Come on, one hundred million. That's nothing you've ever received before. It's not even half of what you would get on a normal job, the highest you've been paid is five hundred thousand to be a close escort for a press briefing. This is way more, ten times more....." he gushed.

This is one hundred million dollars bro, that would make a lot of changes around here. Think about it, getting the gym with the latest and appropriate equipment, opening stores, Lucas can go to a better school. You would not need to work a day in your life for anything anymore. It's like a dream come true for you and those around you." Justin reasoned.

Mike stayed quiet his eyes focused on the stage, he didn't want to consider this than it already was.

Justin made a lot of sense, this was going to be a huge change for him and his brother Lucas. But his only problem was that he had problems taking on jobs like this for elites.

They treated you like a pawn in their chess game, buying you off with money to do their bidding but not caring about your wellbeing or who you hurt.

That was what this job would be all about and he understands that it wasn't bad on their end but on his end, he wasn't ready to leave Lucas to be on his own. He couldn't risk it, not right now.

"I can't Justin." was all he said

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

" I'm fine Dad." She said over the phone while preparing dinner for herself. She had managed to avoid the calls from numerous people, her cousin and her mother especially. Now she had to talk to her dad and convince him that she was fine.

"I've sent a new set of the security team to your house. No one would be going in or out without proper identification," he said.

"No one comes in here dad, except the people from the main house who clean," she said stirring the ingredients in the pots slowly.

" Your mother is most especially worried, she mentioned that you two had a bit of riff-raff when you tried to storm out on her," he said.

Bella sighed placing her phone on the counter while she tapped on the loudspeaker icon. She licked her lips and moved towards her fridge to take out some pieces of eggs.

"We did not.... she wants me to find a man dad, she wants me to settle down," she said cracking the eggs into the pan while it simmered.

"And I agree with her." her father said

"Right... I should've known you were in on this too." She muttered. "I'm fine on my own dad. I don't need a get married to a man to have kids...." Bella seemed to strike a nerve and her father's breathing get erratically.

"Bella, you do not have a say in certain matters, find a man who would accompany you to the upcoming party, or else we would." He said and ended the call.

Now Bella stood in the middle of the kitchen pissed out of her mind, she grabbed at her hair and pulled in frustration.

"Fucking shit," she yelled out in annoyance, pouring the food inside a plate. She grabbed a bottle of red wine and her food walking towards her living room. It was more of a ritual for her to get through each exhausting day with a full bottle of rich wine and great food.

She folded her legs in a comfortable form to help balance her wait and not allow her legs to be all over the place.

She glanced down at her phone as the notifications keeps on blowing up. Huffing out she allowed her eyes to glance through the headlines.

An escape from death, find out what happened to the E&L CEO this afternoon after brunch at St. Louis.

Idiots. she said to herself scrolling to see the second headline, which was accompanied by a video. It was a video from one of the CCTV cameras close by which caught the entire thing.

Her eyes flamed up at the explosion on her screen, it was all surreal but she knew that this reality was bitter because people actually wanted her dead.

She turned off her phone and switched on her television, imputing her password to her Netflix account, she scrolled through her list of things to watch which consisted of a lot of documentaries.

Forty minutes later, she is finishing off the last drop of wine in the glass. She looked up lazily from the couch at the almost empty bottle that sat on the table. The documentaries had ended and all she needed now was a good night's sleep.

Today was not one of her best days, she had hoped a good meal and time would help but it didn't help as much. So she rose to her feet chugging down the remaining droplets of wine. She placed the dishes in the dishwasher, watching it work its magic she opened her freezer and brought out another bottle of wine. Smiling in satisfaction, she cleaned the sink and walked up the stairs, turning off the lights in the living room and kitchen.

She undressed and walked into the bathroom, setting her bath. She popped open the bottle and she immersed herself inside the water which was soothing.

"Alexa, play me beautiful things can happen by sia," she said.

The speaker lights flipped as Alexa responded and the sound filled through her room and inside the bathroom. Bella leaned on her back, with her eyes closed. She allowed the music to carry her, with her hands holding out the glass filled with wine swing at the melody.

This was how she wanted to be, at peace with herself, distracted from the heinous that happened. Her mind slowly closed off the rough chapter and rolled in a fresh blank sheet when she lay on her bed to sleep like the queen she is.