After two more hours of driving, we finally arrived at our destination. The time inside the car was spent with boredom and awkward tension that we could all feel, including the driver. He drove away after Cage finished telling him something. A very large stack of money may have also exchanged hands during their conversation but everyone else ignored it, so I tried to as well.

I had to keep reminding myself who they were. They were the Chicago Crows, a dangerous mafia with international criminal activity and the kings of underground illegal arms dealing and the drug ring. They killed numerous people and corrupted the lives of many important politicians. They were billionaires who had stacks of money and boxes full of guns. They were monsters, fiends with global records that would sentence them straight to Alcatraz.

The place Cage so desperately wanted to go was very dangerous for them, considering who they were. It was a tall, metallic silver hotel building in the middle of the city that was so tall I could barely see where it ended and where the sky began.

"Micheal, this isn't safe." I caught up to him. Nick and Heath had already disappeared through the double doors. Cage was walking ahead, not at all concerned with the fact that he was a wanted criminal mastermind and there were people walking around. "What if someone recognizes you guys?"

"Relax, November." Micheal chuckled softly, holding the door open. "No one knows what we look like. Besides, Cage has...an agreement with the manager of this building. Trust him. He knows what he's doing. We've been playing games with the CIA for ten years. This is what we do, November. This is the life of Cage Vickers. He's twisted, but he's brilliant."

"I just don't want to be associated with any of you. I want to go back to my life in Ivey with a story that my sister will believe. I'm not going to sit down over dinner and explain to her that I was accidentally kidnapped by one of the most dangerous..." I trailed off, catching sight of the sheer complexity of the building.

The outside was pretty, but the inside was even prettier. The place was empty but that made it even more amazing to look at. The lobby was in a theme of gold and deep purple, with purple plush carpets and shimmery golden curtains that caught the light of the twilight that was falling over Chicago. The ceiling was dome-shaped, reaching up so high that I couldn't make out the paintings drawn on them. There was a seal on one of the walls that read Luna Lofts with a silhouette of a crow beneath it.

Wow. That was so subtle.

Cage appeared beside me and captured one of my wrists in his large hand. A tingle went through my stomach with the unexpected skin contact. He waited as Nick ruffled through the reception desk and gathered a couple sets of keys. He threw one to Heath and one to Cage.

"What are we doing?" I asked curiously as Cage led me to an elevator. It was a tight fit with the five of us. They were all enormous. I rested my cheek against Cage's arm, trying to suppress a yawn. I must've looked real dumb trying to do that, because you can't really suppress yawns and I yawned anyways, so really it was a wasted effort. The exhaustion was finally getting to me as the adrenaline of the day was wearing off.

"Romeo cancelled." Cage announced out loud, but it seemed as though I was the only one who needed to hear it. His henchmen, as I decided to call the lovely Micheal, Heath, and Nick, were always synchronized with his brain waves. "He'll be here tomorrow morning."

Slowly, the elevator began to make its way up. After a couple of floors, the elevator stopped. The doors opened, and I walked exactly two and a half steps out before Cage grabbed the back of my jacket and pulled me back in. Nick and Micheal stepped out into the hallway. There was a window at the end of the hall with a stunning view of the city.

"Goodnight, November." Micheal waved.

"Goodnight?" I repeated, starting to worry.

The doors closed again. Heath didn't look up from his phone at all until the elevator stopped once more after moving up ten more floors. The doors opened and he stepped out, not bothering to look back or say goodbye. I tried to subtly follow after him but Cage noticed and pulled me back. Damn, maybe I wasn't as keen as I thought.

"Excuse me." I nervously tapped on Cage's shoulder even though we were the only ones left in the elevator. It kept on moving upwards and didn't stop. The sign above the door showed that we were passing the 15th floor.

"What?"

"Why are we going up so high?" My palms started to clam up. "I hate heights. I hate them even more than math or spiders. Is this really necessary? To go up so high? Are we going to the top floor? Because I saw how tall the building was when we were outside and I don't know about you, but there really is no way you are dragging me up to the goddamn clouds. Have fun trying to use the elevator when SWAT arrives."

Cage sighed. "November, calm down."

I hit his arm angrily. "Don't tell me to calm down, Cage! I am calm. I'm not going to be if you take me to the top floor and push me off the balcony."

"I'm not going to push you off the balcony." He growled. "It's very tempting, but I'm not going to do that. My loft is on the top floor because on the roof, there is a helicopter at our disposal if we need to leave quickly. And the area is surrounded. By windows and walls. To protect us from falling. It's no different than the first floor. Also, there is something I want you to see."

The elevator stopped, signalling my death. We were on the 20th floor, which was ridiculously high and a completely unnecessary place to live. We might as well have booked a bed in Heaven. Cage exhaled sharply and walked into his temporary home, taking his coat off.

The living room was as grand and expensive-looking as I had imagined. Doors led further down the hallway, but I was too awed to notice anything else but the sight in front of me. When I first came to Chicago, I was taken aback with the sheer complexity that existed in one street. This didn't do the view any justice.

One of the walls was made up of entirely windows, presenting the magnificent view of Chicago. It was a floor to ceiling setup so nothing was gone without being seen. The carpet was a soft tan, matching the ceiling. There was a thick column on either side of the wall with lights indented near them.

I made my way to the window, completely awestruck. Skyscrapers looked tiny from where I stood. Bright lights lit up every building as far as the eye could see. Cars moved down the streets, only mere specks. The sky was setting with a brilliant hue of purple and blue, the purple quickly disappearing and being replaced with the dark night sky and stars. From here, I could see Chicago. Not just a small part of it, but everything. My words didn't do anything justice. Chicago at night was one of the beautiful sights I had ever seen. For a moment, I was speechless.

I didn't know how long I stood there, staring at the old city, until Cage touched my shoulder. "November." He said quietly, standing beside me. He, too, was watching the world go by. "This is my life. This is what I do. I've done terrible things but at the end of the day, I always think that it was worth it. I have the world in my hands. We live a limitless life. There are no boundaries. I know you hate me, November. But please don't hate what I can give you."

"What you have achieved is because you hurt others. Their pain is what your empire is made up of. You don't know how many lives you've ruined to have what you do. Is that justified, Cage?" I whispered back. "Is knowing that someone's life is completely destroyed to make yours better justifying your privilege to run this city?"

"You don't know anything about me." His voice turned dark, almost accusatory.

"I know that you're a monster, Cage. I know that much and it's enough. You made yourself a king by abusing others."

Cage turned away, scoffing angrily. "Everyone would do the same if they were in my shoes."

"But they would have morals!" I snapped, a lump rising in my throat. This was overwhelming. Yes, the life that Cage led was filled with limitless opportunities. But that didn't make things right. "You lost yours, Cage. You're empty." My words cracked. "You have no emotions, no feelings that gives you the right to call yourself a man. You don't have a conscience."

Cage's eyes were dark with rage. Being alone with him was terrifying even though he never hurt me. But Cage Vickers had a temper and I was about to be the breeze that pushed him off the cliff. He grasped my chin angrily and bent down to make sure I heard every whispered word. "If I had no conscience, you'd be dead right now."

He was so absolutely serious. Nothing in his bright green eyes, bright like jewels not in the way of beauty, but in the way of stone, hinted that he wouldn't do what he said he would. Nothing about the cold hard set of his jaw with the teeth clenched inside them showed any mercy. I marveled at the thought that I'd come this far without any harm. Had anyone else completed a feat as great as that? To mock Cage Vickers and stand before him still mocking without any retaliation? Or rather, a more curious question: why didn't he kill me yet? Anyone else who did half of what I'd done to him would already be in the ground, so why not me?

What made me the exception?

"If you did, you'd let me go." I spat back into his face.

Cage pushed me back gently, his fists clenched. After a moment of tense silence, I gathered the courage to speak again. "Who made you like this, Cage? How can your mentality be so corrupted? What happened in the last ten years to make you so cold-hearted? There's a reason why you're so fucked up."

"November, go to bed."

His brazen reply lit the fire to my anger. "Go to bed?" I repeated. "Why don't you go the hell, Cage? This is going to end. I'm not going to let you drag me around for the rest of our lives. This-" I motioned to the everything around me. "-is your life. Not mine. And I don't plan on joining yours anytime soon. You will take me back to Ivey one way or the other-"

"In a body bag or your own two feet?"

I ignored him. "-and I have nothing to lose, Cage."

"You have your sister."

"God!" I threw my hands up in the air and turned away, beyond frustrated. It was an instinctive response. I couldn't bear to look at something that pretty but that evil any longer. I was seething. My teeth were grinding themselves into bone dust. "Is that all you have to use against me? My sister? Do you really have to hurt my family to hurt me? Why not just hurt me, Cage?" I whirled around, furiously glaring. "Why don't you just get rid of me? Wouldn't all your problems be solved if that happened?"

"No." He was deathly quiet. "It would just create more."

"Oh, please. What's one more murder to a serial killer?"

"Do you truly have a death wish, November, or do you just like to play games?" Cage growled, slowly stepping towards me. He paused when we were less than 5 inches away and bought into my view his favorite toy. Cage touched the tip of the gun's barrel to my chin to exemplify his terrifying point. "You're right. Your death would mean nothing to me. Your sister's death would mean nothing to me. I don't give a damn what happens to you, November. Is that what you want to hear? You want an in-depth analysis on my lack of emotions? Do you want to stand here and convince me to change my ways and become a better person because you're so fucking delusional about this idea of happiness and love and bullshit?"

"No."

Cage turned away. I could see his shoulders heaving. There was a moment of thick silence and then finally, after the longest time, Cage asked wearily, "Then what do you want, November?"

"I just want to go home, Cage. That's all."