After landing and going through the obnoxious clapping stage, we exited the plane and stepped foot on the infamous state of Florida. A place I never imagined I would have visited.

Ever.

It was still dark outside, but the morning sun should be arriving any time. I could almost feel the heat coming like a far away explosion. This airport was big and packed despite being so early. There were a few angry groups of people forming lines at a counter near a gate, and the further we went through the airport, the more angry people I saw. Could this have anything to do with the storm? Maybe some of the flights were being canceled due to the hurricane coming from the east. I understood it could be frustrating if your important flight got canceled, but what did you expect them to do? Fly through it? Whisper some magic words to evaporate the hurricane?

Once again, like a lost little puppy, I followed Elijah with my tail between my legs until we stopped at a bathroom. He motioned me to follow him in. I obeyed, but a part of me was worried that he wanted to go to a second round. Unfortunately for him I was terribly exhausted and if I did want to go again, it would not be in a public bathroom, no matter how shiny and clean it was. Luckily, part two was not what was waiting, instead it was Cedric, who was in the corner of the empty bathroom with his back against the wall.

"Cedric," I said, relieved to see him.

"Flight okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, slept through most of it."

Elijah walked up to him, pulled out some money from his wallet and passed him keys and some cash.

"We'll meet you there," Elijah said quietly.

Cedric nodded and hid the money in his pockets. It didn't seem like a suspicious amount. I could have sworn I saw a few dozen twenty dollar bills.

"Where are we going?" I asked as Elijah pulled me away, leaving Cedric in the bathroom.

"We're just gonna meet him at another location," he said, his eyes wandering around, searching.

The chances of Lords chasing us to Florida never felt low. Lords didn't seem like the type to give up easily, especially with how persistent they were. Some were suspicious of me, but I never gave off any threatening vibes and I certainly did not do anything to gain any kind of unwanted attention. I hoped and prayed that I was a low priority on their list of suspicious people. And since Elijah was a very important person to their ex-leader, this theoretically should lower the chances even more . . . considering I was his wife.

But this was most of all, wishful thinking.

We left the airport and Elijah called for an Uber. It was a couple of minutes away so we had to wait around. This gave me time to take in the Floridian night sky. I could see a glimmer of light in the distance slowly creeping up.

While waiting, I answered some messages on my phone. Few were from Dorian, one was from Jin asking if I was okay, and surprisingly one from Chance, whom I hadn't heard from in a while. I chose not to answer the last one.

The Uber took a little longer than expected due to traffic. When it finally arrived, we got in and drove off. The driver was a young woman, our age even. She didn't speak much, but neither did we. I just mostly sat in silence, thinking about how I was in another state, away from anything and anybody I knew, extremely vulnerable to getting kidnapped. My brain even went down a rollercoaster thinking of a possible scheme created by Elijah to get me to trust him so that I was more easily taken. Taken where? Maybe Russia. I heard stories of people getting kidnapped and being sold like slaves across the world to never be heard from again.

Gulp.

"Save that for later," Elijah whispered.

The ride to the mystery destination took a little over thirty minutes, by then the sun was nearly out. We were dropped off on the side of a strip mall. All of the stores were closed, but Elijah took us to one of them and knocked on the glass door. It was a bike store. Dozens of them were displayed by the window, each chained and locked to metal poles to stop thieves from stealing them.

After a minute or two, he knocked again, until a dim light appeared in the back of the store and a brunette woman appeared. She squinted her eyes as she walked to us until she recognized Elijah and smiled. She took out a large set of keys and opened the front door.

"Hey, babe," she said, leaning against the door frame. "Haven't seen you in a while. Where've you been?"

"Sorry, Amanda. Been all over the place."

"Looking for bikes?" She raised her arm and looked at the watch on her wrist. "At six in the morning?"

"It's an emergency."

She sighed, as if knowing exactly what kind of person Elijah was. "What do you need?"

"Just two bikes. Any bikes," he said as he followed her in with me behind.

"Any?"

"Yup. Any."

Elijah pulled out his wallet, which seemed to have oddly excited her. She did a little jump and hopped to the cash register.

"Love when you pull out your black card," she said.

I wandered around the store as they talked, or flirted — I wasn't sure, and I didn't care. The last time I was in a bike store was when I was seven. My aunt never wanted kids, so she was never prepared to deal with a child, and had no idea on how to go about it. The first year I lived with her, she forgot when my birthday was and had neglected every holiday, and on my mom's birthday, an aching sadness must have hit her. She took me to a bike store and let me pick one out as a gift. I was too young to realize it, but it was her way of apologizing to me. I was a smart child, so for many years I always reminded her that I had no hate for her in my heart or expected anything. I had a roof over my head and food on the table, so it was okay that both of us were lost.

A whistle woke me from my thoughts. Elijah was waiting for me by the door, holding two bicycles. I rushed over to him and took one, following him outside to the sidewalk near the street. The price tag was still on the handle and I loudly gasped when my curiosity took hold.

"We're gonna go on a little ride," he said, casually ripping off the price tags on both of the bikes and tossing it to the side.

"Where? And why bikes?"

"It will give me an opportunity to make sure we weren't followed. We'll take some detours to lose any tails if we have any and then we'll head straight to where Cedric is."

We mounted the bikes and rode towards the sunrise. We kept on the sidewalk, passing by people every now and then. For a moment I thought I was going to fall face forward when I got distracted from staring at Elijah and recklessly went over a deep crack on the concrete. He checked up on me when he heard the gay gasp come out of me, and continued to look back at me to make sure I was alright for the next twenty minutes or so. We went through some neighborhoods, rode through tight alleyways and parks, always on the lookout for anybody watching us, but it was nothing but peaceful. The wind on my face, the sun warming up my body, the birds singing, the palm trees scattered everywhere, it was beautiful.

"Hm," Elijah said when he stopped randomly, staring down at his phone.

"What's wrong?" I said as I slowed down beside him.

"I think Cedric is in trouble."

The peaceful energy quickly vanished into thin air.

"What? Why? What did he say?"

"He said we need to get there immediately. That's it."

"And where exactly is 'there?'"

"We were supposed to meet him at a garage building where I keep one of my cars. It's in a random location by the beach where no one would ever think to look for me. It's not even close to my house."

Without wasting more time, we were back on our bikes, pedaling faster this time. We stayed away from the main road and inched closer to the beach, although not enough that I could see or smell it, but I saw the signs around. It was another twenty minute bike ride, and I wished we had just taken the Uber there, but I understood why Elijah had done it. Better be safe than sorry.

The garage building was so close to the beach that the scent of sand and ocean water finally hit me. The building had eight floors, and according to Elijah, the two at the top were private. We entered the ground floor and Elijah spotted two teenagers sitting by some bench near an elevator. They were soaking wet and wearing bathing shorts, so they must have been at the beach before coming here.

"Hey, you two want these bikes for free?" Elijah said.

"Free?" the shorter one replied.

"What's the catch?" said the other one, sounding doubtful.

"No catch, you guys can have them. They're new, take care of them, okay?"

Smiling, they nodded and we handed them the bikes. They took them and sped away laughing with joy. We jumped into the elevator and went up to the highest floor we could before being forced to step out because it didn't go up to the last two.

There was a barrier gate blocking the path to the other two floors. If you were going up with a car, you had to stop by the toll booth and if you were walking up, you had to go on the other side of it and stop at the window. Since we were walking, we crossed the path and walked up to the lady in the booth. Elijah showed her his information and we were allowed through. Elijah's car was on the top floor. My nerves were peaking at the thought of Cedric being in danger, but also how the fuck did he get up here without Elijah? I knew they talked in private a lot, but like damn, I wished they let me in so I didn't have to suffer from anxiety all the time. There was a group chat for a reason.

Cedric stood by the back walls, which were completely open, letting in the ocean breeze. I could see the water from here and it was quite peaceful and beautiful. The walls did have metal bars to stop people from falling off, but I randomly wondered if anyone had fallen before.

"What's wrong?" Elijah asked quietly as we approached Cedric.

Cedric took a deep breath and opened the back of the car next to him, raising the door up, revealing a stranger. The man was curled up against the back of the trunk wall, his mouth taped shut, his hands and legs tied with rope.

"Um," was all I said.

"Who is this?" Elijah demanded.

Cedric closed the backdoor again. "Caught him spying on your car."

Elijah crossed his arms over his chest, thinking. "He doesn't look familiar."

"I didn't ask questions. I caught him and threw him in the back. Luckily you had tape and rope already in your trunk."

"You think he followed us?" I asked, stepping closer to the car to see him through the back window.

"No, he was already here," Cedric said.

"Open it again," Elijah said.

As Cedric opened the trunk once more and scanned the floor of any eyes, it hit me.

"Wait, you had tape and rope in your trunk? Casually?" I asked him.

"Not the only thing you'll find hidden in the car," he said, climbing in and ripping off the tape from the man's mouth. "Who are you? Are you with Lords?"

The man stayed silent despite the tape being gone. He looked at the three of us, a half-angry expression written all over his face, while the other half screamed of disappointment. He appeared slightly older than Cedric. He wore all black, as if he'd blend in with his surroundings, but not very successful when the sun was out. Unless he didn't plan to stick around that long.

"Devilian?" Cedric asked.

Nothing. The man refused to talk.

"I think he knows," Elijah said, putting the tape back on his mouth and securing it with a rough pat.

"Knows what?" I wondered, the nerves in my stomach piling on top of each other.

"That he's already dead," Elijah said, turning to look at us.

"What do you mean?"

"I don't think he's in Lords, so that means my boss hired him to stalk us, maybe even kill us."

Cedric sighed deeply, almost irritated in a way. "One thing after another . . ."

"Does this mean your boss knows about us?" I asked.

Elijah smirked. "He's not the only one with spies. If he ever figures out the truth, I'll know about it instantly."

"Why are we openly talking about this in front of the spy?" Cedric muttered.

"Because I'm gonna kill him," Elijah stated.

Elijah was not lying when he said he was going to kill him. We found some plastic bags in Elijah's car and used those to cover the man so that nobody could accidentally see him in the back. Cedric stayed in the back seat, his arms resting on the seats as he kept an eye on the man. I was in the front with Elijah as he drove us out of the building and to a mysterious location far away.

The entire ride I glanced at him over and over, still wondering if he was joking about killing the man, but why would Elijah joke about that? He'd done it before, why would he lie now? I knew we had to protect each other, but killing someone . . . really? And he made it sound so easy.

"You look so cute today," Elijah threw at me out of nowhere.

"I look the same as I did yesterday," I said.

"And you looked cute then."

I heard Cedric let out air through his nose.

I refused to respond further so as to not annoy Cedric. Elijah bothered him, I knew this already. The last thing I wanted was to unintentionally poke Cedric's feelings, especially now when we were on edge — although Elijah looked as though he might burst into singing at any moment.

Rudely, I turned off the radio, possibly stopping any karaoke from happening. I was not in the mood and clearly neither was Cedric. The fact that neither of us had vocally condemned Elijah's plan only meant that it was going to happen.

Being a part of a murder was not on my bucket list. But I knew better than to voice my opinion. This wasn't something you could just argue against. These people were in gangs, some had done criminal things, and I was not about to be that annoying person thinking they could turn things around and make everyone change for me.

That being said, being the regular person I was didn't make it an easy thing to process.

Elijah drove us to a private facility with a harbor full of boats. It had tight security that let us through once they saw Elijah's face as if he were a regular customer. As my eyes inspected the area, I wondered how the hell Elijah was going to kill someone here. It was private, but there were people. Unless all of these people were involved in murders.

We parked somewhere near the docks and waited until a man came out from one of the boats. He was an older gentleman, in his sixties perhaps, wearing white pants and a blue Hawaiian shirt with pink flamingos and flowers.

"Elijah!" he roared as he stepped up to the driver's side window. "My son, how are you?"

"I'm doing great, Otis! How are you?"

"Never been better!" he laughed loudly with a thick and raspy Italian accent.

"Sorry for coming unannounced — we're in a bit of a mess."

He waved his hands. "Nonsense. You know you can stop by anytime. So, what can I do for ya'?"

"I have a problem to get rid of . . . in the back."

"Oh." Otis squinted at his watch and then up at the sky. "I think we have enough time before the storm hits. We have to go now, though."

"I agree."

"Is he awake?" Otis asked as he moved to the back of the car.

Elijah turned off the car and got out, following the old man. "Yeah, but he's not resisting, so it's all good."

"Who is he?"

"Hitman, spy, mercenary, who knows," he replied as Cedric joined.

I stayed in the car, shaking, as the adults talked. It was one thing to witness a murder that you weren't expecting to see, and another to know it was coming and be fully a part of. This was really going to happen. All because of me. Someone was going to die because of me.

As my name was called, I stared at my trembling hands and my vision blurred. I swallowed back the tears and closed my hands into fists. My veins were icy cold and my body felt as though it could freeze everything around me into a deathly winter wonderland.

Cedric peaked his head inside and asked me if I was okay.

"Y-Yeah, I'm okay," I said, slowly stepping out of the car as Otis and Elijah pulled out the man, knocking aside the black plastic bags.

"Have I seen you before?" Otis asked the man, scanning him up and down.

"He won't talk," Elijah said.

"Have you tried making him talk?"

"Too tired."

Otis laughed, patting Elijah's shoulder like a proud father. "He does look familiar, but nobody I know."

"He knows he's been caught. Nothing he can do about it."

Otis reached into the man's pockets and pulled out a couple of things. One stood out to everyone immediately. It was some kind of chip device.

"I'll have someone check the car," Otis reassured Elijah.

Was it a chip to track us? That was my only guess. If Cedric hadn't caught him, or if the man had been there way earlier, then he might have actually succeeded. But it looked as though he failed to install the chip in the car.

Otis left for a moment and when he came back, the three of them carried the doomed man down to the docks. Before I joined them, I stood by the walkway and watched the fish swimming in the blue water. Their heavy steps on the wood scared them away and they scattered in different directions. I took a deep breath before stepping on and joining them.

Otis had a few boats, and they discussed which one to take and settled on his small yacht. Despite it being on the smaller side of yachts, it did not look that way. It was pure white and absolutely gorgeous. We entered by stepping onto the swimming platform on the back, leading us to the outdoor cockpit, which had a white leather sofa big enough for three adults. This was where Elijah and Cedric sat the man, with both taking a spot next to him. Right in front of us was a sliding door that Otis opened, motioning me to go inside with him. We passed a small kitchen area to the right and behind it was the interior living room with a similar sofa as the one outside. It was right next to the helm, complete with a steering wheel and a hundred different buttons and levers.

"What's your name?" Otis asked me as he sat down behind the wheel.

As nervous as I was, I managed to say my name without any emotions.

"Lucian."

"You look a little young to be here."

Wait . . . was I told to sit here because I looked like a child? There was no fucking way this kept happening. Maybe the only fucking reason I seemed so young to everyone . . . was because they were fucking old.

"I'm twenty one," I responded dryly.

I noticed a few men outside on the dock. They were helping Otis with the boat. And nobody batted an eye at the tied up man in the back in broad daylight.

It wasn't long before we were riding through the waves far away from civilization. Otis talked to me a lot about his life when he was around my age. It distracted me for a while, but what mostly got my mind off of things was the view through the windows. The ocean, large and never ending, a kingdom of blue surrounded by a bright sky and fluffy white clouds. I'd never been on a boat and I'd never imagined I'd take down two things in one day — riding an airplane and now riding a boat. I just wished we were under different circumstances so that I could truly enjoy the heavenly view.

Otis seemed like a normal old man, until he started telling detailed stories of some of the things he had done and regretted throughout his life. Everyone around me seemed to fit so perfectly into this lifestyle. I was the odd one out.

Before we got on the boat, I was hesitant for a dumb reason. I was afraid of looking like a fool if it turned out I got easily sea sick, but I felt nothing. Even when we hit the occasional wave that bounced us, nothing. It was a miracle. I did not look forward to being embarrassed right before a murder.

Speaking of the murder . . . Elijah kept a tight eye on the man the entire time, and I could see he desperately wanted to come over to me, talk to me, flirt, do his usual Elijah things. But this was a serious matter that needed to be taken care of.

"How do you know Elijah?" Otis asked at some point.

"I worked with him for a little while."

"What's this I hear about me?" Elijah suddenly showed up, leaving Cedric to guard the man. So much for taking his role seriously.

"I was just asking Lucian here how he met you."

"Oh! My favorite story!" Elijah gushed, clapping his hands as he sat down beside me. "I met Lucian back in high school. We'd never really talked before until our class got a science project and we were paired together. We started going to each other's houses, working really hard. He was a little timid at first, but once I started making him laugh, he eased a bit and got comfortable. That's when I noticed how cute he was, and every day when I'd see him I'd just get lost in thought, wondering how his lips felt on my lips, until one day at my house, I decided to plant one on him. He got really scared, especially because of my muslim family. They were always raging about the Elle Gee Bee Tea community and it would scare anyone, honestly."

"Um."

"Don't interrupt, sweetie."

Otis laughed quietly, his voice slowly trailing till the laugh faded into awkwardness.

"That's not how we met," I said, refusing to be a part of this weird fantasy of his.

"What? Are you sure? I could've sworn . . ."

"Are you guys done joking around?" Cedric said suddenly, towering over us while he had a strong grip on the man so he wouldn't slip away. It was kind of weird seeing him standing so close to me, knowing his death was coming.

Otis and I exchanged a similar look of confusion.

"Maybe I'm thinking about somebody else," Elijah said, tapping his chin thoughtfully. "I'm not even sure it was a male . . . but I do hear the faint sounds of my homophobic parents shouting something at the television."

"Comforting," Otis joked, chuckling to himself as he brought his attention back to the ocean.

"Yeah," Elijah agreed, sighing contently.

Cedric walked back to the sofa outside, holding the man by the ropes and keeping him close. I had no idea what was going on with Elijah but we let him get lost in his little bubble until it was time to pop it.

The minutes dragged by and the sky became darker with ominous gray clouds coming from the east. I was sure an hour or more had passed. We were far into the ocean. Otis was looking at a screen with a map while on the phone with some people, talking about the hurricane. At some point we stopped, the water still around us, and it was terrifying.

I'd never been in the ocean, but we'd all seen pictures and videos and movies. Being in what felt like the center of the ocean sent chills through my body. I didn't even want to step to the back to look.

"We don't have much time," Otis said, pulling a lever and disappearing into the hole near the front that I assumed led to the bedroom area below. He came back with a suitcase and opened it in front of me on the table. They were guns.

"The hurricane is still hours away, let's relax a bit!" Elijah said, sitting next to me, wrapping an arm around my shoulder as he manspread.

Otis shook his head disapprovingly as he gently took out some of the guns and assembled them with different pieces. I was intrigued by each one, but this was another thing I was clueless about. I hoped that being in gangs taught me a little about them.

"Do you want to use this one?" Otis asked Elijah, showing him a pistol.

"I'll use a knife, don't worry," he replied.

"A knife. On my boat. Not gonna happen, son."

Elijah sighed. "But I don't want to make any noise. And slicing is so fun."

"No blood on my boat!" he yelled, like a father to his son.

"Fine! Wouldn't want to scare Lucian anyway," he said, bringing up a hand and caressing my chin.

Respectfully, I turned away from the touch, feeling weird and uncomfortable in front of this old man who could be homophobic . . . and had guns.

"Sorry," I said when I saw the look on his face.

"Babe, that's so mean. After everything we've been through?" Elijah spoke with a sarcastic sounding tone, so I didn't take him seriously, but a part of me could never tell when he was serious in the first place. "You know . . . we should take one of Otis' yachts one day and just have a nice date in the ocean. You wanna get fucked on the ocean? Could be fun. Adventurous."

"Uh," was all I could say.

"I'm so fucking tired of listening to this shit every time we're together."

I was caught off guard by the line. Cedric was looking down at the floor, angrily. He was tapping one foot impatiently while his hand gripped tighter on the ropes, forcing a look of discomfort on the man's face.

"What's wrong?" Elijah asked, using a baby voice.

Oh no.

"You literally asked me how I felt about Lucian. I told you everything, and you still mock me? I trusted you with something important and you sit there every time, acting as if he's yours."

"Real men fight for what they want, not sit around waiting for it to come to them," Elijah replied, his voice the most normal I'd ever heard. I actually needed to take two looks at him to make sure it had come from his mouth.

"Easy for you to say," Cedric said, standing up and letting go of the man. He didn't move — not like there was anywhere for him to run to. "I didn't grow up with a teenage rebellion phase. I grew up with real gangsters, ones that killed gay people on sight. Do you have any idea what it's like to be in that environment for your entire life? If I hadn't been gay, I'd be the most violent homophobic asshole there ever was."

I took one quick glance at Otis, who was sitting at the helm with his seat completely turned to face whatever the fuck was happening. His mouth was slightly parted and his expression was dumbfounded.

Honestly, me too.

"But you're not, so what are you waiting for? You're already pushing seventy," Elijah said, standing up. "No offense. We all have a daddy kink."

"Speak for yourself," Otis said, who had magically conjured a newspaper and was now reading it instead of watching the scene in front of him after it became clear it was a waste of time.

"Boundaries. I know you lack them — I know you lack a lot."

"Your point?"

Cedric stomped closer to Elijah, full of threatening vibes. "Don't fucking mock me. Don't flirt with Lucian in front of me. And stop disrespecting me."

Elijah chuckled and smirked as he leaned back against the table. "I've done more than that with Lucian."

In a flash, Cedric's hand was around Elijah's throat and pushing down on the table, knocking the suitcase full of guns to the edge. I quickly grabbed it and gently lowered it to the sofa, receiving a nod of approval from Otis.

"Harder," Elijah choked as Cedric pinned him down.

"You really think you're the only one. You think you're the only one around here that matters?" Cedric yelled, giving Elijah a hostile stare, his brows furrowed and his nostrils flaring.

I had no reaction to what was happening. Despite them being inches in front of me, I was at peace knowing I wasn't an animal. I paid minimum attention to them, but I still made sure to listen and watch out for either of them crossing a line. It was strange being in the middle of this topic, almost made me miss having a homosexual relationship with Chance. Because this reeked of straight men behavior.

They argued, they shouted at each other, meanwhile Otis sipped on a cup of coffee while he continued to read his newspaper. Unfortunately I didn't have the luxury of stepping aside unless I pushed them. But as they fought and shouted more nonsense, I decided to do just that. And to the surprise of no one, they didn't even move an inch when I pushed them away and stepped aside. They were dead set on killing each other and pretending I wasn't there.

"I told you, choke me harder," Elijah said, not fighting back as Cedric manhandled him.

"Are you not scared?" I asked the man when I sat with him. This was the first time I stepped out of the boat with the ocean all around us. It was way more calming and peaceful than being inside right now. "Of dying?"

The man shook his head.

He was a little rough looking. I assumed he'd done a lot of things in his life to get all of his scars and nonchalant reaction to being murdered.

"Do you have a family?"

He shook his head again.

"Anyone that will miss you?"

Again.

"It's my fault you're dying. I'm sorry."

He mumbled something. All of this time, he'd never even attempted at a head shake, but here with me, he was communicating. Slowly, I peeled off the tape on his mouth.

"It's not your fault. Julius gave me the worst information to work with, so you caught me. It's his fault." The man had an unsettling deep voice, full of darkness. He'd definitely done things.

I heard a loud gasp. Elijah pushed Cedric off, being able to fight him off this entire time, and ran to us.

"I knew it! Julius is a huge problem. Anything else you wanna tell me before I shoot you?"

The man was quiet again.

"Anything else you wanna tell Lucian?" Cedric said behind Elijah.

Suddenly, I noticed something disturbing. "E-Elijah? Are you . . . hard?"

Elijah's eyes went down to his crotch. "Yeah? I wasn't joking when I said everyone is into daddies."

Cedric's hands were on Elijah again, roughly pushing him. "I TOLD YOU TO STOP MOCKING ME!"

"AND I TOLD YOU TO CHOKE ME HARDER, SO I GUESS NEITHER OF US ARE GETTING WHAT WE WANT!"

"Just date each other."

Everything went silent except for the sound of Otis flipping his newspaper in the front. This came from the man. He looked so done. Cedric let Elijah go.

"Just date each other," he repeated. "We're not in the eighteen-hundreds. You don't have to have just one partner. I had two wives before."

"What happened to them?" I asked slowly, wary.

"They left me for another woman," he said, his tone low and sad.

"Five minutes and I'm turning this boat around!" Otis shouted from the inside.

"Yes, dad!" Elijah screamed back.

Cedric seemed confused. "Wait, is he your real—"

"No. He's just very fatherly."

"Is there any way we can save him? This is so fucking sad," I said, lowering my head down.

"No, we cannot. We let him go, he finishes his job, gets paid, and we get gutted."

"Is that true?" I asked him.

"Are you . . . new?" he said, squinting his eyes.

"He is," Elijah answered for me. "He's super cute, but super gullible. It's adorable."

"Don't trust anyone," he told me. "Don't think people are out here wanting the best for you. Don't even trust yourself."

"Good advice!" Elijah said, walking into the boat and coming back with a gun. It had something long on the tip. A silencer? Who the fuck was gonna hear a gunshot out in the ocean? Actually, nevermind. Better safe than sorry.

"Can you at least tell us if you gave them any information about us?" Cedric asked, stepping in front of Elijah.

"No. I didn't have time. Julius gave me some of the sloppiest orders I'd ever seen, and like an idiot, I followed."

"I'm sorry for asking this, but won't his body float back to shore?" I wondered.

"Have you looked around us?" Elijah asked, raising a brow that made me feel stupid.

"No, I've been avoiding it. The ocean is . . . kind of scary."

"Well, sweetheart, look." He waved at the ocean and the coldest shiver traveled through my spine.

Sharks.

Dozens of them. Everywhere. How I even missed them when I came out here I did not know. Their creepy fins moved around the boat, dragging water lines behind them. They circled us as if they knew what was about to happen, like an omen.

"If you're gonna throw him at the sharks, why the gun?" I asked.

"Because I don't want him to feel any pain. I'm not a monster, Lucian," Elijah scoffed, so unserious.

So there won't be a body to find. I got my answer.

As they prepared the man, I stepped back inside, not wanting to look. I even contemplated covering my ears to avoid the trauma. But Otis put down his paper and gave me those fatherly eyes.

"You should look. Better you get used to seeing," he said.

He was kind of right. If I wasn't a part of any gang then looking away was more than welcomed. But because I didn't see a way out of my situation, I needed to develop a stomach for this kind of shit, even against my wishes.

I watched.

Elijah had the man stand by the edge of the boat. They rid him of the ropes and anything that could one day trace back to us. He pointed the gun, and without a warning, shot the silent bullet through his head. The man fell back into the water, splashing loudly. As the sharks gathered, the blue ocean became violently red.

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[Author's Message]: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. I don't really have much to say. The chapter you've all been waiting for is coming up next. I've had this chapter in my mind for YEARS. I am SO sorry it has taken me this long to finally write it LMAO but at least we're here. SO the next chapter is gonna be long, which means a lot of work. It's going to take me a bit, but like always, i WILL upload at least ONE chapter minimum per month, wish it could be more but some chapters just really take long for me to write. I hope you guys prepare before you read it. Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter, please let me know if I messed up anywhere, I am only human and i make many many many mistakes. Let me know your thoughts in the comments pls <3 Do you love Elijah and Cedric? UWU????? or are you a Lucian stan like me? Cause Lucian is MY man *weary emoji*