✴️

|March 2,1988|
|New York, New York|
|Radio City Music Hall|
|6:00 pm|

Prince

"Are you ready for this?" I whisper to Michael as we wait for the show to start. We were sitting in the front row with Quincy and Stevie Wonder; I was calm for the most part, award shows weren't really my thing, neither was it Michael's, but I could tell he was nervous out of his mind. It was written all over his face.

The past year has been pretty crazy to say the least. Michael and I have been extremely busy, as usual, but it's going to get even more busy pretty soon. My new album, Lovesexy, that I worked extremely hard on is going to be released in May, meanwhile I'm going to have to leave a little early to get rehearsals started for the tour. Which kills me, because I know I'm going to rarely see Michael since he is touring as well. He is on the second leg of the BAD Tour, and he is getting pulled in so many directions at once, as usual. He's close to finishing his film Moonwalker and it's set to be released in October of this year. He's also released his autobiography book called Moonwalk, that he's worked on for awhile. In our work lives, everything was perfectly fine, but our personal lives is what we were worried about. We were still working on the case with José, trying to catch the person who's been threatening us. We not only fear for each other but we most importantly fear for our children.

Lenard and Montece will be occasionally coming with me and Michael on our tours but they won't be with us all the time since they still have school. My mother has flown to Wyoming to be with them for the time being, but it was still difficult. There was only so much we could do to keep them safe, and maybe I was jumping to conclusions, but I just couldn't tell with this person who has been after us. They could also be after our kids too, which was our worst fear.

Thankfully, other than that they were doing just fine. As time went on, they continued to grow up. Montece was now seven years old while Lenard would be turning eleven this year. After Michael had given Lenard a part in Moonwalker, he found a love in acting. He's been apart of a few plays that his school has put together, and I just have to say, the boy has talent. Michael and I are excited to see where this leads him, even though the both of us are a little hesitant about him being in the spotlight, we agreed that we would support him if that is what he wanted to do. Montece on the other hand has found a liking in basketball, we wanted to put him into an after school club so he could be occupied, and for someone who's very young, he showed a lot of talent as well. We were just happy that the kids were living normal lives. Well, somewhat normal, just as normal as we could make it.

"I don't have a good feeling about this, at all." Michael whispers back, with a worried look. "Watch me win not a single one-"

"Stop. You've said that about a thousand times on the car ride here. What did I say about doubting yourself?" I question, grabbing his hand gently.

"I'm sorry." Michael apologizes, "I just really want this album to top Thriller."

"And it will." I reassure him, "Even if it doesn't, it won't matter. You have the biggest selling album in history, and this one will no doubt have a place right next to Thriller. It'll be fine."

Michael sighs and looks down at the ground, still getting into his head. I give his hand a light squeeze, "But you still deserve to win every nomination regardless."

He looked up at me and cracked a small smile, then nudged my shoulder a bit, "You do too, babe. It's not all about me, you know? I saw how hard you worked on Sign O' The Times. I'm really proud of you, and you deserve it just as much.

"I don't think you'll be saying that when I win album of the year." I tease him with a wink. Michael playfully rolled his eyes, and we both leaned in to peck each other's lips.

"We'll see about that." He replies. We were both nominated for album of the year, but in all seriousness we didn't see it as a competition when it came to the both of us. Michael and I rooted for each other. But if we didn't win, we hoped that our friend Whitney would win instead.

Speaking of Whitney, she opened up the show performing I Wanna Dance With Somebody and she did amazing as expected. Me and Michael agreed to embarrass her after she finished, and we did just that, cheering extra loud for her. We caught her give the both of us the side eye which made us laugh; We also probably may have gotten looks from other people but we didn't care. After that, the nominations began.

〰️

"Prince, calm down. Please." Michael says, rubbing his temples as I pace back and forth in his dressing room he had for the night.

"At this point, they're just handing out Grammy's to any damn body." I shake my head, feeling extremely pissed. As much as I didn't want Michael to be right, he was. So far, tonight wasn't going as we hoped it would. Michael didn't win a Grammy, I didn't win a Grammy, and none of it made any sense to me. We both worked very hard on the both of our albums, so us not earning at least one just felt like a punch to the stomach.

"I thought you said it didn't matter anyway." Michael smartly remarked, sounding like he wanted me to shut up already. I stopped in my tracks, and turned my head to look at him with a surprised facial expression on my face.

"Excuse me?"

Michael looked up at me with an apologetic expression and sighed, letting a hand fall down his face, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you like that."

I calmed down a bit, trying my best to let off some steam but my face softened as soon as I saw the disappointed look that was written all over Michael's face.

"Baby, I tried to tell you that this was going to happen." His voice cracked, and his eyes got watery. I felt horrible, I knew how bad he wanted this. If I had the ability to fix it I would, but there was nothing that I could do.

I sighed, then walked over to the couch and sat next to him. Before I could even say a word, there was a knock on the door. Michael sniffled, wiping his eyes and cleared his throat.

"Come in," He said nochalantly. I slightly furrow my eyebrows at how fast he pulled it together.

Then the door opened to reveal Tatiana, who was fully dressed in her TWYMMF outfit since Michael was getting ready to perform on stage in a couple of minutes.

"What's up, Tati?" Michael asks politely like nothing is wrong.

"The commercial break is almost over." She informs, letting him know that it was  time.

Michael nods, standing up from his seat, "Alright, I'll be out in a second."

"Okay." Tatiana replies, then she glanced over me, giving an apologetic look. At first I didn't respond because the look she gave me was quite confusing, but then I remembered that she probably felt bad about what was going on tonight. My face went from straight to a small smile quickly, letting her know we were good.

She left the room and Michael sighed heavily, grabbing his fedora off of the coffee table. I stood up as well, walking close to him, "Look at me."

Michael's eyes wandered around the room for a second before he took a look at me. I gently took the fedora out of his hand, "You never needed those awards, babe. The awards need you. They brought you here and snubbed you for a reason. To stay relevant, you're the key to their relevancy. Use it as motivation. Regardless of what happened tonight, keep your head up. Go out there and do the damn thing like you always do. You got me?"

I placed his fedora on his head and he smiled softly at me. Michael bit his lip, "I got you."

"I'll be in the crowd," I leaned in and pecked his lips. Michael grabbed my waist, taking me by surprise and pulling me into a tight hug. I chuckled, and rubbed circles on his back.

"I love you." Michael said with appreciation. I smiled to myself, giving him one last squeeze before I had to pull away, "I love you too, now go before you miss your cue."

Michael smirks, makes sure his fedora is on tight before he dashes out of the door. I shake my head in amusement, and after a minute or two, I make my way back to the crowd just in time for Michael's performance.

He started out with TWYMMF and ended his performance with Man In The Mirror with a choir. Words couldn't describe how proud I was of him, even after the bullshit that had went down at this show he still gave everything he had out there on that stage. There wasn't a moment where I wasn't singing along, clapping to the beat, or just cheering him on period. I was even the first one to stand before everyone else did for the standing ovation he got afterwards. Michael bowed, and when he raised back up, we immediately made eye contact. Tears rolled down my face, and I couldn't do anything but just nod at him with a smile on my face, letting him know that he did amazing. Michael cracked a smile as well, and blew a kiss towards me.

〰️

Michael

As I looked out the window, the lights of New York City gave me peace as Prince's adorable snores on my shoulder was my comfort. After the show, Prince immediately fell asleep as soon as we got into the car. He was worn out, and so was I. Even though tonight was pretty tough, and the album of the year award was a bust to the both of us, deep down I felt happy. I felt defeated at first, don't get me wrong, but having Prince there by my side just made me feel so much stronger. He was right, I didn't need the Grammys. Prince didn't need them either, but I learned, especially tonight, that what we really need is each other. He's my motivation.

I yawned, and slowly felt myself drifting off as well until I felt the car suddenly reverse backwards sharply. I jolt straight up, and look around feeling a little lost. Maybe I was just too tired, but it felt too real. I glance down at Prince who was asleep on my shoulder and look out the window to make sure I wasn't crazy. My eyes widened, realizing that I indeed wasn't crazy. We were going dangerously fast in reverse on the freeway.

I panicked, feeling like I was going to lose my mind. Why the hell were we going backwards? I gently scooted away from Prince and to the partition, opening it and seeing that the driver was passed out. I gasped, and started tapping his shoulder and his face harshly in fright.

"Sir? Sir! Hey!" I tried getting his attention but he was budging. My eyes drifted on to his speed, and he was going over 90 miles. There was no way I could even try to take over the wheel since the partition window was small.

"Shit." I say, panicking even more and ran my fingers through my hair. I looked over at Prince, and saw him starting to stir in his sleep. I quickly scooted back over to him, and sat him up straight so I could secure his seatbelt tight on him. Meanwhile I was fully out of my seat, no seatbelt, nothing.

"Michael..what's going on?" Prince said sleepily as his eyes were halfway open. Tears of worry started to fall down my face as I stared at him, before I could reply, there was a loud honk from a trunk we were about to crash into. I immediately covered Prince as best as I could before the collision completely destroyed the car, and pulled us apart.

My back collided with the harsh concrete first, causing my head to whip against it second. It happened so fast but the pain felt like it would last a lifetime. It looked like the world was spinning, I could hardly open my eyes or feel any parts of my body. The only thing I could slightly see was a man's head smashed through windshield. I couldn't make sense of who it was, but blood was everywhere, and it was an image that was practically burned into my head until I ran out of energy to keep my eyes open.

Prince

I rubbed the back of my neck in pain, and looked around. The car was currently upside down, and the only thing that was keeping me in place was the seatbelt that was fastened extremely tight on me.

"What the hell..." I trailed off, wiping the blood that was on the side of my face. When I looked at my hand my breathing quickened and realized Michael wasn't in the car.

"Michael!?" I yelled, struggling to unbuckle my seatbelt and get out of the car. As I crawled out of the window, there was a truck behind us that was on fire and glass shattered all over the ground. I slowly stood up, and looked at the scene in fright. Then I saw a trail of blood, and the minute when I spotted who it belonged too, I immediately started crying.

"Oh my god." My voice cracked as I ran to Michael's body, and sat down so I could hold him. I pressed my ear against his chest, and thankfully there was still a heart beat.

"Michael? Michael!" Even though he was still alive, I prayed that he would show me a sign of life. It wasn't looking too good, he wasn't moving a single bit. There were small cuts on his face and there was a huge piece of glass jammed into his side. I sobbed even harder, and dropped my face into his curls.

"Baby please stay with me.." I begged, hoping he could hear me. I squeezed him as tight as I could, crying until there was practically no tears left. I heard faint emergency sirens in the distance, and traffic of cars behind us watching the horrific scene, meanwhile I felt like I was frozen in fear, and time.

〰️

|North General Hospital|
|New York, New York|
|8:00 am |

Michael

My body felt extremely sore and I couldn't barely move a muscle when I slowly opened my eyes. All I could hear was a loud beeping sound, and all I could see was that I was in a white room with cartoons playing in the background. I was unsure of where I was and what happened, until I moved my head to my left and saw Prince passed out on the chair next to me while he held my hand.

As I looked down at our hands, I trailed up my arm, seeing all of the bruises and cuts that were there. Then the memories of last night immediately flooded to my head. Before I could even think more about it, I felt a tight squeeze on my hand.

"Hey baby, how are you feeling?" Prince said with a tired smile on his face but still managed to scoot closer to me and kiss my forehead. He looked extremely exhausted and worn the fuck out. Bags under his eyes and everything, it made me feel guilty.

"I was so worried about you." He sighed, in stress but a little bit of relief. I tilted my head a little as I recognized a small bruise on the side of his head.

"Your head.." I point out in confusion.

"We got into a car accident last night babe, do you remember anything?" He questioned with concern. I nodded my head slightly, but looked down in defeat.

"Yeah, I just- I thought I covered you." I said, feeling even more guilty that he still got hurt. Prince's eyebrows furrowed and he looked at me like I was crazy.

"Michael, you realize you could've died right? I almost lost you! Why would didn't you have your seatbelt on-" He started to ramble but I couldn't hear it anymore.

"I did it to protect you!" I yelled, and immediately got a sharp pain from my abdomen. I winced, placing my other hand on my stomach, sighing. I don't know what came over me, but I didn't mean to scream like that. Everything was just so overwhelming and I didn't know how to handle all of this.

Prince cringed at the sight of me being in pain, and he gently placed a hand over mine that was on my stomach. He calmed down, looking at me with guilt in his eyes and he apologized, "I'm sorry, okay? Just take it easy.'

I took a deep breath, trying to ease the pain and laid my head back on the pillow. I shook my head and looked down, "Don't apologize, I shouldn't of yelled at you like that."

We sat there in silence for about a good two minutes before I spoke up again, "I'll always put you first. If that means I'd have to lose my life then I will. I love you, I seriously can't afford to live without you."

Prince's eyes started to tear up and he sadly smiled at me. I tightened my grip on his hand as he sniffled, and he leaned his head down to rest on my lap. I played with his hair gently as  he said, "Don't think even like that, please. You're not going anywhere, you hear me? I love you more."

As we continued to enjoy each other's presence, there was a knock on the door before it opened, revealing two people that I haven't seen in a long, long time. My parents; I was so caught off guard, you should've seen the look on my face. The awkward silence was painful despite me being in my own pain, and I practically burned a hole through Prince's head because I had a feeling that he might've called them. It was written all over his face.

Prince looked between the both of us, and gave me an apologetic look for a second before getting up.

"I'll give you some alone time," Prince said respectfully. He gave my mother and father a small polite smile before leaving the room.

Prince

"A note? What note?" I asked confusingly as the officer spoke to me about the incident outside of the room.

"We found a note inside of the driver's pocket, and it had a very threatening message saying.." The policeman looked down at his notes and his face turned into a concerned expression, "You're next?"

My heart dropped to the pit of my stomach and my eyes fell to the floor. I knew exactly what that meant; Shit, when was this going to stop? What did this person want with me and my family?

"We also found a snake tattoo on the side of his neck. It might not be that important of evidence but we took that in just in case." He informs, and I look up at him quickly. A snake tattoo? I didn't even notice that was on him when I hired him. None of this made any sense.

"Mr. Nelson?" The officer tried getting my attention, and I snapped out of it. I sighed, letting a hand fall down my face.

"I'm sorry- I just didn't realize he had a tattoo. I'm just very puzzled right now." I say truthfully. He nodded his head, flipping a page to his notebook.

"Would you like me to file a wanted report? We can do as much searching as we can to find this person."

Before I answered, I looked over to see Michael's brothers and sisters in the waiting room. As Janet was talking to Randy, she glanced over at me. I broke eye contact and gave him back my full attention, "I appreciate that, but we already have a detective working on our case. We want to keep this as private as possible and not let it get out to the public, even family." I nodded my head over to the waiting room, "If that makes sense."

"Fully understand, do you mind if I can get your detective's information?" He asks, and I give him José's information before he leaves. I exhale deeply, leaning against the wall. As I stare off into space, I hear footsteps walk up to me.

"You okay?" Janet asks, putting a hand on my shoulder before she turns her head to watch the officer leave. I nodded, smiling small to reassure her even though I was far from feeling okay.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I say, faking a tone that didn't sound depressing. Janet smiled back softly  looked over at the window that led into Michael's room, causing me to look inside to. His mother sat right next to him holding his hand whole his father was next to her, listening to them talk with a calm expression on his face. I saw Michael laugh with a tear streaming down his face, and I melted. I knew my decision wasn't so bad after all.

"What you did was really big of you, you know?" Janet says with a hint of proudness in her voice, "It's been awhile since I've seen my mother this happy."

I continued to watch Michael's adorable facial expressions through the window with a soft sigh, "It was time to make things right."

Despite Michael's parents not communicating with him for awhile and especially me, I decided to give them a call regardless. I wanted them to know first about the accident before they had to find out about it through the news or from someone else. I know I wouldn't want to hear about that any other way if it were my kid. Besides, even though Michael said multiple times that he was fine about not clearing things up with them, I knew he was lying. He missed them, so I thought this was the perfect time for them to talk.

"Do they still not like me?" I asked Janet with a worried expression on my face. Before she could answer, Michael looked over at the window, waving for me to come in.

"Looks like you'll find out." She chuckled, stepping aside to I could walk in. My eyes slightly widened, here goes nothing. I give her the death stare for a second before I walk in.

〰️

|March 3, 1988|
|New York, New York|
|Madison Square Garden|
|6:47 pm|

"You really shouldn't be performing tonight," I say in frustration as I wrap a new bandage around his torso to protect his huge cut. Michael rolled his eyes.

"I told you already, babe. I can't let my fans down." He stressed, buttoning up his blue flannel. Michael was getting ready to perform TWYMMF; It wasn't even halfway through the concert and he completely bled through his first bandage. I was getting overly worried that he was loosing so much blood, this is what the doctor warned us about if he  performed anyway. Of course, Michael didn't listen to him or me. At the end of the day, I know I can't tell him what to do, but it was Killing me. He was already so tired, even though Michael rarely gets tired from performing. If I could cancel the show, I would. I know he loves his fans, but his health has to come first.

I set the pack of bandages down on the makeup table next to us and cross my arms, "So you're telling me you wanna' faint on stage?"

"I'm not gonna' faint on stage." Michael chuckles, looks at himself in the mirror one last time before pecking me on the lips, "Wish me luck."

He jogs out of the dressing room and I sigh in helplessness. Stop stressing yourself out, he'll be fine, I say to myself. I grab his bottle of water from the coffee table and follow him outside. By the time I got next to the stage, Michael was already on it, getting ready to perform. I look at the sea of fans with a faint smile on my face before noticing Tatiana on the left of me with a nervous look on her face. She kept rocking back and forth on her heels while staring at the ground, like she'd seen a ghost or something. My head tilted slightly, what the hell was wrong with her?

I glanced at Michael on stage one last time before I walked over to check on her. I gently placed my hand on the small of her back, causing her to jump. She snapped her head towards me, then sighed. I raised my eyebrow, "Chill, it's just me."

"S-Sorry.." Tatiana trailed off, avoiding eye contact with me. I furrowed my eyebrows, feeling a little concerned about her sudden behavior. Why was she acting so weird? I knew this couldn't be stage fright.

"Hey, are you okay?" I ask, then I look down at the water bottle in my hand. Even though it was Michael's, I decided to offer it to her anyway, it hadn't been used yet. However, she declined it with a head shake. As she nervously put a piece of her curly hair behind her ear, I noticed a tattoo right underneath her earlobe. It was in the shape of a snake, causing my heart to beat a tad bit faster. It reminded me of what the police had told me about at the hospital last night. I didn't notice she had that tattoo either until now.

Unless, wait. My eyes widened and before I could say anything, I turned my head to see that Tatiana was no longer standing next to me and she was already on stage with Michael. Then out of nowhere, she grabs Michael's collar and kisses him right on the lips. I stood there frozen for a second, trying to take in what just happened. When it all settled in, that's when I got angry. I squeezed the water bottle to the point where it busted open; I was beyond heated.

What the fuck was that? Was this staged without me knowing? I looked around to find Frank and I spotted him on the other side of the stage. I immediately threw the bottle to the ground and speed walked over to the other side to talk to him.

"What the hell is this, Frank?" I ask, feeling pissed off. Frank shook his head, and put his hands up in defense, "I strictly told her not to kiss him, I swear."

"Then why did she? Did Michael ask her to do that?" I question, not wanting to even put it out there since I believe in me and Michael's love so much but it just happened so suddenly that I didn't know what to believe anymore.

Frank sighed, "I have no idea, but I'll take care of it." He says, then as soon as Tatiana got off stage, an angry look appeared on his face and he didn't waste any time to confront her.

His answer was all I needed to know at this point. I didn't feel like wasting my energy on that woman, who I had a bad feeling about from the start, and arguing with Michael. I just wanted to leave. As I began to walk away, I heard footsteps run up from behind me.

"Prince, wait!" Michael grabbed my arm but I quickly shoved it off.

"Leave me alone, I'm serious." I say with caution. Michael didn't listen of course; He stepped right in front of me, trying to get my attention.

"Baby, please. I can explain-"

"What's there to explain? You guys just kissed in front of thousands of people!" I yelled, feeling overly frustrated that I felt like I was going to snap. Too many things were going on at once. The case, the accident, these tapes, now this? It was too much.

"It's not like that, I didn't know she was going to kiss me! Prince, stop, listen to me." Michael grabbed ahold on my shoulders, making me stop since I kept walking passed him.

"Michael..." I said carefully, taking a deep breath. I just needed some alone time right now, I was so dangerously heated that if he kept talking to me I knew I was going to say something I regret. Even though I was mad, I wouldn't go out of my way to hurt him. All I wanted was some space.

I gave him the death stare, and said for the last time, "Just leave me alone."

Michael didn't find my stare threatening anymore since he's been around me for so long, instead he took it as a hint. He sighed in dissapointment, letting me go. I broke eye contact with him, then brushed passed without saying a single word.

〰️

|Hotel Edison|
|10:26 pm|

Michael

I put the key into Prince and I's hotel room, turning it and walking right in. I looked around the room, hoping he would be here.

"Prince?" I call out, but there was no sign of him. It was just me. I sighed, setting my things down onto the floor. Before I was about to turn around to shut the door, I felt a presence behind me. I knew it wasn't Prince, especially when I heard the terrifying sound of a gun being loaded. My heart dropped to my stomach and I started to slightly shiver.

I slowly turned around and was completely shocked by who was holding the gun. Tatiana had tears running down her face, and her hands were constantly shaking as she pointed it at me. My eyes widened, and I felt like a frog was in my throat as I tried to speak.

"T-Tatiana...L-Listen to me, put the gun down." I say, feeling lost and terrified at the same time.

She shook her head, and bit her lip so she could stop herself from sobbing, "I don't want to hurt you."

I tilted my head, and stopped talking so I could listen to the sound of her voice as she cried. That sounded so familiar, like I heard it before.

"B-But s-she's making me do it.." She trembled, and my blood ran cold, just like that. It all made sense, and I figured out where I remembered hearing that from. Time stood sill as the flashback replayed in my mind.

"Michael, I'm so sorry! She's making me do it! I'm so sorry, please-" The phone cut off from the woman screaming and another feminine voice spoke into the phone, "Watch your back."

Oh my god, that was Tatiana.

I blinked, quickly snapping out of it before I carefully put my out to her, "You don't have to do this, Tatiana. Let me help you, just please, put it down."

She lowered the gun down a little, and I slightly felt a little relieved. Just slightly, but my nerves immediately went right through the roof when she lifted the gun right back up. Instead of pointing it at me, she put the gun inside of her mouth. My eyes widened and I lunged toward her hoping to put a stop to it but it was too late. She had pulled the trigger, and there was blood everywhere.

I fell to the ground from how I jumped, reacting to the loud sound of the gun. My hearing went in and out as my heart was beating uncontrollably fast, just like my breathing. No, I said in my head. No, No, No.

Tatiana was lifeless on the ground as blood continued to spread from her head onto the floor. I quickly got up from my position on the floor, getting closer to her. Her eyes were wide open, and so was her mouth. This was like a scene out of a horror movie, I kept praying to God that this was a dream, but it wasn't. I felt like I was two seconds away from having a panic attack. Tears started to fall from my face and my hands were shaking.

Count to ten, Michael. Breathe, fuck just breathe. I tried calming myself down but it wasn't working at all. I managed to get myself up and run to the bathroom to get as much paper towels as I could. I ran back, sat back down and began to clean the blood frantically.

"Michael?.." I heard my husband's voice say from ahead of me. I looked up to see Prince with a mortified expression on his face. He exchanged looks between me and Tatiana's body on the floor.

"P-Prince, y-you have to help me. P-Please, just help me!" I practically begged, being a stuttering mess. Prince quickly shut the door, locked it shut, and rushed over to my side.

"Shh! Michael you gotta be quiet, baby please stop crying-" Prince tried to calm me down as I started to sob harshly, holding my face in his face. He looked down at Tatiana and then back at me, "W-What the hell happened?"

"I don't know! S-she came in here out of nowhere with a gun pointed at me! I tried to stop her Prince, I swear but it was too late and she killed herself, I don't know what to do-" I panicked, sobbing even harder, which made Prince tear up. He was lost for words, didn't know what to say. He just blankly stared at me in fear, not knowing how to take in all of this.

"You have blood all over your hands..." Prince said, then he tightly grabbed my wrists, shaking me a tiny bit, "What the hell were you thinking, Michael!? You have evidence all over you. What were you gonna' do huh? Just clean this up and hide her body? We need to call for help!"

"You don't understand, we can't!" I pleaded, I was sobbing so hard that my tears overshadowed my sight, "If we call the police, then it's over! I'm going to lose everything. They're not going to believe it was suicide, if they found out I was involved in this shit then they wouldn't hesitate to blame this on me! Do you know how long they've been dragging my name through the dirt?! I can't call for help, we can't call for help, please I'm begging you-"

"Baby, shh. Please be quiet!" Prince hushed me, looking like he was about to cry as well as he put a hand on my mouth. As soon as my sobbing calmed down, he removed his hand from my mouth and took me straight to the bathroom. He turned on the water, guiding my shaky hands underneath. When my hands were all rinsed off, he grabbed a towel, drying them and looked into my eyes.

"Listen to me, okay?" Prince said carefully, as he put the towel to the side. He then looked out into the room, staring at Tatiana's body before making eye contact with me again.

"We're about to do something completely insane, that I wouldn't imagine either of us doing in years but we don't have a choice. You need to listen to everything that I say, or we will get caught. Do you understand?"

I sniffled and I slowly nodded my head, looking down, feeling ashamed. I couldn't believe I was about to go down this route, this wasn't like me, or Prince. I felt so evil, I didn't even know if I could look myself in the mirror after this.

"Look at me." Prince demands, and I look up at him with blood shot, red eyes.

"Everything will be okay. I'll protect you, I promise."

✴️