Reina's point of view

Even if Niklaus lied about the others, there was no doubt that he was telling the truth this time.

Everything was covered with white sheets from the living room to the bedroom. If this was really where I lived, I must have been really poor. My current room back home was bigger than this apartment altogether.

I pulled off the sheet covering one of the sofas in the room, tracing it as my fingers collected dust and received flashbacks; I did live here.

However, my face was blank of emotion as I pulled off the other sheets, repeating the same gestures. I knew Niklaus was watching, regarding me and just a single emotion might betray my claim of not being Maya.

"So why am I here? To show me that your late ex-girlfriend was poor, is that it?" I asked with a hint of mockery.

I saw an odd emotion flash in his eyes but he covered it up, saying instead,

"Take a good look around the house, Maya,"

I didn't protest nor argue with him, the player was adamant on his claim, so it was a waste of saliva contradicting that.

This time I went into the bedroom, my sight settling on the bed that had one of its legs broken.

"What happened?" I gestured to the bed with my head.

He walked over to me, a faint smile wrinkling his face, "We broke it,"

"We?" My brow rose, interestedly.

" While having sex,"

At the mention of that, a tremor went through my body and my toes curled when I saw myself being pinned by Niklaus on that bed.

There was no telling if that was a memory or me conjuring an image of that scene. Either way, I didn't like what it was doing to me.

Father was right, he's a master of seduction.

"Mr. Niklaus"

"It's Niklaus,"

He corrected briskly, not that I listened anyway.

"Mr. Niklaus-"

"Add the mister once again and I'll kiss you senselessly till you forget why you're pretending to be Reina in the first place," Was his threat.

My mouth hung open.

Truth be told, I wanted to challenge him- there was this urge to push his button- but the voice of reasoning told me that I was dealing with fire hence, respected myself. This mission was too important to be forsaken for pleasure's sake.

"Niklaus, I don't know why you're doing this or what you intend from doing this, but it's not funny anymore. Release me so I can go, my people should be searching for me already," I said, showing him my cuffed wrist.

Niklaus gave me a long stare that made me uncomfortable, why was he staring at me like that. To my surprise, instead of him towering over me in the guise of intimidating me, he chose to sit on that bed he claimed we made… whatever.

"What's your problem, Maya?" he asked.

"I should be the one asking why you keep insisting I'm your late girlfriend?" I threw the question back at him.

"I love you," He confessed without warning, I went rigid.

Liar.

If you had loved Maya, you wouldn't have let everybody step over her like that.

"The past seven years were hell. It was so tormenting that I was greatly tempted to go back to my old lifestyle- it was easier to forget my sorrows with pleasure. But I couldn't betray what we had together and now here you are alive - against human comprehension - yet you still torment me" He was emotional but I steeled my heart, refusing to fall for that act.

"Fine, I'll tell you the truth," I decided to come clean.

Niklaus readjusted on the bed, surprise flashing across his face because he never saw that one coming.

"I purposely targeted your company because I wanted your ass back in this city,"

He scratched the side of his forehead yet he still waited expectantly for that particular exposé.

"When Maya Octavia fell off that bridge, the news spread abroad and that was when I got to see her, my late real-life doppelganger" I fed him the information I had plotted in case of a scene like this.

"Of course, I was obsessively curious about…."

Niklaus cursed and was on his feet, striding towards with dark eyes, like a thunderstorm about to pour at any moment.

My heart almost leaped out of my chest and I found myself stepping backward till my back hit the wall, still telling my tale," I wanted to know everything about my look alike so I -"

"Stop feeding me those lies!" Niklaus roared with so much fervor that made me wince, squeezing my eyes shut. He was so scary, I didn't want to look at him anymore. Someone should get me out of here already.

"Look at me! " Niklaus growled at me, gripping my arm tight.

"No, you're crazy! " I turned my face the other way, striving to be free.

"Look at me, Maya!"

"I'm not Maya!" I retorted and out of instinct kicked him in the groin which made him let go of him, doubling over in pain.

I turned to flee but he tripped me and I fell on my stomach, my restrained hands that were in my front getting hurt in the process. But I ignored the pain and pushed to my feet, the only goal in my mind was to get out of here; Niklaus has finally lost it.

But that player pulled my leg from behind, sliding me back to the ground and making me turn on my back. He tried to straddle me but I kicked him away.

"I'm not going to hurt you! " Niklaus yelled, grabbing my foot again as I attempted to escape," I just want to talk to you,"

This time, that bastard got on top of me, trying to subdue me from thrashing around but I kneeled him at his side, causing him to momentarily slip, and used that opportunity to get on top of him, choking him with the chain on my wrist.

I wasn't going to kill him, I never intended that. Moreover, if he were to die, it was not going to be in my hands.

"Fine, kill me," He said without putting up a fight, "I deserve to die for failing my promise to keep you safe, anyway. Take my life if it pleases you," He said through labored breath.

I was stunned, what kind of man was this? Was he asking me to kill me? He must be out of his mind.

I released him, yet didn't get off him as we stared at each other with labored breaths. No words were said between us until I picked up slow, calculated footsteps coming from the living room.

I continued to listen with rapt attention and heard something click. Niklaus's gaze and I met, seems I wasn't the only one who heard that.

As if we were communicated telepathically, we rolled each other to the side just as a hail of bullets rained down on our previous spot.

"What the hell! " I exclaimed as we continued rolling until we took cover beside the bed, bullets covering our previous positions.

"Keep your head down," Niklaus pushed me down when I tried to peek out at our shooter.

"We can't stay hidden here, he's closing in at us," I reported the result of my brief finding.

"He's probably after me," Niklaus assumed.

I didn't need to bet who that assassin was after, it was me. I was back in the city; the princess and apple of Sakuzi's eyes; the other five crime families wouldn't let me be- one of them had to be responsible for this.

Being a mafia or a member of the Mafia family was an everyday battle and Sakuzi was not exactly a gentleman - yeah, I wasn't going to sugarcoat that.

"I can not fight like this," I whispered to Niklaus quickly, our time was running out. I had been counting and soon the assassin would run out of bullets and would try to reload - that would be the best time to strike.

"That man is a professional assassin and as much as you can throw one or two punches, you're still not trained enough to take him," he pointed out.

So, he thinks.

"I love my life, Niklaus. So damn you,"

Because I was currently on top of Niklaus, I easily lowered my head and kissed him to his shock. Niklaus went completely still as I moved my lips against him before sliding my hands into his pocket while he was still frozen, bringing out the key with unspeakable speed and unlocked the cuff before he could comprehend what just happened.

"Thank you?"

At once, I picked up the nightstand with fast reflexes and hurled it at the shooter who was now trying to reload as I premeditated.

While he tried to dodge the bedside table, I covered the distance between us with that chance. Speed was of the essence in this kind of life and death situation, as taught.

My priority was the gun in his grip. As much as that was in his possession, he had a great advantage over me. We fought furiously and I successfully kicked the gun out of his grip at the expense of a blow on my face.

While I recovered, Niklaus took over and I had to admit, he was pretty good; matching and countering the man's every attack.

I joined him, working as a team as we fought against the assassin. I went from behind and wrapped the curtain above around his neck, tightening it with each progressing struggle while Niklaus broke his arm and went ahead to render him unconscious with a blow to the head.

"That was…" Niklaus was speechless with surprise.

"Yeah," I smiled at him, "Goodnight,"

He was knocked out with the butt of the gun.