Jessica finds herself in front of an abandoned looking building just right at the border with Merrnium. It took her a few hours to get here and her heart aches at how the people look. Miserable, poor, forgotten. Their eyes are telling more than their lips ever could. She can see the desperation coming in waves from them and the jealousy, oh, the jealousy makes the girl shiver every time she gets passed by a citizen.
One person, though, made sure to be remembered.
When Jess first entered the city, a small teen with a freckled face and bright orange hair approached her. Jess didn't know what to do. Wave? Say hello? Ignore?
She's so used to socialising yet this situation seemed unfamiliar to her and left her quite unsettled and unnerved.
Before she was able to gather her thoughts, though, the girl grabbed her by the collar and kissed her. Straight on the lips. Jessica stood there, shaken, unsure of how to react. Her emotions mixed to a point where she wasn't even able to say a word.
The girl smiled. A face Samuels will probably never forget.
"I wanted to see if you rich people actually have souls. My mom said you don't." Her eyes bore onto Jess, leaving goosebumps behind. "Judging by the face you made, you sure ain't the special snowflakes that I thought you were."
After hearing this, something fundamental shook Jessica's mental grounds and she finally settled on one feeling: disgust.
"Don't you dare do this ever again, you dirty peasant!" The blonde roared and her hands turned into fists. A sudden anger appeared from somewhere deep in her chest, but the truth was that she was scared. Afraid that she wasn't different, indeed.
The ginger smiled sourly and nodded her head, probably only confirming that Pretorians are absolute assholes.
Jessica didn't blame her. She thought she was an asshole herself.
Now, standing in front of this scary building, the rich girl wishes she would've reacted differently. She remembered a few minutes after the girl had gone away why she is in Merrnium in the first place.
It's for her sister who is supposed to be in Traum which is way worse than where she is now. Way, way worse. And she thought this Merrnian girl was disgusting? How could she?
Shame floods inside the teenager's entire body but she shakes it off. At least for now. She has work to do and places to go.
Confidently, putting on the mask of indifference that her mother wears so well, she opens the front door of the building and is met by the subtle smell of mold and old that she is now familiar with. It's her fourth time in here, after all.
"If that ain't Sica Samuels. How nice of you to finally grace us with your expensive presence." Troy Lex smiles as he appears from the shadows in the far right corner. Jessica knows that there probably is a person standing at each wall, waiting for her to do anything slightly suspicious and shoot her. The Rats from Traum don't need much to shoot. They have seen a gun pointed at them many times in their life before. They've been the one to point it numerous times, too.
"You know what I'm here for. You clear out Keely's name, I give the money."
"Sweetie, you know we Rats don't work like this. Give me the money first and you'll get what you want." Troy challenges Jessica, a flame in his greenish eyes that look outlandish in the nearly non-existent light coming through the cracks in the building's façade.
"And you know that Samuels don't haggle." She declares, her chin high up. " I'll give you the money anyway. We make this exact amount every five minutes." Jess keeps her composure, confidence leaking from her in waves. She looks like she's not scared at all, even though her heart is beating uncomfortably fast in her chest. She's almost frightened that Troy might hear it beat.
"Five minutes sounds like an awful lot of time to me, darlin'." His lips part to reveal a set of teeth in what seems to be in-between a smile and a grimace. "You sure you can make that money without your mommy's help?"
"Don't you ever involve Elisa into this." Jessica replies coldly. A threat hidden behind her sharp tone. "When the time comes I'll be as succesful as her, I'll make sure that the Samuels continue to rule this society and you-" She points her red-nailed finger towards Lex, "-you will continue to sink and rot in this trashy place."
This doesn't seem to faze Troy, as he puts on a reflective expression and gently rubs the very bottom of his chin. "What happens if Keelian gets to inherit the gold, though?"
"Oh," He lets a smirk spread on his face when he notices the sudden stiffness of Jessica's figure. "Haven't thought of that possibility, have you?"
"We're here to do business, aren't we?" She finally croaks out, after an awfully long pause. Clearing her throat, Jess crosses her arms in front of her chest. "You want the money, don't you?"
"I need the ID first." Lex finally gives in and stretches out his dirt covered hand as Jessica cautiously places Keelian's ID in his palm. She tries to mask the slight tremble of her arm, a tic that always appears when she's angered, but judging by the glint in the Rat's eye, nothing is left unnoticed. Like the expert he is, Lex squints his eyes as he reads the code number on the card.
"Got it, give me two seconds." Lex goes straight to the shadows and comes back a second later, holding a cheap but clean laptop in his hands. Jessica always asks herself how can someone who can't afford proper clothes have a computer?
But just as her mother taught her, she doesn't ask.
Curiosity is the human's biggest flaw. Alongside with jealousy, but she still needs to work on that one.
"Done." Lex smiles from behind his computer screen. "She's safe for now. Come back in a month."
"What, a month? It's already too often as it is, and I have to come in a month?"
"Girl, I don't decide this, aight? If you want me to keep her off the hook you gotta believe me and pay me. I ain't playing games here, either. If they catch me-", he balances the laptop on one palm and makes a finger gun towards his temple. "Sloosh. My brains will end up everywhere."
Jessica shakes her head, terrified by the madness that this guy is dealing with.
Completely ignoring her look of disgust, he sighs and smiles. The greasy curls of his hair settle into different places on his face. "That's my last life we're talking about here, cutie. I'm telling ya, I ain't playing games."
"Alright, alright. I get it, Lex. I'll be back in a month." Jessica sighs as well, not daring to close her eyes but wishing to get out of this place faster so she can take something for the headache that feels like it's splitting her brain in half at this moment.
"Forget something, princess?" Troy grabs Jessica's hand as she turns around to leave, a second after she slips the ID from Lex's hands. "Give me the damn money."
With a grimace, Jess breaks free from the freak's grip and throws the bag of money at his feet. With one last spiteful 'Enjoy', she leaves Lex and his men behind. One day she'll silence the jerk forever but until she needs him, she has to put up with him.
On the way back to her car in the suburbs of the city, nobody dares to even look her way. Her aura screams danger, her eyes cut skin and her posture breaks bones. She is a true Samuels. She is a younger copy of her mother.
Only one Merrnian dares to comment on the girl. What she says, though, leaves Jessica dumbfounded. The old woman doesn't curse at her, instead she murmurs a quick prayer when the younger passes by.
Before Jess can take a second look at her, though, the small posture of the woman is already lost in the loud crowd.