REYNA

Saint rushed out of the room, but I didn't bother to question it. Instead, I followed his instructions, doing exactly as he asked. With each buttonmy fingers pressed, a part of me grew tired. Not tired as in wanting to sleep, but tired as in being done with Saint.

I didn't care anymore.

He could threaten me all he wanted, he could throw my mother in my face, but I was simply tired.

Everytime I think back to the way Saint used to treat me, preying on my fears, using my mother as bait, tearing me down when I only agreed to help him... I almost always felt the need to scream. Then, he would demand me to do whatever he wanted as if the other part of our deal never existed. I was giving him results, but he wasn't. reciprocating anything back.

I could leave. I could walk right out that door and never come back. However, Saint's words kept coming back to me—then what the hell is stopping you? Why are you still here?

When he asked me that, an image of my reflection within the blue of his eyes appeared in my mind. The way I could look at him and see myself so clearly as if for the first time. I wished I could make sense of it, but I couldn't. All I knew was that the person in his eyes, even with my average features, was the most beautiful woman in the entire world. He made me feel that way.

I sighed.

That didn't matter, though. I would help Saint this one last time, and then I would leave. I needed to put my mission first—find my mother. I needed to keep reminding myself that Saint was going to be a married man.

I was steadily typing on my computer, jotting down any information I came across. The Popov family was practically a ghost.

The most I could get was information on Alexius Popov who was a part of the Russian Armed Forces before retiring at the age of forty-five. He then got married to some woman by the name of Tanya Petrov. Together, they had one child—a son, Viktor Popov Sr. When Viktor was ten years old, they moved to America. It is said that Alexius had extreme PTSD and would sometimes lash out on his son. Viktor had to be admitted to a hospital and Child Protective Service many times. It is said that Viktor had a child by a woman he met in high school at the age of seventeen. He had twins—Lucille and Viktor Jr. After that... nothing. As for his children... nothing.

"Hmm," I hummed, tapping my chin. How is it that Lucille and Viktor had no evidence of ever existing besides their birth certificate? It could be possible that they are living under different aliases.

Adriano married a woman named Lucy. Maybe Viktor is doing the same thing. Behind his fake name and fake personality lies his true identity. If Lucille could get as close as marrying the underboss, I wonder how close Viktor could be.

Just as I was beginning to jot all the information down, my screen glitched just before turning all black.

"No, no, no, no, no...." I panicked.

Rushing over to my computer, I tried to turn it on but I had no success. What the hell is happening?

"Red, or should I say... Reyna," a fake, deep, robotic voice said, coming from my laptop. I glanced over to see a hooded figure, but wherever he was... the room was dark. A single light cast above him, providing a shadow over his entire face.

Viktor? He knows my name?

"I didn't want to have to do this so soon, but it appears you are getting too close," he said. My heart began to race as I looked around the room. How does he know my name?

I didn't want to take any chances. Saint was gone. No one was here to help me. I got up from the couch and ran over to the door and locked it. Rushing over to the windows, I locked every window seal before pulling the curtains together to keep anyone from peaking through. Saint had a gun tucked into the drawer of his desk. He probably never thought I noticed it, but I did. I opened the drawer and grabbed the gun, holding onto it for dear life. I needed to protect myself.

"The truth is, I know everything about you. For years, I have been watching you and studying you. You were always meant to be with me. Venturi stole you away from me and all I could do was watch," he continued. My brows pulled together at his confession. He's been watching me... for years? Who the hell is this man?

"If it's your mother that you want, join me. I know where she is. All I need is for you to be with me and you will get her. If your answer is yes, I will have someone waiting for you near your home in exactly ten days. If your answer is no, stay where you are, but just know, I will be coming for you. I will take you whether you to come or not... just like your mother, Maria. She's a beautiful girl, so obedient and charming. She makes me a whole lot of money." He laughed.

My stomach churned at his words. Sex trafficking. He has my mother in sex trafficking.

"I will see you soon, Reyna. I love you. Goodbye," he said. Suddenly, my screen went back to normal, but all the information I found on Viktor was gone.

I picked up my laptop and threw it across the room, listening to the sound of my screen shattering and keys flying off everywhere. Tears were gliding down my cheeks and all I could think about was my mother. At least I knew she was alive. At least I knew she hadn't abandoned me, but I'd rather that than know she was being trafficked.

I had to save her. However, I wasn't sure if joining Viktor would be the smartest move. He was a trafficker. It was possible that he could bait me in, never give up my mother, and instead throw me into his trafficking ring. Joining Viktor would be too risky. Then again, he swore that if I didn't go to him, he would come to me.

The knock on the door startled me.

"Who is it?" I asked, clenching the gun in my hand as tightly as possible.

"Rosalinda," she answered. I sighed in relief. I had completely forgot about her. I placed the gun between the couch cushions so she wouldn't be able to see it.

Getting up from the couch, I walked over to the door just before unlocking it. She smiled, holding up a mug.

"I made you some tea." She grinned.

I took the mug from her, walking back over to the couch and placing it down on the table. After sitting down, I smiled at her.

"You look flustered. Is everything okay?" Rosalinda asked. I noticed the side-eye she gave to my laptop on the floor.

"Oh, yes! I just got a little frustrated that's all," I lied.

"I understand. Working for Saint can be a very frustrating thing, especially since he's so cruel at times, but remember what I told you. Saint was once a kind boy. I know he still has it in him. It's the only reason I still stick around... well, that and the pay," she said, arousing a laughter out of me.

I noticed one day that Saint had been paying me. I never brought it up, but I did appreciate it. He always took care of my

expenses, so I never thought he would be wiring money into my private bank account, but he was.

"Okay, well, I'm going to head out to the garden." Rosalinda smiled. I returned her smile and watched as she exited the room, closing the door behind her.

Rosalinda had such a motherly charm to her. It made it easy to talk to her. I could see why Saint would keep her around for so long. She was easy to confide in.

"Reyna!" Saint called from the office door entrance.

I had to decide whether I would stay with Saint or join Viktor. If I wanted to stay, I would need to tell Saint everything. If I wanted to leave, it would be best to keep all the information to myself. Hmm...

"Where's Rosalinda?" he asked. My brows came together. He never bothered to pay much attention to Rosalinda before, why did he care so much now?

"She said she would be out in the garden," I informed him. Saint immediately rushed off in that direction, running to the garden. I quickly got up and sped off behind him, wondering what the hell was going on.

When we made it to the garden, she was nowhere to be found.

"Leo, look for Rosalinda," he said. I didn't even notice Leo until now. He nodded his head and ran off in another direction.

"Reyna, come with me," Saint said. He didn't give me the chance to ask any questions as we walked off in the direction of Saint's bedroom.

He pushed open the door and led me in. I had never been in his room before. It was dark and gloomy, similar to what I expected. Emerald green and black took over the interior of the room. It even smelled like Saint—expensive and earthy. I liked it.

"I need to discuss something with you," I said as quickly as I could before I began to overthink and change my mind.

"Well?" he asked, shrugging his suit jacket off his body. I sat down on his bed as if it belonged to me, crossing my leg over the other to keep them from shaking as I thought about Viktor.

I went on to tell him about what I found out about the Popov family. I even told him about Viktor reaching out to me and informing me that he has my mother. I explained that Viktor gave the ultimatum of getting my mom back if I stopped working with Saint, and instead, joined forces with him.

Saint listened to my every word. His eye contact was intense and I could feel his rage growing tremendously.

"So, what are you going to do?" he asked me.

"What do you mean?" I questioned.

"Are you staying or leaving?" he wondered. I bit down on my lip and forced my eyes down to my feet."

"No, don't start doing that again. Look at me. Look me in the eye and tell me what you plan to do," he demanded. I forced my gaze back up into his eyes where I could see me in the reflection. I always loved that.

"I'm staying, obviously. We have the same goals now. We're after the same person. We will find Viktor and bring him down together," I told him.

He nodded his head. "Well, we have a lot of work ahead of us. However, you mentioned that Viktor said you were getting too close. Maybe we're closer than we think."

Saint began to undo his pants, forcing my eyes to widen.

"I told you that I didn't want to be intimate with you!" I shrieked, placing my palm over my eyes.

He rolled his eyes. "Can you stop acting like a toddler?"

"Look," he demanded. I slowly dropped my hand to my side to see him pull out what looked to be a picture frame from his pants.

He turned it over so I could see. In the picture, there was a woman and a man with two children—a girl and a boy. They were standing in front of the small house. The boy looked annoyed and the girl was smiling as brightly as possible.

"My guess is that this is Viktor Popov Sr." He pointed to the older man. "This is his Lucille." He pointed to the little girl. "And this... this is Viktor Popov Jr."

The girl and boy looked to be no older than eight years old. Saint had photo evidence of the Popov family when it hadn't existed anywhere else.

"This is good. Now, we can use this against him. Maybe I could even use the CIA database to get a present picture of his face, then run it by every single surveillance footage until we get a match." I smiled. "We are about to find out Viktor's identity."

"We are."

"Oh, wait. Before I could that, I need to rebuild my firewall. Viktor easily broke through it and was able to cast his video on my laptop and take all of my information," I said. "If I try to do anything, the police could catch me and maybe even the other mafia families."

"How long will it take?" he asked.

I sighed. The last time I rebuilt my firewall, it took months.

"Maybe I could do it in a week or two if I worked hard enough," I said. If I wanted it to be perfect and better than what it was previously, I would need more time. However, I was afraid we wouldn't have any more time.

"Okay, now we need to come up with a plan," he stated.

Question: what do you like most about The Prodigy?