Like a child caught doing something wrong, I felt a tinge of panic and guilt at being seen in a motel with another man. I didn't do anything wrong per se, but that look of intense disapproval on Gio's face made me want to apologize for something. I had no plans to tell Gio what I was doing but how I'd be able to do that without looking incredibly guilty was beyond me. Suddenly, that glass of cheap wine I was drinking earlier seemed to be a necessity.

Great going, Rei. Try getting out of this one.

With a puff of breath, I squared my shoulders and approached. I'd just wing it, as always.

Mr. Grumpy Face straightened, opened the passenger car door, circled to the other side and went inside the Mustang without another word.

Rude. Watch me get a taxi. I huffed.

The sudden feeling of unease was back.

Swiftly, I turned around and spotted a shadow in the background dodging for cover about twenty meters away. I would have pursued if I had not caught Gio giving a signal to the man. It was a very slight motion of his hand but it was unmistakable.

No wonder I was feeling uneasy the whole night. He had me tailed! With another huff, I went inside the car and fastened the seat belt on. He drove off without another word.

I didn't know a lot about relationships, but I did know that if your partner was angry, you should be equally angry or angrier. This was as per Ms. Yin's standards. So I folded my arms over my chest and sunk into the seat.

I saved his freaking reputation. That's what I did! Granted, he did not know that yet, but still! He has no right to be angry. He was not the one who had to touch Baron!

I sulked some more.

And he had the gall to have me tailed! Like he didn't trust me at all!

Inside my head, Ms. Yin threw her hands in the air in exasperation.

Ugh. He's being ridiculous. He has no business having me under surveillance. I am the freaking Reaper!

Ms. Yin nodded while I crossed my legs and pouted, keeping my face averted from Gio.

"Why do I feel like I am the one in trouble?" Gio's brow shot up as he gave me a stinky side-eye.

"Because you are," I growled. "Tell your people to stop tailing me."

"Not happening. After tonight?--" Gio snorted mockingly. "Not happening."

The car, which I thought was already going too fast, suddenly lurched forward and gained more momentum. Gio made a sudden turn that made my body swerve in the opposite direction.

Geezus. I'd be really pissed if, after everything that happened, this will be the cause of my death.

"What are you doing in that motel, Nyan?" Gio's face turned serious. He looked at me and for a brief second, I saw insecurity etched on his face. Suddenly, the guilt was back again.

I blew out a breath, took some of the printed photos, and showed them to Gio. His face scrunched up in puzzlement and I realized I should probably explain more.

"Baron has been blackmailing me, so I took care of it. I told him that if he won't let up, I'll release this on social media."

Gio looked at the photos menacingly. "Is that Gab?"

I took the photos from him. "Yes, he helped me."

Gio rolled his eyes. "Next time, just tell me. If he gives you more trouble, tell me as well."

"Fine, I will. I planned to tell you, but I forgot all about it."

Gio nodded. He fixed his attention on the road again. His shoulders relaxed a bit, though the tension in them remained palpable. "Let's talk about this some other time, okay? I know you're not telling me everything.

Sheesh. I rolled my eyes. "Fine."

The car slowed down a bit and within the next second, Gio was parking the car on the edge of a road that overlooked the city below. I gasped at the sight. Miles below us, the city shimmered invitingly, dotted lights flickering along with the reds and yellows of moving cars which contrasted deeply with the surrounding darkness. The city bustled despite the hour of the night, ironically eliciting a yawn from me.

Gio reached out and made me lean my head on his shoulder. "I go to this place when I want to de-stress. Being high-up, seeing everything, makes me feel like I have control of what is happening."

I nodded sleepily. He and Musa share the same love of heights, I mused.

Gio was silent for a while. I could feel the worry rolling off of him in waves. "Is there something on your mind?" I couldn't help asking.

Gio took a while before responding. When he finally did speak, his voice was more somber. "Quin and I will have to go overseas for a convention, then I would need to attend some business matters abroad. I will be gone for a month. Will you be okay?"

He looked at me with eyes filled with worry. I knew why. He was the only one who could silence my nightmares. His presence chased the voices away. He knew that.

Inwardly, I felt something flutter as I basked in his attention. His concern for me warmed up my insides but at the same time, guilt welled up. I was always making him worry and I doubt I'd stop anytime soon.

"I'll be fine, but can you not have me tailed or tracked? It stresses me out. It puts me on high alert subconsciously." I raised my hand, still with the tracker ring on it which Gio made me wear at all times now. "If there's trouble, I'll turn this thing on, I promise."

I doubt I would be able to pull off what I was planning with his men tailing me. I needed to get them out of the way. I gave Gio my sweetest smile. "I'll behave, I promise."

Gio's arms tightened around me. "You never do, Nyan. But, fine, I will. I'll call you twice a day. Answer it. Otherwise, I'll assume you ran into trouble."

I nodded as he kissed the top of my head.

I giggled. "Forehead kisses, am I a grand--"

Gio cut off the rest of my words as he covered my mouth with his, coaxing it open. I obliged and received his deep, lingering kisses.

Gio's car sped off after dropping me in front of my apartment building. I stared at the entrance in a daze, my heart beating as if I'd just run a marathon. My lips, which were a little sore and tingly due to Gio's attention, must have been etched in a goofy grin.

My hands touched my lips and the goofy grin widened. Gio collected his month's worth of kisses, for sure.

Geezus, she lost it, Ms. Yin said.

She did, Mr. Yang agreed.

If my internal voices agreed, I basically knew I was screwed.

Pushing the thoughts of Gio at the back of my mind, I refocused on what I had to do. Gio and Quin's absence was unexpected, though very much welcomed. It also meant all my plans would have to be pushed at the forefront, starting tonight. I could not waste any time, especially since I had no idea how much work was entailed and I needed to finish setting everything in a month.

With the urgency of the matter back in my veins, I dived into work, starting with purchasing the needed materials. For this, I had to take out my laptop, fully secured and highly maintained, and sent an encrypted message to one of my contacts in the underground market. This move alone would send ripples across the streets about the Reaper being active once again. Within an hour or so, my inbox would be flooded with orders and requests. This would get me in trouble with the Inspector, but that was a problem for another day.

I grimaced at the total cost of my purchases. Granted, that I had transferred considerable sums from Hugo's bank accounts to mine when I hacked his laptop before, but still, seeing my outstanding balance dip considerably made me a little sad.

By two-thirty in the morning, I was done with my preparations. I had zipped up my black leather jacket and put on my baseball cap. Finally, with DeathScythe in my grasp, I went out of my unit and got Blue-chan---my Kawasaki Ninja 1000 motorbike and the first love of my life, repaired after Baron slashed its tires. It was a spill-over from my previous Reaper activities.

Going out of my building as the Reaper was not a very hard feat since this building had no CCTV cameras installed and there was no soul awake at this hour, not even the very hardworking security guard.

Blue-chan zoomed past the empty metropolitan streets at a speed that could rival Gio's reckless driving, the cool midnight air rushing past my body and opened visor in a thrilling manner. The exhilaration made me press harder on the throttle, giving me more speed. I missed this. I missed the thrill of the chase. I missed being the Reaper for real.

With a sharp turn that had my knee almost touching the ground, I put Blue-chan to a halt in front of a residential building, one that is adjacent to Musa's Main Facility. It had slightly more floors than Musa's building.

Pro-tip: If you have an evil scientist laboratory, don't build it near a building with low security.

The residential building had open common area balconies on different floors, the lowest of which was somewhere on the fifth floor.

I was in a pretty good mood, the adrenaline pumping in my veins as it should. I remember scaling walls like this for at least a hundred times, singing a cringy song in my head: Easy peasy, are you ready for me? Reaper's knocking, are you quaking? Locks won't stop me, I'm going in, baby. I sighed a little. The glory days now passed. Focusing my attention on the building once again, I noted the little protrusions in its facade.

Sometimes, building architects exchanged security for aesthetics, and that was the case here. I mean, all those ridges made decent footholds. With a hurl and several upward kicks against the wall, I grasped the ledge of the third-floor balcony and pushed myself up. From there, it was not hard to access the elevator to the top floor of the building. Within minutes, I was looking down the roof deck of Musa's Main Facility, about two meters away and three floors down.

Gio was right. Being so high up made me feel like I was in control. As if I had an overview of the situation. As if I was in possession of the strings to dictate the situation.

Nothing was farther from the truth though. Anything could go wrong. However, I consoled myself with the fact that I was no longer going in blind, unlike before.

Peering closer, I could see a silhouette of a man roving the roof deck. Creeping into the shadows, I waited until the man's back was turned, took several steps, and jumped down the building, rolling several times on impact to cushion my fall. The man spotted me and was instantly alarmed. With two big strides and not a second more, Death's hilt connected with the man's skull. He lost consciousness soon after. For a while, I debated whether I should let him live, but decided against it. I remember him being present when I was chained. He had fun tugging at my broken wrist.

I positioned the man's body on the building's railing, placing a small alarm near his ears. He will fall to his death once this is over. His death will, as per official records, be classified as a suicide.

Taking the man's ID and security passes, I proceeded to enter the Main Facility. From there, it was just a matter of avoiding the CCTV cameras which I could do without much effort.

I hid behind a wall when another security personnel approached. Still and silent, I waited for him to pass by my hiding spot, drove Death's blunt edge at the back of his skull and snatched his body into my hiding place before it fell.

I then located the nearest desk, and very carefully, and still avoiding the CCTVs, made him sit on the desk. I arranged his body so he would look like he was just sleeping. He will wake up to a terrible headache.

Within a half-hour, I was again in the basement, traversing the same halls where I fought Cruz. The memory of my previous fuck-up was still fresh from my mind and I could not help the chills that erupted within me. I could not fuck this up again. I wouldn't survive it, and in the off-chance I did, I wouldn't be able to forgive myself.

With silent footsteps, I approached the room which held the human experiments from before, almost afraid of what I'd find there. I was positive, however, that Father was no longer here. Ran has kept the bugs running, for whatever reason. Perhaps to annoy us. But this place had been devoid of any activity.

I was hoping, however, that the files and system would still be here. It was not that easy to move entire databases, at least the hardware, and that was what I was after.

The room was still locked, which is a good sign. Musa had also reinforced it. This made it harder, but not impossible, to jimmy the lock. Opening the door, I sighed with relief when no decaying and suffering humans greeted me. The only thing left was the steel beds and the built-in supercomputer at one corner of the room, with screens encompassing half of the length of the entire wall.

Armed with Uncle's fingerprint, who I learned was newly working at this very facility through a news article, I accessed the database and copied all the information I needed.

Then I pressed the button for the alarm which I placed near the unconscious man at the roof deck and waited for hell to break loose on the streets above.

It didn't take long. The horrified screams of the pedestrians grew louder and louder, and within minutes, even sirens were blaring upstairs. With everyone's attention diverted, I exited the building.

After the break-in, I was once again on the move. Producing a list of the scientists and researchers under Musa's employ, I began tailing them, starting with those nearest my location. I had no time to waste and it was not like I could sleep anyway.

There were fifty scientists and researchers. I could tail and track ten of them a day. This was a tall order, even for the Reaper, but I could not rest unless I had them all under surveillance. It was a race against time since Musa, for whatever reason, could learn of the security breach anytime.

It had now been five days since my break-in into Musa's Main Facility. Five days of non-stop work and sleepless nights. Thankfully, though, the bugs still registered non-activity in the Main Facility.

I staggered back to my apartment past midnight after tracking the last of the researchers and scientists.

I did it.

With deep satisfaction, I watch all of the fifty trackers come alive on my laptop screen.

I plopped on the bed with a groan, heavy lids shutting close despite my mind's relentless barrage of nightmarish images. They mostly came at the end of the day, at the silent of the night, when no task was left undone.

My body begged for rest.

My mind wouldn't let it.

I jolt, horrified, at the image of a knife plunging at soft flesh, repeatedly, as blood gushed out and spilled onto the ground. Screams after screams rang inside my skull. Begging. Pleading. Again and again, repeating the same darned lines.

Wearily, I shifted my attention to my alarm clock. It was thirty minutes past midnight. At least I slept for half an hour, huh? Better than nothing.

Taking my laptop and a bottle of wine, I sat on my study desk. I did not even bother with a wine glass. I drank straight from the bottle. I learned that the wine could drown out the voices. Plus, sometimes, if I got drunk enough, I could even sleep for several hours.

I opened the studies done by Musa's lab on the energy spheres. There were at least twenty main researches conducted, each having hundreds of pages of research. I read them, at night, when I couldn't sleep anymore, committing their details to memory. Then I'd delete those I've already read. I've been doing this for the past five days--track people during the day then read on the research at night.

Wearily, I let my eyes drift from one page of the research to another. I didn't have to understand them, I just needed them stored in my memory. I took particular note at one serum they developer though--the RNY505.

Several hours in and my head began to throb. My hand found my temples and massaged them. I took another swig of the wine and realized I had finished the entire bottle.

Groggily, I took another bottle and sat on my desk again. A glance at the clock told me that it was nearly six o'clock in the morning.

Aside from the papers written, I noticed there were videos too. One particular video caught my attention. It was grainy and muted. The time stamp placed the event thirteen years ago.

My hand clasped my mouth in silent horror when I realized who I was seeing.

It is him.

Dad.

It felt like my heart got ripped out of chest as I watched them beat him into submission. Him, who was already a broken man at that point. I was frozen where I sat even though I inwardly screamed at myself to stop watching. I felt every blow as if it was delivered on my own body.

I snapped out of my stupefied state when I felt bile rise, and I sprinted towards my sink. With a heave, I spilt the contents of my stomach--not much, but the acidic taste of wine lingered. I washed my mouth and my face with cold water as the grim realization of what I had to do descended on me.

Tears sprang anew.

Oh my God. I--I can't do this. I can't.

If I didn't, however, I should say goodbye to my Dad forever. I had come so far. I had done so much. If I back out now, they'll... he'll...

Bending over the kitchen sink, I let myself go. Sobbing at the comprehension that my worst fears were right all along.

The images from the video mingled and collided with the events of that night, when they tortured him right before my mother and I--to make a cruel point, and apparently, they didn't stop.

For thirteen fucking long years.

They beat him into submission.

I hurled a mug--the nearest within my reach--at the wall and watched it shatter into a thousand pieces.

I'll fucking make them all pay even if that's the last thing I'd ever do!

Dark energy snaked from my very core so unexpectedly, I wasn't even able to control its outpouring. Suddenly, it burst out in one violent explosion that the other ceramic clattered together and broke into pieces.

Some of the shards got embedded on my flesh as I sunk onto the ground, drained. My eyes fluttered for a moment before finally succumbing to fatigue.

Ugh. The images won't upload. I hate you, Twattpad.

Woot. Somethings got revealed. Woot.

Ish going into hiding,

RF

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