Rodger roughly took the gun and held it roughly in its place "Why don't you fucking do it?"

"Don't tempt me..."

"Or you'll what? Shoot me? Why don't you? Let your pretty little girlfriend over here, really see who you are....she seems to think you are some kind of saint..." Rodger sneered. They both sized each other up, quickly and swiftly, Rodger threw the gun off his face, and suddenly started throwing punches at Cut Throat, whose reflexes were amazing. Leila wasn't one who knew much about combat, but she could tell they were both equally matched. It was difficult to say who had the upper hand. Just as Cut Throat had unique speedy moves that Leila had never seen before, today she could see Rodger too was skilled fighter. Rodger had fast and structured moves with an onslaught of variations of hand movements and kicks, but with each attempt it looked like Cut Throat was as equally fast with blocking each of Rodger's moves. With just a fraction of a second, Leila would guess and say that Rodger had an upper hand.

He laughed erratically "Well well............looks like we have almost come full circle haven't we? The Student has become the Master...?" Rodger said, Cut Throat didn't answer.

"No one come in! He is mine!" Rodger said out loud as if to the people behind the glass, but Cut Throat sneered.

"Oh........i don't think there will be anyone coming to help you Rodger...."

"And why is that?"

"Well........let's just say they are otherwise preoccupied"

Rodger's face sneered "what did you do?" Cut Throat didn't respond, instead he took out a small knife from one of the pockets near his ankle. Rodger's eyes widened as though in acknowledgement, Leila saw him clench his jaw and they were back at it. But she saw Cut Throat do the same strange movements with the knife she had seen him do the first time she saw him fight. It was almost as though he was in a trance, with eyes for no one but the target in front of him.

Slowly the 2 started encircling each other. And then almost as though he were doing some type of dance he pounced onto Rodger, "AArrgghhhh ! What the fuck" Rodger held onto his throat as small specks of blood started oozing from his throat.

"Is this your signature move? Is that why they call you Cut Throat?" Rodger said, as blood started gushing out a high pressure.

Cut Throat had specks of Rodger's blood across his face

"No.......there's a beautiful someone whom I'm thinking of kidnapping again ...I'm sure you understand?......it's nothing personal" and with that, Cut Throat made a swift hand movement that hit Rodger hard in the middle of his bleeding throat, he was knocked off before his body hit the ground.

Leila saw the bloody Cut Throat approach her, she instinctively shut her eyes. She felt him bend down to her face "Why do I always find you in places you are not supposed to be at?"

She didn't reply, she could feel the restraints coming off of her, but her body was shaking from all the adrenaline

"Can you walk"?

"Ye...yes........" she replied but before she could get up she felt his large hands go under and lift her up. She closed her eyes as his whole suit was covered in blood.

"KO lets go........!" Cut Throat shouted, they made their way out of dark shabby looking warehouse. Leila kept her eyes closed as she heard a second pair of footsteps hurry towards them, feeling through her eyelids that there was light finally shining through, she opened them slowly.

She was able to make a big bulky figure walking towards them, it looked strangely familiar. She squinted again, there he was, she couldn't mistake him for the world, walking with a jump in his feet. He looked slightly different with tattoos covering his arms, but there was no mistaking that boyish grin she came to recognize so well. Walking towards them, it was unmistakably Zach Williams.

Leila looked up slowly in realization to the masked man who still had her held up.....

Her heart beat so fast. Were they going to kill her if she knew their identities ?

"Woop Woop ! I love the ''save the girl missions"" he said jokingly to the masked man, as though avoiding Leila, the masked man slowly put Leila down .

"Za.......za.......zach?" Leila whispered softly

Cut Throat froze, but didn't respond.

"Err..yeah kind of......." Zach replied to Leila,

Instinctively Leila rushed towards him pulling him into a tight hug

"Whooahhhh ......" KO looked uncomfortable and worried, turning down to look at Leila, patting her head awkwardly "Easy there Leila..you might just break my nails..." he made a joke, he looked down again worried when Leila didn't respond, "are you crying?" he asked shocked.

"Ar........are you okay? Did you get hurt?" Leila asked sobbing. KO sighed a huge sigh "Ah ....Leila we came to rescue you.............and you're asking if I'm hurt?" He laughed out loud "Not at all.......couldn't have been better..."

"You promise?"

"Yes ! I mean look at me ! Don't I look handsome to you?" Leila smiled a little bit "Ye.....yes......you do actually......" Leila froze, turning around looking at the masked man......she slowly started to walk towards him, to her surprise his eyes grew wide.......what could it be ? Fear? Worry?

"Tha-thank you...........its the second time you have saved me now...." She said awkwardly

He stared at her his eyes expressionless

"So............. I don't get a hug?" He asked slowly

She closed her eyes and hugged the masked man, whispering in his ear "Thank you Xavier...."

Cut Throat froze.

********************************

Leila found herself back in Ms. Lily's classroom. Waiting for her VIP classmates to enter. The new revelation of her 2 classmates terrified her, and she wasn't able to process her feelings correctly. On the one hand, she felt like living with Zach Williams, he had turned out to become one of her real friends in Royal high (though he wouldn't like to be referred to as her friend).

He always showed up whenever she was in need and she would always appreciate him for that. But on the other hand there was KO, who lived in a world she wasn't familiar with. Seeing the kind of things she saw Cut Throat do, it was safe to assume KO was for all purposes, part of that same lifestyle.

What exactly was it they were caught up in, she didn't know. And the more she knew, the more dangerous her life was becoming. The large oak doors of the classroom opened, and she could feel heavy footsteps walking in her direction. The chair made a scrapping noise on the floor as the on comer came to sit. Leila's heart beat a little bit faster, she started sweating.

Then there was him. Xavier Johnston, the man she had recently come to know as Cut Throat, the man who literally gave her nightmares.

She could feel his gaze penetrating her. Since their last conversation when he saved her, they hadn't spoken to each other since. Leila was too scared to bring the topic up, and also she didn't know if it was safe to do so. Earlier she used to dislike Xavier Johnston for his arrogance, his indifference, but Cut Throat? He really scared her at times. Sure he had good qualities...some....but there was no mistaking that he was a very dangerous man.

Leila got up slowly and cautiously to move to another seat. Maybe it was best to leave things as they were. She really needed to focus on her graduation, she didn't have time to play rich boy games, and she definitely couldn't be a part of whatever KO and Cut Throat were into.

Just as she were about to leave, she felt a hand grab her roughly

"Where are you going?" the owner of the hand asked, she could hear the class had gone all silent.

"I.........eh..........was just going to move over there......" she whispered, unable to meet him in his eyes

"For what purpose?" he asked coldly

"Er.......you know......just a new seat......" she fumbled

"Or do you mean to say you don't want to sit next to ....me?" he asked deliberately putting emphasis on the last word.

"I.........eh........" she couldn't finish

"Who does she think she is?" Pearl said out loudly, Alicia screeched, "So now she thinks she gets to pick and chose where she sits because she's friends with Zach Williams?"

"Have I been too nice to you lately? Is that where you get this confidence from..." He whispered dangerously, his eyes dancing and a malicious smile across his face. It confused Leila. How was he able to do that? It felt more like he was himself when he was Cut Throat ....but Xavier Johnston was a real bastard. She half wanted to shout leave me alone, and just run away, but she didn't think that would work

"No....you will sit right HERE!" Xavier yelled, roughly pushing her down. Her heart missed a beat

"Ye....yes ...." She said silently, her body shivered. She could feel her heart palpitating. Just then another set of foots came through the door, and jovially pulled the chair out,

"Wassuppp .......ex-bestie......wassuppp beauty?" came the voice of Zach Williams, Leila looked up to him, his face faltered, he lowered his voice, "Whats wrong Leila ?"

"Hey did you scare her?" Zach asked Xavier angrily

"I simply redirected her to her place.." Xavier said impassively, as Ms. Lilly entered the class.

Leila didn't turn to look at him though she could feel his gaze burning through her

"Let's ignore him........do you have something picked out for the ball........or should we go shopping?"

Leila turned to look at Zach, her face faltered, with all that happened the thought of going to a ball seemed like a blessing. Between being kidnapped and tortured.....worrying about going to a ball was definitely the type of worries she wanted. But on the other hand, she had no idea what she was going to wear. She saw Zach staring at her face, she could feel the colour rising

"Okay dokey , looks like I got my answer....." he said cheekily.

***************************************

"So I have some good news ......and I have some bad news boss..." Princess said, peering over his glasses at his boss who he had such great respect and admiration for.

"Let's start with the good news?" Cut throat said,

He and Princess were sitting at his office. He had sent Princess on a particularly delicate mission, and he would trust no one but princess to handle such a matter. Say what you will about Princess' lifestyle, his preferences. One thing was for sure, Princess was truly good at what he did, and more so he was incredibly qualified. For this particular assignment Cut Throat really needed a combination of being incredibly well qualified, and loyal.

"Well ..................the good news is there IS a way to protect your ........er.....other vested interests. Here, I have proof read the whole manifesto.." Princess said, throwing a book with several sticky notes lurking out of almost each page " plus I also asked an associate of mine to peruse through some clauses to make sure I could get a second opinion on them.........so I am pretty sure it CAN be done........"

"okay.........that's great...........so ............what's the bad news?" Cut Throat asked

"Well...........the bad news is there is really only ONE way it can be done......so errr.... you have to be really sure about this........"

"Okay..........?"

"the only way is through......well............ Marriage...."

" What !"

"Un huh...........like I said, I have gone through the WHOLE ENTIRE manifesto document, and well...........that's literally the only fool proof way......is through marriage....." Princess said matter of factly, staring at his boss with awe.

"Are you sure?" Cut Throat asked

"Like I said, I've literally ripped this manifesto apart piece by piece........it really looks like the only way......"

However the more Cut Throat thought about it, the more the idea tempted him.......

*********************************