Hope grabbed the sheets off the bed, and ran them down to the living room. She turned on the big gas fireplace, and threw them in once the fire began to ignite. As she sat in front of the fireplace, she held her knees to her chest. She watched as the sheets were being consumed by the roaring flames.

What have I done? She thought as tears welled up in her eyes. Hope just sat there, and watched the flames completely engulf the evidence. Her uncle was right, the bottle was evil, but she wondered if he knew about the genie. It seemed like he was going to expand upon that at dinner, but John had interrupted.

Hope's full attention was concentrated on the fire. She watched until there was nothing left of the sheets. Perhaps setting them on fire was a bit extreme, but washing them would have been pointless anyway. There was no way that the stain could wash out, and even is it did, she would always know that it there. She just could never bring herself to sleep on those sheets ever again, anyway.

After turning off the fireplace, and making sure she had completely put out the fire, she went back up to her room. She looked at the bottle on the nightstand. She went over and picked it up, as she studied it closely. Anger, and rage soon built up in side of her.

"Rapist bastard!" She cried. As she threw the bottle across the room. It hit the wall, before hitting the floor. But to her surprise, it didn't shatter into a million pieces. As she made her way over, she couldn't believe her eyes. How could something so fragile, and delicate still be in one piece?

Hope burst tears, not knowing what to do. She then went over, and picked up the bottle. Hope carried it to the study, that doubled as her father's office. She took down a giant picture of a meadow, that was hiding the wall safe. She then placed the bottle in the safe, slammed the door shut, and locked it. she had no idea what the combination was, but it didn't matter, she never wanted to ever see that bottle ever again!

The safe was actually unlocked, because it had never really been used. In fact, as she looked back on her life, it was almost as if no one ever really lived in this house. But a lot of it had to do with the fact that her parents traveled a lot, and were never really home. The rare times that her parents were home, during her Christmas break, they hardly ever noticed her existence.

They rarely talked to her, and instead of a kiss or a hug goodbye, it was mostly a smile with a nod of acknowledgement. A couple of years ago, they had thrown a Christmas Ball. She remembered putting on airs, and pretending to be a close nit family. That was probably the most time she had ever spent with them, and she and her father even danced together. But most of the night was just a sad reminder, that it was all just an illusion so her parents could impress people of high society

But that was the party where she met her father's lawyer, John. She remembered how handsome her was, and how kind he was to her. While most of the party guests including her own parents, seemed to ignore her, he actually came to talk to her. He even asked her to dance.

She remembered being in his strong arms, and how safe and perfect it felt. But at the time, he was twice her age, so she knew nothing could ever come of it. However, if she had allowed herself, she could easily have fallen in love with him. But in all likelihood, that was probably true of any woman who came in contact with him.

She remembered all of the women at the party practically throwing themselves at him. Even the married ones, and the ones who came with dates, were also trying to get close to him. Every woman except her own mother, as she seemed to avoid him most of the night. Well, at least that meant that her parents loved each other, even if they didn't love her.

But then her father had to ruin everything, after she and John finished their dance. Her father immediately told her that it was way past her bedtime, and and told her to go to bed. She was sixteen, not six. But she begrudgingly left the party feeling completely embarrassed. She couldn't even look at John. Well, if he didn't notice how much younger she was then him before, he did at that moment.

Hope let out a sigh, as she wished that was her biggest problem at the moment. Now she was afraid of the genie that seemed to be stalking her. Perhaps she could meet with her uncle for lunch, maybe he could tell her more about the bottle. Maybe he would know what to do.

She was also supposed to have dinner with John tonight. Maybe John would know of a safe place to keep it. Normally she would wait for him to call, to apologize. But she wanted to make sure that he would still be available to meet with her. But she would ask her uncle about what exactly to do with the bottle, before talking to John. If she told John why she wanted to get rid of it, he might try to have her put away.

As she looked at the clock, it said 10 AM. Had that much time really past? She figured by now John would likely be in his office. She picked up the phone on her father's desk, and dialed the number that had been in his Rolodex.

"John Beckmann's office." The sectary said as she pick up the phone.

"Hello, I'm Hope Chamberlain." She replied. "Is Mr Beckmann available?"

"Let me check." The secretary replied. However she forgot to put Hope on hold, as she could hear the secretary mumbling to herself. "Probably some cheap bimbo who tried to pick him up last night."

Hope was taken aback to say the least, perhaps the secretary just wanted him for herself. Either way, she was just going to let it slide. It wasn't worth it to her to try to get the woman in trouble. A few seconds later, she could hear someone picking up the receiver on the other end.

"Hello, Hope!" Exclaimed John. "Oh my god! I was just about to call you! I am so sorry about last night! I was rude, and judgmental, and I know I embarrassed the hell out of you. I should have kept my feelings to myself. I guess I have always wanted to protect my clients, and well I probably over reacted. Could you ever forgive me? Let me make it up to you, if we're still on for dinner tonight?"

"It's okay." She replied. "I was mad, but there are a lot more important things for me to get upset about right now. Could you just pick up some take out, and bring it here? I have a lot to discuss with you."

"Hope?" He asked. "Are you okay?"

"I-I'm fine." She replied. "Why do you ask?"

"You just sound upset." He told her.

"I just have a lot on my mind, that's all." she replied. "With my parent's death, and everything. I just have some decisions to make, a lot of it has to do with my future."

"Okay', he replied. "But keep in mind you are only eighteen, and you are still in high school. There's a reason that your trust fund is in my hands until you turn twenty one. Perhaps any big decisions at this time can wait a few years. But I would like to come over, so I can try and make up for last night."

"Well let's just see how the evening goes." She told him. "What time tonight?"

"How about seven?" He asked.

"Sounds great." She told him.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

John couldn't help but smile, as he hung up the phone. He was going to see his precious angel tonight, perhaps she might feel the same way about him. He leaned back in his chair, and thought about her beautiful smile. All of a sudden, there was a knock at the door. He let out a slight groan, in annoyance, that someone had interrupted his train of thought.

"Come in!" He ordered. As the door opened, his secretary walked in wearing the most revealing office appropriate outfit in existence.

"Here are those files you wanted." She practically cooed. The secretary smiled as she leaned over his desk, as her exposed cleavage left little to the imagination. Could this woman be anymore pathetically obvious?

"Thank you, Sheila." He replied as he took the files from her hand.

"Is there anything else I could get for you, Mr. Beckmann?" She asked as she leaned forward with a come hither look in her eyes.

"You could get off my desk, and get back to work." He replied with little to no emotion in his voice. She had a wide eyed look of astonishment in her eyes, as if this had been the first time any man had turn down her advances. Her face went stoic, and she quickly left his office in a huff.

That's what I love about my angel. He thought. She isn't some cheap slut, that throws herself at any man with money, and power.

He then opened the file, as his eyes began to scan through it. As he continued to read, a sly grin soon appeared upon his face.

"Well, well, well, Mr. Davenshire." He said to himself. "It seems that a lot has happened in the last sixteen years."