PROLOGUE
Lana's heart rate excelled and she held her breath tightly in her throat as the door clicked open. "Lana," Ben whispered when he entered the darkened bedroom, blood trailing down his chin and his eye blackened. "Ben," she rose from the spot where she had been sitting, "what happened to you?" "I'm as good as dead by tomorrow," he sat by her; anger glistened in his eyes. "Let me clean you up," she said, letting her fingers slide around the wet washcloth that sat in the bathroom across the hall. "Are you alright?" she called to him. "Do I look like I'm alright?" he asked rhetorically. "Right, sorry," she re-entered the room and knelt in front of him. He closed his eyes tightly together when to white towel touched his lip and ran down his cheek.
"This is all your fault," Ben explained, "I told you I needed twelve hundred dollars, you were three hundred short." "No, Ben, I-I put all the money in. I remember, I put it all in," Lana stammered. "Well, obviously it wasn't all there, or I wouldn't look like this. How could you do this to me? I thought you loved me," his eyebrows furrowed and her heart sank. "This isn't my fault, Ben, you're the one who got involved with drugs and the wrong kind of people; and I can't keep stealing money from people to pay your debts," her arms fell to her sides. "When a boyfriend needs something, you're supposed to help him get it, no matter what it takes," he said, trying to guilt her into believing him. "Not when it means stealing money and taking the lives of innocent people, Ben. I can't do this anymore. I want out," she confessed. "You what?" his teeth clenched tightly. "I said I want out. I want out of this relationship. I want out of this situation," she paused, "I want out of your life."
A searing pain ripped through Lana's jaw as Ben fist collided with her face and she screamed in terror. "What are you doing to me?" her voice cracked, tears spilled out of her eyes profusely, and her words were broken and hurt. "You have no idea who I'm dealing with, Lana; you can't get out of my life now. These are Luthors. You're going to get me out of this. I know you know Lex, and he's the one behind it all," he screamed. She said nothing. "Answer me," his voice carried through-out the house and his hand held her face in a death-grip. "Fine, I'll talk to him," she cried and stood, her legs shaking with her entire body. "Go!" he screamed. Then she left.