Jade did not sleep. She lay in bed, awake, staring at the ceiling long after he had dismissed her. She replayed every second of her narration inside her head: her mother's blood, her father's too, her own voice shaking across the table while she told the tale, and then finally him. He just sat there, eating and nodding as if she were reading him a newspaper.
Deep down she hated him for that, and when he asked if buying her was a good or bad story, it sealed the deal. He was not the kind of evil kingpin who would soften for anyone regardless of their life struggle. Those storybooks she read in the past were all lies, and it was too shallow of her to think he would budge at some point, or was she expecting it too soon? She had been here for only two days.
Either way, she already hated him. She hated this place and hated how she got here even more. She wanted to escape before, but now she wanted it too fast, and what better option did she have than the dinner tomorrow night?
"A dinner in his home," she thought. "If the guests are thugs just like he is, then it is not going to be a corporate dinner. It will be loud, dirty, and disgusting."
Jade sat up, resting her back on the bed frame and curling into the sheets. "The guards will be busy. There will be more cars, more movement, and a lot of distractions. But he is not a fool, and I know he probably has someone whose job is specifically meant to keep an eye on me. It could be that bodyguard who is always here to get me."
Jade tried to think everything through. Chaos was opportunity, but access would be difficult. "If only I could get my hands on one of those damn access cards…"
Her words were cut off when the door flung open. The same bodyguard she had just been thinking about stood there like the boss himself, holding an envelope in his hand. "Could he not knock?" She wondered.
"I was asked to give this to you." He approached her in bed, handing the envelope over to her, but Jade's eyes were on something else. His jacket pocket. The card was buried somewhere in there, and she needed it.
"You should knock," she said without receiving the envelope. "I could have been dressing."
"So?" he asked nonchalantly.
"So?" Jade's eyes widened. "I could have been naked."
"You are already dressed like this. What else is there to see? Now take this. It is for tomorrow night. This is the menu. Stick to it." He stretched his hand even further, but Jade still did not receive it. She only stared at him in the eye.
"Are you going to take it or not?" His words trailed off when Jade pulled him by the hand onto the bed. The strength with which she did amazed her, and since he was taken unaware, he simply fell forward, unable to stop himself.
"What are you doing?" he scolded and tried to pull away, but Jade held him down, mustering every ounce of strength within her to keep him restrained. She shifted, and her hands went over his shoulders.
"You want me, don't you?" she asked, and he did not move, perhaps because he was stunned, or because he truly wanted her. She did not know. "That is why you barge into my room without knocking all the time, hoping to catch me naked one of these days, huh?" Jade had changed the tone of her voice. She had never done this before, but she could certainly act out a little seduction.
His gaze shifted from her eyes, down her neck, and lower than normal. Jade noticed and took advantage, pulling him closer to herself, her hand trailing down his back. "We can make it quick, you know?" she whispered into his ear. "Your boss will never know, as long as we keep the door locked. No one will tell him."
His breath grew heavier, proof that he had been looking at her, because if he had not been, then none of this would have made him so immobile. "Men are so gullible," she thought, but stayed in character. She only needed him to yield long enough for her to take the card, and fortunately, she seemed to be in luck.
He leaned closer, knees on the bed and her legs in between them. Jade pulled his jacket closer, their noses almost touching, and his breath even heavier. As soon as his lips met hers, Jade felt a shiver go down her spine. She could never have imagined her first kiss as an adult would be with a bodyguard, in an apartment belonging to a man who could kill them both without batting an eye. She could have enjoyed the moment, but she had other plans.
While he was still distracted, her hand slid into his pocket. She pulled him closer as if she wanted more, only to slide the card out and slip it into the side of her bra. "You like it?" she asked as soon as his lips were off hers, but that question alone snapped the bodyguard back to reality.
He pulled back immediately, eyes widening as realization dawned on him. He looked her in the eyes and placed his finger on her chin. It trailed down her neck straight to the side of her bra where she had slipped the card. "Nice try." He smirked, pulled it out, and got out of the bed.
He fixed himself, his tie and jacket, before flashing the card at Jade. "I liked it by the way," he said, then picked up the envelope from the floor where he had dropped it and threw it at her. "Make sure the food is served in the right order, the boss's order." With that, he walked out of the room, leaving Jade annoyed, shocked, and embarrassed all at once.
As soon as he was out of the room, she slammed her hand on the bed and exclaimed, "Shit, I'm cooked!"