Chapter Two

The Arrangement

The sun was barely up when Neil woke; in fact, it was well dark. His shirt stuck to his back in cold sweat and his whole face felt clammy. He'd been running again in his dreams. With a shaky breath, he heaved himself up and donned on his jacket before checking his pockets for his pack of cigarettes.

When his fingers closed around the box, his nerves eased a little.

As always, the hallways were empty. Not one of the many house maids appeared as Neil made his way out of his room and across the courtyard to the edge of the woods surrounding the mansion. He lit one of his cigarettes as he went. His head felt clattered with thoughts and unfocused, but his feet easily led him through the familiar path in the slowly brightening morning haze.

The coil of both hatred and regret burned bitter at the sight of his mother's name scrawled in his writing across a slab of concrete. Mary Hatford. All those years running and here they were now- his mother's body buried clumsily in sand near the pacific coast, only this piece of stone and two lock picks to remember her by. And Neil… under spotlight of the politics in his father's business, trapped like a wingless bird in a cage.

Making this headstone was the second thing he did after his father had caught him, recovering from his father's wrath was the first thing he did. At the thought, Neil's fingers drifted to the raised skin on his right arm. The butcher didn't get his name for nothing after all; he had a thing for knives.

Neil never knew why he even bothered with the gravestone. His mother was a wretched, paranoid thing. She was half-crazy with desperation of escape and only a shadow of a person. The only thing she gave him was her proclivity for paranoia and her tiny size. Never had she touched him but to slap him out of crying or to snap his attention away from girls. And yet Neil came here often, trying to recall her small smiles at his little league Exy games, trying to wash away the look of dying breath on her face as she gripped his arms desperately.

Today was different though, today was a good-bye. Neil knew he didn't have the words nor the willingness to say anything, so he only focused on the satisfying burn in his lungs as he inhaled strongly and stood watching the slow ascent of the sun through tall trees.

When Neil returned to his room, he found neatly folded clothes on his newly-made bed. The sight brought on the earlier panic that he'd been trying to ease, but he swallowed it down and discarded his sweatpants and jacket before jumping in the shower.

As he closed his eyes under the torrent of cold water, Neil tried to imagine what his new life would be like. Despite the fact that he was the pawn in this game, no one had bothered to inform him much about what to expect and he was smart enough to know not to ask his father. It's been three years since the marriage had been arranged and despite Neil's desperate wishes, Andrew Minyard had officially accepted the offer. Once the offer was accepted, Neil knew that there must have been several meetings between Minyard and the Moriyamas, but he never caught sight of the man.

There were several nights when Neil would stay awake trying to picture his to-be-husband's features. More frequent than not, he pictured him with a bloated stomach, sagging skin and furry brows. There were also nights when he'd try to picture him as handsome, but it didn't matter to Neil either way. He isn't attracted to anyone. The only good thing that could come out of this arrangement was Exy. Kevin had transferred three years ago and today, Neil would be recruited as a striker for the Foxes.

Neil etched onto that thought with his last remaining shred of hope as he dressed in the smart pair of dark slacks and crisp, white shirt. The luggage he'd packed last night was right where he left it at the foot of the bed, but Neil hauled it on to the bed and felt under the clothes till his fingers landed on the rough, worn edges of his binder. He knew that there was no hope of escape after this, but the thought of bringing his IDs, passports and list of contacts calmed him.

There was a knock on his door and Neil startled, quickly slamming the bag shut and zipping it up with fumbling hands. As he tentatively eased the door open, a middle-aged woman smiled at him warmly.

"Good Morning, Mr. Wesninski," She greeted before she flitted past him into the room.

"It's Neil." He muttered, feeling dumb. She only glanced at him condescendingly before easing her cleaning bucket on the floor. Neil didn't recognize her but he recognized that look from others when he kept insisting on being called Neil. It wasn't that he liked that name particularly, he'd gone by a total of 22 names while he was on the run and names had grown to be meaningless words where others found sentiment in it; it was that Nathaniel was too close to sounding like Nathan; it was that each time he heard his real name, he felt his father's quivering anger and heard his mother's desperate cries.

Neil was the name he'd taken right before he'd been caught and it was a reminder of the last taste of freedom, the last fight.

"Your father is waiting for you downstairs," the woman said as she collected his discarded clothes and placed them in a laundry basket.

Neil nodded with a dry mouth.

"You are to keep your last name."

They were seated in the living room by the large table when his father decided to talk to Neil about this new life he'd been forced in. Three years and Nathan thought now- few minutes away from Andrew Minyard's arrival- was best to address the marriage.

"I expect you will behave and not bring shame to your family," he hissed from beside him. Neil tramped down the urge to snort at the word family. He nodded instead.

"Don't utter a single word about what you've seen or heard that has to do with us," he continued. "And if you even think about running, I'll make sure…"

The threat was cut short by a shrill sound from his father's pocket.

"Are they here?" he asked gravelly. A short pause followed as he furrowed his brows and listened.

"Stay on guard. Anything suspicious and you know what to do." He growled before shutting his phone off.

Terrell Lawrence, the Moriyamas' lawyer started easing out paper work from his briefcase and placing them neatly on the table. Neil glanced at his own suitcase safely tucked in a corner of the large room, mentally going over the contents of his binder.

Not a minute later, brisk footsteps echoed in the spacious hallway beyond the walls and stopped right by the door. A lanky, young man walked in first and caught Nathan's eye. Nathan only straightened up in his seat before giving a jerk of the chin.

The man disappeared and came back seconds later with several people in tow. As soon as Neil caught sight of Kevin, he felt a sting of envy. His dark hair was a bit messy as if he just got out of practice and the black ink on his cheeks still marked him second to his brother, Riko. Neil had tracked his career in Exy through the years and had grown to accept the fact that Kevin Day had gotten the better end of things, but he still felt bitter as he noticed that the hollow, empty look from that day during the meeting was gone, replaced by a wary expression as his green eyes took in the room.

The next man who walked in was dressed as casually as you could possibly be in such a situation. His tall figure only made his confident glare and inked arm feel more threatening. If Neil hadn't done a good amount of research, he would've guessed that David Wymack was a bodyguard and not an Exy coach.

Finally, a figure walked in, flanked by two obscenely large men. In contrast to them, Andrew Minyard looked like a small child. If Neil had to guess, he'd say Minyard was shorter than even an Exy racquet, but Neil had been taught to observe well and somehow he felt that Andrew Minyard did not need other men to protect him at all- despite his miniature size.

Whereas Kevin wore a simple shirt, Andrew was dressed in black -from the dress shirt to the pants- that contrasted starkly with his blonde hair. His hazel eyes only spared the room a lazy, expressionless gaze, but Neil didn't miss the way they snagged at one of the bookshelves. If Neil remembered correctly, there was a secret door behind that shelf and if he knew his father enough, there were armed men on the guard just behind it.

Neil watched the other boy as he walked in and noted the lithe underlining behind the lazy stride. He shook his father's hand calmly, neither bothering with greetings. When he reached Neil, he gave him a bored once over and offered his hand. Neil shook it firmly, resisting the urge to punch him instead.

"It appears you haven't brought a lawyer." Lawrence spoke up after they've all sealed in their seats.

"Didn't need one." Andrew answered simply. From the casual way he speaks, one would think that there weren't eleven armed men waiting for Nathan's cue. Lawrence's dark-skinned face contorted with confusion as he glanced towards Nathan.

His father cleared his throat. "Right, let's get on with it then."

They dealt with the Exy agreement first. Coach Wymack watched as Neil signed, an unidentifiable expression on the older man's face.

"We will discuss rules, regulations and equipment later on." He said to Neil gruffly.

"Ok."

At that, the lawyer began reciting the terms of the marriage to Andrew. Neil drowned him out and tried not to run as Kevin Day threw him a pitying look from across the table. Beside him, Andrew looked equally inattentive, if not more. His features blank as he watched Neil's stiff form. The only sign of feeling in the twitch of his fingers on the arm of the dark leather couch.

Neil leveled him with a calm look of his own, refusing to back down from this subtle battle. If he was to be bound to this stranger for the rest of his lives, he was going to make sure he had the upper hand of things. He wasn't about to be anyone's bitch.

As if Andrew read his thoughts, his lips formed into a smirk. Neil tried not to flinch at the maniacal twist of his face. Lawrence's voice droned on the last pieces of agreement terms and then thrust the paperwork to Andrew. The blonde boy leaned forward and signed without a second thought.

Neil's blood had started to thrum with silent terror by this time and his eyes followed the paper as it was slowly pushed towards him. He didn't know how long he stared at the blue ink scrawled next to the blank space left for him, but he must have taken long because his father clenched his fists irritably beside him.

His fingers closed tight around the pen for fear of his hand shaking. It shook anyway- once he signed the paper, and let go of the pen. Fortunately, his father was too busy talking to Minyard to notice it. They might've talked about him, they might've talked about business. Neil couldn't clear the fog enough to listen. Their voices felt miles away, muffled by the sudden tilt in his life as blood throbbed in his ears. He had only one thought in his mind as he stared at the two signatures side by side.

This is it.