The figure in the mirror moves towards me. I need to act now.
I spin around and quickly swing my right arm that is holding the scissors towards the person.
Before the scissors can make contact my wrist is harshly grabbed and I automatically drop the makeshift weapon from the sudden pain.
The bathroom light is suddenly flicked on, temporarily blinding me. I rapidly flutter my squinted eyes to try and regain sight in the harsh light but my eyes widen when I realise who I just tried to attack.
Blaine is stood with my wrist still in his hand. He looks extremely pissed.
His cold, dark eyes bore into mine, glare at me, challenge me. His jaw is clenched so tightly, like it's the only thing holding him back. His eyebrows furrowed and instead of his usual cocky smirk, laced with humor, his lips told his rage.
His hair is slightly ruffled as though he's been continuously running his hands through it. The dress shirt that he's wearing isn't buttoned all they way to the top and his sleeves are rolled up to his elbows, exposing his forearms.
He looks hot right now.
Oh my god why did you just think that.
He's about to fucking kill you and your thinking about how hot he looks.
"Care to explain?" He says sharply, cutting me out of my thoughts.
His grip on my arm is still tight so I decide I might as well dig myself a deeper hole to die in. "Take your hand off me then we'll talk." I say resulting in him forcefully dropping my hand and raising an eyebrow.
Well that was.....something.
"You can't honestly blame me for trying to defend myself." I state. "If I'd have known it was you I wouldn't have tried to impale you." and have to face the consequences for not actually doing it.
"We both know that's not what I'm talking about." He says. "I'm talking about you leaving after we just made a deal or did you forget about that?"
"I didn't realise the deal required me to stay at your house." I bite out.
"Well it does."
"That wasn't part of the agreement." I say as he turns and starts leaving.
"It is now." He says walking away.
"No, it's not." I follow out the bathroom after him, flicking on the main lightswich.
"Need I remind you the consequences for running away."
"I didn't run; you clearly knew exactly where I was."
"I don't care this is your only warning."
"Screw you."
Once he reaches the front door he turns to look at me. He tilts his head to the side. "You wish."
He bends down to pick up my shoes from by the front door. He slightly throws them so they land on the floor infront of me.
"Put your shoes on we're going."
"I'm not going anywhere, especially not with you."
"What did happen to your cat?" He asks out of the blue, his tone showing he doesn't genuinely care.
I came down here looking for Frinkles.
Panic floods through me and I do little to hide it. I just need to know that he's safe.
My eyes search both the living room and the kitchen but theres no sign of him anywhere.
I turn back to Blaine. "What did you do?" I ask, anger laced in my tone.
"I don't know what you're talking about, I do a lot of things."
"Where is Frinkles?"
"Frinkles?" He pretends to think. "Oh, your troublesome cat-"
"I swear-"
"Now, now, no need to swear. Frinkles will be just fine if you cooperate, you can start by putting on your shoes."
I begrudgingly do as he says, sliding on the shoes infront of me, not hiding the distate on my face.
I can't believe he cat-napped Frinkles, my poor baby must be so scared.
"There's a good girl." He says.
"I'm not a fucking dog." I say glaring at him.
"A dog would be less trouble." He says turning to pick up my coat. "Coat." He flings the coat at me and I catch it as it hits my body. "Wouldn't want you to get cold." He says with a hint of amusement in his voice.
"Maybe I'll die of hypothermia and get put out of my misery."
He rolls his eyes. "You do remember you're getting 30 million out of this, right?"
"You do remember you're blackmailing me into this, right? The money is just for show, to distract you from your guilty conscience."
"I don't have a guilty conscience, I barely have a conscience in the first place."
"Sure." I say sarcastically.
He walks out the door and I idly follow after him.
I shut and lock my front door behind me. I don't know how he had gotten in, the lock isn't broken, none of the windows are smashed and I know for a fact I locked the door, I remember doing it. It's probably best I don't know, I don't think I want to know.
He gets into the drivers side of his shiny black car that's parked outside of my house.
I know he wants me to follow but it takes me a second to chalk up the courage.
The only reason I'm following along is for Frinkles, not even my own fear stops me from saying things I shouldn't.
I sigh deeply before opening the passenger side door and taking a seat inside the lavish car.
I shut the door harshly just to piss him off but he doesn't react.
Not sparing him a glance I strap in my seatbelt and proceed to stare out the windshield, even when he begins driving.
"How'd you sneak out?" He asks after a moment of silence.
I chose not to reply.
"Who helped you?" He rephrases his question.
With no emotion on my face, I stare blankly out the front window.
"Cassandra I'm asking you a question."
My lips are still sealed, I don't think I could move them even if I wanted to. My whole body is telling me to speak up but I'm paralyzed by fear.
"You'd be wise to answer me." He says angrily.
The car starts going faster, I can feel it.
Everything starts to blur, memories of that night and every time it happened before quickly flooding through my mind.
Slow down I try to say as he speeds up.
Slow down.
Faster and Faster.
Slow down.
Faster and Faster.
"Slow down." I barely recognise my own voice when the shaky whisper leaves my lips.
"So now you decide to talk?"
Skidding, spinning, crash, crash, crash. The motions repeating over and over.
"Stop." I whisper slightly louder, still staring into the distance.
"Stop being dramatic and tell me who let you go."
"Stop the car." I say louder, harder, forcing him to hear me.
The car is still going fast, way over the speed limit and he makes no move to slow down.
"I said stop the car." I say the words I wasn't strong enough to before.
He slows down a little before harshly bringing the car to a stop.
I waste no time in getting out, opening the door before the car has even fully stopped moving.
I slam the door shut behind me and begin walking into the field of trees.
I hear the sound of a door open and then shut before someone calls my name. "Cassandra."
Blaine follows after me and I continue to ignore him.
"What's your problem?" I hear him ask.
"Is this about your dad?" He asks and I involuntarily freeze.
He knows.
"What do you know about my father?"
"Enough."
There's no way he can know the full story, can he? "You know nothing."
"You didn't think I'd let you in my house without doing a background check on you, did you?"
A document of paper couldn't tell him who my father was really, only I knew the real him.
I swallow the lump in my throat and don't let a single tear fall from my glossy eyes.
I turn to face him, to look him in the eye.
"So you knew I was in that crash and yet you still pulled that shit." I say.
His eyes widen and his breath hitches. He faulters for just a second before covering it up but it's enough confirmation.
"You didn't know." I state.
He doesn't confirm or deny it, merely stares.
"I'm not getting back in that car with you." I say turning back round. I begin walking away once again.
"Wait." He says. I stop in place and sigh, waiting for him to threaten me again, after all he has the perfect leverage. "You shouldn't walk alone in the dark. I'll call someone else to pick you up, just wait here."
I hear him walk away, I stay rooted in place trying my hardest not to fall apart but the cracks are showing and it's only a matter of time before the walls I've built come crashing down.
Not too long later I hear another car park before someone approaches me.
"Cassie." Vincent says softly from behind me.
I silently turn around with my head hung down so that my glossy eyes aren't visible. We walk back to his car and I slide in the back seat.
I hear the muffled voices of him talking to Blaine through the car door before Vincent gets in the drivers seat of the car.
My head is rested on the headrest of the seat infront of me, my eyes squeezed shut.
The tears sream down my face as I silently cry, the only noticeable difference being my uneven breaths and my shaking body.
Vincent doesn't say anything and I'm grateful for that.
I hate crying infront of people and so him not acknowledging it makes it seem like a more normal thing to do.
I hate crying infront of people because the response is almost always 'stop crying', whether it's in a loving way or a spiteful one, it doesn't matter. It's so invalidating to be told to stop crying. You get told it so many times that you start to belive crying is a bad thing. It isn't, it is a healthy response to a rush of overwhelming emotions.
You hold back tears long enough and soon that puddle of water becomes a whole sea. When you finally let go and try to wash away the pain, you start to drown in the mass of emotion you've kept bottled up.
Vincent drives at an extremely slow pace the full way back to Blaine's mansion so it takes a long time to get there.
When I notice we're almost back I wipe my face and try to regain my composure. I sit back in my seat and I notice Vincent glance in the rearview mirror at me, he still says nothing even though I probably look like a mess right now.
When we get back Vincent silently walks me back to my room.
We stop at my door and he stands infront of me, I still don't look at him.
"You can talk to me you know, you can always talk to me." He says. "I know Blaine can be a bit of a dick at times and if you want to talk to me about it I'm not going to go telling him all your secrets, you don't need to fear me telling him what you say to me, unless you're acctually gonna kill him or something cause he could probably use a warning with that one."
"Thank you." I whisper. "It's nice to have a friend."
"Anytime." He says with a small smile.
I walk inside my room. I shut and lock the door before tears once again escape my eyes.
I slide down the door and rest my head on my knees, sobbing quietly as the memories of that night resurface.
A brush of soft fur against the skin of my left arm startles me for a moment. I lift my head and look to look.
Frinkles, who is unharmed and safe, stits next to me, carefully watching me.
I put down my legs and he takes the invitation to sit on my lap.
He jumps up so that his paws are on my shoulder and I wrap my arms around him.
♡♡♡
The incessant knocking is what wakes me up yet again.
I sit up in bed and rub my tired eyes, what's going on?
Knock, Knock, Knock.
One after another the knocks keep coming.
I roll my eyes at whoever's knocking on my door. I pad over the room to unlock the door.
Unless there's a fire or a cause for alarm I'm gonna be hella pisse-
I barely open the door an inch before Blaine barges past me and into my room.
"It's about time." He says.
I snap out of my shock. "Hi Blaine, good morning. How are you? Oh, yes, please, do come in." I say sarcastically.
"Shut the door." He demands.
"Fine but only because I was going to anyway." I totally wasn't, I don't want to be in a room alone with him.
He moves closer to me and I resist the urge to take a step back.
"The quicker you find the mole, the quicker you get out of here. Whatever you're doing, it best produce results and fast. Gather what you can and get to work. You're sleeping in too late, time is a luxury we don't have."
"I was up late last night." I say as if it's going to help my case.
"So was I and yet my day has been way more productive than yours."
"How am I supposed to wake up at a reasonable time when I don't even know the time. In case you didn't notice I didn't have chance to grab my phone or a bag you said grab your shoes and coat and we were off."
He sighs, his eyes looking up to the roof in annoyance. "Vincent will take you where you need to go but don't waste time, if you're going out it's for a good reason."
"And who exactly am I meant to be interrogating?"
"Everyone."
"Including your second in command, your bestie Francisco."
"I don't do friends." He says and I let a scoff slip. Cliché. "And when I say everyone I mean everyone, no stone left unturned."
"But Francisco doesn't like me."
"Lucky for you you're good at putting on a show."
"We're going to get in so much shit for doing this."
"No one is going to find out and if they do then it's not going to affect me as much as it will you, you're the one longing for approval. I can find a different way to rid me of my mole if you prove to be unuseful." He says.
"I went home on my own without your approval, did I not?"
"You've made up your mind about me, I'm the bad guy. Being approved by the bad guy makes you one too, right? Because if the bad guy likes you, you must have something in common." He pauses. "You see where I'm going with this?"
"So you're saying I don't want your approval because having your approval would be an insult? Yeah I agree."
His lips curve up into a smile. "Something like that."
♡♡♡
Blaine left so I could get changed and once I was finished I realised I had no clue how to find Vincent.
I also have no clue at all how to navigate through this place.
The only thing I know for sure is that I'm not going in circles because I remember the way I came from.
I keep looking down random hallways to see if he's around.
I am not opening any of the doors, I refuse to. Stupidly, that's what they do in the books and it never ends well. I'd rather not know what's behind the doors, knowing is always so much worse.
I keep wondering why Blaine would want me, of all people, to catch this 'mole'. I'm severely under qualified and in other words disposable.
Sure I'm somewhat smart but I know nothing about combat or mafia's for that matter. Well, I guess I know about mafia's but only in the fictional sense. I can't be impartial because the truth is I care.
He said it himself, he's done a background check on me.
Which means....I don't really know what it means.
I don't know what he knows.
He could know things that he shouldn't, private things that should be left alone.
There's so much that he could know, so much that he could use against me.
....like last night.
Instead of going down that rabbit hole again I should stick to finding Vincent.
I look down another hallway.
"Where the hell is Vincent?" I mutter.
"Looking for m-" A sudden voice sounds from behind me. As I quickly spin around in shock, my arm swings and my hand collides with his face.
It's silent for a moment when I realise what I've just done.
"Ow." He says, holding his face.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mea-"
"Damn. Remind me to never get on your bad side princess." Vincent says.
"Did that actually hurt?" I ask doubting my abilities.
"Considering you just slapped my face, yeah, it did."
"Sorry." I try to stop myself from laughing.
"It's not funny." He says, gently laughing.
"Totally not."
"Mhm." He hums. "Blaine told me you wanted to go out so where are we off to?"
"My house." I say walking forward.
"You're going the wrong way, the front door is this way." He says pointing the opposite way.
"This place is too big, I need a map."
"And just so you know, I could've stopped you from hitting me had I known you were going to."
"Sure." I say dragging the word out.
And so my mission begins.
I have to betray everyone here. Spy on them. Collect information and sus out the mole.
I'm sorry for deceiving you.
♡♡♡