"What do you want?" I whispered. He stared me down.

"Look at me." His voice held so much authority I couldn't help but lift my eyes to meet his. He walked towards me and I cowered back until my back hit a wall. He kept coming at me and all I could think of was him pulling the trigger with no remorse whatsoever. " You have no need to ever fear me Jessica. I will never hurt you." His voice was softer this time.

He was standing about a foot away from me and I prayed he wouldn't come any closer. "Why do you care whether or not I am afraid of you or not. I thought you liked it when people were scared of you." I whispered the last part afraid of angering him.

"I do." He said roughly. He took a step closer slowly, almost like he was coming towards an abused animal and didn't want to scare it off. Despite his actions I still shrunk back not wanting him to be close to me anymore.

It seemed weird that this whole week I was looking for him, wanting him to hold me again and then in a matter of seconds he made me repulsed by his presence once again.

"You don't know the whole situation or you wouldn't be reacting this way." He ran a hand through his hair and started pacing the room.

"Then tell me the whole story." I said slowly, not completely sure that I really cared what the story was. Murder was murder.

"I can't." He turned around abruptly. "Your just one of the girls. I shouldn't have brought you here. You don't belong here I don't know why I did it." He continued.

I stood there silently while he tried to gather his thoughts. I waited for him to say something, explain, but it never happened. he just started pacing again.

"Would you say something please. Or if your not going to can I leave?" I said trying to not listen to the continuous sound of his shoes hitting the floor.

" No." He turned his attention to me. He stared for a moment then sighed. "Come with me." He strides out of the room assuming I would follow.

I considered my options quickly in my head. I could stay or I could go. Both would have consequences, but I was going out on a whim and guessing that choosing not to go would land me in more trouble than following. So that's what I did. I followed him all the way to his office and even let him shut the door behind me.

"Ok. Now what." I leaned up against the door so I could make a quick escape if the need arose.

"The man I shot earlier.." He ignored my question. "I found out a few days ago that he was part of another mob in Arizona." He looked at me and studied my face to see if I cared or not. "Normally I would just have one of my guys kill him and be done with it. But this particular mob is... Different." He trailed off zoning out.

"Different how Joseph?" I asked curiously.

"They're called Red Edge. They're ruthless, and barbaric, but none of their men are loyal. They take bribes and pay offs. That.." He gritted his teeth together. "Is the only reason they're not at the top. The only reason they're not running the country. Sitting where I am." He stayed quiet for a couple minutes before speaking again. "They kidnapped my mother. They tortured her and when they were done they sent her back to us in pieces." He whispered.

I almost threw up. All over his fancy rug. The image of that would forever be engraved in my brain.

"It broke my father." He went on. "He was crazy. He couldn't stop looking for them. He didn't sleep, he didn't eat, never stopped working, until one day he didn't come home." His voice was hard and cold and held no trace of the emotion that it had when he spoke about his mother. "He left me with this crumbling empire that he had almost destroyed. Putting all the pressure of rebuilding on my shoulders instead of taking it like a man."

" what happened to him?" I said softly. "Your father."

He looked me in the eyes " he shot himself."

I closed my eyes trying not to cry just at the thought of anyone going through all that. "I know this probably doesn't help, or make you feel any better about anything, but my mom died too. When I was 12."

"I was over it a long time ago Jessica I don't need your sympathy." He looked down at the papers on his desk and narrowed his eyes. I sat down on the chair in front of his desk and stayed silent understanding that he didn't want to talk about it anymore.

" you don't need to sit here I'm not a child." He grumbled.

"I don't mind." I picked at my cuticles and crossed my legs, pretending not to notice when he looked up at me. I smiled slightly when he nodded and started signing papers and writing notes.

I watched him as he hunched over his papers and furrowed his thick dark eyebrows. I wondered how many people he had told about his parents. I had only know him for about 2 and a half weeks. I was nothing special so I couldn't help but question why he would trust me with his family secrets. I hadn't trusted him with anything.

"My father cheated on my mom." I said quickly. He froze and looked up at me slowly. "She was devastated, and depressed for a couple of months until she killed herself. I found her in the bathtub. She drowned herself." I focused my gaze on my hands twiddling my thumbs.

I was focusing so hard I didn't even notice when he got up and grabbed my shoulder. "I'm sorry." That was all he said, but I could tell that he was glad that i knew what he was going through. Not having a mother, and then a father that had betrayed everything you had once thought was important.

We stayed that way for a couple of seconds until there was a soft knock at the door. "Boss, Matthias sent me to come and see if you were comin to dinner. We're all waiting for ya." Joseph didn't respond for a moment.

"Yes. I'll be down in a minute. Thank you." There was no response, just the sound of shuffling feet.

I cleared my throat and pushed my chair back and standing up at the same time. "We should probably go. To dinner, you know everyone is waiting for us." He nodded slowly while holding my gaze.

"Yes. I guess we should." He looked downs and shook his head slightly.

We walked to the dining room silently. The awkwardness was eating away at me. I tried unsuccessfully to find something to say but couldn't think of anything. I glanced at him in the corner of my eye, he didn't seem tense or uncomfortable at all, in fact he looked more relaxed than I'd ever seen him.

We walked in and everyone's curious eyes were on the 2 of us wondering why we were walking in together. I didn't think anyone was going to be surprised seeing as how I was here to be a whore. I took an empty seat and sat down next to 2 strangers. The room was still silent when everyone started to eat. I didn't understand what the big deal was.

I was eating my mashed potatoes peacefully when the man sitting next to me leaned over and started whispering in my ear. "How did you manage to get him to spend his free time with you?" The man asked curiously. I looked up at him. It was Matthias.

"Oh it's you. Sorry I don't recognize you from behind. Hey Matthias." I didn't answer his question, and he just stared at me until I started speaking again. "I don't know he wanted to talk to me after everything happened in the entertainment room and he told me somethings and then I sat there for a while." I shrugged and picked at the corn kernels scattered around my plate.

"What kind of things did he tell you exactly?" He narrowed his eyes at me and I shrunk back in my seat. The people around us chattered on, oblivious to the interrogation taking place right in front of them.

"Some stuff. Sad stuff." I furrowed my eyebrows.

He opened his mouth to say something but was cut off by Joseph's chair scraping against the wood floor. He left the room without a word. Matthias quickly got to his feet and followed him.

I turned back to my plate and picked at the cold food. "Are you alright?" I looked over at the seat Matthias had just abandoned and there sat Ruben Allred.

"Uh yea. I'm good. He's not as bad and you would think if you actually sit down with him." I told Ruben. He nodded.

"He was kind to me when I was a boy. He took me in when he saw I was on my own. I was 15 and living on the streets. I've never respected someone more than I respect him." He explained. He looked me in the eyes the entire time letting me know that he was completely sincere in all his words.

"I think I'm going to go up to my room. It's been kind of a long day, and my head hurts."

"Yea, of course. I'll walk you." Ruben said and led me all the way back up to my room. Once we were there I stopped in front of the door. "I'm sorry you had to see that today. Your innocent, not involved in any of this and you shouldn't have had to see that." He apologized.

"It's alright Ruben. It wasn't your fault and I'm ok. I could have done without witnessing a murder but I understand why Joseph did it now." Ruben looked at me quizzically.

"He explained himself to you?" He tilted his head ever so slightly.

" I guess kind of yea." I shrugged and tucked my hair behind my ear. "Well... I'm gonna, you know go inside, soooo I guess I'll see you tomorrow Ruben." I didn't really know what to say. I didn't want to invite him into my room and give him the wrong message, but then on the other hand I didn't want to be rude to him when he was the only one that had been nice to me here.

"Of course." He grabbed my shoulder and smiled at me. "Sleep good Jessica." I noticed for the first time that Ruben had the cutest little dimples adorning his cheeks. I giggled a little at them. "What?" He said confused.

"I like your dimples." I said then opened the door and stepped inside shutting the door softly behind me.

I quickly got ready and slipped inside the white bed. It didn't take long for my exhausted and still slightly injured body to slip into s deep sleep.

**********

I was awoken by the sound of the door slamming against the wall. I sat up straight in the bed squinting at the silhouetted figure standing in the door way.

"Hurry, get up now!" The man yelled.

That's when I registered that the loud noises in the background were gun shots. My heart started racing and I ripped the blankets away from my body and hurried to the man I assumed was one of Joseph's men.

"Come, Joseph told me to take you to the basement with the other woman." He grabbed my arm and dragged me down the hallway. Once we reached the end he stopped and turned to me. "You don't do anything unless I tell you to." He was so serious. The shots had gotten louder and by now my body was charged with adrenaline. I nodded at him wordlessly in confirmation.

"Good." He turned back to the. "Good now I'm gonna cover you and your going to run over and hide behind that table." He jerked his head and I peaked around him to see what table he was referring to.

The sight before me was horrific. Bodies were everywhere and blood was pooling on the marble floors everywhere. My eyes kept running over the scene, over and over in my head. Lifeless eyes, blood, and bullets flying everywhere.

"Hey!" The man grabbed my shoulders and shook me back to reality. "I know this is scary but you need to focus. If you want to live through the night, hurry the hell up." I nodded stiffly.

I sucked in a deep breath and darted out from the hiding place we were in. I ran crouched low to the ground hoping it would decrease my chances of getting hit.

I made it to the table and pressed my back against the hard surface. "Thank you lord." I breathed hard and looked for the man that was supposed to be showing me how to get the basement. My eyes swept around the large room trying to spot him among all of the other men. Then I saw him.

Bleeding out on the floor.