Thank you all who reviewed and followed! I hope that I can gain more as I continue this story~
I'm going to have to change the rating to M. There's nothing really explicit because I purposely was vague but...well, you'll see. Enjoy!

oooOOOooo Twinkle, Twinkle~ oooOOOooo

The sun was already setting by the time Scarlet had made it home to the small single-family house that she and her grandmother lived in.

Scarlet sighed, relieved for the day to have ended and the chance to finally get a chance to eat then lay out on her bed and call it a night since she did not have to work at the restaurant her grandmother owned today.

She and that girl with the brown messy ponytail, Cinder, had been questioned by the authorities.

She had heard of Cinder plenty of times. There were even some rumors spread about her from the girls but Scarlet really wasn't one to feed into things people said with no proof. Besides, the few times she had seen Cinder, the girl seemed to keep to herself. When she was not alone she was with that girl on the Cheerleading team, Iko…or the popular "Prince" Kai himself.

Even Scarlet had chuckled when she had first heard the nickname the girls had been calling the dark haired male. She had to admit, it was quite fitting for him.

A shiver went down Scarlet's spine. Scarlet found herself gripping the refrigerator handle a little too hard. The look on Kai's face when he was in that very café just a month ago…and the person he had been with…certainly was not Cinder Linh.

"Oh, Scarlet. I didn't hear you come in," a familiar voice called from behind her.

Scarlet smiled gently and turned to see her grandmother in the opening of the kitchen, pulling on a light jacket. Her smile immediately turned into a frown. "Granny, please tell me you aren't going to work. You promised you'd start taking some days off. Not even people half your age works as mu-"

"Yes, yes Scarlet I know," her grandmother chuckled and shook her head, effectively cutting Scarlet's rant off. "I won't be long. That man is coming to take a look at the deep freezer that is down and I want to make sure he does it right this time. There's already some beef stew in there for you to eat, if you want it."

"Thanks," Scarlet replied, taking the pot out of the fridge and setting it on the stove. She turned to her grandmother just as the older woman was about to leave. "Hey Gran…"

"Hmm?" She hummed, turning back with a raised eyebrow. When Scarlet did not answer immediately she continued, "Is something wrong, dear?"

"Ah…um," Scarlet tried her best to give a convincing smile, "it's nothing. See you later. Be careful out there."

For once, her grandmother did not pry. Instead she gave a solemn nod and left the room after promising to be cautious.

Scarlet sighed. There was no way she could tell her about the guy she had met…at least not yet. Besides, she wasn't even sure if she would ever see him again. It was probably best that she didn't.

Wolf. Whoever the heck he was, he was dangerous.

Turning the burner on, she began to heat the hearty stew that her grandmother had whipped up for them and thought back to when she had first laid eyes on Wolf.

She had been walking home from work, which unfortunately, was not in the best of neighborhoods. The late night Saturdays in this neighborhood was filled with drunkards and sleazy teens. As she passed by an old apartment complex, she noticed a child crying on the sidewalk.

"Hey, what's wrong little guy?" she asked, looking right and left for any sign of a parent or guardian. The little boy sniffed and looked up with big brown doe eyes filled with tears.

"I-I'm lost!" he cried, suddenly wrapping his arms around Scarlet's waist and nuzzling his head into her stomach.

Scarlet tried not to cringe at the thought of his snot getting onto her shirt and patted his head in what she hoped was an assuring manner. "It'll be okay. I'll help you. Do you know your family's phone number-"

Scarlet started when she suddenly felt a hand around her mouth. She felt the man's breath against her neck and ear, followed by the stench of cigarettes and alcohol as he pushed his body against her own. She moved to pull away, but was stopped when she felt something cold and solid against her back through her hoodie.

"Don't you dare scream," he whispered, causing Scarlet's eyes to widen in fear.

She looked down, finding the little boy who she had been so desperate to help, grinning like an evil Chesire cat as another man gave him a fist bump.

"Nice job, kid," he said, smirking. He wore a hoodie and his dark hair pulled into a ponytail.

Scarlet felt sick.

"Move into that alley. Slowly," the man behind her said, nudging her with the gun.

She did as he asked, her mind racing for a way out of this. Maybe if she ran away, moving in zigzags, he wouldn't be able to shoot her. Maybe the gun wasn't even loaded. Maybe she could kick it out of his hand like some martial artist from a movie. Maybe….but all of the maybes were too risky.

Heart thudding, she moved into the darkness of the alley as the man followed behind her with his weapon.

Suddenly, he pushed her, causing her to fall beside a large dumpster that was against the brick building on the left side. She was out of sight of the street way, of anyone who could save her. The man leaned down and wrapped his hand around her neck, slamming her against the hard wall behind her. He smirked and moved a strand of curly red hair that was sticking to her cheek with the gun.

If only she could get that gun out of his hand. She'd kick his ugly yellow teeth in.

"HEY- GAH-!"

The thud of flesh meeting flesh hard sounded through Scarlet's ears, followed by the sound of a body hitting the pavement. Scarlet's captor moved to look to the opening of the alleyway to see what was going on, and Scarlet knew it was now or never.

She clasped both hands around his wrist and put all of her body weight into moving his hand as far away from her as she could. He landed on his back, with her on top of him. The resounding shot from the gun after his finger pulled the trigger shocked her ears, but she ignored it and scrambled to her feet, snatching the gun with her. Wide eyed, he pushed away on his elbows and stared up at her.

She pointed the barrel of the gun in her shaking hands straight at the man's head.

"Hey."

She swiveled the gun towards the sound of the voice. She did not recognize this man as the one that had been with the man on the ground before, so she quickly pointed the gun back downwards at her previous captor.

The new man neared her and gently put a hand on her hand before slowly slipping the gun from her fingers and locking it into safety so that it could not hurt anyone. It was a relief and scary to have the weapon taken from her at the same time. Her brown eyes scanned past him, to where her captor's friend was unconscious on the ground a few feet away from them. A puddle of blood was dripping from his mouth and his arm was twisted at an odd angle.

Scarlet raised her eyebrows, a trickle of apprehension tingling her spine. She looked at the person who had saved her closely for the first time. He had strikingly bright green eyes, messy brown hair that was spiked in all directions, a muscular build.

Perhaps he was the person she should really fear.

"What are you doing in our territory?" Her hero asked, narrowing his eyes at the man on the ground, whose entire body was shaking in fear as he stared up into her hero's eyes.

"I-It's you! W-Wolf…" he said slowly, backing up again. "I- I didn't know this was your territory. I swear!"

Scarlet gasped when Wolf turned the safety off and pointed it at the man again.

"Don't!" she cried. "You can't!"

Wolf gazed at her questioningly, as if he had forgotten that she was even there. "Get out of here," he told her sternly.

"Look," she pleaded, "he's a bad guy. But you can't just kill him! We can turn him in to the police!"

"HAH!"

Wolf stiffened before swatting his large hand against the child's face, sending him flying back and the knife that the kid had buried in his side still in his skin. Scarlet let out a cry, eyes wide, her hand flew to her mouth. The man on the ground took the moment of distraction and ran out of the alley.

"Oh my stars," Scarlet whispered as Wolf stared at the boy on the ground, who's eye was already swelling.

"Get out of here," Wolf said to the kid. Without hesitation, the boy got up and ran in the same direction the man who had carelessly left him on his own.

The sirens barely registered through Scarlet's ringing ears.

"We have to get you to a hospital!" she said, putting a hand on his arm.

"No," he replied, "I can take care of this myself."

"Let me help you," she said, looking into his eyes, "please, Wolf."

He stared down at her, the sound of the police cars getting closer, and nodded slowly.

"Alright."

From there, Scarlet has snuck him into her house and treated his wound, which he seemed to barely even register even when they pulled the knife out. She had seen him without his shirt on, but tried to ignore his abs and biceps so that she could carefully clean and dress the stab wound. He insisted that he would heal properly even without true medical attention.

He was quiet the entire time, but his eyes seemed to always be locked onto her, as if she were the most interesting thing in the world.

Scarlet hated to admit it, but she did not mind the attention.

She'd fed him some of his grandmother's cooking, which he had three plates of. He showered and threw on his old clothes, gray pants and a white t-shirt. He thanked her for her hospitality and was gone.

That was two weeks ago. He had been walking her home from work ever since then.

He had only been at her school today because she had dropped her ID and wanted to return it to her before nightfall, since he thought it was important that she have it. He was prepared to wait for the whole day and stand watch outside the school until she came out at the end of the day, not knowing that she enjoyed eating lunch outside instead of in.

That's when those gang members had shown up, demanding that Wolf go somewhere with them.

Scarlet sighed as the warmth of the beef stew churned in her stomach.

Yes, she knew he was dangerous.

But she knew in the back of mind, the place where she crammed all of her unwanted thoughts, all of the things that she let go unsaid…that she was not going to stay away from him any time soon.

But for the life of her, she couldn't figure out why.

Cinder sighed as she took out the key to her dorm room.

It had been a long, tiring day. All she wanted to do was crash in her twin sized bed. After being interrogated by the police, who she had explained to five times that she had only been trying to get to her car while those gang members had been causing a ruckus, causing her to miss two classes with how long they had taken to get everything squared away.

Then she had been interrogated by Iko. She wasn't sure which one was worse.

Then there was Kai, who hadn't answered her phone calls but instead texted her that he would call her back later.

She didn't even have the strength to wonder what the heck was going on with him.

The door creaked open and Cinder entered the nicely sized room. She nearly jumped in her skin when she noticed the girl sitting on the bed opposite her own. She had a pretty heart-shaped face with freckles across her nose and cheeks, extremely long honey blond hair, and bright blue eyes.

"Oh yeah," Cinder said, "I'm sorry. I forgot I had a roommate."

The girl grinned and shook her head, giggling nervously. "It's alright. I wasn't sure when you'd arrive."

Cinder nodded and stepped further into the room, dropping her backpack on her own side of the room and extended her real hand towards the girl, who shook it gently.

"I'm Selene," she introduced herself with her real name, the one that was on her birth certificate. The one that her father had given her before he passed away. "But everyone calls me Cinder."

"Oh! Um," a moment of confusion swept across the girl's face before it passed, "My name is Crescent. But my dad—I mean, everyone calls me Cress."

Cinder smiled and nodded. She began to take her shoes off as the girl balled up her already bare feet underneath her long pink nightgown.

"I hope you don't mind undressing in front of each other," Cinder said, as she unbuckled her belt. "I can change behind you if you do. I know some girls are weird about that sort of thing."

Cinder raised her eyebrows as Cress' face reddened. She wrapped her wrists in her long locks and replied, "O-oh! No! I'm sorry. It doesn't bother me if it doesn't bother you! We'll be roommates for a while, so I should get used to it right? T.V shows show girls getting changed in front of each other all of the time, so it's no problem!"

"Um…right," Cinder nodded and proceeded to take the rest of her clothes off before wrapping herself in a body-towel. "I'm going to go shower. I'll be back in a bit."

"Okay!" Cress chirped, watching as Cinder left the room to the public bathroom that all of the girls on the second floor used.

She sighed. Great. She already probably seemed like a weirdo. And Cinder seemed so cool and sure of herself!

The only thing that shocked Cress about Cinder was her prosthetic foot and hand. She wondered what had happened, but she would not pry. She did not yet know the girl well enough, and even Cress knew that it would be rude to ask about it so soon.

Cinder wandered back into the room and Cress took a deep breath and was quiet as Cinder changed into pajama shorts and a tank top. She hopped into her bed and closed her eyes, which Cress failed to notice.

"Um…"

Cinder's eyes opened and she stared warily over at Cress.

"You wouldn't happen to know a Carswell Thorne, would you?" Cress asked timidly.

"Hmm…" Cinder closed her eyes for a second and then opened them to stare at Cress. "We went to middle school together and he used to bother me all the time because he wanted help with his homework. He goes to Brighter Stars now too, though we don't really talk much anymore. Why?"

"Oh," Cress blushed, "I met him today, that's all. I was just wondering about him…"

Cinder sighed and rolled over onto her back. She wasn't used to having girl talk with anyone except Iko, and even then it was really Iko who did all of the talking. But Cress was probably one of those girls who fell in love at first sight, so Cinder figured she should at least give her a heads-up. She was her new roommate after all.

"Thorne is a delinquent," Cinder said bluntly, causing Cress to gasp and lean closer to her from across the room. "He's had a couple of run-ins with the law. I'm not sure of exactly what everything is…but I know he spent a summer in a place for juvenile delinquents. He does stupid things, to be honest. But he's a sweet guy once you get to know him. At least he was in middle school."

"Thank you for telling me," Cress mumbled, but her mind was already focused on the task at hand. Her fingers flew across her laptop, which she had opened as Cinder was talking.

She had research to do.

On Carswell Thorne: the first man to make her heart flutter.

Kai was absolutely disgusted at himself. He couldn't understand how this was happening to him.

He ran both hands through his black hair and rested them on the back of his neck. All he could hear was the sound of the clock ticking and tocking.

He was in a single room of a hotel. He sat in the desk instead of the bed like she had asked; a small act of defiance was all he could do, though he dared not try his luck too much.

He kept rewinding the time back in his head. He could not believe it had only been a month ago when his soon-to-be stepmother had taken him to a hotel in the bad part of town, where she knew no one they knew would ever frequent.

His father had been acting strangely for the last six months of his mother's life, and not just because his spouse was dying.

A few months after her passing, he figured out why.

The day he had caught Levana in bed with his father, he had wanted to kill him. His father, who always seemed so noble and righteous, who always gave Kai the greatest advice, had been cheating on his sick mother. His father had tried to explain the situation, while the woman in bed simply smirked, put on her silky robe and swayed over to Kai with a dangerous glint in her eyes, announcing that she would like to take him out to dinner to clear the air. To explain things.

Kai had wanted nothing to do with her, but since from that day on she kept showing up, he finally assented.

Though she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, there was just something…off…about her…well, other than the fact that she had been perfectly fine with sleeping with a married man.

They had sat across from each other in the booth of the restaurant. She sipped an herbal tea, while Kai had ordered nothing but water. Instead, he stared at the woman with the ruby red lips until she finally said something in that sweet and thick as honey voice of hers.

"Your father and I are getting married," she told him silkily.

"….excuse me," Kai asked slowly, leaning towards her with raised eyebrows.

"Not yet of course," she continued, "it's much too soon for the general public to handle. In a year's time I'll begin to make appearances by his side. We'll marry a year or so afterwards."

"What in the world are you talking about," Kai said, perhaps a bit too loudly for a restaurant, even one as boisterous as this one. The old woman behind the counter gave him a wary stare before going back to shining a glass.

"My, my. I would think you would love the opportunity to have a new mother."

Kai almost took the cup from her hands and smashed it against her temple.

"No matter," Levana took her hands from the cup and moved them to her leather purse. From it, she pulled a manila envelope. She slowly pulled photographs from them and slid them across the table face-down. "Go ahead. Take a look, Kai."

Annoyed, Kai flipped a picture over.

A sudden gasp made him regret doing so.

Both his own and Levana's eyes flew from the pictures to the waitress who was standing in front of their table with a pitcher of water, ready to refill his glass. What was worse, he recognized her from school. She was a curvaceous girl with curly red hair.

Scarlet Benoit.

He quickly snatched the pictures from sight, his face burning bright red while she struggled to compose herself and Levana sipped at her tea as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

Scarlet filled his glass, smiled shakily, mumbled something about getting the check, and left.

Kai sighed and pulled the rest of the pictures towards him. He examined them, his entire body heating.

The pictures were of his father in the most compromising positions he had ever seen.

"What kind of sick…" Kai wanted to take his eyes from the pictures but couldn't. The leather belts, the toys, the gags, the blindfold, Levana, Levana, Levana. She had a mask on, but he was positive that it was her…Kai felt sick.

"You see Kai, I am your father's Mistress in every sense of the word," Levana said, "and these pictures are here to prove it. With your father's political standing, he doesn't want these pictures getting out. They would obviously ruin his reputation. He'd be an embarrassment for the rest of his life and to yours as well."

Kai's world was spinning.

"Your father's financial gains are what interests me the most about him. He owns many, many businesses," Levana's eyes were twinkling, "he is a very wealthy man. I could be happy with him."

Kai's throat felt as if it would close at any moment, but he finally found the courage to speak. "Why are you telling me all this? You could've gone on blackmailing him for the rest of our lives and I wouldn't have known."

Levana's red lips parted into a menacing smile.

"Because I have an insatiable thirst that your father cannot fulfill."

The clock ticked and tocked.

She would be here in any minute.

He could have refused and had her send those pictures out, forever marring his father's image…but Kai could not stand to be that cruel. He hated his father right now, but he loved him at the same time. He couldn't let him go out like that.

Then there was Cinder. His sweet, sarcastic, strong-willed girlfriend who had comforted him when his mother had passed. This was definitely a betrayal to her. He could barely look her in the eyes anymore, nonetheless touch her.

When Levana slipped into the room, she smiled and curled her forefinger, telling him to stand and come to her.

He did what he was told.

After all, Kaito was nothing more than a slave.