I woke up feeling exhausted. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes, and looked around my dingy apartment. I felt like crying again, but no good had ever come from crying all the time. No, I had to do something about this.

I got up from my couch, cursing my sleeping position. I had a huge crick in my neck. I stripped all my clothes off and turned the shower on. I had just stepped into the shower when the hot water was turned off. A blast of icy water shot down on me, and I screamed bloody murder. At least, until five seconds later when that was turned off too. I fumbled with the wet glass knobs in the shower, only to remember that I was being evicted. Soon.

"That damn company turned the water off already?" I wondered aloud. "Who want's this shithole anyway?"

And it's true. This place was just a crappy apartment complex in a run-down area. There was lots of crime, and the air always smelled of pot.

I dried myself off, already in a horrible mood. I went into the kitchen and looked into my fridge. I had a half eaten snickers bar, some moldy cheese, and a really bad piece of unidentifiable meat. I chose to eat the snickers bar.

As I sat on my couch, eating my snickers bar, and staring at the blank grey wall before me, I wondered what would become of me. This wasn't like those romance books where a guy would come in and rescue me from homelessness. I had to provide for myself now.

I thought of all the people I could go to to crash for a while, which amounted to zero. Ever since I had gotten that job with DeChangy, I had abandoned all my friends to become a work-a-holic. So much for that.

The only place I could think of that would hire me was the music store down on fifth. They had always told me I could give singing lessons there if I wanted for some extra cash, but I had always refused. I made a mental note to go down there today.

But first, I needed to get in touch with whoever was destroying my home. I tossed the candy bar wrapper into the trash, and went to the telephone. I picked it up, and telephoned my landlord. The line had already been cut. I went to my purse and looked around for my cellphone. I found instead a blackberry.

"What the hell is this?" I said. I began to look through the phone as I suddenly remembered my chance meeting with Nadir Khan yesterday. I looked through the phonebook and sure enough, there was his name.

"So this must be somebody else's phone.. Ah. Erik Destler's." I called Nadir.

Ring… Ring…

He picked up.

"Where the HELL are you? I will most CERTAINLY have you ARRESTED you little… thief!"

I had to restrain my laughter at that. "Sir, this is Christine Daae, and I can assure you that I am no thief."

At this, Nadir laughed. "Oh don't play innocent with me, Girl. I know that trick. Knock into a man who looks like he has money, and then pick up anything expensive he drops, and walk away as quickly as you can."

"Sir, can I just have my phone back?"

"Naturally, this thing hardly gets reception anyway. Oh, and you have two calls from your landlord about the rent."

I sneered. "Thank you… Sir."

"Look, just meet me at 408 Thornbury Drive, it's Erik's House. You can't miss it."

"I'll see you soon… Mr. Khan."

When I got to the house, I realized I had not been expecting this. Apparently Mr. Destler was quite rich.

I was ready to get my phone back, but not before I had given this, Mr. Destler a piece of my mind. I had spoken to my landlord not an hour ago, and she had informed me, that the company responsible for my eviction was indeed, Destler & Khan Construction.

Simply put, hell hath no fury like a woman evicted. I pulled up to the gates of the house, and a voice came on to the loudspeaker.

"Name?"

"Christine Daae."

"Purpose?"

"I have a meeting with Nadir Khan."

"Enter."

I rolled my eyes as the gates to the estate rolled open. I drove in, and parked in front of the white house. I admired the pillars in front of the house, and the lovely ivy climbing the walls. But this was no time to gawk at fine houses.

I strode purposefully up to the door, and knocked very loudly. When the door wasn't answered fast enough, I began to kick the door.

"Madamoiselle Daae I presume?" an elderly butler asked.

"You would be correct." He stepped aside to let me in, and I nearly ran inside. By now, I was positively fuming.

"Where's Nadir?"

I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned to see an Indian looking man behind me. He smiled, but just for a second, before his ominous frown resumed.

"Where's the phone?" He asked.

But, I was determined to talk to Mr. Destler and Mr. Khan about their wrongdoings before any phones were exchanged.

"Where's Mr. Destler?"

"What ever would you need him for?"

I smiled. "Business."

"Well, I just can't allow you to speak to him. He's a very busy man, and not to be trifled with."

"Well, that's just too bad." I took a few steps closer to him. "You see, I too, am very busy, and let me tell you, even though I don't have a personal assistant, I will not be trifled with."

"Miss…"

"Stop the trifling!"

I felt a presence enter the room. I turned to see a very tall man, with dark hair and startling yellow eyes on the other side of the room. He was also wearing a white half mask on the side of his face.

"May I help you?"