(Rena's POV)
I couldn't sleep. All night, I couldn't sleep at all. It's tearing me apart inside, and I... I am ashamed of myself.
How could I be so stupid!? I'm the thief, and he's the mark. I CAN'T fall for him; it's impossible. It's forbidden. And now...
I have to break his heart.
Oh man... Why the hell did I kiss him!? I lost control for one damn second, and... BAM! I fucked up big time! That was the worst mistake I could have EVER made! I should've just cut my ties with him like I had planned to and leave it like that...
Staring up at the ceiling with an exhausted gaze, I tore the comforter off of me. I slipped out of bed and walked over to the dresser, and I began packing my bag. It helped that I only unpacked what was necessary last night. I put all of my clothes away with the exception of my jump suit and one civilian outfit. I didn't have much else, since I travel so lightly. I took both outfits into the bathroom and set them onto the counter. I took a twenty minute shower, and the reason it took so long was because I kept spacing out and wallowing in my despair.
I'm pathetic, aren't I?
I stepped out and dried off, then got dressed into my jump suit. I pulled my jeans and long sleeved shirt over it, making sure none of the black stretch material was visible.
KNOCK KNOCK!
"Hey, Rena! You awake? Breakfast is ready."
I swallowed the lump in my throat, choking down a sob. "Y-Yes! I'm coming!" I tried to clear my throat so my voice wouldn't sound so shaky, and I pulled myself together. I stepped out of the bathroom and walked over to the door, peering out the peep-hole. Sure enough, Keith was there. He was waiting for me with a grin on his face.
"I'm still not going to give up on you! I will never, ever give up on you!"
Why... Why won't he abandon me like everyone else in my life has already? It would be better if he just left me alone...
I've already made up my mind. I'm not going down to breakfast, because it's easier for me to just get this over and done with.
I know exactly who the boss is and what he's capable of, and I will not risk hurting Keith more than I already have to.
I swear to you, Keith, I will always protect you. Even if you hate me with every fiber of your being after this.
And I promise, no matter what happens, that you will forever and always be the only man I have ever loved.
But in order to keep you from missing me when I'm gone...
...
I have to make you hate me more than you hate your own father.
"I'll be right out in a few minutes, so don't bother waiting for me." I rested my forehead on the door, closing my eyes gently. "I'll meet you downstairs." I sighed breathlessly, lowering my heels to stand flat-footed on the floor now.
Keith shrugged his shoulders, turning on his heel. "Alright, seeya in a bit then."
Why... Why must this be so hard?
I grabbed my bag and made sure I didn't leave anything behind in the room, for it would be my last time in here.
And that's when I saw it.
I dropped my bag right on the floor and walked over to my desk mindlessly, and I scooped up the picture frame in my hands. My eyes watered as I stared at how happy we looked in this picture, and all I could think about was how much I wanted to feel like that again.
I split open the frame and stole the photo inside it, then folded it up and shoved it into my pocket. I will never, ever throw this away, and I won't ever stop cherishing it until the day I die. Not even then.
I immediately turned around and grabbed my bag, then ran over to the door. I cracked it open slightly, glancing right, and then left.
The coast was clear. Good...
I turned back around just to see him tugging at my pant leg. "Did you say bye to Buizel?"
Mightyena let his ears fall back as he looked somberly at the floor. "Arf..."
I just took in one long, deep breath. "Come on, boy. Let's go."
Mightyena sulked behind me as I crept down the hallway, and I stashed my bag in the linen closet just down the hall from Joseph Dazzle's office. I was just about to turn and make a break for the office when I saw the man in question leaving his office himself.
I began to tremble with anger when I looked at Joseph Dazzle, and before I even noticed what my feet were doing, I found myself stomping right over to him.
"HEY, YOU!" I shouted at Joseph, getting the man to stop right in his tracks.
Joseph Dazzle was dressed in a suit, and he looked like he was about to take off for a meeting. He was in a rush, so my guess was that he was running late.
"Excuse me?" He almost looked appalled when he saw me stand right up in front of him.
"You are the most inconsiderate, stuck-up bastard I've ever met, and honestly? Keith deserves better." I glared at Joseph as mean as I possibly could, shaking with anger.
"Do you have any idea who you're talking to, you prideful child!?" Joseph furrowed his eyebrows at me, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Yeah, I do." I shook my head at him, disappointed with what I saw in this man. "A prideful man so drowned in his grief that he can't think of any other way to cope other than ignoring his only son."
Joseph drew his head back in shock. "How dare---!"
"Just shut up already!" I lost it, screaming at him at the top of my lungs. "Shut up! Do you have any idea what I would give to have my father still alive and well!? Do you!?" I shoved Joseph back a little with my hand, glaring a thousand daggers at him. It probably didn't help the guy that Mightyena was viciously barking at him, either.
"I..." Joseph was completely caught off guard by that, unsure of what to even say. "...what?"
"My parents didn't want me, and I wasn't adopted until I was nine." I crossed my arms, standing up straight. "And even then, my father only lived until I was fourteen, and I lost the only person who ever cared about me!" I shouted and leaned in closer, intimidating Joseph enough to take a hesitant step backwards. "I would give anything to see my father again. I miss him every single day..." I didn't even bother to hold back my tears, letting them pour down my face. "Keith has no idea how lucky he is that he still has one parent left, and all you've done is make your only son hate you." I shook my head at him in disappointment. "You may have lost your wife..." I looked down the hallway in the direction Keith went. "...but Keith lost his mother." I refocused my gaze on Joseph one last time, softening my glare. "So quit drowning yourself in your work. It's time to grow up." I turned on my heel and promptly stomped away, leaving him standing there.
As I walked away, I could see Joseph blink back his shock before pulling out his cell phone and hitting number one on his speed dial. "Um... Hey, Aileen? Go ahead and cancel my ten o'clock. I..."
...
"I'm going to spend the day with my son."
________________________________
June 6th, 2012. 9:55AM. Dazzle Manor.
Safe model? Excalibur 2600. Combination? 04151983. Joseph Dazzle's wedding anniversary.
Security? All cameras have been disabled.
Exit strategy?
I stopped cracking the safe right in the middle of me punching in the combination, and I looked over to my left at the window that rested right behind Joseph's desk. Looks like I'll be going out that way...
Click!
I jerked my gaze back over to the safe, noticing I had opened it up already. I slumped my shoulders and opened the wall safe's door the rest of the way, looking inside.
There it was. The blueprint...
It was the only thing inside the safe oddly enough, and it was stuffed inside a cylinder.
I went ahead and snatched it out of the safe, and I slammed the door shut. Everything went according to plan.
SMASH!
...except for that.
I slowly turned around with the stolen blueprint in hand to face my greatest fear: Keith. Did he see me---? Yeah. He probably did.
Well... Maybe this was for the better.
Keith was standing in the doorway with Buizel on his shoulder right next to a shattered vase on the floor, staring at me in complete shock. "You never came down to breakfast... What are you doing?" He stared hard at the safe I was standing next to, and then at the blueprint in my hand.
I had taken off my civilian clothes and was dressed solely in my black jumpsuit. My duffel bag was swung over my shoulder, and I was ready to go. I could leave any time I wanted to. Mightyena was right by my side as always, so there was nothing I had left here.
I took in one deep breath, preparing myself for the biggest lie I will probably ever tell in my entire life.
And then, I let a sinister, sadistic grin creep up on my face.
"Aw, darn. You caught me." I smirked devilishly as I held my hands up. "Too bad. I was almost done conning you, too. One more minute and I would've been out of your life forever."
Buizel and Mightyena exchanged strange looks, but that was quickly over when Buizel started to snarl at him. Poor Mightyena started to look ashamed and cowered behind my legs.
Keith took one step backwards as he shook his head. "Rena, what the hell are you talking about? You're seriously acting weird right now..."
"Acting weird? Hardly." I scoffed, sitting down on Joseph's desk, disrespecting the whole room. "This is just who I really am."
Keith glared at me in shock and anger. "What the hell is going on!? You're supposed to be my friend!"
"Your friend?" I scoffed, standing back up again. "What a load of crap. I was never your friend." I leaned over the desk to sneer at him from where I stood. "I was lying."
"No... No." Keith shook his head in disbelief, unable to comprehend this. "There's no way..."
I turned to face the window and opened it up, then sat on the ledge to look over at Keith again. "Aw, how cute! You really did think I was your friend... You're even more stupid than I made you out to be."
Keith stared at me in disbelief. "What about Rhythimi and Isaac...?"
I just scoffed again and rolled my eyes. "Them too. I lied to them too."
He just stumbled back and placed his hand on his forehead. "So you lied to us the whole time, pretended to be our trusted friend, and you..." He shakily tore his gaze from the floor and looked up at me. "...only pretended to love me?"
"Bingo." I crossed my arms with a cruel smirk on my face.
"Why..." Keith shook his head doubtfully. "...why did you do all of this?"
"Uh, hello?" I laughed at him, holding the blueprint up to my face. "I was hired to take this, and I needed to get close to you in order to do so. So I did." I swung the blueprint's strap over my back, looking at Keith incredulously. "And I must thank you. You let me right in! That was very convenient. I barely had to deal with any security at all!"
"Unbelievable..." Keith stressfully ran a hand through his spiky red hair. "And you never loved me?" He looked like he was on the edge of having an outburst and an emotional breakdown at the same time every time he looked at me.
I planted my palms on Joseph's desk and leaned forwards to sneer at Keith from where I stood. "How could I ever love someone as pompous and arrogant as you?"
Keith balled up his fists and gritted his teeth. That last comment of mine hit close to home and was the worst stab to the heart he had endured so far. "Who the hell are you!?"
I winked at him flirtatiously before standing up on the ledge of the third story window. "The name's Raux: contract thief-for-hire. And now that I've got this..." I waved the blueprint back and forth childishly. "...I'll be going now." I turned around and prepared myself to jump out the window, but I turned to look at Keith one last time over my shoulder. "Aren't you going to stop me?"
Keith looked absolutely dead inside as he shook his head. "No. I'm not."
I just laughed cynically. "Well, that sure makes this easy for me." I turned around completely and waved good-bye one last time. "Bye bye, loser."
And then, I jumped out the window.
And Keith didn't come after me.
________________________________
I was a complete mess as I was navigating my way through the abandoned airstrip, trying to find the spot we decided to meet at. I'm about to trade the blueprints with the Sinis Trio for my money, but in order to do that...
...I have to get myself to stop crying.
I stopped for a moment to let out a loud, pained sob, letting the tears soak my face. I hated being so cruel to him, but I did what was best for him. I don't want his heart to be more broken than it already is. I can't risk having him come looking for me... He'd just get himself killed.
The Prince Charming I know would have tore apart the whole Earth looking for me if I hadn't lied about how I really felt about this.
And besides... I can't bring myself to tell him about the blackmail. That's a burden no one should have to live with.
Mightyena rubbed up against my leg and whimpered, looking up at me with the saddest eyes ever.
I crouched down and petted his head through my tears. "I miss Keith too, boy..."
"There you are."
I jolted with surprise when I heard that familiar, snide and nasally voice that could only belong to one woman.
Lavana.
"Oh, would you look at that, Mightyena?" I stood up slowly and turned to face the Sinis Trio approaching me. "Looks like the hag is here."
The pink-haired woman Lavana's whole face lit up red as she threw her fists down to her sides. "You little brat! I'm not a hag!"
Ice placed his hand on Lavana's shoulder in attempt to get her to calm down. "Now now, Lavana. This is not the time for that. Let's just do what we came here to do."
"Yeah, Ice be being right!" Heath chimed in, as stupid as ever. "You bring the package sound and safe right?"
I just quirked an eyebrow at the buffoon, but quickly shook it off and payed his lack of etiquette no mind. "Yeah. I got it alright." I pulled the cylinder that contained the blueprint off of my shoulder to show it to them. "You did hire the best, after all."
"That's debatable." Ice rose a suspicious eyebrow in my direction. "You had us worried there for awhile."
"Well don't worry." I snapped at him, furrowing my brow at the three of the oddly colored people before me. "I got it, didn't I?"
Mightyena shared a worried look between Ice and I, not too happy with the tension he was sensing.
Ice crossed his arms over his chest tightly. "I thought you were planning to run off with that Keith guy and quit."
"Not a chance." I scoffed, throwing my head back a little. "It was just a phase. That guy is a real ass, after all. I want nothing to do with him and his lousy friends."
"Good to hear." Ice took one step forwards and held out his outstretched palm. "Now, hand it over."
I was quick to jerk the blueprint from him, keeping it out of his reach. Mightyena growled and stood in front of me to act as my guard dog. "No. First, do you have my money?"
"You mean this heavy thing?" Lavana hefted a black duffel bag up and just chucked it over in my direction, and it looked like it was too heavy for her to handle. "It's yours. The blueprint?"
"Fine." I simultaneously grabbed the bag of cash and handed off the blueprint to Ice. I crouched down to unzip the bag, and I began examining the stacks of bills crammed inside. "You made sure these were untraceable, right?"
"'Course we did, you silly stupid girl." Heath chuckled heartily to himself. "We be not buffoons."
I just rolled my eyes at that. "Yeah. Whatever you say."
The sounds of an approaching helicopter reached my ears, and I held my hand up over my eyes as I looked up into the sunny sky. I watched as a black and purple helicopter touched down just twenty feet behind the Sinis Trio, and Lavana did one last hair flip.
"Well, there's our ride." The fiery-tempered girl sighed in relief.
"Then let's go already---" Ice motioned to turn and head towards the chopper, but Lavana's outstretched arm stopped him.
"Not so fast." Her evil and sly smirk even had me worried as she took a step in front of Ice, blocking him off. "You see, Ice, the boss isn't happy with your performance lately. He and his special friend both agree it's time to...reprogram you."
Heath bumped his fists and tensed his muscles, helping Lavana box Ice in with an eager grin stretched across his face. "Time to go bye bye."
"Whoa whoa whoa, guys. Chill." Ice took a hesitant step backwards, holding his hands up in order to protect himself. "What's going on!? You don't mean..." His eyes widened in horror, and he quickly lunged to try and escape. "No---!"
Heath grabbed a hold of Ice and started to drag him towards the helicopter in a tight headlock, chuckling the whole way there. "No point in thrashing, friend! You not remember this at all tomorrow!"
Ice didn't stop kicking and punching, despite Heath's warning. "NO! LET ME GO, HEATH! LAVANA!" He just got angrier when he saw both his subordinates start to laugh at him. "I AM YOUR SUPERIOR!"
"Not anymore." Lavana chuckled to herself, dusting off her hands.
I just stood there shell-shocked and unmoving, unsure of what to even make of this. What were they going to do to him!?
"Hey!" I took a step forwards, getting a little angry. "What the hell are you guys going to do to him!?"
Lavana turned back around slowly to meet my gaze, and she smirked in a way that suggested she forgot I was even here. "Oh, one last thing..."
Ice looked completely horrified as he saw what was about to happen. "LAVANA, DON'T---"
I held out my hands to stop her, but I couldn't react quick enough. "Wait, NO---"
BLAM!
Lavana stood in front of me chuckling like and evil maniac with her smoking pistol pointed right at my stomach. "Well, I'm glad that all our loose ends are finally tied up..." She reached down and grabbed the bag of my money before she turned on her heel and began marching towards the helicopter to join her colleagues.
...a double cross. Did not see that coming.
All of the sound I was picking up on was starting to blur together. I could faintly hear Mightyena barking up a fit, Ice screaming, Lavana laughing...
Still standing up somehow, I carefully tore my gaze away to look down at my torso, which I immediately regretted when I saw the huge, bloody gaping hole that went through my right side. The bullet went through the front and out the back, and I definitely felt it, because I'm pretty sure she shot me with a .50 caliber...
...
You know, people say that when you get shot, it's just the shock of it all that's the worst part.
WELL FUCK NO. I DEFINITELY disagree. This is easily the worst pain I've ever endured in my entire life.
After the shock of getting shot began to subside, I was starting to feel the intense pain of a large hole being ripped through my flesh, and I stumbled backwards and fell straight onto my back. My vision was blurring thanks to my head smacking the concrete, but I could make out the silhouette of a helicopter taking off high above me. Mightyena was barking even more hysterically now as he refused to leave my side, worriedly pacing around me in circles.
I could feel the blood pooling all around me, and my heart sank when I felt it reach the photo of Keith and I that I had so carefully tucked away in my pocket.
I shakily began moving my hand towards my pocket, pulling out my cell phone. I was losing a lot of blood, so if I didn't get help fast enough, I...
"Hey, it's me..." I groggily held the phone up to my ear and switched on the tracker, trembling from the pain it caused me to use my right arm. "I need...help...."
And then I dropped my phone on the concrete of the abandoned air strip as my eyes rolled to the back of my head, and that was the last conscious thought I had as they left me there to die.
No, I lied. That's not entirely true.
The last thing I thought of as I blacked out was the look on Keith's face as I broke his heart into a million tiny pieces.
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*sweatdrop* erm.... This is easily the worst cliffhanger I've left you guys with XD.... I'm sorry.... and what's even worse is I don't know when I'll update next because of school keeping me busy.
...sorry?
*ducks out of the way of the inevitable flying chairs coming my way*
I'M SORRY OKAY!!!!!!!!!!!! I KNEW THIS WAS GOING TO HAPPEN SINCE CHAPTER ONE!!
XD... Fan art by @Sheare. Thanks so much!!
Read, comment, vote, and seriously don't kill me. Please.