Chapter 23

“What do you want, Yule?” His tone of voice was one of caution, but if one heard closely, there was resignation in there too. Of course, everyone would be cautious and some would be scared out of their wits if they found their temple pressed with a gun, but who would be as resigned and lethargic as him?

He sounded almost as if he wanted the trigger pulled.

“To make a deal.” The voice who replied him was familiar, but not one he appreciated. He had always been on opposite ends with this con standing behind him, holding a gun to his head, but he never really thought that his past with the con would chase him even up till today.

“Between you and me, we both know that making a deal would be something really bad for the both of us. “His voice was now more steady and controlled, but there was still the resignation there. Was it because he was used to people pointing guns at his head? He tried not to think about the many times he was exposed to that life-threatening action.

“In the past, yes. Now? Between a lawyer like you, no matter how temporary you are, and a con like me? I think we can draft up something that satisfies the both of us.” The man with the weapon walked around him and stood tall before him, the barrel still resting lightly on his temple. One squeeze of the gun on this man’s forehead, and his brain matter would splatter all across the white walls of his own home.

He wasn’t sure why this conman was here, or why the gun was pressed to his head, but he could guess that it had something to do with his past. He needed to get his apartment better locks –without a doubt –but that was on the assumption that he could walk out of this meeting alive -if he could walk.

“Once a con, always a con, Yule. You should know that.” He looked up, glad to have eyes to meet and eye contact to hold now.

“Call me Tyler. It is almost as if you have never spoken to me or pitted yourself against me before.” The man with the gun replied pleasantly, still holding on to a smile.

“It was years ago, and what gives the pleasant visit of someone as busy as you? Surely being on The Circle means you being perpetually busy?” He smiled condescendingly back in reply, but his eyes speak of a hidden danger. Tyler Yule had always been slightly fearful of that hidden danger written behind his eyes, and he knew to use to his advantage.

“Well, you can consider me to be on The Circle’s duty. I want to make you a deal. Work with me.”

“Then why make a deal when your gun is on my head?” He asked calmly back in reply, with a lawyer’s calm and collected tone of voice. This was one thing he had prided himself in being able to do. Amongst the many cons in the world, he liked to think that he was the most composed despite all situations. He had been complimented on this special trait of another con of The Circle, and he was sure she had seen many cons before him. However, funnily enough, she was the only one who could make him lose control.

“Because I know humans. No one reacts well to a gun to their head. You are no different, Neal.”

“It is Nick now.” He bites back, frowning at the name. Tyler Yule shouldn’t be calling him by his old name. There was only one person on The Circle who could call him Neal, and he had broken her heart.

“Regardless of the name you hold, you are still here before me. You tried to run away, but you should know better. Cons cannot escape their past. They can hide it, but they cannot run away when it comes chasing after them.”

“I’m not running. I would be halfway around the globe if I were, hiding under another name. The fact that I stayed in NYC must mean something, don’t you think?” He challenged back in reply, and Tyler smirks.

“Then you are brave, and I must have misread you. Nevertheless, you will make a deal with me today.” Tyler announced, and he continued to hold eye contact with him.

“I don’t see how that’s not going to happen since you’re in my apartment with me as your hostage and at gunpoint.” He observed objectively, and Tyler nodded.

“It was a measure to ensure your obedience. And it works. But since we’re old acquaintances, how about I let you off the hook and you give me some tea to chat over?” Tyler finally removed the gun from his head, but kept hold of it in his hand, ready to go shooting if something bad happened.

Nick nodded seriously in reply, and then wheeled into the kitchen to brew some hot tea.

“Chamomile or Earl Grey? I don’t have any others at the moment.”

“Chamomile.” Tyler replied from the living room, and Nick took his time to calm his nerve, brewing the hot tea. He had no idea what the con on The Circle wanted with him, but if his past was running and coming up to catch him by the tail, there was no way he could escape it. He knew it, though he had not expected to wait so long before someone came knocking on his door.

Nick took a tray and placed both cups on his lap. For a long moment, he stared at those legs that couldn’t move anymore. Those legs could move, but couldn’t ever move him along. He’d been waiting for seven years. Seven years that he has not spent standing anymore. The past seven years had been spent with him sitting, and he didn’t see himself coming up anytime soon.

“Aren’t the two of you alike? I knew it beforehand, but seeing your photo…. I definitely see brothers in the two of you.” Tyler asked when he wheeled into the living area, holding on to a photo by the mantle.

“We both have more of our father’s gene than our mother’s. Put that photo down and make your deal.” Nick smiled, but there were daggers behind the look he gave Tyler. It was obvious that he wanted very much to protect his housemate, his brother, and Tyler knew that he’d found his trump card.

“Aren’t you impressive? You managed to convince an FBI agent to house you. Brother or not, your state must have been pretty convincing.”

“It’s not a façade, Tyler. I was in the crash.”

“I never said you weren't, Neal. I’m just saying how convincing it would be for a half-brother like you in your state for Rainer Clarke.”

“Stay away from him, Tyler. He’s not worth going after.”

Tyler put the photo frame back down, stepping forwards for his tea.

“Agent Clarke is the Lead Investigator in New York White Collar crime unit. How can he not be worth going after?”

“Don’t go after him. Trust me. Besides being my half-brother, Rainer has a streak of catching surprising cons of all kind. Don’t be another to his list.”

Tyler gave the wheelchair bound man a look over, and then seemed to take Nick’s word for it.

“Fine, but it’s a shame though. The deal we must make concerns indirectly him too.” Tyler gives an air of indifference, but Nick knew better than to tense up before Tyler.

The con artist who was now used to his seat on The Circle was one notorious for grilling his targets and was sitting across him. He probably never wanted to know what Tyler did to get his seat. All he wanted was his peaceful life, but a con never stopped anyway.

“Then cut to the chase and save me suspense. I’ve been in the industry long enough.”

“And you’ve been out seven years since. For you, though, I’ll cut to the chase. I respect you enough to give you that much. I want you to stop your ex girlfriend from saving her brother from yours.”

Nick didn’t speak for very long, his eyes on the floor, but far away. Tyler waited patiently, watching the one-armed, wheelchair-bound man fall into his own flashback. Tyler wasn’t sure if he wanted to know the complicated relationship between Hayley Seyfried and Neal Kris, but he definitely did know that both loved each other to pieces. That much; Hayley Seyfried had made the mistake of showing everyone.

Neal had been untouchable, for Hayley had always kept him covered. It did help that Neal himself was a top-notched conman, and he knew to keep himself from danger that came in the form of cons trying to remove him and attack him, for he was the weakness of Hayley Seyfried. Still, Tyler Yule never expected his own success at removing such a man from the con world, however temporary. He never expected things to go his way, never expected that he would end up here, staring down at a scarred man whose name was no longer Neal.

Tyler took a sip from the cup of warm Chamomile tea.

“I haven’t spoken to Hayley in seven years.” Nick replies after a full five minutes, eyes finally back up on the conman.

“Well, isn’t seven year just enough for her anger to smolder? I don’t care what you do, Neal. I just want Hayley to stop from getting her brother out of FBI. And if she succeeds, you’re not the only one dying. I’ll kill Rainer, and put the blame on Hayden and his sister.”

“This is not something to be asking me. You can ask her student. Dorian seems to be quite close to her now, no?” Nick’s reply was still even-toned, and Tyler silently marveled at this man. It was quite obvious that Hayley was still Nick’s weak spot, but none of that shock and dread seeped into Nick’s voice at all.

“For someone you haven’t talked to for seven years, you’re quite updated on the people close to her.” Tyler observed, and Nick didn’t even bat an eyelid.

“Once a con, always a con. I still have people on the road telling me things, one of which concerns Hayley in New York.”

“Nevertheless. It doesn’t matter to me what you do, Neal. But I don’t want Hayden out in the open industry. And motivation shouldn’t come from only me.” Tyler replied, putting his cup down on the low coffee table and withdrawing a stack of photographs from his inner coat pocket.

Nick tried not to imagine what could be on those photos as he received it from the conman.

It was pictures after pictures of his ex-girlfriend, sitting alone with his brother, chatting happily. He feasted his eyes on the beauty that he’d given up seven years ago, unable to believe that a top-notched con like her was sitting comfortably beside his FBI brother, without Rainer smelling something off. Rainer could smell a con in a ten mile radius, and Nick couldn’t fathom, for the life of him, why he didn’t know that the sister of his CI was sitting right beside him.

“Motivation should come from these. As you can see, Hayley is digging herself a hole she’s not going to get out from easily. I don’t know what she’s trying to do, but I know she’s getting closer and closer to a certain Agent Clarke. You know your brother better than anyone. You don’t want Hayley to get caught. I don’t know what Hayden’s doing to help her either, but it’s obvious she’s not going to stop. So, right now, you have two choices. Take my deal and save your darling ex-girlfriend from a certain death, and convince her to leave Hayden alone, or forfeit my deal and either let Hayley slip up to be caught by your brother, or let her be successful, and I’ll kill the both of you Clarke brothers.”

“I don’t believe you. Rainer never told me about Hayley being in his life. There’s no other woman in his team, except for Yuri and…”

I was dropped by Anna’s place. Turns out she isn’t the perfect FBI.But turns out she used to be a con –like you. She turned CI years ago, and then signed herself to FBI afterwards. That’s how she solves these cases. She has a mind of cons.

“Annabel Francis. She’s taking on the alias of FBI Agent Annabel Francis. She knows her work. If she wants to get Hayden out of the system, she has to go down with him there and drag and pull him out.” Tyler continued his half-spoken sentence, taking another sip from the simmering tea. The gun still rested on his lap, safety off.

“Hayley… is acting as an FBI?” Nick could not help but hesitate now. There was only one person who could throw him off guard and, like said, it was only Hayley. She didn’t even have to be there in person.

“I must give it to her; she must be the first person to think of posing as an FBI. And she seems to be doing well; considering how she’s winding your brother around her little pinkie.”

Nick is past the point of listening. He thought back on the day he finally picked up that phone that had not been turned on for the past seven years. He thought back on that day that he dredged up enough courage to call and warn his ex-girlfriend of his brother, and the FBI agents that were close to her.

He never thought that one of them would be Hayley herself.

Don’t harm yourself. Don’t harm Hayden. FBI Annabel Francis is trouble –she’s not simple. Don’t play with Hayden’s girlfriend. I know you love your brother, but there are other ways. Don’t target Francis.

I don’t care about that, Neal.

Of course she didn’t care about that. She had no worries, because she was Francis herself, and she was standing right there, next to Rainer while he searched desperately for Hayden’s sister.

It all made sense. Dorian, Hayley’s student had said that she had been shot. Annabel Francis had been shot by Sophia when she tried to protect Hayden too. Though the details were murky, Nick understood how Hayden, Hayley and Dorian could work together to mask the disappearance of Hayden’s sister from that day. He wasn’t sure the aptitude of Dorian, but for now he was ready to assume that Dorian was a top-notched con too.

“Like I said, I don’t care what you do, Neal. I came to you, because you’re the only one that can change Hayley’s mind with a flick of a wrist. You did it once, and made her leave Hayden. You can do it again. I don’t care what card you have to play –what dirty trick you have to do. You pull Hayley away from the FBI and Hayden, and I’ll play nice and keep your brother alive.” Tyler Yule’s voice was far away, and Neal spun himself around to see the door already closing. It was a rare moment that Neal had drifted away from reality, and he thanked the gods silently that Tyler had use for him, for he would be shot straight in the forehead if Tyler had been trying to enact some sort of revenge on him.

He, along with Hayley, had been at loggerheads with the conman for as long as he could remember, and though it had always been Hayley going against Tyler predominantly, Nick had had a few encounters with the conman from The Circle, and had played a few hands with this man. Though it was never determined between the both of them who the better con was, Nick had never thought himself to be inferior to Tyler.

Until today.

Until now.

Until seven years ago, when he lost more than his arm and legs.

Seven years ago, he lost more than his identity.

He lost his heart in the crash too, left for Hayley to pick the pieces up.

*******************************************************

“Take one step forwards and look behind the bench at your side.” The mechanical voice from the phone dictates, and he took a step forwards, wondering with amusement what there was in stall for him. He had only recently been free from the girls’ jobs, and was taking a week's worth of break before he would move on to phase 2 of his heist. He knew his master would be swooping in on him anytime soon, and his heart continued to pump excitedly every day, waiting for the day that Annabel Francis would have an S.W.A.T Team rushing into his apartment.

He leans to the side and collects the envelope from behind the bench, taking a seat on the empty bench as he wedged the phone between his ear and his shoulder, freeing his hands to tear open the top of the envelope. In it was a small in-ear earpiece, obviously a receiver of an open transmission.

“You know what to do with that, Dorian.” The voice that gave him instructions was faintly familiar, and he struggled to put a name to that voice. He knew it was a voice he should be wary of, but he was more interested than anything to see what this obvious conman had in stall for him. Dorian was always ready for a challenge, and even if he failed it, he knew he could learn.

Dorian hung up the call and placed the earpiece in his left ear, crushing the envelope between his hands. There was a crackling noise, then the same voice spoke into his ear again, this time more convenient for him.

“You seem awfully relaxed.” His mysterious caller observed, and he knew the man was somewhere close by, watching him. He kept his amused smirk, sitting and whistling on the bench as if he were a man simply enjoying his break time. No one in the busy NYC stopped to give him a second look.

“I’m actually quite eager to see what I’m going to do. I will be honest; I have no idea who you are, but you most probably are one of Hayley’s enemy. Those who love Hayley love me too. You don’t sound particularly smitten to her, so I guess you’re just trying to test me out. Yet, with your revised and also-relaxed tone, I’d say that you’ve seen me at work a few times before this. I would guess for you to be someone on or related to The Circle, or Ryan Linch –but you don’t sound like him.” Dorian was smirking particularly everything yet nothing at the same time, and the mysterious caller tried not to relate how similar Dorian was acting as to how Hayley would act in a situation like this. Like master, like student; he mused.

“Let’s have a challenge, shall we not? Hayley was proud at you for making sure your slender fingers were put to good use. Now let’s see those fingers at work. I want you to pick as many wallets as you can in the next hour. Keep everything intact, and we will consolidate at the end of the hour. I will be meeting you at the same bench in an hour’s time.”

The hour was gone in a split second, and Dorian found himself grinning from ear to ear, flashing bright smiles to passing ladies, stopping some in their tracks while other stared at his resplendent features, wondering why a handsome man like him was smiling at them.

He had a full backpack with him, and his pockets were filled with all sorts, all shapes and sized wallets. The backpack had not even been his –it had been lifted from the nearby sports shop, and he’d lifted the wallet of the sales attendant at the same time, adding it to his collection.

He sweet-talked, he used his quick fingers. He unzipped bags, and slipped hands to pick up wallets. He gave charming smiles, and he made many enamored. He had features that could convince men and women to take their wallets out, and when they replaced it in their bags and pockets, he knew where to get his goods.

There was someone sitting on the bench already waiting for him, a pair of dark shades sitting on top of a sharp nose. Lips were pressed in a hard line, and head was tilted towards the sky. He wasn’t sure if the man waiting for him was sleeping, or just thinking, but he knew that was the man who had given him the challenge.

He dropped the bag on the floor beside the bench, tapping his receiver on his ear.

“I’m done. You seem to be quite empty.” Dorian heard his voice crackling softly from a radio tucked in the guy’s back pocket. The man moved –seemingly to finally wake up, and turned to face him.

Lips curled into a smirk, and the man took out a wallet from his back pocket.

“I believe this is yours, Mr. Vincent.” He replied, and Dorian snatched his wallet back, failing to smirk or grin anymore. This guy knew his work, and though Dorian had been prepared to lose, he finally understood who he was challenging himself against. Dorian finally placed a name to that voice and face, and though he couldn’t see the eyes of this conniving man, he knew that behind those shades, was a pair of slanted brown eyes.

“What will you do with the wallets and me, Tyler?”

“I do not believe that I gave you leave to call me by name.”

“Neither did I. If there is nothing more, then I’ll be taking my leave.” Dorian said, an expressionless face now placed over the previously grinning man.

Don’t entertain Tyler if he ever comes approaches you alone, Dory. I know you think you’re good enough, but you can’t beat Tyler. He’s on The Circle for a reason, and he hates me. It doesn’t take an idiot to know what will happen if he gets you.

That had been Hayley’s stern words when Tyler first was introduced to Dorian. Tyler remembered being shocked out of his wits when The Circle agreed to keep Dorian and allowing him to flit in and out of their meetings as and when Hayley liked it. From the day of that agreement onwards, Tyler had been convinced that Hayley Seyfried, being a woman, had twirled every single con on The Circle around her fingers.

“Now, Dorian, you left aside an hour to play a game with me, in which I obviously won. Shouldn’t I be allowed to talk to you after the effort I went through to get to you? Besides, contrary to belief, I’m not here to harm your darling master now.” Tyler’s hand grabbed the wrist of Dorian’s, stopping the man from turning away. “Besides, you have almost a shopping mall full of wallets in this bag of yours, don’t you think the fingerprints on these are quite substantial for you to be locked up for at least a good five years?”

“I’ll drop them off myself.” Dorian bit out, obviously losing his cool.

“You know that’s going to upset your darling master. Now, we don’t want Hayley to blow her top, do we? Between saving her dear brother, faking to be an FBI agent and hooking up with Rainer Clarke, we don’t want her to worry about your going to jail because you couldn’t stop your fingers, no?”

Dorian bit his bottom lip, cursing and swearing at his own stupidity silently inside. How could he have fallen to Tyler’s scheme so easily?

“Now, sit down, and I promise I’ll deal with the wallets. Con’s honor.”

“Cons have no honor, much less honor to hold by.” Dorian scoffed, but still sat down reluctantly, stiffly.

“You must be wondering, why a member of The Circle is here, wasting his precious time on you, playing a game with you for even a hour when I could be out there, plotting my next heist and letting Hayley take my fallout.” Tyler started honestly, and Dorian tried his best not to growl. While he was relieved that Tyler wasn’t planning on framing Hayley, he still was unsure what Tyler wanted from him.

“It’ll be better for us both if you just left me alone and get your precious time back.” Dorian commented, but Tyler pretended as if nothing could be heard.

“Now, I shall cut to the point. No point dragging it out, no?”

Dorian refused to answer, staring at his hands instead with the intensity of a glare, as if he were berating them internally.

“You love Hayley, and you want nothing more than to be with her. She loves Neal. Let’s be honest, she cares more about Hayden than she does to you. And then there is also Jeremy Stiles.”

Dorian’s hands clenched into fists almost instantly, and Tyler hides a smirk. Toying with amateurs like Dorian was just too easy, especially so for Dorian who already had someone he was just crazy for.

“The way I see things, you’re going to get thrown out of her life very soon. She has Rainer Clarke, Hayden and Jeremy by her side, and she’s still thinking of Neal. Tell me; where do you think your existence is in her heart?” Tyler continued, watching the fists clench even tighter.

“You probably already asked yourself. What are you going do if Hayley succeeds? Hayden and Hayley are going to make a comeback as a duo to the con world. Hayley will be working with her brother again –and where does that leave you? Jeremy will still be out there, still clinging on to their childhood love. Neal… Let’s not go into that area, shall, we not? You had no problems with Hayley before NYC, no? But she had to come and save Hayden, and Jeremy ended up coming to save her. It’s not only Hayden and Jeremy anymore –I’m sure you know of Rainer’s involvement.” Tyler forced the words into Dorian’s ears, even as the man seemed to get more and more agitated by the words that passed. Of course Tyler knew about Rainer’s involvement with Hayley. Tyler had been there behind Dorian when Dorian watched the two of them kissing beneath Hayley’s apartment.

“I don’t have to listen to this.” Dorian finally announced, standing up with such sudden force that Tyler drew back slightly.

“You don’t have to. And you don’t have to go through this either. I will be honest. I don’t like you, I don’t like Hayley. But between you and Neal, Hayden, Jeremy or –god forbid –Rainer Clarke standing beside Hayley while she’s on The Circle, I choose you. But on this road that she’s going down; chances are that you’re going to be abandoned like how she abandoned Hayden seven years ago. You heard what happened to Hayden; you know how she let him down. Do you want that to happen to you? Seyfrieds are good at running, Dorian. Hayley may run any moment.” Tyler’s words followed Dorian quickly as the man tried to leave the bench, but his footsteps slowed down as the words sank in through his thick head.

“What are you trying to get at?” Dorian demanded, spinning around to glare at the man who hadn’t even bothered removing his shades.

“I’m saying; stop playing her game. She’s playing games with the FBI, and you’re her tool. But at the end, once she gets her prize, she’s going to throw you away. You don’t play her game, and you stop her from getting her prize. She fails; she’s going to cherish everything she has by her side; even you. You love her, Dorian, and spent years trying to impress her. You picked up skills to be by her side, but she’s choosing even an FBI Agent over you. Isn’t it time that you do something to claim her? Isn’t it time that you finally set your own boundaries with her, and push her closer to you with those boundaries?”

“And you think I’m not trying?” Dorian’s voice was dangerously low, and despite the vast difference between the men hanging around Hayley Seyfried, Tyler recognized a little of the hidden danger that Neal had had in his voice, behind his eyes. This must be what Hayley Seyfried saw in her men –that danger that was always kept hidden from the surface. She must be a woman who was used and fond of playing with fire.

How scarred she must be. How burnt her fingers must be.

Tyler collected his thoughts, refraining from more thoughts of pity on his enemy on The Circle.

“You have your own answer to that question. But I have to say; who will let someone like Hayley go, after what you went through with her? You were the only one with her after Neal left. You were the only one supporting her. You should be the one she cares the most for –at least following closely behind Neal. But look at her now.”

“I can’t do anything!” Dorian burst out, the anger blatant in his voice.

“Yes. Yes, you can. But you have to listen to me if you want me to ensure that she’s yours. We need to remove her from her boys bit by bit. First, from Rainer Clarke. Then from Hayden. Slowly, we’ll remove Jeremy. Over time, she’s going to forget Neal, and it’s going to be you left.”

“How?” Dorian felt inside as if he were betraying his master, but if that was what he would have to do to get her, then that was what he would do. Though he couldn’t ever trust Tyler for his life, he trusted that Tyler wanted nothing more than to remove Hayley from NYC. New York City was the obvious White Collar Paradise, and two members of The Circle in the same city would never make things easy for Tyler. Above all, he knew Tyler didn’t want Hayden in the con world, for another Seyfried was another threat of his seat on The Circle.

“Is that consent? That you will stop Hayley from whatever she’s doing to get her brother out from FBI?”

Dorian bit his bottom lip. He couldn’t believe this.

He took his seat again, torn. He didn’t want to walk down this road anymore. But he didn’t want to harm Hayley. He wanted nothing more than to keep her safe. But to keep her safe… to keep her with him… the best way was to betray her.

“I’ll do things your way. But if. If you ever do anything –just anything -to harm her, I will get you. I don’t care what happens to me. I’ll tear your head from your neck, and make sure you’ll never be able to come back. You understand me?”

Tyler didn’t even bat an eyelid –not as if anything Dorian said really bothered him. Tyler was on The Circle for a reason, and Dorian wouldn’t be able to touch him at all, given his current skills.

“I believe I’m done here.” Tyler stood up, and there was nothing more the less-experienced conman could say. Dorian knew Tyler hated his and his master’s guts. But out of everything, he trusted himself to know when he was harming Hayley or not.

He swore he wouldn’t hurt her. Even if he did, it would be for her.

Everything for her. Dorian had given up so much –his life, and his dignity. Dorian had done so much for Hayley.

He wanted her. No matter what.