If Selene was to ever have kids, she would point them to the Hudson club in Downtown and narrate to them how their Mamma survived the nights of adventure here. Which would undeniably involve Keir.

Selene walked through that ghastly parking lot yet again for another night of adventure. And as planned, with Mr. Killer looks. She was still wary about why he specifically asked her to join him at the club.

As they walked in, a young man approached them and gave a nod to Keir. Keir nodded back and slapped a dollar roll in his hands. The man cocked his head sideways signalling them to follow him.

He led them to a secured booth. These booths were for the VIPs or practically to anyone who would want complete privacy. Since quarter of America's criminals were stocked here, the club was divided for the local, amateur, national and international criminals.

It still surprises her how everyone knows what happens in this town but still Downtown and its criminals have managed to scare off the government for generations. Maybe that was why Keir chose to come here.

But why was he leaving? A question popped in her mind.

"A private booth?" Selene mused looking around the dimly lit but visible room.

Keir plopped on the couch and patted the seat beside him, asking her to join.

"I got tired of the bar stools, it's too noisy out there."

Selene smirked and sat beside him, "Is this a date?"

Keir went stiff and his ears turned pink, "Of course not. If it was, I wouldn't bring you here." He frowned.

Selene gave a dry laugh, "Well, I do have some pretty bleak standards. So I won't mind."

Keir just nodded, suddenly out of words. He was a little jittery tonight. He might know the reason but wasn't ready to acknowledge it.

They fell into a comfortable silence. It was better than making small talks. A barmaid walked in, strutting her heels over her pear shaped body that has curves in all right places.

Selene always envied those women compared to her inverted triangle body with broad shoulders and relatively small hips. It always gave her a somewhat masculine look.

"What can I get ya?" The barmaid asked, chewing her gum.

Her face was artistically painted with makeup. Her smokey eye shadow complimented her hazel eyes, or that was what Selene assumed they were in the club lighting.

For the first minute, Selene couldn't turn her gaze away from her. She wondered what the man would be doing. Instinctively, she looked at Keir who was busy scanning the menu on his lap.

His gaze barely lingered over her body when she entered in. His eyes were only focused on her face when he recited the order.

If it were Haden he would have had her up against the wall by now. It was what made Keir different from everyone. His flirty cocky side was just for her to see.

Selene smiled to herself at that.

Was she impressed? She questioned herself but shook that thought out of her mind.

She recalled why she agreed to come. She remembered what she said to Shana before passing out last night. She will not let him in. She cannot lose NIA's support.

Soon the Barmaid came back with their drinks, Keir tipped her off with a bountiful amount of cash. He was surprisingly being generous today. That gave her a chance to ask her first question.

"Where do you get that kind of money from?" Selene asked. She bit her tongue internally for not smoothing out the question before blabbering out.

Keir scrunched his eyebrows, "Why do you wanna know?"

Selene got her acting game up. She gave him an obvious look, "Because you never tell me how and that makes me curious."

Keir chuckled, "Fair enough."

He took his glass and sipped. "Remember when I said Sasha is  married?"

Selene nodded, Keir continued.

"They met in college and fell in love. Soon they got married and started a tech company called Bright."

"Okay.." Selene was confused how it was relevant to the question.

"Sasha knew I was struggling financially. Arthur, her husband and Sasha offered me a job in their system security department. Later, the company grew after a few years and became a multinational billion dollar company. And I happened to be a shareholder in that." Keir smirked.

A surprised gasp escaped Selene's lips.

"You are a millionaire?" Selene couldn't help but ask.

Keir cocked his head, "I wouldn't exactly say that. The company is not mine, I just hold some shares as a trustful buffer for their business. "

Selene nodded still in shock. "So they just give you money for free?"

"No, I'm the head of their IT security team. I basically protect our software from being hacked."

"You are a hacker?!" Selene gawked.

Keir squinted his eyes and pursed her lips. "Not exactly…I can hack but that's not what I do. I am sort of an 'Anti hacker' for our company."

He explained hoping it made sense to her. He spelled it out for her like she was a dumb kid who knew nothing about the corporate industry. And it was true, Selene didn't know even the basics of business. Her life was practically drowned in prisons and criminals.

"I train my subordinates occasionally and they mostly take care of everything. So, I don't actually have to be there."

"Why not? The job sounds so cool."

Keir shook his head and smiled, "I keep moving constantly, working full time is not my thing."

Keir gave her an open invite to ask him about his monthly jaunt habit.

"Oh! You travel a lot?" This time she was good at making it less obvious.

Keir nodded, "Yeah, I literally move out every month."

This was it, she could ask him now, "So you will leave Downtown too?"

Keir froze mid drinking but soon replaced his passive face, "I am planning to."

Selene nodded curtly. She was mad at him suddenly. She didn't know why.

"And you didn't bother to tell me?"

Keir's lips slowly curved into a smirk, "What are you mad about? That I'm leaving? Or that I didn't tell you?"

Selene asked herself the same question and lied, "Second one. Why would I care if you leave?"

Keir leaned closer to her. "So you won't miss me?"

Selene glared, still mad unreasonably. "No."

Keir leaned even closer to her face and tucked her hair behind her ear, "Not even a little?" He pouted, turning her attention to his lips.

Selene gulped, "I-I might. For a while." She answered meekly. Her anger was all forgotten, all she wanted was to feel his lips on her. Keir fulfilled her wish.

He crashed his lips onto hers, pulling her face closer. He wanted her to feel the frustration that he was feeling. The undeniable tension between them.

Selene realised what she was doing was totally opposite of what she told herself. This was what Thindrel warned her about. His charm. No matter what they talk, he turns it into a flirtation. Just like now. It was his manipulation and Selene fell into one yet again.

She pulled apart roughly from his lips. Her breaths shallow but eyes clear as realisation set in.

"Selene.. I-" Keir opened his mouth but Selene cut him off.

"I'm tired," She said.

He closed his mouth and nodded. Without a word, they walked out of the club making their way to her car.

Selene stopped in her tracks.

"My phone.." She tapped her pockets frantically. "I left it back in the booth. I'll just go grab it." She turned back.

By the time she got back, the booth was already occupied. There were two guys drinking their wits off while a woman was entertaining them.

Selene's eyes searched for her phone. It was on the table surrounded by the packs of cigarettes.

"Bro! You paid for another girl too?" A man who saw her wobbled towards her.

Selene pulled her face in disgust, "No, you have the wrong idea. I'm here for my phone." She pointed to the table.

"Oh! Shame." He pouted, "Why don't you join us for a drink at least?"

"Yeah and later for the fun?" Another shabby man flashed her a grin joining behind his friend.

Selene gave them a fake smile not really in the mood of trouble "Hard pass."

She walked past the man to reach for her phone but the shabby man grabbed it swiftly.

Selene glared at him but soon felt a hand snake around her waist from behind. Repulsed by his touch, she jabbed her elbow roughly into the man's nose.

"Fuck!" The first man held his bleeding nose and cried.

"My phone!" She demanded the man who held it.

He grinned again, "Come and take it." He dangled it in front of her.

Selene took two steps, reaching for it. The man's smirk grew as she came closer, he was ready to pounce on her.

His plans failed when Selene smack his nose with the back of her hand. Instinctively to hold his nose, he lost his grip on the phone.

Selene catched it in the air and turned around, frantically walking to the booth door.

"Where are you running off to, eh?" A pair of hands pulled her back.

She was about to jab him when two more hands twist-locked her hands.

The two men pushed her against the wall, slamming her face roughly into the wall.

"This one is hell fire!" One of them commented.

Selene kneed one of them with her free legs but the other pulled her hair back roughly and slammed her head into the wall again.

Bolting pain shot in her head followed by a pitched ringing in her ears. Confusion set in from the intense pain. She tried to fight them off but her body felt numb.

She felt her dress pulled up slowly from her thighs. She can hear their laughs mixed with the ringing noise.

It was happening all over again. She swore to herself that she would never let this happen to her.

From what energy was left in her, she tried to wriggle out of their grip. It was useless. She was one against two and with a banged head.

Out of the blue, their weight and their loathing touch vanished. She turned around and saw the two men rolling on the ground.

One man held his ghastly cut, bleeding arm while the other was busy fighting off Keir.

Selene watched them as Keir threw bone shattering punches onto the man's face. She could clearly hear the bone crack.

He was going to kill them, she could tell. His eyes were the same pitch black again. His body shook as he took out his knife and stared at them. Those men were looking right into the eyes of death.

Keir leaned over, placing his knife at the man's neck. The man cried and fell onto his legs, begging him to leave him. Keir's hands itched to pierce the knife in and pull it out of his neck from the other side.

Selene crouched on the ground as her legs gave away. With heavy breaths, she watched him as he was ready to take their souls out. After his other side that she saw, she wasn't sure if she could watch this side again.

Keir turned to look at the collapsed Selene. She held her knees and stared baffled at the scene. Her confused eyes met his mad ones for a couple of seconds.

It happened fast. Something changed in him. He longer found in him the animosity to kill the bastards. All he wanted was to pull her into his arms and take her away from this world, that he's been fighting with.

He snapped back his knife close and walked near Selene. He pulled her up and grabbed her arm, pulling her out of the club.

Still shocked, Selene followed as he pulled her out of the club and into the parking lot. She had no idea what happened in the past few minutes.

Selene stopped mid way, making Keir turn around.

She abruptly pulled back her hand from his, not feeling touchy at the moment.

"What the hell happened back there?"

Keir exhaled sharply, "What happened is that you went inside that fucking bar for your fucking phone."

She glared, "So what should I do? Leave my phone?"

"I don't know, Selene! Come back and tell me, so that I can deal with those scumbags beforehand?"

"I can handle my own problems!" She yelled.

Keir looked at her as if she had grown five heads. He wanted to spat back that if not for him, she would've been in a bad place. But decided to let it slide, since there was no point arguing with her on this.

"Sel, let's go home." He announced, taking a step forward to take her hand.

Selene stepped back and ran her fingers through her hair, pulling them roughly.

"Your eyes..." She trailed off like yesterday.

Keir yelled in confusion and anger, "What the fuck about them?!" He didn't understand what her deal with his eyes was.

"You wanted to kill them." She stated.

"And I still do."

"But you didn't."

"No, Selene. Last time I checked they are still breathing." He retorted.

"Why didn't you kill them? How did you stop? Yo-You never stop." Selene was revisiting the scene again. The Keir she knew never stops. He can't.

"I-" Keir paused, unsure how he managed to stop the urge. "I don't know." He admitted looking into her eyes.

Selene felt her eyes tear up. They were not the tears of pain or sadness. They were tears of anguish. Every time he saved her, he was making it harder for her to betray him. She was torn between saving him or saving herself.

"Why?!" She yelled suddenly. "Why save me every time? Why show me your good side? Why trust me with your past? Why be good just to me?"

"Why? Why? Why?!- " She shoved him with her palms. Keir stopped her, roughly gripping her arms.

"-Because I love you!" Keir yelled back.

Selene looked at him nonplussed. Keir sighed and spoke in a low voice, "Because I fell for you the moment you pointed my knife at me. And I fell even deeper when you understood me."

Selene gasped softly, placing her palm over her mouth. This was a literal nightmare, one that she hoped she never slept through.

She closed her eyes and shook her head, "This isn't funny, Keir."

Her response irked him, "And neither am I joking."

Selene took a step back from him. It felt like she was losing control over the things that were happening in her life. Nothing felt right anymore now.

"You should go," Selene said, mustering up some courage.

Keir confused eyes searched for Selene's shocked ones. He should have waited to tell her. An almost rape encounter and a love confession might have overwhelmed her. If she hadn't pushed him, he wouldn't have confessed it.

"Selene, I-" She cut him off.

"Go, Keir. Please." She gasped again, placing her palm over her lower chest. It was getting harder for her to breathe.

Keir reached for her, concerned. She was hyperventilating, her face was paler than the moon above. Was it just for a love confession? He doubted that doubt.

"Hey! Hey! Relax." He gripped her shoulders. "I'm not pressuring you into loving me back." He tried to ease her.

Selene pulled back from his touch, "Good!" She yelled, "Because I don't love you!" She bit her lip to control her emotions.

Hurt crossed his face, listening to her harshly say it. But he swallowed the pain and nodded. "I understand. You need time."

"I don't need time!" Selene shouted. "Don't you get it? I would never love you. And you could never love someone. Because you are so you."

Selene's each word pierced right into his heart, bleeding it up.

"Your past does not justify who and why you kill. Ultimately you take lives. Human life, Keir!" She yelled, her voice breaking.

"I-I will stop, Selene," Keir said, defeatedly.

"You can't. What never changed in a decade cannot change now." Selene shook her head and wiped the tears.

"Even if you change. Your past will never stop haunting you. You have so much pain and darkness in your heart.

You have so many Demons, Keir. And I have mine. I can't fight your battle too. Because in the end, your demons will win." She whispered as new tears flowed.

"You are a burden to me, Keir. One that is too heavy on my shoulders."

That was it. It was the final straw that successfully shattered Keir's heart. He never had a broken heart but it hurt more than anything he experienced. The pain was too unbearable that it came out through his eyes. A lone fat tear passed along his cheek.

For the first time, he cried for someone other than his family. He wished he was not stupid to fall for her. He wished his eyes never met hers in this very club that night.

Selene took back a few steps, giving one last look to Keir. He had his head down, like a small boy lost in a townfair.

It hurt her as much as it did to Keir. His defeated, ashamed look broke her heart. But she had to do it. It was for his own good.

It is what that will make him stay away from her.

And from his ultimate ruin. 

*****

😢 They broke up! Well—they were never together but it feels like it.

Looks like Selene made her decision... Or did she?

Thoughts on this chapter. How does ur feel? >>>

Let's see what happens in the next chapter. Stay tuned, killer lovers!

And also tap the star guys ⭐.(Not this one. Down there, empty one :P)

~Aurora 💖.