Chapter Seventy- Three

Jessica stood frozen in the dimly lit alleyway, her heart pounding like a drum against her ribs.

Mr. Smith, a man with an aura of menace and power, loomed over her, his eyes glinting with an unsettling intensity. His voice, a low growl, sent shivers down her spine.

"I need you to get close to Ryan," he commanded, his words dropping like stones into the silence. “Again.”

Jessica's mind raced, her thoughts a jumbled mess of fear and confusion.

She despised Ryan, the poor, lifeless boy who she had shattered his heart. But Mr. Smith held her life in his hands, and she had no choice but to obey.

"Why?" she managed to ask, her voice barely a whisper.

Mr. Smith's lips curled into a sardonic smile. "I need the watch on his wrist," he explained, his eyes never leaving hers. "A mystical artifact with powers beyond your wildest imagination."

Jessica's stomach twisted into knots. She had heard whispers of the watch and tales of its ability to grant its wearer extraordinary abilities. But she ha