Xander's POV

"There is a reason why," she said softly, fiddling with her fingers. I knew she was scared I'd scream or even touch her, but I wasn't. However, I was irritated by her. The idea of having to explain to her the situation was so undesirable I was tempted to just walk out of the room. But I knew that If I didn't say something, she would just keep asking, and I indeed had no time to deal with that. Although I've only just met her, I already knew she would be a headstrong pain in my ass. I have the pressure of my father riding on me along with the entire plan surrounding Daniel Miller. No offense to her, but her feelings were one of the last of my worries at this very moment. Right now, my father was cursing me for being late to our meeting. So I decided at that moment to do whatever I needed to do to leave the subject at rest.

I remembered the background check that Henry ran on Harley when we first found out who she was. With her eyes still fixed on the floor, I cleared my throat softly, trying to remove the lump in my throat that had formed from not talking for a while. I reached behind the desk to grab the file that had all her information in it. Truthfully, I didn't know what I would tell her, but I knew that I had to say something worth ending all her suspicions. I couldn't keep running around this subject with her. Harley wasn't even supposed to be here, and now that she is and it seems like she will be here for a while, it's unlocked so many issues and questions. I remember from when I first read the file that it said her mother was deceased. Looking at the file again, I saw that she died from a heroin overdose when she was only 6. It seemed like she and her father dealt with some pretty hard stuff. It's absolutely sickening for me to say this, but I would use this information to my advantage.

"Ruby Anderson? That was your mother's name, correct?" I asked, looking up from the contents of the folder.

"My Mother-" her eyes instantly shot up to mine.

"Correct?" I asked. I felt sick to my stomach just thinking about what I was about to say. I wanted to come off as I have no remorse, but my body wouldn't allow it. Still, I have a job to do, and I can't screw it all up just for the sake of this one girl's feelings.

"Y-yes." she frowned. "W-why?" she frantically followed after.

"and you live with your father and brother," I said more as a statement than a question.

"How do you know that?" she scoffed as if I had said the most ridiculous thing she has ever heard. "What's this all about?"

"You asked me why you're here, right?" I asked. I just wanted this conversation to be over, so I didn't have to look at her heart-rending face any longer.

"Y-yes but-" she began, but before she could speak any further, I opened my mouth to speak over her.

"So I'm telling you." I finalized before looking back down at the folder. "Your mother and father used to be into some heavy stuff. Stuff you can only get from a specific type of person. My type of people." I said. Out of this entire fabricated story, the only thing that was true was the fact that her parents did indeed use to buy from my cartel. I don't recognize them since I wasn't in charge or even part of the cartel at the time, and I was only a couple of years older than Harley at the time. However, I knew the only place you could get heavy shit like this back in the day was through this cartel. Looking at her, it seemed like this news was a shock to her. I guess her father never told her the shit they were into. Makes sense anyway. She looked distant, as if she was completely thinking about something else, but she was looking disgusted at the same time. Nonetheless, I continued. "Drugs cost money, Harley. Your mother didn't have money, but she still wanted drugs."

"s-stop talking about her like that." she suddenly spoke. She looked on the verge of tears at this point.

I continued despite her protest. " She died before she could pay for all those expensive drugs she used." I lied

"Why are yo-" she began, but again I began talking over her. I couldn't let this conversation last much longer.

"I'm still running a business, Harley. Cartels are just as much a business as any other normal corporation." I said as I walked towards her, "Someone needed to pay me the money I'm owed from your mother's expensive tendencies. Luckily, I found out she had a daughter that could pay off her debts in her favor." The fact that I wanted to wipe her tears and hug her instead of scream at her was so frustrating. Discipline and torture came easy to me, but with her, it was so fucking different. This entire situation was beginning to piss me off more and more. I brought my face up to hers, so close our noses almost touched. I feel the heat of her minty breath fan my face, and I could see the glisten in her watery eyes. I lifted my hand to grab hold of her face, which in turn caused her to squeeze her big brown eyes shut and allowing tears to stream down her red cheeks. "So yes, you do owe a debt to me," I said softly. "Debt doesn't go away once you die. It's a cycle."

"P-please," she whispers with her eyes still shut.

"So by all means, if you don't want to be here.... leave." I said, " but then the debt will move on to the next family member, and I know you don't want that to happen, right?" I asked softly. I watched her as she lifted her eyes and softly let out a sigh.

"Did I answer your question?" I asked, looking all over her serene face. She opened her mouth to speak but then closed it soon after, indicating she had nothing to say. With that, I released the hold I had on her and took a couple of steps back. I knew she wasn't comfortable with how close I was to her, and I figured I'd done enough damage for one day. "Good." Just then, the office door opened, revealing Henry.

"Boss, we must go. It's getting late." He said urgently. I saw as he came in, Harley turned herself away from him to try and shield herself from his wandering eyes. He glanced between Harley and me for a moment before lifting his eyebrow in suspicion. He opened his mouth to speak to her, but before he could, I walked towards him and cut him off.

"See yourself out when your ready, Harley," I said harshly before walking out the door to which Henry followed closely.

"Felipe waiting for us in the front," Henry said as we walked down the stairs. "What happened back there?" Henry asked

"I don't want to talk about it," I replied. He didn't open his mouth to ask again, as he knew I wasn't in the mood to be pushed.

I didn't want to mention the conversation to anyone; in fact, I didn't even want to think of it. I wasn't going to mention it to Henry nor Felipe right now. However, the look on Harley's face when I was talking about her mother won't leave my head. I feel like the biggest dick for approaching the situation as I did. I couldn't help but lie. There was no way I could tell her the truth, at least not right now. It's not like she can do anything about it; she doesn't have a choice but to be here. If I would have told her that I didn't mean to kidnap her, and I meant to kidnap her best friend that night, it'd bring up a million other questions and breakdowns, and that's exactly what I'd like to avoid.

"Let's make this quick. I'm already pissed off, and I don't need that old bastard pissing me off even more," I replied.

"It should be brief," Henry answered.

"What the fuck did he want to meet for?" I asked. I tried to meet with my father the less I possibly could. Talking to him was like talking to a damn grizzly bear. He doesn't listen, only attacks without a reason.

"I'm not sure, boss. He just said come to the estate as quickly as possible." He answered. I also tried to visit home as least as possible. I wasn't someone who took authority seriously, nor did I like being told what to do, yet my Father loved to do so. My father's estate was cold and far from homely when I lived there. Granted, I spent the majority of my young teens years studying business abroad. While I was away, my father had two kids with a long time mistress of his. They live comfortably with my father's money, so their childhood has been a lot brighter than mine. Unfortunately, my father's mistress also lives with my father and mother on the estate along with my two young siblings. It's truly sickening. I get lectured on my morals, but he himself has none. Boarding school was more pleasant than my own home. At least then, I had girls and booze to keep me busy. My mind abruptly came to a halt when we reached the car to which Henry carefully opened the door to the shiny black Bugatti. It wasn't particularly my taste in a car since it draws eyes and unwanted attention, but against my will, he bought it.

"Hello, boss. Hello, Henry," Felipe chirped from the driver's seat.

"Move the car, Felipe." I huffed out in annoyance.

"Sounds like someone needs to get laid." Felipe hummed.

"I wouldn't talk, Felipe," Henry said nonchalantly, pulling a pre rolled blunt from his suit pocket. Unlike Henry, I wasn't a heavy smoker, but today was more than enough reason for me to partake in his bad habits. If I had to sit down and chat with my father peacefully, smoking wasn't a bad idea.

"Pass it," I said, motioning towards the blunt between his fingers.

"Have as much as you want." He said with a sarcastic tone. "Even God knows you need it," Henry added before passing it between my fingers, to which I placed the seasoned blunt between my lips and took a long rip from the overstuffed roll. The shells smelt like a sangria flavored white owl shells, which I knew it to be Henry's favorite flavor. The bitter taste of bud, along with the sweetness of the cheap shells, lingered on my lips even after I had passed it back to Henry. It was revolting but well worth it.

"If boss is smoking your cheap ass bud, something must be wrong," Felipe asked.

"Just focus on driving the car." I sighed softly before taking another hit.

"Yes, sir." Felipe sighed while shaking his head slightly. It was even a hassle getting to my father's estate since it was so heavily guarded and in a remote region compared to my estate. One thing I will admit about my father was he loves his children. He would never let anything happen to them. I included. "We are here, boss," Felipe said, snapping me out of my thoughts. This car was fogged and turned into an unintentional hotbox by the time we had got to the house. The effects began taking over me once the car had come to a halt and I had to step out.

"Welcome, Mr. Xander." the door was opened by one of my father's estate guards.

Without a word in response, I moved out of the car along with Henry and Felipe, who surrounded me as we walked towards the entrance. My father's house always had the same resemblance to a haunted house you would see in a film. The only thing that made it seem less daunting was the large pompous Asian style water fountain in the middle of the circular driveway. Otherwise, the house in itself was grim and gloomy.

"Your Father is in his office." The guard gestured towards my father's office once we had made it into the house. Again wordlessly, I walked to his -all too familiar-- office and pulled the door open without hesitation. Nothing was ever different about this house, sadly. Every chair, couch, lamp, rugs were all in the same exact spot it always was since I was a kid. It was more or less depressing. My father sat quietly with his hands crossed over his lap, and his cane rested comfortably next to his chair. His salt and pepper hair was becoming even more apparent than the last time I saw him. His deep frown lines could be seen from a mile away, and his once chiseled face was no longer.

"Have a seat. " He finally spoke, gesturing to Henry, Felipe, and I.

"Yes, sir." Henry nodded, taking a seat on one of the couches off to the side of my father's chair. Felipe followed, sitting next to him; however, I sat on the opposite side of them.

"Father." I greeted and nodded my head slightly.

"How have you been, son? You look good," he commented.

"Fine. Why am I here, dad?" I dismissed.

"Since your so eager to talk about business." He said, getting up from his chair with a grunt and groan. With his cane in hand, he nonchalantly walked over to one of the large windows to peer out of it. "Is the situation regarding the girl under control?" he asked suddenly. I didn't expect him to ask about her immediately, but I knew it was coming. When Harley was first picked up, my father was made aware of the issue. Once he learned that Harley was indeed not the girl we needed, all he said to me over the phone was "handle it." Likely, he expected me to simply kill her; however, my mind couldn't even fathom the idea of killing her or sending someone else to do. It wasn't even an option in my mind.

"Yes, it's handled, but she isn't dead." I breathed out.

"Then how is it considered handled?" he asked, raising his gray wiry brows.

"She'll work at my estate like everyone else. I've talked to her, and she won't cause any further issues." I said vaguely.

"You talked to her?" he repeated. With Henry and Felipe in the room, I especially didn't want to talk about what I told Harley, but my Father wasn't going to let it go. If I don't give him an answer that satisfies him, he might take it upon himself to "handle it."

"I told her she was paying off debt from her deceased mother. She won't question it, so it's not a problem. Consider it solved." I replied confidently. I saw as Henry and Felipe looked at me in utter confusion at my words.

"I don't care what you told her as long as she won't be in the way any longer. This shouldn't have been an issue at all, Xander. Get your priorities in line. " He said, walking back towards his chair. I breathed out in relief at his response.

"Yes, sir," I said

"Start the pursuit of Daniel Miller tomorrow." He finished after a long deafening silence.

"It's already in motion," I replied. "If that's all. I'll be going." I said, standing up along with Henry and Felipe and moved to exit out of the room.

------------------------- OMG, HI YALL!!!! So this chapter is a little slow since it was mostly background information, but it was necessary. The next chapter does speed it up more. Again thanks for all the reads; I really appreciate it a lot!! I hope yall are enjoying it so far, and I will be updating more frequently!!! I'm also not going to lie; I just learned what voting means on Wattpad, so if you would like, could you please vote if you enjoyed my content thus far. I would like more people to see my work since I put a lot of time and effort into writing. I will continue to try and give good content in the future!! And as always, any constructive criticism is welcome and appreciated.

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