THIN LINE BETWEEN LOVE AND HATE.

FACETO FACE WITH EVIL.

Jace's P.O.V

“Calm down. I am a lawyer, maybe I can help you,” his eyes search for the sincerity in my eyes. I am not sure if he finds it, but he relaxes a bit.

“Good, let’s start with your name,” I don’t know what his problem is, but as long as the BLACKSWANS are part of it, I am interested.

“I am Marcus. Marcus Hayes,” he says, looking behind me, at the bodyguards. He is the one I am supposed to be representing. Why on earth would he think they are after him?

“Nice to meet you Marcus, I am your lawyer, Jace Miller,” I extend my hand, which he shakes enthusiastically.

“Can you protect me from them?” There is hope in his eyes. “I work for them, they sent me to come represent you,” as quickly as it had appeared, it goes away.

I almost feel sorry for him, almost.

“Please,” he pleads desperately. I am not sure what is going on, but there is one thing that people plead for desperately: their lives.

“Hey Marcus, I am here to make sure you don’t go to jail,” I try to console him. “Are you sure?” He asks, wiping the sweat from his face.

“Let us talk inside,” I let my driver lead the way.

My driver stops in front of an office on the fifth floor. It is marked as ‘Head of Litigation.’ I smile bitterly as I think of the price I am going to pay to be in this office.

“Tell me what happened,” I say, when we are finally settled inside. “Well, you see, I am in charge of the blue pearl,” he starts.

I have been to that club once. I was going to pick up Jenny. I just never thought I would see the owner of the place looking so out of it.

“I don’t own it; the BLACKSWANS do, so, in other words, it belongs to Alex Carter. The number of doubtful characters that go in and out of that place is uncountable,” he explains, and I nod for him to continue.

“Most of these people are way above me in the hierarchy, so there are very few questions I can ask without getting in trouble,” he says, sounding convincing.

“Last week, out of nowhere, the police do a burst and uncover the cocaine. I don’t know how it got there or who tipped them off,” he says.

I finally see where he is going with this. “I did not say anything in holding, before I was bailed out by the organization. I swear I said nothing,” he removes his jacket, revealing his sweat-covered pits.

“If they paid your bail and even got me to defend you, why are you so sure that they are after you?” That is the part of his story that doesn’t make sense.

“There is talk that Alex thinks I snitched,” he averts his eyes. He is hiding something from me. “I can’t help you if you’re not forthcoming,” I pressure him.

I am used to clients hiding things from me and even lying. I am sure there is nothing more that he can tell me that can help his case, but I need dirt on Alex. And I have a feeling whatever he is hiding has something to do with him.

“Nothing, I promise you I am not hiding anything from you,” he is terrified. I decide to let it go. He may have a complete breakdown before we go to court, and I can’t risk it.

I manage to get the case tossed out. I argue he had no idea the drugs were there. The club is owned by three people, according to the legal papers.

I don’t know if the other two even exist, or if there are aliases. But when I had talked to August, he had miraculously send me two men who fit the bill.

They also denied any knowledge of the drugs. Since the prosecutor could not prove who the drugs belong to or intent to distribute, the impatient judge declared a mistrial.

When packing up my briefcase, I see August standing at the courtroom exit with a look of approval. He walks out.

One down, two to go.

I have missed being in court more than I thought. I feel the most like myself when I am in a courtroom talking legal issues.

I see Dan, my college best friend down the hallway. When I had implicated the BLACKSWANS, he found me after. He had told me that I would soon find out, it was not worth winning a case.

I had thought he was just being a sore loser. Now it feels like ages ago, and turns out he was right. I turn away before he sees me. My pride cannot accept that he was right.

I feel weirdly dirty, having defended a criminal. It feels like I crossed a line of some sort. I see Marcus outside the courtroom. He is on a phone call a distance from me.

He doesn’t see them come behind him, and force him into a car.

I know without a doubt that those who took him are the BLACKSWANS. We won, I won. What then do they want with him?

I see my driver waiting for me. Even though he said that he works for me, I doubt his loyalty is with me. I turn back just to see Dan descending the steps. “Car keys,” I yell at him.

He gives me a confused look. I hate that I am asking this guy for help, but he is all I have right now. “YOUR CAR KEYS, NOW!” He obviously has a lot of questions, but the urgency in my voice stops him from asking any.

Instead, he digs into his pocket and throws me his car keys. I drive after the car as fast as I can. It is not dark yet, but the sun has set.

I drive into what I know to be a junkyard. I leave the car and continue following them on foot.

I watch as they throw him out of the car to the ground. There are four of them. I can tell that one of them is August, all the way from where I am standing, well hiding.

I don’t know what he is saying to Marcus. But with how Marcus is kneeling and pressing the palm of his hands together, I can imagine what he is saying. He is begging for his life.

I watch as August takes a knife from one of the boys and stabs his hands. I watch in disbelief as the knife enters into one hand and comes out of the other.

His scream surpasses the noise made by the surrounding machine.

I watch as August takes out a gun and shoots him point-blank. Marcus falls on his side. He is dead, and I can still hear his scream inside my head.

They pour acid on his face and cut off his hands, which they take with them. I wait until they leave. Luckily for me, they use another exit, not where I had left Dan’s car.

I walk to where the body of Marcus is. He was right all along. They were after him. I have seen a lot of things in my life, but as I am staring down at his body, I realize I have finally come face to face with pure evil.