After storming off, I soon realized that I had no clue where I was going so I went back and followed Cage. He didn't say anything but bristled with both amusement and annoyance when I came back. We were walking down flight after flight of stairs. I had no idea how granted I took the ability to walk properly until now, where each step caused a flower of pain to blossom up in my left foot.

Cage was walking a few feet ahead of me. I stared hard at his back, wondering if he could feel the force of my eyes. Turns out he couldn't and I probably looked like an idiot. Unfortunately, I was under the conclusion that no one could see me until I noticed the security cameras on the ceiling.

"I have to pee." I said, unnecessarily loud.

Cage didn't even bother turning around. "Wait."

"I can't." I made myself sound very squeamish. I really did have to pee but I was planning on pulling the classic 'climb out the window when no one's looking' thing. With my ankle, I couldn't get far. But I could at least get away. "I had to ever since last night."

''November, you're going to have to wait." Cage repeated coldly again.

"I'm hungry."

"I don't care."

"My ankle hurts. I think it's broken." I tried again.

"Good."

"You wanna go get some Taco Bell?"

"No."

"You wanna-"

"One more word, November." Cage growled. "Say one more word. I dare you."

Thankfully, I held my tongue from all the other insults waiting to float out and get me into a world of hurt. As we went into the deeper floors, the temperature dropped, but the surroundings got nicer. More and more expensive equipment came into view, like security cameras and sensory padlocks. There was even a little baby tree in a potted plant in the corner.

Time to mull over some previous knowledge I knew about the Crows: Cage Vickers was a billionaire. That was one of the few things we had heard about him from the news. The cocaine smuggle across the Mexican border was one of the few things that earned him the big bucks. Years and years of selling drugs and unregistered weapons that even armies didn't have to rich criminals internationally only added up to the Crows' horrific resume of crimes and wealth. Not to mention the numerous casinos, hotels, brothels, even an airline registered under a pseudonym, but whose capital was fed directly to his bank account. The Crows also had reportedly dappled in assassinations- the more important the politician, the bigger the pay.

He had the looks, the youth, and the power to bring any criminal empire in the world down to its knees.

That's why the CIA was so desperate to find Cage, or at least a Crow that could give them information. But we had also heard that being recruited into their world was almost impossible. News coverage on such failed undercover FBI missions was thorough in detail to the public, always ending in the death of the agent. With such a past, a single mistake could bring them crashing down. If there was one thing I had learned throughout all of this, it was that the Crows were ruthless and controlling. It was either their way or death.

And absolutely no witnesses. No one had ever lived to tell a tale about the Crows. Several years ago, a man had come forth bearing physical documentations and evidence of one of the crimes committed by the Crows- proof that they imported over five million dollars worth of methamphetamine into California, whose bust was inevitable but deadly. In the shootout, 11 police officers were killed and the cargo managed to remain in the possession of the Crows. Two days before the case was due to the Supreme Court, the man was executed while leaving his home with a single shot to the head. His testimony was reported to have been the final nail in the coffin for the case, but with the witness dead and the documents reported missing, there was nothing to be done to end the Crow's reign of terror.

I was a witness.

Cage suddenly stopped in front of a metal door and typed in the serial code to the locking system. With a very serious click, the door buzzed open. I was flabbergasted, truthfully. I was the first person to ever be inside the Crow headquarters who wasn't a Crow.

I stared in awe. The room was practically an entire home. Silver barrels of gunpowder were stacked around the spacious area. Weapons and guns hung around from the wall. In the corner, there were unpacked stacks of money. Millions upon millions of dollars just sitting there. There was a black police gun and a hand grenade sitting on top of it. Security cameras decorated the ceiling. There was even a metal tack board with rifles strung upon it. It was exactly as impressive as I had imagined it.

Micheal appeared beside me. Cage had disappeared as soon as he opened the door. "This isn't even a quarter of what we really have." He muttered. "You haven't seen Cage's house yet. If you think this is cool-"

"It's not cool, Micheal!" I was lying. It was pretty cool. "It's illegal. And dangerous. One spark and this entire place goes up in flames. Are we underground?"

"Yes. We have buildings underneath the entire city of Chicago. It's like a city under a city. We operate in different buildings each day as a precaution. The grid of our headquarters run under the sewer lines. No one's suspected anything for a decade." He sounded proud.

"And I am here for what?" I turned my hand like that Information Desk Person emoji.

"To water his crops." Micheal chuckled. "What do you think, November? He'll either kill you or give you an offer that you can't refuse. Seriously. You can't refuse it because then he'll kill you. If I were you, I'd try to go for the second option. I mean, if you value your life, you will. Your sister went into labour, by the way."

When Micheal went to walk away, I grabbed the sleeve of his jacket and dragged him back. His last sentence was so casually said that I didn't believe I heard him correctly. Cage reappeared through the door, stepping carefully over a trigger point that was strung across the threshold.

"What did you say?" I growled.

"Your sister, Fern?" He asked innocently. "She went into labor a couple hours ago."

Shoving Micheal back, I stormed up to Cage. He was wrapping gauze around his bleeding hand. He didn't even bother looking up. "What, November?"

I pointed an accusatory finger to his chest. "You made me miss the birthing of my niece! You-"

Cage snapped his head up. His dark green eyes were held fury and untapped anger that I didn't want to experience the full force up. Looking straight into his eyes, I could see why so many people were terrified of Cage Vickers. He lacked emotion and simple human empathy. No one else could be so cold and so intimidating.

Scared, I lowered my finger and averted my eyes.

"I am going to say this one last time, November." Cage bent his head towards my ear, making sure that no one else but I heard what he said next. His lips brushed my ear and each word held a concise amount of rage made me instantly regret everything I had done. "Such a brazen attitude does not work with me. You are pushing every limit I have. You can ask Heath what happens next, if you live that long. Now shut your mouth and behave. I told you I wouldn't kill you, but I will go back on my word."

I bit my tongue hard enough to draw blood. It was so hard not to punch him in the face right there and then. Out of respect for my own life, I kept my mouth shut and watched as he wrapped more gauze around his palm. We still didn't know how he cut his hand. At least, I didn't.

"Two things." I forced myself to smile even as I thought of how Fern must be in so much pain and even more stressed now that I was missing. Cage glared at me again but let me speak. "One, I have to pee. Very badly. And two, how did you cut your hand? You went to get rid of my car, which I still don't appreciate, and then when you came back, your hand was gushing out more blood than me on my period...how?"

He let out a deep breath quietly. "You had a Swiss army knife next to the gear shifts. I mistakenly grabbed it when I put it into drive."

I was still butt-hurt over losing my car. "Well, that's your fault, isn't it?" I snapped without thinking.

Cage thankfully ignored it and went back to bandaging his hand. Heath called his name and he walked away, but not before whispering something to Nick who was scrolling through a transparent-looking tablet with lots of graphs on it. While I was debating whether or not to make a run for it, Nick walked over.

"Um." He seemed nervous. Nick wouldn't look at me, but at the ground instead. He had a nasty scar behind his left ear. "Hello. I'm Nicolas, but you can, um, call me Nick. Cage asked me to accompany you to the ladies room. You know...if you still need to go. I mean, I don't know. Would you like for me to take you?"

I felt bad suddenly. Nick was nice. But he was a Crow, he was still one of Cage's confidants. When I did make my great escape in the bathroom, it would be Nick who would take the blame for letting me get away. And Cage Vickers didn't play well with others. He was the kind of person who went straight to murder when someone messed something up.

I nodded. Nick nodded back. After a moment of awkward silence, he began walking towards a door. I followed his footsteps exactly, even the way he stepped over a tripwire to make sure I didn't accidentally kill myself. He lead me through some twisting tunnels with white plaster walls and security cameras in every possible corner.

Finally, we arrived at a door.

It was a nice door.

The door to my escape, of course.

Nick looked flustered. "Um, there you go. I'll wait out here while you...you know."

"Thank you." I nodded.

He nodded back.

I smirked and went inside. The bathroom looked like a hotel bathroom. It had a theme of gold and white, with several stalls and potted plants in the corner. The mirror took up an entire wall. The lights in here were bright, illuminating every single one of my facial flaws. That little freckle under my eye, the smudged mascara, my entire left eyebrow missing...you know, the usual stuff.

I bent down, tied my boots tightly, and began to start the process of what became known as ''November's Great Escape As She Disappeared Like A Ninja Away From Cage Vickers And The Crows."

Except there was just one slight, small, minuscule, uncalculated, tiny, itsy bitsy problem with my escape plan.

There were no windows.