*Charlie's P.O.V*

There are two hands in the safe.

"Get gloves, a hammer, and a knife," Leo utters.

When I return with the items, he wears the gloves and starts hammering the knife through the tattooless, fisted hand. As a line of blood emerges, I frown at its strange, crystallised nature.

"Dad used some weird chemicals," Leo mutters, hammering at the thumb. When there is a cut halfway through, he presses his body to the thumb, tiptoes, and then makes a swift -

"Oh -" I look away just as bone cracking resonates. Leo exhales, and there's another crack sound.

"Leo -"

"It could be in here. Wait." He sounds dead. I watch his eyes slant in concentration.

Another crack. The thumb falls. Leo picks it up and laughs sadly.

"What is it, Leo?"

"This," he peels a little skin to show a Ben 10 pen drive.

I frown. "Yours?"

Leo nods, staggering away from the hands. I follow him to his room, where he plugs it into his laptop.

After some seconds of scrolling through films, he finds a video with a black thumbnail. Leo clicks.

His Dad appears, smiling.

"If you see this video, it means you are disobedient. I told you to stop your silly investigations, but you didn't. You thought you knew better than the man who raised you, huh? Well, you don't."

Then, the hitman moves the camera upwards, bringing to view a naked teen boy sprawled on his desk. "I thought you would come home early like the first time, but since you haven't, here's a little movie to catch you up to speed. Grab some popcorn."

Leo shudders.

His father grabs a butcher's knife. In one hit, he breaks the boy's hand off.

I look away. "Leo, turn it off."

"See how tiny his hands are, and yet he dared to hit you -"

"Leo, please, turn it off."

"No. See." Leo points to the tattoo.

I gasp because it is the same as that of the right hand from the safe.

Leo's dad pauses, looks right into the camera, and says, "You already know I'm doing this because I love you. This is a reminder-"

I shut the laptop. Leo glares at me, but I take off my gloves and hug him.

A moment of heartbeating passes.

"Charlie, don't comfort me. Get out."

"No. I'm not leaving you."

"Charlie, let go -" Leo pushes me off. We stare at each other, and he yells, "Get out!"

I shake my head.

"Dude, are you mental? I got Mordecai killed! Get out!"

"You are not the one cutting him."

"Charlie -"

"Just explain to me -"

"Charlie, GET OUT!" He tries to shove me again, but I am tired of being pushed around.

I pin him.

He kicks and screams, but I won't let go. I won't.

"TAKERU, YOU DESERVED BETTER! THAT MAN DID NOT LOVE YOU! HE TRIED TO BREAK YOU! I WON'T LET HIM BREAK YOU! WHAT LOVE? WHAT LOVE DOES HE KNOW? HUH?"

He freezes. I am just as surprised. Only God knows how that voice just came from my minor throat.

"Sorry ... for yelling," I say, getting off him.

He lets out a sharp breath.

Please. Please, Leo. I won't let you become a monster. Just talk to me.

There's silence for the next twelve seconds, and then - "I went to look for Maria at her club, but Dad saw me and was surprisingly chill about it. He even dressed me up, and we hanged out an-and, then he had a meeting, so I stepped out... only to see some masked guys holding a purse -"

"Mia's purse?"

"Yes. It was stolen, but when I inquired, the guys beat me so badly that Dad had to carry me home."

"Mordecai was one of them?"

"He threw me the most punches... Dad probably saw him cuz later he-h-he showed me this -" Leo's voice cracks. I inch closer, and he says, "No, don't comfort me. You are right. " Then he stands too.

I bring our foreheads together. We stay still for a soothing moment, brief but enough to slow his heartbeat.

"So," he sniffs, "We have proof of Mordecai's murder. What about Maria?"

"I have evidence regarding her and other people your dad killed this year."

"Really?" Leo wipes his tears. I nod and get my bag. Pouring out the papers, I say, "These are the cartel's account hard copies," and reveal the miscellaneous accounts. When I show Leo his father's section, he gets so alarmed that he grabs a pillow and screams. I hold him.

After a while, Leo takes pictures of the accounts, his dad's documents, and the dead hands.

Then, he cries again for about ten minutes and stumbles away.

"Charlie, " he beckons me in the secret home office.

"I'm here."

"Oh yeah - just," he speaks with great concentration on his camera. "The papers in the shelves over there -" He points to that room. "I think we should check them out. Cuz, like, Dad had a lot of papers in the backseat. Like the whole backseat."

"From meeting Maria?"

"... No, Maria was busy then," Leo recalls.

"Wait- how was your dad having meetings in the opponent's club?"

"Hmm, I wonder too." Leo holds his waist. "One was very fat, and he sounded rude... But I barely saw their faces - Oh, the bartender does favours for me. Should I ask him?"

"Urr...?" I worry that may get the bartender killed.

Leo huffs in understanding. "You- ok, what then?"

"Let's look at what we know first." I muse, "Your Dad had some dragons, Mr. Yelstin has a warehouse full of them... and the cartel leader mentioned selling dragons, so, who produces dragons?"

Leo frowns at this. "Cartel, probably."

"How so?" I ask.

"Well, they are killing people more as if to scare competitors away cuz their dragons aren't effective, or?" Leo guesses.

I dwell on his surmise. Leo continues taking pictures until he's in the room of shelves again. "Charlie, I found them!"

Snapped back to Earth, I rush to his side only to see car boot-sized bundles of papers.

He sniffs, "We can do this, though, right?"

"Of course," I say, crouching with him to untie them.

*

We spent the entire night reading and linking the papers with the cartel accounts. By morning, Leo is napping on several reports when I whisper-yell, "Wake up. You were right!"

"Mh ... What?!"

"The dragons are for the cartel! See-" I pull out a paper with shipment details. " Their competitors were -"

"The... pills?" Leo sits on the floor beside me and surveys one document. "The pills from that pharmaceutical company in Russia?"

"... Apparently. Hold on -" I flip through another highlighted document. "So, Mr. Yeltsin bought in bulk from that pharmaceutical before the Interpol investigations started."

"Investigations? Wouldn't that make Mr. Yeltsin lose?"

"No... He got about $1.5 million monthly -"

"HUH?!"

"I know, I know, but it's like this. Yeltsin bought pills for the black market here, but the cartel was already monopolising a bit, so when they realised he was making excessive profit, they demanded that he and Igor would rather sell their dragons for them and take 12% commission. I guess Igor saw the idea as an insult, as he left everything in Mr. Yeltsin's care. So it's Mr Yeltsin that somehow brought about the truce deal. But they are both tricking each other, and - It's like the only person who knows how to do business here is, " I sigh. "Mr. Yelstin. So he should be handling other trades they make in the US, right?" Like selling kids...

"Who is Igor?"

Instantly, I tense. "One of my bosses.'"

"Wait, so like... Wait, Dad said... Is he the one into trafficking kids?"

I nod.

"Charlie," Leo grunts, "I haven't seen anything regarding that in the files..."

*

After taking pictures and downloading the video into two memory cards, Leo keeps one in his camera and the other with his mother.

"Mom, can you hold on to this? It's for Uncle Willem, so give it to him."

"Ok, Takeru, did you sleep last night?" she says, looking at us from her rearview mirror. "Did either of you sleep?"

"Yes," Leo lies.

His mother is unconvinced, but she lets it slide, taking the card. Departing him, I ruffle his hair, and he gives me his brightest smile ever.

I'm right on time for my calculus class. Everyone is giddy. Even Mr. Henley teaches with a beam so big that I think this is a good sign.

When he asks if there is any confusion, the girl beside Rexha raises her hand.

"Mr. Henley?"

"Yes."

"Please, why are you in school?"

"Dear," my teacher cleans the board. "Unless you have a question regarding the lesson -"

"Mr. Henley, we see the new wedding ring," someone says.

"Is it true your wife is a baddie?!" Another whistles.

My sitting partner jumps. "Sir! Is it true she's in Interpol -"

"Ok, pop quiz," Mr Henley sighs.

Instantly, the class goes quiet.

*

After recess, the school plays against Anderson High. I don't understand anything about American football, but I sit with Harry, cheering Josh, who is on the field.

As the game is climaxing, I catch Autumn staring not too far from us.

I mouth, "Is your uncle asking for me?"

She nods.

I turn to Harry and mutter something about a stomach upset. Fortunately, he's too distracted to implore further. I am running to the school gates when Mr. Yeltsin honks for me.

Our ride to his house is awkwardly silent. We bypass all his guards and enter his study before Mr. Yeltsin blurts, "Jawl tricked us."

"Ok, sir."

"I'm not talking about my wife -"

"Ok, sir."

That's when Mr. Yelstin halts. I give him a slight smile. "I found out from the account hard copies you gave me."

There is a fleeting moment where he looks at my lips, but then he scoffs, "Found out what?"

"Their dragons are not worth your money."

He squints. There is another stolen glance, but he shakes his head quickly, grabbing a large file from his drawer. Slapping it on his desk, he orders, "Sit at the far corner and sort these out. I need an account of every single dime that cartel has spent both for production and their dumb killing sprees."

"Ok, sir," I say again. For the next two hours, I sit in the corner, reading and highlighting and realising I should have rested a little. I am yawning when Mr. Yelstin comes to check my progress.

"Hmm..." he hums, standing above me. I ignore his presence, only for his heavy hand to lean on me.

"Aw -"

"Oh, sorry." He immediately lifts his hand off. I shrug to say it's nothing.

"Are you sure? Does... your back hurt?"

"A little, but it's fine, sir."

Yet, the man pinches my shoulder, and before I know it, his hand massages my back.

"Relax," he mutters. I am rather alarmed until he hits a spot on my back, making me gasp.

".You need to take better care of yourself." He kneads my shoulders and back more ... I hate to admit it, but he's good at this -

"Ugh-Stop!" My eyes shoot up at him. Mr. Yeltsin curls his fingers over my Adam's apple and mumbles, "You think I can't kill you, huh?"

I blink at him, and he steps back. "O-urr-I won't, but you have to do me a favour."

There's a pause.

"What favour? More accounts?"

He grins. "No, but I like your enthusiasm for work."

"What is it then, sir?"

Another annoying pause.

"Hmm." Mr. Yelstin sits across from me, to my relief. However, as he takes his time to think of how to talk, I reckon something terrible is approaching.

"Boy, you are smart. So it's a shame that Igor is so... distracted by you. Initially, I thought we could just change your appearance, but after what you did on the plane... huh." He gulps.

I reckon, "You haven't told him."

"Whatever. All I'm saying is that... let him have you for one night."

What?!

"Ok? Just tonight. No vomiting. No begging. No screaming and jeez, no crying! Afterwards, I pledge on my wife's grave that he won't lay a finger on you again."

I look him dead in the eye. He clenches his jaw. "Ok?"

"Ok."

*

"Do you still have to tie me up?"

"He prefers it that way."

"Oh, that's unfortunate."

"Yes, it is," Mr. Yelstin mutters, getting a rope. As he winds it around my wrists, I say, "Please, can I still come here after today?"

"Sure." He chuckles. "I'll teach you how to use our digital systems, ok?"

"Thank you, sir." It's taking everything in me not to find a way to kill this guy right now. I have to think about others, not myself. I have to think about the children they could ruin, manipulate, sell, beat, and abuse for years without anyone realising. I need evidence, so I am not going to shout or cry. I'll wait.

I wait. A guard even enters mistakenly, causing Mr Yelstin to order everyone to get out of the house. He also calls Igor to come for a special belated birthday surprise.

"You'll be fine," he says, giving me a lip balm. "You are going to be a big man."

"I don't care." I rub it on my lips.

"Hm."

"Mhm. Just want to help you, sir."

"Ok. Lie down."

I oblige. Mr. Yelstin kneels beside me, still posing a cryptic face as he ties the role's remainder around his bedpost. "You're really special. You can do this. Only tonight. It's that simple."

I breathe in. Shut my eyes.

Mr Yelstin starts, "You'll be fine, ok. Only tonight, boy -"

There's a bang suddenly. I open my eyes, and my bestie appears, yelling, "DON'T TOUCH HIM!!!"

"HARRY!" I am in absolute horror. Harry smacks Mr. Yelstin's head with an iron again, but the man falls backwards, bringing Harry down with him. I try to twist my hand free as Mr. Yelstin elbows Harry's ribs. More cusses and grunts of pain drown out my yelps until there's another, more deafening bang.

A gunshot. The culprit screams, shooting again -