REYNA

Once we arrived, everything looked more classy than I imagined. We had walked into a very luxurious club. The lights were dim, there were two staircases that merged into one at the middle. It led up to a glass ceiling where one could stand and watch the partygoers. There was a large chandelier in the center of the room with a stage not too far from it. There weren't many women around. It was mostly men as they sat in groups, drinking and laughing. I could hear glass clanking against one another and the occasional bark of laughter from someone who had drunk a little too much.

Viktor placed his hand on my lower back again, guiding me toward a corner of the club where everything was just a bit darker.

"I own this club," he whispered into my ear.

"I-I," I stammered, biting down onto my lip. "It looks beautiful."

He smiled at my words. Viktor continued to guide me until we were able to sit on a soft, white couch. There were fake plants on either side of us that stood so tall, adding onto the seclusion. My feet were killing me and I was just lucky enough to get some rest.

The moment his eyes met mine, I dropped my gaze to my lap where I began to play with my dress.

"You don't have to be scared of me. I'm not ever going to treat you so horribly ever again," he declared, grabbing my chin and bringing my gaze to his. "I promise."

I gave a small smile just as someone appeared on the stage. My attention was immediately grasped by the man as he introduced himself. He was wearing a big smile on his face as he had just accomplished the impossible.

"Good evening! I know we have some keen buyers in the crowd, now don't we?" he asked. The men began to erupt in cheer as the man on stage chuckled at their eagerness.

"This is my favorite part," Viktor whispered into my ear.

A woman dressed in a skimpy bikini walked toward us, carrying a plate full of shots. I quickly used the opportunity and grabbed two. Before Viktor could say anything, I tossed them back. I held the liquor in my mouth as I pretended to swallow it. I ignored the burning of my tongue as I smiled at Viktor.

"Don't drink too much," he warned me.

The bald guard made his way over to us. I watched him bend down to whisper something in Viktor's ears. I took the moment to spit the drink out into the nearby plant fast enough so Viktor wouldn't notice. Once the guard said what he needed to, he walked away.

I giggled shyly. "I-I'm sorry, there's so much going on —I needed to calm my nerves. I-I forget that I'm such a lightweight."

He placed his hand on my thigh and I pretended to flinch back at the movement. He seemed to notice as he began to soothe my skin.

"I'm here to protect you. Saint can't bother you anymore," he said reassuringly.

I stared into the hazel of his eyes, taking in the specks of green that surround his pupil. Shyly, I looked back down at my lap.

"Watch," he ordered, pointing at the stage.

Submissively, I turned my head toward the stage and stared at a young girl who was made to walk across the stage. My breath got lodged in my throat as she was told to spin two times. Once she finished, she exited the stage.

"A beautiful, blonde virgin. I'll start the bidding at 10,000 US dollars!" the man announced. I had to listen to the ou's and ah's of the crowd. I hadn't even drank any of the liquor, but at that point, I needed to throw up.

One-by-one men would raise their hands and the price would go higher and higher. All I could think about was that little girl, and her parents, and her siblings, and her teacher, and her life that was being stolen from her for money.

Something was heating up my soul to the point that it burned. I heard about the things sick people would do in trafficking just to raise money, but this was real. It was actually happening. It wasn't a movie or a book, it was real life. It was disgusting and sick. It was the worst thing I had ever seen in my life.

"Sold for 156,500 US dollars to Shadow!" the announcer exclaimed. I looked over to see an old, fat white man smirking—Shadow—of course, they'd use code names. Everyone was applauding for him, including Viktor.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Viktor asked me, curling his arm around my waist.

Drunkenly, I giggled.

I was thankful for the interruption as the bald guard appeared again. Since Viktor was so close to me, I was able to hear exactly what he whispered, "I found them. They've been watching from the west side."

"I have to pee," I groaned. Turning to Viktor, I pouted enthusiastically.

"No," Viktor stated.

I giggled, falling back against him clumsily. "Whoops!" I exclaimed. "I'm going to pee..." I smiled proudly. "Right here!"

"Vance, take her to the restroom. Do not let her out of your sight," Viktor demanded.

I giggled as I stood up on unsteady feet. Vance grabbed onto my arm and walked me toward the restroom. I pretended to laugh at random times or clumsily bump against him so he'd think I was too drunk to do anything on my own—much less run away.

As we walked, I made eye contact with Saint. His eyes followed me, but thankfully he didn't make a move.

After a few seconds, we were outside the women's restroom. Thankfully, there were barely any women in the entire building.

Drunkenly, I bumped into Vance again, only this time, I succeeded at grabbing his phone and hiding it in my bra. Vance stepped into the restroom to check for any windows or people. When he noticed it was empty, he turned to me.

"I'll be out here," he said. "Hurry it up."

The moment the door shut, I ran into a stall and pulled out Vance's cell phone.

243568

I quickly unlocked it, and immediately went to his settings. I searched until I found his IP address. Thankfully, my bra was a few years old so I was able to pull the wire out of it and carve the IP address of Vance's phone into the stall.

"Hey! Hurry it up in there!" Vance shouted.

I flushed the toilet and threw the wire onto the floor. After taking a deep breath, I walked out of the stall and toward the door.

I cried like a drunk little damsel in distress would do, "I have a problem."

I leaned against Vance so I could skillfully slip his phone back into his pocket without him detecting a single thing.

"I started my period," I sobbed. "I don't have any pads and my panties are all bloody!"

"Please..." hiccup. "Please go get me something to use! Tell Viktor..." hiccup.

Disgust was evident on his features as he looked at me.

"Oh, my God! I think I'm about to-"

I gagged and ran back into the restroom.

It only took a few seconds for the sound of his footsteps to retreat. I sighed. I turned toward the mirror to look at my reflection. My eyes were puffy from all the crying I had done, and there were bags from stress and sleepiness.

The door opened again.

I was just about to go on pretending to be too drunk to do anything when I turned to see Saint. My eyes widened as he walked up to me.

"Little Red," he began.

All the tension in my body melted away at the sound of his voice. It hadn't been that long since I last seen him but it felt like forever. He grabbed ahold of me and led me into the big stall where he pushed me against the wall.

"You have no clue how much I wanted to kill that fucker for touching you. I was five seconds from blowing up this entire club until I saw him with you, Angel," Saint said. "And I realized something..."

"What did you realize?" I asked breathlessly.

He curled his hand around my neck like it was a necklace. I would be a liar if I said it wasn't my favorite piece of jewelry that I owned.

"You really are a genius, Angel. You're too damn smart." He chuckled darkly. "So, tell me how long have you been manipulating me like what you're doing to that son of a bitch out there?"

My heart literally skipped a beat. I felt the tug in my chest. I had two options —lie or be honest. Saint was smarter than he seemed. He was more observant than the average man. He could see right through me now.

"You thought my uncle only taught me how to hack against the biggest criminals in the world without teaching me how to survive?" I smirked. "There's no way you believed I was that stupid and naïve, Santino. Even I know you're smarter than that."

He licked his lips, his eyes flashing to my own.

"You're not as innocent as you made yourself out to be. You played me," Saint stated.

"You tried to break me," I seethed.

"You were too fragile," he defended.

"I was already broken!"

He stared into my eyes. I only continued to stare back. It was like he was searching for something that I could no longer show.

"You just acted like this shy, scared, submissive little girl to manipulate me into what... feeling sorry for you?" he questioned, he grows pulling together. His blue eyes were blazing in rage.

"Yes. I purposely slipped up when I was obtaining information about you. I knew you would come to find me. I needed back up when I found my mother and seeing as you were the most powerful mafia in Chicago, who was desperate in finding Viktor, I chose you. Truthfully, I didn't know Viktor had my mother. It just so happened to be a coincidence. It was a survival tactic to be someone you can use and mold into whatever you wanted me to be, Santino. Men like you, whether you think so or not, don't like people who are more powerful than them. You wouldn't have trusted me so easily. I had to be shy and submissive because it was what you wanted," I explained.

"Was all of it pretending?" he asked.

"I-I—"

He slammed his palm against the wall. "No more of that fake shit. Be you! Be exactly who the fuck you are and don't you lie to me!"

"No, not all of it was pretending. The moments when I felt like you were most genuinely you... those were the times when I was most genuinely me," I answered honestly. "It was never my plan to feel like this every time I'm around you."

He looked like he was searching my eyes for something—maybe he was trying to detect a lie but there was none.

"Don't act as though I was the only one pretending to be someone I wasn't. You were, too," I said.

"Now, tell all of your men to stand down because I know you are about to shoot up this place. I actually have a plan to save my mother and every single girl he has locked up. I'm taking Viktor down," I demanded.

Saint pulled me in. He pressed his lips against mine. I couldn't fight the urge to kiss him back. My arms curled around his neck as he cupped the bottoms of my thighs to lift me so I could wrap my legs around his waist.

"You outsmarting me is really fucking turning me on," Saint whispered against my lips.

I chuckled against his lips. I could feel his hard-on pressing against me, and a quiet moan surpassed my lips.

There was a knock on the door, forcing my eyes to widen. I completely forgot about Vance.

I groaned loudly.

"Don't come in here! It's really bad!" I shouted. "Oh, my God! I think I'm constipated!"

I tangled my fingers into Saint's hair and pulled his face closer to mine where I tugged on his lip with my teeth. He rolled my dress up past my hips.

"I hate this dress," he whispered.

"Take it off me," I dared.

—

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I was going to do Saint's POV, but I feel like Reyna was more fitting for this chapter. Stay tuned for the next :smirk:

question: were you surprised to hear how reyna literally manipulated the system to work in her favor? told y'all she's a genius.