"It's good to see that you successfully completed your mission," the man said. "Would you like to sell the nectar to us, or will you sell it yourself?"Johnny thought about it for a moment. "I'll sell it to you.""Okay, let me take a look at the products, and I'll give you a price," the man said as he stepped forward.Handing the bottles over, Johnny watched as the man studied the contents and determined their worth. While Johnny could have made a bit more money if he sold it himself, it wouldn't really be worth it. The nectar wasn't a well sought after product. There wouldn't be a huge market for it. If it were a different product, that would be a different story.He would more likely get a lower price if he went around trying to sell it since he was essentially a nobody. Maybe if he searched hard enough, he could get a slightly better deal. However, it would take quite a bit of effort or time that he could be using to do other, more productive tasks. Finally, the man was finished in
Rachel stared at the strange man sitting across from her. She would have thought he would have tried to strike up a conversation with her once the waitress left, but he hadn't looked up from the menu since she sat down. She found it hard to believe he wouldn't try to flirt with her. After all, it wouldn't be the first time it happened, even though she was disguised. It was her natural beauty.The man made a strange noise, but she couldn't tell what happened with the menu in the way. She wondered what he had seen to make him sound like that. Staring at her own menu, she tried to see what could have drawn his attention. Nothing seemed to stand out. Well, it was none of her business what the man did, as long as she could eat her lunch in peace.She had been craving seafood and had worked hard to ditch her security detail to get there. Just thinking about having to go through so much effort to get away from them in order to eat was so frustrating. Of course she was going to be in trouble
Rachel didn't know what she was supposed to say to that. She hadn't expected him to give out his sob story about how he had been dumped by his girlfriend. It had been completely out of the blue. She eyed him warily, wondering what he could have done to make the woman dump him. He didn't look that bad, so it couldn't be his looks. Was it his personality?Johnny wanted to roll his eyes when he heard her thoughts. Of course, she was going to assume it was something he did instead of his ex girlfriend. It was quite annoying. Just because she was a woman didn't automatically mean she was the victim. Men could be victims of devious women too. Well, it wasn't like he expected her to sympathize with him."If that's all, I would like to get back to my phone," he said as he held up his phone for her to see.She pursued her lips before saying, "Actually, I want to know more about your situation. You can't just bring it up and not expect me to be curious."He grimaced. "I would rather not.""Why?
"Is something the matter? Your expression turned strange," Johnny said.Since he couldn't outright say anything that would let her know he knew what she was thinking, this was probably the closest he could get. Rachel immediately pressed a hand to her greasy mouth to see if her expression had really been that weird. It wasn't. She was actually good at hiding her expressions, but he wasn't going to let her know that."It's nothing," she said.That's when the waiter decided to arrive to return Johnny's debit card and receipt. He thanked the waiter as he put them away into his wallet. Johnny could feel Rachel's intense stare as he tried to come up with a reasonable response to get her off of him. What could he say that would make her not see him as a threat and leave him alone?"Well, it was nice chatting with you. I need to go to work now," he said as he stood up.Rachel stared at him suspciously as she asked, "Oh, what kind of work do you do?""I would rather not say. It's personal, an
"Oh, yes, he does," Johnny said after coming to a decision.The reporter's eyes glinted with greed and interest as she said, "Really?""He's a good man. He was worried about all the people still living here after the monster attack and came to check on us. It's nice to know that a blessed cares enough to personally check on us of his own accord," Johnny said, acting like he was a starstruck fan."I see," the reporter said, as if she couldn't decide if this information was good enough for her article."I'm sure you heard that he apprehended a deranged couple," he said.This definitely caught her interest, as she said, "Tell me more."Johnny paused to unlock his door and said, "I'm sure you're quite busy, but everyone here knows about it. In fact, I was pretty sure it was in the news.""It was," the reporter reluctantly said.He had to admit that she was quite persistent. Johnny had tried to pull the crazy fan card to discourage her from continuing. Unfortunately, that didn't work. That
Johnny had never seen so many zeros before, not even in the test world, which was saying something since his fake parents basically gave him everything. They had made sure he was never in want of anything. This much money would probably last him a lifetime several times over, even if he splurged like crazy. He wasn't even sure if he could waste all this money.The fact that the Burns family was willing to throw this much cash at him was fishy and made him suspicious about accepting the offer. Why were they so against him being a blessed? There had to be a reason behind it if they were willing to throw this much cash at him. It certainly wasn't anything to scoff at, even if he was certain that it wouldn't mean much to them."My employer would like an answer right away," the scarred man said.They weren't even giving him a chance to think about it. They clearly expected him to accept the offer without any hesitation. Honestly, he was very tempted. Anyone would be at the sight of money.
Johnny didn't bother checking his bank account or visiting his bank to find out if the money had come in. Instead, he was driving as fast as he could back to the apartment. He silently mourned losing out on the place. It hadn't been long since he moved in there, but he was going to have to move out already. He tried to call Frank again.However, there was no answer. Johnny wondered if it was because he knew about Johnny's situation ahead of time and cut ties with him. It wouldn't surprise Johnny if he did, but it did hurt to think that someone that he could finally count on turned his back on him. Well, he couldn't blame him. Johnny would have probably reacted the same way. Helping him was the same as jumping onto a sinking boat.He reached the apartment complex in record time as he considered what he could bring with him. There was no way he could bring his car. If he took it, they would instantly know he had left. They could also track him down using his car's description. He would
"Has there been any signs of Johnny Burns going to the bank?" the scarred man asked one of his men.The man shook his head. "No, sir. We've been keeping an eye out, but he's been quiet."The scarred man frowned and muttered to himself, "It's awfully suspicious."It was odd that Johnny Burns didn't scramble to get his money. Anyone in his situation would be eager to go to the bank to withdraw the money or start spending like crazy. However, none of these things happened. Instead, the man had gone quiet. They already knew that he was at his apartment and not anywhere else. Otherwise, they might have thought the man had left the country.He didn't like it. Something about the whole situation bugged him. It scratched at the back of his mind, but his people had already done a thorough background check on Johnny Burns. There was absolutely nothing noteworthy about the man other than his last name. The scarred man wasn't sure how he had gotten away with carrying the Burns name for so long.Pe