Trigger Warning:

This chapter contains mentions of rape and physical abuse. I will link a website for anyone struggling with mental health specifically thinking about dark places at the moment. below. Please be cautious when reading. And note that all characters in this novel are in fact fictional. But these topics mentioned are real and not a laughing matter. Thank you and I hope you all enjoy.

Website: https://namiseattle.org/support-resources/help-crisis-lines/

The Night Before..... (By this I mean the night before ch. 12)

It was an easy kill. All Mei had to do was slip into the office before the target arrived. Catch him off guard then slit his throat when his back was turned. That was all she needed to do. Or so she kept telling herself. But it didn't change the fact that this man had a family. He had a little girl and son back home. All he did was steal some money from Avan. Nikolai had done his own background check on the man. And what Anna had said to Mei was technically correct.

But why didn't she tell Mei about why he was stealing from the Heads' family company? It didn't make any sense to Mei. But she never questioned Anastasia, it just wasn't done. But also because she was scared that if she did, she would be kicked out of the organization. And if she was then where would she and Theo go? Sure Theo had a plan for if they escaped. He might as well have screamed it at the top of his lungs with how much he was preaching to her about leaving. But, Anna took them in. She gave them the life they had now. She taught both of them everything they knew today. How could they just abandon Anna?

Maybe it was also because Mei was selfish, she wanted the top position. She wanted to be the next head of the mercenaries. It would help secure their future. If she was the next head Theo and Mei wouldn't have to worry about securing food anymore. She wouldn't need to lose Theo like she did Leon.

"Mei? Mei? Mei, you there?" Nikolai was speaking through the earpiece trying to get her attention. Blinking out of her thoughts, Mei shook off her wandering mind.

"Yepi Dilido," Mei said, trying to fake her happy tone. She didn't need Nikolai to worry about her any more than Theo already was. Gritting her teeth Mei needed to convince Theo to not embark on his stupid plan. Get his mind out of that damn fantasy. But how. Mei still didn't know.

"The target is entering the building. He'll be back in the office in approximately 15 minutes." Nikolai was saying. A pause. A halt in his words. He always breathed in a breath after his sentences when he wanted to add something else. But although they had been dating for more than 3 years, and they were one of those rare monogamous couples in the organization, Mei felt like Nikolai still walked around on eggshells with her.

Sighing Mei rolled her eyes, "Spill. You know you don't have to hold back with me. You could say whatever you want." She finished wishing Nikolai would stop with his hesitations.

"Don't you think this is wrong? I mean, the guy is only taking money because his family's going through a rough patch. I heard they just lost their mother and the father.... Well, he is in some major trouble with a loan shark and some gangs. Don't you think, maybe we should approach this differently?" Nikolai finished bringing up rather good points but if Mei allowed herself to really examine everything. What's right and what's wrong. She wasn't sure if she could pull this mission off. And she needed to complete this mission. If she didn't, that bitch, whatever her name is, would take the top spot for the fastest mission completed too. She had to if she was able to kill this guy she would beat her own record of 20 minutes. Then she would see how that hoe, Ren could try and beat that speed record.

"Nikki, you know I have to. If I no- if we don't Anna will be mad. She's not nice when she's mad." Mei finished remembering the look of disappointment etched into every scowling and dip of Anastasia's brows. Anna never beat Mei. She never raised her voice at Mei. But she would sometimes send Mei on mission after mission, with barely enough time to eat or sleep in between. Or when she failed to complete a job Anastasia wouldn't even send Mei out on any jobs at all for a month. And the things in the organization weren't necessarily cheap. Not even the food.

Mei didn't like to talk about it, but she would sometimes find scars and bruises lining Theo's back when she failed a mission or if he failed a mission. So she needed to finish this mission. She needed to get that position to secure their place. Because if she went with Theo, there was no guarantee that they would remain alive. 'The Grey' had the best technology in the world, the best trackers, hackers, and engineers in the world. Any code you needed to be made the research team would make the most perfect system there is known to mankind. So all of Theo's wishes were just that. She needed to stay. They needed to stay. Even if Theo doesn't like it. It wasn't bad at first, it was fine. They were happy. Anastasia did train them. She gave them food and shelter, but as time wore on and the organization grew Anastasia had more weight on her shoulders. Mei knew this, she understood, yet she could still hear the cries. Theo's sobs at night when they had failed their first mission since officially joining the organization at age 15. After being trained for the first three years of being brought in and found when Mei was 12 and Theo was 14.

At first, it was just slashed across his back when he was 17. It looked awful, the grotesque peeling of skin from bone as Mei applied the ointment. The way Mei could practically see the tissues forcibly being ripped apart from one another. It was so deep that all Mei could do was try and not puke as she helped apply new bandages to Theo's body. Mei was only 15 when she started learning how to stitch back the skin on a person's body because Theo couldn't see the doctors. Anastasia didn't allow it. She locked them both in Theo's room after each discipline. Because Anastasia had said it was to help discipline them. It wasn't a punishment, it was for their own 'good'. Mei didn't know what was worse, hiding behind the closet door as she heard the whimpers and pleas to stop or when Theo had turned 18 and other acts were done. It probably explains why Mei was still a virgin till today 22 and her hymen was still intact.

Mei had thought it would be fine if she slept with Theo. That it would keep Anastasia away but it didn't. It made it worse. And it wasn't as if she could go to the other Heads for help. They were her siblings. Mei didn't know where their loyalties lay. So Mei did the only thing she could think of and Theo could hate her for it. He might have but she had to. She turned Anna's gaze onto someone else. All she needed to do was be a 'good girl' and Theo wouldn't be hurt, he wouldn't be touched. Theo had endured it for a year that was enough. It was three times a week. Mei had to listen to Theo's tears. She couldn't do it anymore. And if she was given the chance, she would do it all over again. She would always choose Theo. The only problem was the other boys were weak. So it didn't take long before Anastasia's eye wandered back over to Theo and his chocolate brow skin. Mei found new boys to help please Anastasia, to keep her hands off Theo. Mei hated his red wet stained cheeks.

"Just hear me out. What if we fake his death? I-I know some people who might-" Nikolai began as Mei quickly shot him down. Theo had also mentioned these so-called "people" too.

She can't have Nikolai involved as well, if he did then- no no Theo was fine. Nikolai will be fine as well. As long as Mei kept her mouth shut and did what she was told everything would be fine." Nikolai, we're finishing this job. I don't wanna hear anything else. Please. Let's pretend we didn't discuss this." Mei whispered regretting her decision to let Nikolai finish his thoughts. Mei hoped she could get Larissa to delete this part of their conversation. No. She needed to get Larissa to delete this conversation. If Anastasia heard about this. No, she won't, Mei will make sure of it.

As the target entered his brown eyes met her own darker shades of irises as she smiled. The target was taken aback. No doubt surprised by Mei's appearance like a creeper hiding under his desk. Before he could even utter a single sentence Mei was slipping out moving as quick as one of those Japanese bullet trains but as silent as a cat. Her hands already covering his mouth before her dagger slit across his throat. The office still had some lingering nighttime employees so a gunshot wound alarmed people. It would mean that Mei would have failed her mission. But everything had gone down in less than a few seconds.

Catching the target as if his string had been cut. Which, Mei guessed it was, she slowly settled him down on the cool grey carpeted flooring. It was already stained with blood. The wool of the flooring absorbs the bodily fluids as quickly as paper to water. Mei stared at the body before her. A father. No. She couldn't think that. He was a target nothing else. Closing her eyes Mei smiled, "Bye bye old man. You should have signed that contract." Mei whispered sighed but what she really thought was, you should have ripped off someone else. If only you hadn't crossed Anastasia or the Heads' of the organization then maybe he would have been able to live. He might even have been able to save his family.

Turning away Mei cleared any emotion from her thoughts as she chipped back, "So what's on the list for tonight's date? I think I could report back to Anna via text. I'll see her later tonight. I just set a new record after all she's gotta give me some leniency. I swear she works me like a dog." Mei joked before she unhooked her grappler. Slipping out the window she looked back at the man. Mei knew she shouldn't have because his lifeless cloudy gaze stared straight up at the ceiling seeing nothing. Mei turned as she listened to Nikolai's response he always knew what to say. And that's why Mei loved him. He knew when to let things go.

"Hmm, maybe a rooftop dinner at that skyscraper place in NYC? I got us a reservation." Nikolai was saying as Mei swung her way to the lower floors of the alley where Nikolai was waiting in his slightly old but still new-ish Toyota Supra. It was NYC after all. It would have been far more suspicious if they showed up in the nicer parts of Manhattan with a van or something like that. A nice showy car, no one would even blink an eye. Ok, maybe stare but the windows were tinted and it was night time so no one would have seen anything. Plus it was their date night so Mei was gonna go in a nice car. At least she thinks a Toyota Supra was a nice car. Mei didn't know much about cars. Anna never taught her about cars, just the vital points of the human body. Little did Mei know that as she hopped into the car kissing Nikolai as they made their way to their fancy dinner date that things were about to change. She was right in her hatred for the new girl. If only she'd never joined the organization maybe things would have been better. Maybe she could still be wrapped in her blankets of dilution.

Author's Note:

How are we all feeling about Mei?

Do you all think what she did was right? What would have been a better solution?