•

•

•

•

Nova hated taking the subway; she much preferred taking the bus instead. After finishing her shift as a waitress in a bar, she took the train back home. She had been anxious to get off work because she was meeting with someone. The train was a bit crowded, but she was glad she was able to get a seat before they were all occupied.

With her head leaned against the seat, she sighed and checked her watch again. She knew she was going to be late. Maybe she shouldn't have made her manager kept her for a while, and the person she was going to meet might assume she wasn't going to show up, so she sent a quick text to her.

Nova glanced at the person sitting next to her; an older woman wearing a dress and a hat. She was sleeping and snoring a little bit, her bag sandwiched between her arms protectively. Next to Nova was a businessman, dressed in a suit and reading a newspaper. Everywhere she turned, there were different people enjoying different things; teenagers listening to music on their iPods, playing games or chatting with their friends; businessmen and businesswomen were either reading newspapers, talking on the phone or looking through their phones; parents were trying hard not to get annoyed at their kids or talking to them. Everyone was going on about their business, so why was this man, standing a bit far from her with his hands on the railings looking at her?

She had noticed that he had been looking at her for ten minutes, and every time she made eye contact, he would pretend to look somewhere else. Nova knew he was watching her? Why would he? He didn't look like the type of man that she knew; he was big and packed mean muscles. He had tattoos all over his arms and neck with a few inked on his face. Nothing about him was familiar. Everything about him screamed danger. So she avoided looking at him again, clutched her bag to her chest as she tried to calm her beating heart.

When the train came to a halt, she quickly followed people out of the train, but spared a quick glance at the man again, finding him looking right back at her. He still hadn't moved or made any attempt to get off the train. Even when the doors closed, he was still watching her. Nova didn't release a breath until the train had started to move again and she was assured the man hadn't gone off it.

In the evening and almost every other day, the subway station was crowded, but the sound of the train moving always rang in her ears, tuning out all the people. She started to walk amidst the crowd, brushing her shoulders with others as she passed them.

Suddenly, she knocked into someone, but before she could apologize, he was already walking away and the only thing she could see was a grey hoodie.

Nova started to walk down the tunnel, checking her phone for a text message but there was nothing. And once again, someone pushed her, and Nova almost went down to the ground if she hadn't gotten her balance back in time. Angrily turning around to confront the person, she was only met with their back; again, someone wearing a grey hoodie. , she thought when fear clutched her heart. A lot of people wore grey hoodies. There was nothing to it. It couldn't even be the same person.

Even though it might not be anything, it didn't stop Nova from walking fast, trying to get far away from the train station. Suddenly, adrenaline flooded through her as she turned abruptly to stare at the platform behind her. A man wearing a grey hoodie that covered his face was leaned against a wall, watching her. Her heart pounded and chills ran through her. She quickly faced forward and quickened her pace.

She could breathe again when she was safely in the cab; releasing a heavy breath with her head leaned against the seat. Her heart was still beating in her chest, but her mind clouded with confusion. What the hell happened? Or had that been simply a coincidence? Yeah, she definitely shouldn't read too much into it. If she obsessed over it, she would just start to lose her mind. And right now, she needed to focus. The only thing she needed to think about was getting the money for Grant. Hopefully, when she meets with this woman, Nova could get the amount of the money Grant was owed or the whole money. Depending on how valuable the items Nova had with her.

The address the cab dropped her was right in front of an antique shop with a vintage welcome sign. There was a chime of bells as the door shop opened, voices of customers discussing pieces, floorboards creaking and soft clinks and thumps as items are sorted or moved. The shop smelled of wood, dust and old things. There were painting carved frames hanging on the walls, narrow walking aisles with table displays on both sides, antique wood cabinets filled with figurines, dolls, collectible plates, and china plates; statues, masks, and carvings from different cultures and countries, exotic wood jewelries, religious statuettes and symbols lining mantels and bookcases.

There were so many things in the antique shop and Nova headed straight to the counter with rare items under glass and a cash register. There was a woman behind the counter, showing and discussing bronze candlesticks, so Nova had to wait until the woman was done and she wrapped the purchase, handing it over to the customer.

Nova approached her. "Hi."

The woman was old, wearing so many pieces of jewelry around her neck and wrists. She smiled at Nova with slight crooked, yellow teeth. "Hello, what can I help you with today?"

"Are you Eloise? I'm Nova. We talked on the phone earlier?"

Recognition flickered in Eloise's eyes. "Ah, yes. I remember. I thought you weren't coming." She arched a brow. Nova mumbled a quick apology and Eloise responded, "I got the items you sent. Let me bring them out and we can see how much they're worth." She walked around the counter and into a door Nova assumed was a storage room.

Eloise came back with a large bag that she dumped on the counter, unzipping it and slowly bringing out the items inside. Nova felt like bouncing on her feet as she anxiously rubbed her hands together, biting her lips slowly. Eloise inspected the watch she was holding in her hand carefully before she looked at Nova.

"For this watch, I'll give you six hundred. It's a little bit worn out," she said.

"Six hundred?" Nova repeated, dishearted. The watch was worth more than that to her. It was her dad's watch that he inherited from his father. If Nova didn't need the money desperately, she wouldn't have sold it. Damn Grant. Most of the things she was selling today were from her parents. Neither of the items deserved to be sold. The rest of the items were mostly china plates, figurines and old coins that her father had collected over the years. Her great grandmother's jewelry and pearl hair combs. Each thing she sold took a piece of her heart.

So far, she made three thousand and seven hundred dollars. And by the time she sold two more items, Nova had five thousand and two hundred dollars. It wasn't what she hoped for, but it was progress. When she left the shop and took a cab back home, Grant called her.

The atmosphere in the cab hit strangulations level when Grant face appeared on her screen. "What the hell happened?" she choked out in dismay.

Sitting hunched over on a chair with a large bruise on his right eye and left cheek, he mumbled, "They were waiting for me when I got home."

"Who?" she spits out in anger and fear, her heart knocking against her chest. Grant looked so bad. He was holding an ice pack to his jaw, grimacing in pain every time he moved his face.

"The people I owe money to. I got back home and I was ambushed by four men. This was a gift from them—a reminder from their boss."

Nova pushed her hair back from her brow and drew in a breath. "Are you alright?" she asked, fighting to keep her voice level.

"Next time I won't be if they don't get their money." Spiky dark hair and vivid brown eyes shot through the screen with burning worry.

The tension in Nova buzzed. The realization that the next call she would get from her brother might be from the cops informing her that they had found his dead body. She didn't want to think about that. She didn't want her brother dead, no matter how much he was disappointing her. And the men that had beaten him were serious about their money. They weren't good people, and they didn't care about the length they would go to get their money back.

Wrapping her arm around her middle, Nova gave herself a minute to get hold of herself before she pressed quietly, "And what kind of men are they, Grant? I need to know who we are dealing with."

"You're not going to like it."

She had bet that she wasn't. Nova hated mixing with the wrong people. She was scared of them. Of what they were capable of. Obviously, Grant couldn't keep himself out of trouble. She wasn't blaming him. She was blaming the friends he had made through the years.

"Grant...."

"They're part of a gang, okay? They deal in drugs, fake money, and extortion. They're bad, Nova. They're really dangerous and they're capable of murder."

She took a sharp intake of breath. For a horrible second, Nova felt so light-headed she thought she was actually going to faint. She tried for breath but didn't quite make it. "Why...why did you take money from them? Why didn't you come to me if you wanted money?! And ten thousand dollars, Grant? What for? I know I don't make much as a waitress, but I do give you a share of my salary, don't I?" Her proudest achievement had been ensuring that Grant never took a loan from anyone, or resorted to robbery when he lost his job and couldn't get any. She felt responsible for him, that was why she tried to give him anything when he asked, so she wouldn't get a call that her brother had been arrested or killed in a robbery.

Grant looked away from the camera with a tightened jaw. "You didn't exactly make things easier. I stopped asking because I felt like you were tired of it, and you had to give me a long ass lecture about getting a job and depending on myself. You think I want to hear that again from my little sister?"

Tightening her arms across her body in an effort to crush the pangs of hurt she experienced at that totally unfair response, it took Nova a few seconds before she could dare let herself speak. "I was just trying to help you. There was no need for you to take it to heart. And now look what you've done." She felt tears brimmed her eyes. "I'm out here selling our family heirlooms, Grant. For you. Things we should have been cherishing, not selling for money. Those were priceless things."

"They are just objects, Nova," Grant groaned, pulling the ice pack away from his face. "I'm sure mum and dad would not want me dead if we could get the money from the fam."

She sucked in a painfully sharp breath. How could he say that? Did he care about anything other than himself? "Grant, I can't believe you would say that. You can't be so insensitive and selfish. They were worth more than what I got for it."

"So, you got the money?"

"Five thousand and two hundred dollars."

Grant appeared not to be happy about that. "Damn, that ain't enough, sis."

"Well, what are you doing on your end?" she fired with a glare.

"Getting beat up is enough," he choked out. "Look, I'm sorry, okay? I shouldn't have dumped my problems on you. I did a stupid thing, and now I'm sorry that I did—but you gotta help me out, sis. I have got a week left before they come back again. Why don't you get some money out from your bank account?"

"I'm not emptying my bank account for you," she hissed out in a low, disbelief voice, almost forgetting that she was still in a cab. Thank God she had her earphones on, or the cab driver would have heard everything.

"You're going to save my life. I think I'm more worth than what's in your bank account."

"You're kidding me with that, right?" Nova flared in response to that.

Biting out a curse, her brother lifted a hand and grabbed the back of his neck, glancing behind him. He twisted round to aim her a glancing look of remorse. "Look, I gotta go. Please, make sure you have the money. I'm sorry, Nova. I promise this will be the last time," he husked out painfully. "I won't ever disappoint you like this again. Just help me out."

Looking at him, Nova saw their father's hair and their mother's eyes and mouth. The aching urge to hate him almost got the better of her. But what would her hatred do besides pushing him deeper into the messed-up world she wanted to save him from? She wanted to believe he was telling the truth, but it was Grant. His lies and truths were the same things.

It was a little after seven when Nova got home. She turned the key in and walked inside the dark house, turning the lights on as she removed her shoes and dumped her bag on the couch, making her way to the kitchen.

If there was one thing that Nova didn't expect to see, it was definitely Ghost sitting on her stool in her kitchen, a box of cereal and a bowl in front of him. His feet were up on the island, and a glass in hand which looked to be filled with tequila that she had stored away in the kitchen cupboards for when she absolutely needed it. He looked much better than the last time she saw him. Ghost was a man that people would describe as drop-dead gorgeous without making any effort. Nova would have had to be immune to the whole male species to resist noticing the leashed power in his muscles as they flexed beneath the dark yellow of his shirt.

Ghost didn't ooze class or style. Everything about him was not polished and smooth.

She had never seen a man so unkempt, with three buttons on his shirt undone to reveal a narrowing V of his chest, and his hair was messy and all over the place.

He must have felt her presence or heard the front door opening because he looked over at her. Even the devilish smile he offered Nova set her unease as he remarked pleasantly, "Want a drink? I know I'm celebrating something, but I feel like you should join in. Clearly, we're both having a good day," he said, holding up his glass.

If it had been a good day, now it was gone, Nova thought.

And she wished she understood why she always suffered this itchy suspicion that he was taunting her whenever he spoke to her. He had been making her feel like this ever since the first time they had spoken. Even the way he was looking at her gave her the uncomfortable impression that he making fun of her and amused by it.

He was doing it now, holding her gaze with his emerald green eyes that pretended to be friendly, but really were not.

"What the hell are you doing here?" She looked from the mess he had made in her kitchen, to his feet that were still on her island before she growled lowly.

Ghost tipped the glass to his lips and drank from it, making sure to take his sweet time before he answered. "Thought I would let myself in. And you weren't here, so I figured I should wait for you." He raised a brow with a thoughtful look. "Also took your vodka. Went through your things—"

"You went through my things?!"

"I'm not sure if you're aware, but g-strings are in, granny panties are out." He continued to slouch in the chair, leisurely trailing one long thick finger up and down his glass, his gaze fastened on her as though he were imagining what it would be like to stroke that finger along her throat. It was an absurd thought, and she had no idea where it came from. She wasn't used to men looking at her as though they were contemplating doing wicked things with her. "Do you have a boyfriend?"

"That's it!" she screamed, her eyes flashing red. "Get out of my house now before I call the cops."

One side of his mouth curled up slowly into a mocking smile. "You sure do love to threaten me with that. Have you thought that maybe, just maybe I have a dirty cop working for me?"

That was something she didn't even consider or ever thought of. She couldn't even tell if he was telling the truth or not.

​

"What do you want from me?" As he raked his gaze over her, her stomach quivered, and she balled her hands into fists at her side to stop them from trembling.

Ghost shrugged. "I don't know. I'm not sure. I just love seeing you scared out of your mind. I get a rush inside me, you know?"

Nova glared at him. "You're sick, and I'm not scared of you." She was petrified of him. She didn't know him. She didn't know his name. She didn't know what he was capable of, but behind that wicked smile lies someone else; someone only him knew.

"Are you scared of this?" A gun appeared before her eyes, clutched against the hand of Ghost. He tilted his head and studied her reaction. "It's my best friend, my lover. The only thing that brings me pleasure. It goes wherever I go. We tight like that."

Nova's breath seized as her eyes widened. A gun. She had never seen a gun, and something told her Ghost wasn't a holding a toy gun, but a real one. It knocked her breath out, made her took a step back. She saw the triumph light in his eyes. He had wanted this; to inflict fear inside her and enjoy it.

The hairs on her nape and arms lifted as her limbs shook. "T...take that away."

"Why?" he asked, scratching his head with the gun as though it wasn't a dangerous weapon to hold. His eyes held a challenge that she couldn't mistake. Ghost moved the gun away from his head and slowly, ever so slowly, with a mischievous smile directed it inside his mouth, and her breath hitched.

She watched in horrified expression as he kept his finger on the trigger, the gun still inside his mouth as he wore the most shit-eating grin she had ever seen on anyone's face. She stood by her words; Ghost was a sick bastard.

He winked at her before she saw him pulled the trigger, and Nova reacted by shrieking and closing her eyes, covering her face with her hand. She didn't hear a gunshot sound. have heard a gunshot sound. He had pulled the trigger. They should have been a sound.

And there was.

Only a different sound. It was loud and obnoxious, a twisted laugh that enveloped the kitchen and descended in her ears. It took her three seconds before she dropped her hand down and cracked her eyes open. Ghost was hunched over, hitting the island with the same hand that was holding the gun as he continued to laugh.

Her face reddened as she grounded her teeth, pinning him with a frosty look.

He stopped laughing and straightened up, looking over at her. "That was good, muneca." He stood up and put the gun back in his pocket, stalking towards her. He stopped just short and looked her up and down. "I like you. You and I are going to have a lot of fun together."

She continued to glare at him, ignoring her racing heart at their close proximity. Heat radiated from him and it took everything in her not to lean in a little closer. Ghost swept his thumb over his bottom lip before reaching out to brush her hair out of her forehead.

"Yes," he said with a smirk. ""