*Hands over two Oreos and a tissue*

I rang the doorbell of my house, expecting a commotion which is exactly what I heard.

I heard several footsteps before the door was pulled open by a disheveled Ryder. His eyes landed on me and widened immediately.

"Miles..." He breathed out, taking in my tired form and the very prominent scar on my cheek.

I was suddenly pulled into the house and in a warm embrace.

I melted in Ryder's arms and closed my eyes, taking in a deep breath.

"Why Miles? Why does this always happen? How many more times would I have to see you beaten up?" He mumbled in my hair.

I didn't answer him because after what happened today, I didn't really have an answer. Instead, I just tightened my arms around him and he sighed.

"Hey, stop hogging my sister." Alec said, almost like a symbolic reminder that I can't just constantly be at peace.

When Ryder didn't move away, Alec sighed. "Dude, I need to check her wounds."

I heard Ryder sigh and slowly move away from me. His eyes didn't meet mine but I didn't miss the troubled look in his eyes.

I felt a finger flicking my forehead before I could fret over the weird vibe I got from Ryder.

"Ow! What the fuck?" I glared at Alec who was looking at me with a stern look.

Alec rolled his eyes and helped me settle on the couch in the living room.

"I thought you went there to talk." Lex asked, settling beside me. "What happened?"

Ryder was leaning against a wall opposite to where I was, Alec was tending the small wounds on my arms and face with a clenched jaw and Lex just looked seconds away from having a panic attack.

Mom and dad weren't home as usual and I rubbed my temples as the events from an an hour ago flashed through my mind.

"Well, are you going to tell us what happened?" Alec snapped, pressing harder on the wound on my cheek, making me wince.

"Hey..." Lex said, in a warning tone, directed to Alec.

"I don't know where to start." I sighed. "I called Alex King right after Lex showed me the note that she found in her room..."

*****

*Two hours ago*

"What the fuck does this mean?!" I exclaimed bursting into the very familiar office of the gang.

"Welcome, my dear." Alex said, with a sickly sweet smile.

It was then that I noticed that he wasn't alone. He was standing by his table with his hands in his pant pockets and one of his feet on someone's head.

My eyes widened as I looked at the man lying on the floor, covered in blood.

He followed my gaze and removed his foot from his head. "Oh don't worry, he's not dead, he's just taking a nap."

He pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped the blood off of his hands. "Please take a seat."

I gulped and tried to keep my face emotionless when I saw two men drag the unconscious man out of the room.

He seemed oddly familiar, even though I couldn't see his face.

I noticed how his face was covered in so much blood that it was impossible to see any of his features, except for his blonde hair.

Strange.

"Darling?" His sick voice said, making me clench my jaw.

I quickly walked towards his desk where he was now seated and slammed the piece of paper on the table. "What is this?"

I glared at him as I noticed the smirk on his face slowly widen. "Just the reaction I expected." He said and started clapping like a little kid, on a sugar rush.

As soon as Lex handed me the paper and told me that she found it in her bedroom, I didn't waste a second before calling Alex.

To say that I was mad would be an understatement, I was furious. My sole purpose of making a deal with him was to keep my friends out of this.

He answered immediately as if he was waiting for my call and told me he'd send someone to pick me up, so we can talk in person.

Ryder was against this and tried to come up with any other solution. That obviously didn't work.

"Take a seat, Miles." He repeated, making me clench my jaw.

"No, thank you. I'm not here to have a chat with you." I gritted out. "I need answers."

Alex chuckled, picking up one of the bloody set of knives off his table and started wiping the blood off of them with a silk cloth.

"Whatever suits you."

I know for a fact that I'm significantly outnumbered so I need to be smart and try not to worsen the situation.

There were more than a dozen guards just outside the office and there were two other people in the room expect Alex and I.

Jack stood by the door, being the one who brought me here, blindfolded. Not gonna lie, I was pretty shocked by how carefully he led me to King.

I couldn't help but wonder where Luke was, as there stood an unfamiliar guy in his place behind me.

I gulped but managed to keep my face void of any emotions.

"We made a deal." I said, in a much calmer tone than before.

I might not be scared shitless, but the guy has a knife collection right in front of him.

"I'm fighting for you, as promised to help save your gang and in return all you had to do was leave me and my friends out of this gang shit." I said, my tone harsh but low.

Alex was quite for a moment before he placed his knife back on the table and raised an amused eyebrow at me.

"First off, I made no such promise to you." He started, getting up from his chair. "Secondly, I hate it when people hide things from me."

I stopped my eyes from widening when I registered what he's implying.

Does he know?

"I'm here for answers, not riddles." I stated, narrowing my eyes at him.

Alex smirked with no amusement in his eyes.

"Very well then. Let's get to the point." He placed his hands on the table, leaning on it. "How do you know Diana?"

I couldn't help the wavering of my eyes as the slight panic set in.

"She's one of my opponents." I lamely said, trying to buy myself some time.

"And that explains why you've been meeting and training with her for the past month?" He said, raising a suspicious brow at me.

I scoffed. "Do you have nothing better to do, than stalking teenage girls?"

"You're not just any teenage girl, are you?" He smirked. "Now, back to my question. How do you know her?"

"I told you, she's an opponent, that I just decided to train with." I shrugged. "More importantly, how do you know her?"

I narrowed my eyes at him as the cogs in my head turned. "It can't just be because she's a fighter. She's not even from here."

My curiousity rose on one hand as I thought of how Diana fits into the picture and on the other hand, I was relieved about the fact that he seemed to only know about Diana and not Jacob.

He shot me an impressed look. "Luke was right. You're more than just a pretty face."

"And you're nothing but a scumbag." I responded, instinctively.

I heard someone's hitch of breath from behind me.

He shook his head, before crossing his arms over his chest. "Now now that's not the way to talk to your key to get out of this mess."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "What do you mean?"

"I have one last job for you." He said, his face void of emotions. "If you manage to do this, you'll be free. The deal will hold no power and you and your friends will be out of my radar."

I tried to make sense of his words but I didn't get anywhere. He has a chance to win a literal fortune as half of my fights are still left and he's willing to let all of that go.

There has to be a catch.

"What's the job?"

"Do you agree to do it?" He asked without missing a beat.

I frowned. "You want me to say yes to a job before even knowing what it is?"

"Isn't it only fair?" He shrugged. "I'm granting you your freedom for this. I'll leave you and your little circle of friends alone. And if you don't, you're gonna have to work for me for a much longer while than you'd expect."

I gaped at the audacity of this nincompoop. "And you want me to believe you? How do I know you're not lying and that you'll keep your end of the deal this time?"

I noticed his eye twitch and realised that I'm slowly getting on his nerves, but I kept going on.

"How do you expect me to trust a gangleader who isn't brave enough to reveal his actual identity?"

"What?" He raised an intimidating eyebrow.

My lips curved up into a small smirk as I tipped my head to the side. "Am I wrong, Mr. Alex Knight?"

What happened next, happened so fast that my eyes almost couldn't follow.

I felt a whoosh of air on my cheek and caught the metallic shine of something silver in my eyes, before I quickly moved my head to the side.

My breathing grew ragged as a moment of silence passed. The feeling of blood dripping from my cheek made me realise that Alex had thrown a knife right at my face.

I moved just in time and the knife ended up scraping my cheek.

My eyes widened as I looked back at him only to be surprised by the sudden impact of his fist connecting with my jaw.

"This is exactly why I can't be nice to anyone." Alex gritted out. "Grab her."

"What?" I let out a cynical chuckle. "Embarrassed to admit that you were a failure as the oldest son of the Knight empire?"

I winced as arms latched on to mine pinning them behind me in a painful angle.

"You listen to me. And you listen to me good." Alex seethed, gripping my chin. "You work for me, Alex King and you are going to do exactly what I tell you to do."

My gaze hardened as I jerked my face away from his dirty hands, spitting out blood on his pants.

They were white, by the way.

"No matter how many times you change your names, blood remains the same. You're still a man-child trying to become better than your little brother." I scoffed

He clenched his jaw before landing a punch directly in my gut. His rings dug into my skin making all air being knocked out of my lungs.

He then grabbed my hair pulling me up to his level. "Maybe you've forgotten the position you are in, Miles. It won't take much time for me to kill off those pathetic friends of yours. So, it would be beneficial for you and your friends, if you stop being a bitch and be of some use to me."

I stopped struggling and glared up at him.

"I'll take your silence as an agreement." He smirked, pulling my hair further but I didn't wince and continued to glare at him.

"You're definitely a tough shell to crack, Miles. I don't know what that Ryder guy sees in you."

"Don't say his name with that filthy mouth of yours." I gritted out, while he chuckled.

"Then we agree, you do my job and I'll leave your pretty little lover alone." He said.

I gritted my teeth. "What do you want?" I asked, hatred dripping from my tone.

His eyes lost all amusement as he looked down at me with a sadistic smile.

"I want you to bring me Diana's baby."

*****

*Present*

"WHAT?!" Lex shrieked, standing up from beside me. "A baby?! He wants to drag a little baby into his stupid games?"

Alec sighed, pulling Lex towards him and on his lap. He enveloped her shaky hands with his own.

"You can't do that, Em." Alec said, looking at me intently.

That wasn't even an option.

I have no idea what Alex's sick mind is up to this time and I'd be damned if I end up dragging an innocent baby into this mess.

I didn't say anything and continued to look down.

I, obviously didn't tell them the whole truth. I left out the part about his hidden identity and the fact that he's using my friends to threaten me into doing this.

The only things that's in our favor right now is the fact that he doesn't know about my alliance with Jacob Knight, Alex's little brother.

"I know." I sighed rubbing my temples.

I noticed how Ryder said nothing all this time and sat silently on the couch opposite to me.

"I have a way out. It's risky but it's something." I said.

"What?" Lex frowned.

"Jacob. He has a plan." I said. "The only difference is that we can't wait anymore. It needs to be done now."

I was about to fish my phone out of my pocket when a voice cut me off.

"It's not as casual as you make it sound." Ryder said, with his troubled eyes fixed on me.

I furrowed my eyebrows. "I never said that it's casual, but we need to take action now. We don't have much time."

I noticed Ryder's jaw tick. "It's not a play you can perform or a song that you can just sing. It's a life threatening situation, Emily."

His tone was harsh and there was a restrain as well. It almost felt like he was at war with himself.

And he called me Emily...

But he doesn't know that I don't really have a choice, I need to take this risk as it's the only way I can make sure that they're all safe.

"I don't care, I-"

"I DO!" He yelled, startling me.

He got up from his seat as his breathing grew ragged. I was shocked at his sudden outburst and just gaped at him.

"Ryder..."

I noticed Alec trying to move from the corner of my eye but Lex stopped him and shook her head.

"I won't sit here and watch you get hurt." Ryder said, looking defeated. "I can't."

I frowned before my eyes slowly widened in realisation. I looked into his eyes for answers but what I saw was pain and defeat.

All over again.

A lump formed in my throat as his words registered in my head.

"Ryder..." I breathed out, but I couldn't speak any further as, the lump in my throat was so big that it made me all choked up.

"You have no idea how much it hurts me to see you all bloody and beaten up. I feel useless because I never even got a chance to protect you." He stopped to take a deep breath and I did the same. "I went through shit when I lost you the first time."

I could see the moisture forming in his eyes as my own vision slowly grew blurry.

"I don't think I would be able to take it, the second time."

By now, we were the only ones in the room as Lex had dragged Alec away.

"So, you're- you're just gonna walk away?" I said, trying not to choke on my words but it hurt so much.

Everything hurt. My throat, my cheek, my abdomen...

"You leave me no choice."

...and my heart.

I looked away from him as a lone tear escaped my eye.

"Is it really necessary?" He asked, scrunching up his face as if he's in physical pain.

"Put yourself in my shoes. Would you be okay with watching me constantly hurt myself?" He said walking closer to me.

No.

He watched me with desperation in his red eyes and I'm sure my eyes didn't look any different from his.

I have to. I need to. I don't have a choice. I love you too much to put you in danger.

I wanted to say so much to him but I couldn't. It's ironic how one person made me turn into the same vulnerable little girl, I was three years ago.

"I would know that you must have your reasons." I said, biting my tongue to somehow stop the tears from falling.

He shut his eyes and his shoulders sagged.

"Well, I guess I'm not as rational as you are." He said, before looking down at me with so much pain in his eyes that it physically hurt to look at him.

That's the moment I relived the pain from three years ago but this time, I wasn't the only one.

Why do I feel like I lost him even before he could be mine...

*Author's note*