped."

He then took Ethan and I and ran away, he was 29 back then and me and my brother were no more than three weeks old.

With the thought of a past with Ethan and a kid instilled in my target's head they'll typically sympathize or feel some type of possession over me, not knowing whether to focus more on the fact that I had a child or that there was a potential threat of me and Ethan getting back together again.

There were little phases we went through in our plan.

One night Ethan would be "drunk" at my place when we both knew my target and his would hear us right outside, or somewhere near.

We would have the repetitive "I might still love you" argument, loud enough for the person to hear and that's when we find out whatever rich boy we're tricking truly loves me or not.

Does the rich boy come out and try to pull me away from Ethan?

Or does he simply walk away.

It's usually the first option if my actions leading to this point are well planned out enough.

The trick is not to accept any money or gifts throughout the entire relationship, showing a sense of independence and disinterest in materialistic things.

And then when they least expect it, you take everything from them.

We hired a few people to act as tenants in some random building we buy, we usually get a four story one, then we burn it down and woops guess what, I don't have a place to stay.

But then the rich boy comes in and saves me, offers a spot at his place in his mansion.

Ethan and I were raised by our father make people fall in love with us, until they practically hand all their wealth to us.

It's all fun and games...

Until I started falling in love myself.

Ethan said nothing but I could tell he felt the same towards his own target, Polly.

The way he looked at her, talked about her, it was similar to the way I talked about Harry, looked at him.

We've done this for years and this has never happened to us, deceiving people was all we knew, our father made sure of that.

And there was no way would ever tell Gus how we truly felt.

"We've made too many slip ups with these two." Gus said, gesturing to the pictures of Polly and Harry's face on the table of the motel we were staying in as he pressed his clasped hands to his thin lips.

"First that one kid got stuck in that fucking fire- I mean I even notified everyone when I was burning that fucking building, they were all supposed to be out of there." He ranted, gnawing at the end of his pen as Ethan and I exchanged looks, Ethan leaning back in his chair now fully dressed while I stayed pressing my back against the wall arms crossed.

"And then you can't even fucking get something as simple as Polly's social security number," he gestured towards Ethan who looked up to glare at our dad, playing with a lighter in his hand.

"And you, especially you Ron. You would have the guy's entire wallet right here with us by now what's going on." He demanded, looking over at me.

"He hasn't let me close to his wallet yet." I lied with a shrug.

Harry actually always let me look at his wallet or his credit cards, always offering them to me to buy me something.

I never took any of them.

Gus studied me and my brother for a moment, lowering his glasses before he gazed at us in realization.

"No no no, don't tell me you two actually care about these snotty, no good aristocrats now, do you?" He began with a sickening, amused laugh.

"I don't." Ethan and I denied much too quickly, making us pause and shift our gazes to one another, knowing we screwed up before turning back to our dad who let out a humorless laugh.

"You really think these people care about you? That they really truly love you? They're in love with the person you're pretending to be don't you two ever fucking forget that." Gus harshly reminded us, sternly pointing at us as I averted my gaze to the ground.

"Son, you'd really give up everything to be with that wreck of a tranny. I must say I was surprised to hear that beautiful Polly was born with a dick." Gus cackled, Ethan and I silent as we watched him.

"Ha, yeah." Ethan muttered through gritted teeth and only I could see the way he was digging his nails into the wood of the chair handle before I tore my eyes away.

"And my beautiful, beautiful daughter." Gus continued, turning his head to look at me as I kept my arms crossed and face straight.

"You know that Harry's boy mother, that sick, twisted bitch wouldn't hire me into her tech company because she genuinely thought I was a child, even when I showed her proof, my birth certificate, my files. She wouldn't give me a chance that rich whore." He spat in disgust as I slowly inhaled.

"It's a shame she missed out on all my inventions, isn't it." He boasted, polishing one of the devices he had created that made it unnecessary for any of us to use any fake names.

It was a small rectangular bar that looked somewhat like a solar panel, one that could be attached to someone's forehead, our targets to be exact after we were finished draining them of every cent they had under their name.

We'd put in the date on the panel of when we had first met to the very day we place the memory eraser on their forehead, and with just a press of a button at the side, the panel takes away all memories of me, Ethan, and Gus's existence from the target's mind, leaving them confused and dazed the next morning with an empty house, wallet, and bank account.

"We're rich enough, I don't understand we still have to do this." I casually said, attempting to play my statement off like this was more bothersome rather than worrisome.

"This isn't about money anymore, it's about revenge. Harry's mother is already locked up in some mental institute -god bless. But if we get her son, if you my special daughter have the power to wrap the next one in line to take over her tech company around your little finger, her entire franchise will crumble. All her work, her company, the one she wouldn't even think about letting me in would fall to pieces." Gus re-explained what he had told us the moment we were assigned to get close to Harry and Polly.

"Polly's father is a co-owner of that company as well which is where you play in at the side as well, just in case." He added, nodding at Ethan's straight face.

Gus's eyes flickered to me as I sulked in the back, staring intensely at Harry's picture on the table.

"Has someone formed a little crush?" My father tainted with a malicious, condescending smile as I immediately looked away from the photo, meeting his challenging gaze.

"No, just thinking about the tattoo I'm going to get when I get back." I said, my voice void of any emotion.

"Another accomplishment huh." Ethan smirked, looking back at me though I didn't miss the bitter disgust in his eyes as he looked at me.

It was this thing I did.

Every tattoo on my body symbolized all the rich boys I had managed to fall for me and scam.

"What's Harry's tattoo going to be hm? My favorite is still Trent's from New Jersey, that boy's favorite movie was Coraline and you actually got a tattoo of Coraline." Gus laughed in a mixture approval and pride as I glanced down at my forearm where the said tattoo was.

"I thought that was Carter from Florida." Ethan spoke up.

"No, Carter was the one with the big penny board collection." Gus corrected.

"Ah that's why she's got the penny board on her-"

"Thigh." My dad and brother both said in unison, pointing at one another with similar grins as I rubbed the side of my forehead, guilt creeping up my skin at the thought of Harry before I quickly pushed him to the back of my mind.

"Baby," Carmen's voice came from the entrance, the door creaking open as she looked at my father, dressed in her night gown.

Carmen wasn't my sister, she was my dad's girlfriend who yes, had a thing for kids and was always talking about how lucky she was to find my dad, knowing he was legal.

"I'll be there soon hun." Gus told her with a nod of her head as she smiled at us before closing the door, retreating back into the hallway to their own room across from us.

"Has he said I love you yet?" Gus suddenly asked me after a few seconds, sitting himself down as I pushed myself off the wall, nearing the table.

"Not yet, but I'm working on it." I curtly responded.

"You think he's going to break when you get back?" Ethan wondered, playing with the lighter in his hand again as I gave him a look.

"I know he will." I boldly remarked.

"And if he doesn't?" Gus arched a brow at me, testing my loyalty to him as I narrowed my eyes at him.

I pulled out the gun that was tucked in my jacket, bringing it down on the table in the middle of the two, my brother eyeing the weapon with wide eyes, bringing his stunned gaze to me as my father blinked in astonishment and approval.

"I'll just use some reinforcements."

"I'll just use some reinforcements." The bad guy in the movie Harry and I were currently watching on his bed said, loading a gun as I blankly stared at the screen, still thinking about what happened a week ago before Harry noticed.

"Hey, you okay there?" He teased, lowering his head and pulling me closer to him as I leaned my body against his chest.

"Yeah, just thinking." I said, making the same excuse causing a small sigh to leave his lips as he shut his flat screen tv off, watching it fold back into the wall before he turned to me, sitting himself up and grabbing my hands in his.

"Where do you want to go?" Harry asked, bright green eyes gleaming with mischief and excitement as I gave him a look, caught off guard by his question.

"What do you mean?" I slowly said.

"Forget about money, about your responsibilities. I'm going to take you somewhere, anywhere you want to go to get away from everything." He reached out and cupped my face in his large hands, peering at me with so much love that I couldn't quite understand it myself.

"I'll take you away from all of this. Just name it and it will just be me and you, traveling there." He promised me, running his thumb gently across the paper airplane tattoo on my cheek, still believing I was distraught about the fire that happened to my building and Gus's saved "college money."

"Really." I simply smiled, finding myself admiring him for a few moments.

"Really. Anywhere you want." He insisted as I held onto his wrists.

I thought for a moment, although it wasn't difficult to know exactly where I wanted to go.

"The Philippines." I told him, never having told anyone as my response surprised him.

"The Philippines, really?" He smiled, wanting to know more as we laid back down, his hands falling down to my waist as I smiled and nodded.

"I've always wanted to visit and hike Mount Pinatubo more than anything." I confessed, making sure not to mention that I wanted to visit the islands, a third world country where money and status weren't everything and things were so much more... simpler.

Harry looked at the way I brightened at the mention of the area as he pecked my lips.

"Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines it is." He decided, holding my hand between us and intwining our fingers, my eyes closing and a permanent grin etched across my face as our lips met.

I took the dominant role this time, rolling on top of him, pinning him to the bed making him groan against my lips as my hands rested over his chest where I could hear the erratic beats of his heart that seemed to match mine.

"Can I try something?" I said when we were both breathless, eager for one another's touch as always, parted lips inches away as he looked up at me with flushed cheeks and content eyes.

"Anything you want." He reassured me, cupping my face to bring my mouth back on his as I pushed him against the headboard, retrieving the metal object from the nightstand where I had hidden it in the lower drawer, distracting Harry by trailing soft kisses down his neck as he tilted his head up to the ceiling, eyes closed and body relaxing beneath mine.

I retrieved the hand cuffs I was looking for, successfully cuffing both of his wrists to the headboard as I felt him harden underneath me.

"Fuck I love this kinky shit." He breathed against my mouth, his tongue over mine before I pulled away, leaving him confused as he attempted to lean back into me.

"Vee, now's not the time to leave me here with blue balls baby." Harry chuckled, blinking at me and furrowing his brows when I crawled off him, now standing at the foot of his bed with an emotionless look on my face.

"Vee?" Harry tried again, voice laced with concern as I brought the phone he bought me to my mouth where it was still on a call, Ethan and Gus having heard the whole make out session on the other line before I raised the remote that controlled all the locks in Harry's mansion in my hand.

"All clear." I said into the phone, keeping my eyes on Harry's wide, puzzled ones before I pressed the button, the sound of locks unlocking echoing throughout the house as the realization dawned upon him.

The sound of people raiding his living room, his kitchen, every room downstairs rang throughout the spacious house as Harry gaped at me, completely still.

"Vee? Vee what- what are you doing." He panicked, searching my blank face worriedly, his eyes darting to the door where more people in black, faces covered black ski masks flooded into the room, taking all his belongings, going through his clothes and dragging out his drawers.

"Wait! Stop! What the actual fuck Vee!" Harry was now struggling in his restraints, looking more hurt and confused than angered as his chest heaved up and down while he gazed at me in disbelief.

I was the only one standing still in front of his bed in the crowd of moving people, walking in and out with all of his expensive belongings, his designer clothes, his gold watches.

"Vee." Harry breathed out, just staring at me, his struggling fading to a stop as he looked at me with so much pain, as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing when I took out my own black ski mask, putting it over my head before meeting his heart broken gaze.

"Ah, I see you've met my lovely daughter." Gus strolled into the room, the only one not wearing a mask along with Ethan who followed him inside.

"Gus? Ethan? Your fucking son- what's going on here?" Harry directed all his questions to me, because he trusted me the most out of everyone in the room.

That was his biggest mistake.

"I think you should ask your mother about that." Gus began, going on the usual bad guy explanation, revealing our entire scheme of tricking Harry into falling for me, telling him of our plans from the very start, with Gus pretending to be my son, Ethan and I acting like we were past lovers, and the burning of our own building.

I stayed in the back the entire time, Ethan sending me quick sideways glances, as if wondering if I was going to stop my father or not.

But I stayed still and silent.

Throughout the entire explanation my dad was giving Harry's teary eyes constantly went to me behind Gus, desperately looking at me as I stared right back at him.

"Vee. This, this can't be. You wouldn't do that to me you love me, I know you do." Harry swallowed, his voice cracking slightly from the pain of searching my eyes and finding nothing in them to confirm his statement.

"You were right about Ethan and I from the very beginning." Was all I managed to say in a solid voice, watching a few stray tears escape Harry's eyes when he blinked, shaking and lowering his head while Gus continued to taunt him, practically dangling me in front of his face.

"Don't worry, once we erase your memory all of this will be like a bad bad dream." My father reassured, catching Harry's attention as he brought his back up in alarm.

"Erase my memory," Harry repeated in disbelief, looking thoroughly horrified.

"Just to the point where you met Ron till now, take this as a gift. You will never even know she existed-"

"No!" Harry snapped, his loud voice overpowering my dad's, surprising everyone in the room to the point that we all flinched back and froze.

"You can take my money, my belongings, but don't take away my memories of Vee. I love her, I don't care, I want to remember her." He begged, fighting against his restraints before his eyes went to me.

"Always." He said, adams apple bobbing up and down as I found it harder and harder not to look away from him.

"Oh give me a break." Gus rolled his eyes, making a gagging noise while the rest of the men laughed, continuing to carry all his belongings out of the room as Harry looked at me, lowering his head in defeat when I made no move to say anything.

He stayed like that until his entire house was empty, furnitures included as Harry kept his head hung low, face hidden with his dark brown hanks of hair that I was so used to pushing back and running my fingers through.

"Harry has a large safe where he keeps a collection of priceless paintings he's bid on before in his closet. We need everyone in there if we're gonna carry them downstairs successfully into the trucks." I informed my dad and the rest of the people we hired around us, Harry's head slowly rising up at my words as I felt his stare on me.

"Is that so." Gus smirked, calling everyone downstairs, including the drivers outside on
the lookout to come upstairs, a number of 27 people rushing into the large bedroom.

I outstretched my hand to my father who handed me my gun that was stuffed in his jacket as I raised it to Harry who calmly looked at me.

"The safe is further into the closet, Ethan and I will stay out here and try to convince rich boy over here to tell us the combination." I spoke as my father's workers were already filing into the spacious, walk in closet, Gus being the last one to go in.

"I'm proud of you." He told me, smiling as he went inside.

I smirked, quickly dropping my grin when Harry's pained eyes met mine.

"Wait a sec- I don't see a safe here anywhere!" One man's voice claimed in surprise, making me turn and point the gun at all the people inside the closet, including my father who stood there, shocked.

"Ron. What the fuck do you think you're doing." He growled, balling his small hands into tight fists as I kept the gun aimed at them, the remote to all the doors in the house still in my other hand.

"I love him." I said with a strong fierceness behind my tone that left Gus speechless for a moment.

"You would choose your own blood, the man who raised you for some snotty rich boy!" He sputtered, the vein in his neck pulsing as I scoffed.

"You didn't raise me, you trained me." I said, shaking my head slightly.

"So yes, I do choose him. So go fuck yourself." Were the last words that left my lips as I pressed the button on the small remote in my other hand, the closet door sliding close and locking them all in, my dad's screaming and pounding against the barrier muffled leaving Ethan, Harry, and I outside in the bedroom.

I dropped the remote, using my now free hand to grab my phone and dial 911.

"911 what's your emergency?" The person across the line immediately asked.

"I'd like to report a break-in on the corner of Madison Avenue in Valley Hill." I reported, going more into detail of the location, pretending to be a concerned neighbor before I ended the call once she informed that the police were on their way.

I lowered the cell phone from my ear, staring at the black screen in silence for a few moments.

"I knew it."

I turned around at the sound of Harry's voice, a relieved and proud expression on his face.

"I knew it the second you lied to them about the safe in my closet. I know you love me." He softly said, the anger and pain completely gone from his eyes as I lowered my head, taking off my ski mask and sending him a small smile.

Ethan stared at me in awe, completely speechless when I turned to look at him.

"Shoot the tires of the loaded trucks outside just in case," I instructed, tossing him the gun as he caught it so no one would be able to take away any of Harry's belongings.

"Oh and Ethan," I paused, my brother's gaze locking with mine as he held the weapon somewhat far away from his body between two fingers.

"Make sure you tell Polly I said hi." I said, knowing the first thing he'd do is to run to the girl he loves as a smile appeared over his face.

"Will do." He nodded at me, gratitude clear in his tone before he looked over at Harry, then at me, and then finally turning and darting out of the room.

Now, it was just Harry and I left.

"You're such a fucked up mess." He suddenly chuckled, shaking his head in disbelief as I bit my lip and smiled, nodding, glancing out the window briefly to check the perimeter before looking at him.

"But you're my fucked up mess." Harry then said, meeting my gaze with his own as I kept silent.

"You know it's funny, they left the one thing I would've taken with me if I could." I told him, staring at him laying on the bed, chained to the headboard across the room before we both turned our eyes to the floating red balloon at the side of the room, the one with our 'I Love You's' on it.

"I wish I could take that with me." I whispered, finally releasing all the bottled up emotions I felt the moment I saw the pain on Harry's face as I wiped at my watering eyes.

"Take it with you wha- where are you going?" Harry asked, forehead creasing at my words as I firmly pressed my lips together.

"I deserve to go to jail just as much as my dad and everyone else in there. But I have to correct a few things before that happens, fix my mistakes." I said, maintaining a vague explanation as the only boy I've ever loved blinked at me.

"Let me go with you. I'll come with you, we can run away together." He insisted, eagerly straightening, trying to sit himself up as much as the handcuffs would let him as I shook my head.

I finally walked over to him, only to place the key to his handcuffs on the nightstand besides him.

"I can't drag you deeper into this. You don't deserve any of this. If the police ask you tell them the truth, you knew nothing about this, about who we were until the end." I sternly instructed him, watching him stare at me with parted lips.

"You can't just leave me, you love me." He weakly attempted, looking like a lost child as my frown deepened.

"I do," I agreed, lingering by his side before I cupped his warm face in my hands -just like I always did- wiping away the drying tears as he gazed up at me.

"And that's why I'm leaving you." I said, my voice pained, below a whisper as he swallowed at my words, our noses brushing against one another.

"Kiss me." Harry said, our lips only inches away before I closed the distance between us, pressing my lips against his in a searing, emotionally passionate kiss.

A kiss goodbye.

I hadn't realized I was crying until I felt the taste of my tears between our lips, my mouth pulling away from his as he stared up at me, breathless.

"I'm sorry." I sniffed, my vision becoming blurred as I stroked his cheek, wrapping my arms around him, burying my wet face against his neck, my shoulders heaving as he leaned into me.

"I love you." He whispered in my ear, turning his head to kiss my temple while I sobbed.

I only broke away when the sound of sirens across the street were nearing the house, making me straighten and pull away from him, trying to catch my breath as I stared at the window where the flash of blue and ref lights flickered in the night.

"I'll find you." Harry said, bringing my attention back to him as his intense, determined green eyes met mine.

"There's a back door downstairs. Go." He told me, making me gulp as I nodded my head, pushing a few strands of hair away from his face, wanting to memorize every inch of his features.

"I'll find you." He promised me, his eyes never leaving mine as the sirens grew louder.

Slowly my hands left his face, my feet carried me to the floor, and I was rushing down the stairs to the back door before the police arrived.

Leaving Harry and the balloon, the love I had for him with him to keep for as long as he wanted it.

AN: I don't make my main characters cheat, like ever ha that's a no for me. You cheat you're officially canceled. No incest either because canceled as well.

One or two more chapters left of Rich Boy.