Reed sat impatiently on the hard bench, the uncomfortable wooden surface digging into his skin.This has got to be the worst day of his life because he never saw himself in a courtroom, with harassment and rape charges lobbied against him.His lawyer, Mr Ralph McLauren was on the other side of the bench in a casual button-down shirt and pants.When he first saw Ralph walk in, all my hopes sank. Was this the lawyer that would get him out of this?Not to sound rude but he didn't have much faith in the man.Suddenly, there was movement at the back of the room and Reed turned to look.That fucker.His boss, Walker Rhomes walked in with a smug smile on his face, closely followed by his lawyer who when compared to Reed's, dressed sharply in an expensive-looking suit.His hopes dropped even further, but I refused to be cowed.When Walker sat down on the plaintiff's seat, Reed leaned over a bit so he could hiss to him. “How wicked can you possibly be, showing how brazen you are? You're the o

Reed was so stunned for a moment, that he didn't know what to say.“K-kayla, what are you doing here?” More importantly, how did she know he was going to be here today? She didn't respond, still keeping a stony look.She took a step forward which was when he saw the man behind her back. What the hell?Instantly, he bolted out of his chair, the divorce papers forgotten. “Mike?Mike was one of the men who testified against him for a crime he didn't commit, but he had the balls to show up here.Hell, no.Reed was so angry, he didn't think, launching himself at the lying asshole.He gripped Mike's collar firmly, tightening the space around his neck. “Why did you do it huh? How much did they pay you to snitch on me?!”Mike grunted, not saying anything, and that even aggravated Reed the more. He struck, sending Mike crashing to the floorKayla screamed, running to Mike's defense while she tried to make sure he was okay.“What is wrong with you, Reed?” she shouted at him.“What's wrong with

The lady started to explain. “The owner of the laundry is a drug dealer, the laundry is just a front. The guy is part of a very large trafficking network but from what I hear, he runs this city. My brother Matt was lured into taking drugs, and soon after, he became addicted and my parents had to cart him off to a rehabilitation center when it became too bad.” Moisture gathered at the corners and she angrily swiped it away. “Matt was a minor, you know.” She tried to explain to him. “And rehab didn't work since there were still drug dealers in there and guess what, they were even more cheaper!”She stopped talking for a minute, her eyes appearing glassy as she got sucked into her memories. Reed had to prompt her. “So, what happened?”“My parents of course went to the cops and reported the whole situation, who then traced it back to Walker but no way to even hurt him or pinpoint it to him.” She scoffed. Reed patiently waited her out, allowing her to let it all out of her system.“They

Reed watched Mike receive a phone call, moving farther away so that Reed wouldn't listen in to his conversation.Reed moved around as if trying to pick things up while craning his ears.Mike went white fast, making Reed wonder what was going on, that was when his eyes snagged on the suit Mike had on.Reed's eyes widened when he placed the Brioni custom-made suit.That suit costs thousands of dollars! He would know because back then when he used to profile high-value clients, most of them had a Brioni suit in their collection.“How the fuck was Mike able to afford that on a salesman's salary?”Reed carefully cataloged everything Mike was putting on for his birthday dinner while he talked and summed the total up to be $3-5k.Reed immediately did some digging and found Mike's apartment, which was a very luxurious building on State Avenue…he was still working at the car wash.Mike was no big fish, born into a wealthy family so the logical explanation was…the owner of the car washHe was a

Reed drove carefully on the streets, staring out the window and at the rearview mirror for signs of approaching cars.He needed to get Mandy somewhere safe before those men found him again.The safehouse…Reed used to have many safe houses scattered around the city, but in his state of panic, the only one he could remember now was the one he built when he used to lead the Scavengers, creating a haven for them.He debated driving over to that place but hesitated, not sure if it was still safe to use.Nonetheless, Reed drove over to the nearest safehouse whose address was stuck in his memory.Only to drive into the parking lot and find out that the shop that was used as a shelter above the safehouse had been turned into a pub.Fuck!“Hey, Mandy, wake up!” He gently shook his daughter awake.Tired, blue eyes fluttered open as she rolled around on the seat.Reed got down, bending so he could scoop her up into his arms but Mandy wriggled, wanting to be let down.As they walked into the pub