Vegas sat in the dark cell, his back to the wall and his head between his knees as the look of closed-up irritation on Pete's face kept replaying itself, over and over again. He didn't even care that his jaw felt like it was trying to dislocate itself. That was nothing compared to the cold reaction Pete had had to Vegas.

Because without the safehouse, Pete wasn't Vegas' Pete. Without the safehouse, Pete would never have been warm to Vegas. Without the safehouse, Vegas was the enemy. For a second... for a very tiny second, Vegas wondered if he should have just gone ahead with the old plan and-

No.

Porsche wasn't in the prison cell when Vegas gained consciousness. Vegas would have set him free two days prior, if this went according to the way Vegas remembered it. But he hadn't. And yet, Porsche wasn't in the cell. The only other person was Tawan, who, like Vegas, was cuffed to the other corner of the bars. Because the news of Porsche's incarceration had been a lie. Kinn never lost trust in Porsche, like Vegas had believed. It was a ruse to flush Tawan out.

"You're working with Tawan," Pete had said. Which meant that by the time Vegas had taken Porsche from the cell, Pete and Kinn and everyone in the main family knew about Tawan's involvement with Vegas.

It would have solved so many of his problems if he'd known this before he'd run away with Porsche. Because, Vegas would have known that the frame-up wouldn't work. He would have known that Tawan failed and Kinn was onto them. He would have known that the whole plan was shit to begin with.

And Vegas would have done so many things differently.

That didn't matter, though. He had to remind himself why he was doing this. Vengeance wasn't the point. Victory over the main family wasn't the point. His father was still alive.

The urge to take all he knew and conquer the main family was still strong, bubbling beneath the surface. Because he could. Vegas knew where to turn left, when he'd previously turned right. He knew what had gone wrong. He could change it all, this time around.

He clenched his fist to remind himself why he was doing this. His father would probably go crazy if he knew what Vegas was about to do.

"They're probably voting on whether or not to kill you," Tawan said, voice filtering through the dark cell.

Vegas knew that. Chances were that they'd all vote to kill him. He was a thorn in their side. The only reason they would keep him alive was out of curiosity. To know why he'd come.

"Why did you protect him?" Tawan asked. "What game are you playing, Vegas? Please talk to me," his voice cracked.

"Just keep your head down and maybe I can get us both out of this."

"They'll never set us free."

"They will if you shut the fuck up."

Tawan whimpered, going silent as the door to the building opened and someone switched on the lights. Vegas stood as soon as he saw Pete enter with Kinn following behind.

"Why did you turn yourself in?" Kinn asked.

"I want to make a deal for me and my people's safety."

"The people who've aided you against the main family."

"Yes," Vegas said honestly. "I want a clean slate and as a show of good faith, you should know that Ken is my mole. Right now, he has Chay."

Kinn hissed, taking a step towards the cell, but Vegas held up his uncuffed hand.

"He won't hurt him. He's bringing Chay here."

"Why did he take him in the first place?"

"Because it's not safe for Chay out there."

"Because of you."

"I'm throwing in the towel, here, Phi. Meet me halfway."

Kinn frowned, thinking about it, before he nodded slightly.

Vegas had prepared a speech. One that included as much as he could tell about everything that had happened, and everything Kinn was planning.

Kinn had known about Vegas' involvement with Tawan before he'd sent Pete. Which meant that Vegas' cover was blown anyway. But at least, this time, he didn't take Porsche. He didn't have Big killed.

That had to count, right?

"So," Kinn said, folding his arms over his chest. "I'm supposed to believe that you saw the future: one in which you and your father died and now you've come back to what? Bury the hatchet?"

"Yes."

"I don't believe you."

"You are planning to send him to my place. When that happened before, I captured him."

Kinn and Pete shared a look.

"I don't plan on sending him anywhere. I have all the information I need."

Maybe not yet. Maybe when Vegas freed Porsche, it triggered Pete's mission, but without Porsche's escape, there was no mission planned. And if that wasn't going to happen, Vegas realized, then a lot of other things wouldn't happen, either. Vegas had to take this from business to personal.

"You have a tattoo on your hip," Vegas said, looking over Kinn's shoulder. "No legacy is so rich as honesty."

Pete's eyes widened in shock. A new reaction that wasn't bitter distrust. Vegas didn't know he could cling to something so mundane as that look on Pete's face.

"You'd never read "All's Well that Ends Well" until I gave it to you."

"What's that?" Pete asked.

Vegas chuckled, his heart swelling as he remembered the day he'd dropped a Thai translation of the book in Pete's room, pretending he forgot it there.

"You saw the quote on a mug your grandmother gave you for your thirteenth birthday and you clung to it."

"How do you know that?" Pete asked, the shock on his face slowly began being replaced by distrust again.

"You told me."

"I would never-"

"You used to be a boxer and your father hit you because of it."

Pete's shock morphed into confusion.

"Most of my bodyguards were boxers or martial artists," Kinn said. "That's not a wild guess."

"Your father hit you because he's a failure, right?" Vegas asked Pete. "You won your first match and he still hit you."

"How did you...?" Pete asked, moving closer, as Kinn stopped him.

"Pete told you that?"

"Yes."

"Why would I tell you something like that?"

"Because you cared about me," Vegas said. "Even after everything I did to you."

"What did you do to me?"

Vegas flinched, his mind revisiting the day he shoved jumper cables into Pete, or the day he flogged him with a belt, or the taser, or the force-feeding.

"I hurt you," he said. "A lot."

"And I still cared about you?"

"I don't understand why you did, Pete."

Vegas wanted to say more. He knew he had to say more because he couldn't just leave it like that. But as he opened his mouth to speak, Kinn turned away and marched up the stairs.

"Pete, please," Vegas said, realizing that he was losing him again.

Even though Pete hesitated, he left as well, shutting the door to the prison behind him. Vegas blinked the tears in his eyes away, looking at the door where Pete had disappeared through.

"I need you to tell me this is part of some elaborate plan," Tawan pleaded from where he'd sat quietly on the floor.

When Vegas turned to him, there were tears streaming down Tawan's face, from very red eyes.

"It's not."

"So, you and Pete..." Tawan trailed off, letting the unspoken statement hang between them. "I risked my life for you because you said you were going to marry me." His lips quivered. "Did you ever mean that?"

Vegas didn't have the words for this conversation. Especially since he'd developed the capacity to feel the things he knew Tawan was feeling. Because when he looked at Pete, Vegas didn't see the love he'd seen before. This was the real Pete. Just like this was the real Vegas.

And knowing that Tawan's heart was breaking into a million pieces didn't make Vegas feel anything for him.

Just the way Vegas knew that Pete felt absolutely nothing for him.

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The lines about Shakespeare were inspired by a Tumblr post by @ameliarating