"Mercedes, calm down." The young man said as they stood in front of Naraku's building. He placed a hand on her shoulder while she was looking at the two bodyguards standing at the entrance.

"What do you mean that I am not allowed in?" she exclaimed, tears in her eyes. "I came from France to see him. Where is he?"

One of the two men sighed before answering.

"We have our orders not to tell anyone."

"Damn you!" she yelled, trying to attack him but Michel caught her by the waist.

"Mercedes!" He chided his eyes hardening. "Let me handle it."

She blinked her tears and nodded. He smiled at her before looking at the two men standing tall and strong.

"Listen" He started. "My friend here is also a friend of your boss and I am telling you that he will be very disappointed if you didn't let her know where he is."

The bodyguards seemed unaffected.

"We're sorry. We cannot tell. We have strict orders. We…"

"Mercedes?" Came a sound from behind. She followed the source and saw Chris standing behind them, looking at her in surprise. She let out a little sob before she ran to his side and grabbed him by his arms, shaking him a little as tears ran down her cheek.

"Please Chris!" She begged. "Tell me he's fine!" She nearly choked with her tears as she eyed him, desperation filling her blue orbs.

Chris looked away, not answering her pleas.

"Chris!" she yelled, shaking him even more. "Answer me! What happened!"

"He's in the hospital." He finally breathed out. Mercedes shuddered but he immediately held her, looking at her with concern.

"Are you fine?" He questioned but she cut him.

"Take me to him. I want to be with him."

Chris shook his head negatively, stepping a few feet back.

"No Mercedes. I cannot. You must go back to France. You shouldn't have come back." He nearly whispered. She looked at him, her eyes revealing her shock.

"What happened? Why do you seem so afraid even to talk? Why are you putting these bodyguards in front of the apartment? Why?"

Chris looked behind her and she followed his gaze that landed on Michel.

"He's a friend." She answered his silent question before meeting his eyes again.

"Let's talk Mercedes, alone."

They both sat in Naraku's office, silence dominating between them. Mercedes looked at her surroundings, tears coming back to her eyes. She could not believe that Naraku was probably in danger. Chris cleared his throat, getting her attention and breaking the silence.

"You shouldn't have came Mercedes." He silently said.

"Why didn't you call me? Why didn't you tell me?" she yelled, her heart aching. "What? I did not deserve to be part of this? Hum?"

Chris looked away.

"He called you didn't he?"

She froze her face paling.

"Have you any idea how it feels to receive such news from him? To have him tell me that Naraku had an accident? It nearly broke me."

The young man stood and stared pacing the office, his eyes unfocused. He suddenly stopped.

"Taisho has lost his mind." He whispered and Mercedes felt that her heart was going to break from fear. She could remember his voice when he called her. It was so unlike him.

"Why would you say that?" she asked. He passed a hand in his hair and sighed loudly.

"I never knew that he would be capable of all this. He was playing us from the beginning. He's so sick, so twisted."

"Playing us from the beginning?" she mumbled. "What do you mean?"

Chris went to the window before replying.

"He knew that you took files from his computer. He knew that you would give those files to Naraku so he planted a trap. Those deals were fictive. And we invested in them."

Kagome gasped loudly, her eyes trembling.

"We lost a lot of money." He finally ended. Silence dominated again, interrupted by Mercedes' voice.

"How much?"

"Don't worry. Not enough to ruin us but enough to shake us."

Kagome sighed in relief, but her gaze returned to anxious.

"So, where's the problem? I mean, you lost but you still have everything and…"

"That's not all." He interrupted her. "Apparently, he was keeping a close look on our deals. He discovered some…secrets."

"What kind of secrets?"

He turned his gaze towards her.

"Dirty secrets." He said, making her shake a little in her seat.

"Mon Dieu! Chris!" she yelled, getting up from her seat. Her face was livid. "Please don't tell me that Naraku was doing illegal deals!"

His silence confirmed her suspicions. She nearly whimpered, her trembling hand covering her forehead.

"My God!" She repeated several times as Chris watched her in silence.

"And then Taisho started pressuring us."

"He knows about you?" she asked and when he nodded she collapsed again in her seat, drained from all her energy.

"He said that he had enough documents to send us to jail. He said that he will not go easy on this, that he will make Naraku pay for daring to spy on his business. He blamed us on things that we did not do. And when we tried to talk to him he imposed impossible conditions."

"What kind of conditions?" Kagome whispered. Chris sat next to her.

"He said that he wanted all the shares that we possess in his company. He also wants a percentage in the main company, a percentage in the profit, a written guarantee of not taking certain deals that he wanted for himself."

"Why didn't you agree!" she shouted. "He's being nice!"

Chris shook his head negatively.

"Naraku agreed to all these terms but apparently, Taisho had one simple request. It was that request that caused the huge conflict."

"What is the request?"

"Mercedes, it's a personal request."

The two did not speak for minutes, Mercedes still waiting for an answer from the man in front of her. Chris took a deep breath before clashing his eyes with hers.

"He offered two choices. He was smiling when he told Naraku that he could pick any of the two. The first one was that Naraku should confess to the media about a past relation he had with a certain girl that resulted in a child."

Mercedes stared in shock, tears forming again in her eyes. She looked away. The image he had built for the dearest man in her life was being crushed slowly in front of her eyes. Her throat went dry.

"The second concerns you."

Her eyes immediately returned to Chris.

"Me? What does he want from me?"

"He simply said that the second option was you. Naraku did not answer. He simply drove away. Apparently, he had a little heart attack in his car, which ended in a major car crash."

"Oh My God!" She cried, her sobs shaking her body.

"His situation is critical. That bastard! He ruined everything! Now look at us. We're like fugitives!"

Mercedes suddenly got up and went to the door.

"Where are you going?" Chris asked, suddenly alarmed. She looked at him, her blue eyes swimming in tears.

"I am going to fix this mess."

"No!" Rin yelled in her brother's in law office. "I said no!"

Inuyasha looked at her, his eyes hardening.

"I told you that Chris was spying on us and I will not hesitate in sending him to jail where he belongs!"

The young woman looked at her husband who was sitting on the other side of the office, staring at her. When their eyes met, he simply diverted his gaze.

"Sesshumaru! You cannot let him just send my brother to jail! He's my brother!"

"He was spying on us as Inuyasha send." He simply replied. "I agree with my brother. He should pay for everything he had done. "

Rin took a deep breath before answering.

"I will not let you humiliate the only family I have!"

Sesshumaru stood, anger boiling in his eyes.

"I am your family." He said, his voice trembling with anger. "Not that traitor!"

"Don't call him a traitor!" She yelled, her eyes shedding silent tears. "It's not his fault!"

"It's not his fault?" Inuyasha countered, standing up. "Oh, is it our fault that he was spying on us? Hum? Was it our fault my dear Rin?"

She stared at him, rage burning in the depth of her chocolate orbs.

"Don't you mock me!" she warned but Inuyasha simply laughed, leaning on his desk.

"You brother was an idiot when he thought that he could outsmart me. He thought that I would simply trust him with my company. He's very naïf."

"Chris is not naïf!" she defended but it was Sesshumaru who answered her.

"Maybe he is not naïf, but he is a traitor and we will not go easy on him unless Naraku fulfils all the clauses in the deal."

"I will not stand by and watch you crush my brother." She warned, looking at both of them. "After all, it's your entire fault!"

"Shut up! Don't defend that man in my presence! You will not see him again!" Sesshumaru yelled. "Am I clear enough for you?"

"I will stand by my brother! I don't believe all the things you're saying about him!"

Inuyasha laughed again.

"Please! Your brother is the worst friend that a man could have. He's Naraku's slave. He's brainwashed or something! He's like a little doll that Naraku moves with strings."

"Fuck you!" Rin whispered, tears storming down her cheeks. "You know nothing about my brother you asshole! Don't you dare speak about him like that! Why don't you look at yourself first before judging the others!"

"Rin!" Sesshumaru warned. "Don't speak things that you will regret later! Don't interfere in our business."

The woman simply shook her head negatively.

"I never thought that a time will come when I will have to choose between you and my brother. But my choice was always clear. My brother is the one who took care of me. He is with Naraku in order to help me and I understand all the reasons he would offer me."

Sesshumaru glared at her.

"What are you implying? Are you saying that Chris is the victim here? You're taking his side?"

"Yes I am!"

"Fine!" Her husband yelled. "Go to your brother. But I swear to you that if you do that, I will not take you back when you realize the enormous mistake you did."

"I don't care."She responded."I'll send you the divorce papers."

The younger Taisho scoffed.

"Her brother betrays our trust and then she's all touchy and demands the divorce. Why would my brother even care? We don't want any traitors in our family."

"Oh, but you tolerate murderers?" She asked, her cheeks flaming with anger but suddenly stopped when she saw the dark look in his golden eyes.

"What do you mean?" Inuyasha whispered his voice cold. "What are you implying huh?" His voice became louder, magma burning in his veins. "Are you saying that I killed her? Do you mean that? Do you mean that I was the reason behind her suicide? Is that what you wanted to say? Huh? Why don't you fucking say it? Huh? Come on! Say it loud! Relief yourself by crying this fact to everyone! Say it! I killed her! I killed her! I killed the woman I loved! I pushed her to suicide! I killed Kagome…!"

He suddenly stopped, his gaze coming towards the door of the office. Rin was now in tears as his brother was standing silent. They both noticed his silent and followed his gaze that landed on a very pale Mercedes, standing by the door. She licked her trembling lips before speaking.

"I need to talk to you Mr. Taisho." She barely whispered. Rin sobbed loudly before darting away, followed closely by Sesshumaru. Kagome stood still, watching the two other persons leave the room, the woman crying her heart out and the man following her. Her heart was trembling in her chest. He just said that he killed a girl named Kagome. She just heard his confession and he saw her.

"Close the door." Inuyasha commanded making her nearly jump. Her eye went to his, fear dancing behind her blue orbs. She feared him like she feared no one before, but she obeyed. He took place in his large chair and she noted that he was not wearing his dark glasses anymore. She took deep breaths to calm her raging heart but it served her no good. Her whole body was still shaking from all the torments she endured.

"Welcome back." He finally said, his eyes settled on hers, his lips quivering in a smile that scared her to the core. "I had begun to think that you will never show up. But as I told you one day Mercedes, you will be the one to seek me out."

She gulped, trying to stay focused on the conversation.

"What do you want?" she quickly asked. He chuckled, playing with his pen.

"I have already told Naraku what I wanted. It seems that his poor heart was not able to handle it."

Rage burned in her like fire. How dare he, how dare he mock Naraku like that? Take advantage of his situation. Tears tickled her eyes and he seemed to notice them because his eyes softened and his lips lost the smirk he was showing her.

"Do you really want to save him?" He asked his voice serious. She nodded, not able to hold the tears that rolled on her cheeks.

"Are you sure? I am not forcing you."

"Please, tell me and I will do anything in my power to make you happy enough with Naraku."

Inuyasha played again with the pain, his eyes lost in hers.

"What is your relationship with Naraku?" he suddenly asked, taking her by surprise. She did not expect him to ask her that question. Hell, she didn't even know the answer herself.

"He's a friend."

"What kind of friend?" he insisted. She bit her bottom lip, feeling her fear dissipate in the casual conversation they were having. He could be really sympathetic when he wanted. The idea brought a light blush to her cheeks and she was thankful that he would take this back to her crying.

"He helped me when I was having certain difficulties."

He continued staring at her, his next question making her eyes grow wide.

"Do you sleep with him?"

"W…what?" she mumbled, her ears flaming a deeper shade of red.

"Do you sleep with him?" he repeated louder, making her flinch. "What, are you one of his girlfriends? A mistress? A bedmate? A…"

"Stop!" She yelled, glaring heatedly at him. "What kind of question is this? This is irrelevant! I have never met someone like you! You monsieur are the worst kind of men a girl could ever encounter. You are…"

"Answer my question!" He commanded his eyes hard.

She stopped, her hands clutching the sides of her shirt to stop the slight trembling.

"I don't have such a relationship with him. He's like a big brother to me. We never had a sexual relation. I… never had a sexual relation."

She just wanted to slap herself. Why? Why did she just say that? Why did she simply confess that she, Mercedes, the snob girl, never went as far as a sexual relation with a man? Embarrassment made his way in her system. Even Naraku never knew that in all her adventures, she never slept with a guy, never. She wanted to save herself, she just felt that she had to remain pure, she…

"That's good to know."

His voice brought her back to reality and his statement made her blush return in full force.

"That's irrelevant!" she protested angrily, watching him smile from the other side of the office he didn't even tell her to sit down. He just started talking about her nonexistent sex life. What had she gotten herself into?

"At the contrary."

Silence stilled between both of them, and Kagome's mind ran a thousand thoughts. The conversation was taking a lead that she did not like. First of all, she entered his office and heard him declare that he killed Kagome. Maybe she misheard. Maybe he meant something else. That must be it. And then, she was planning on intimidating him in order to save Naraku, and here she was, being intimidated by him.

He suddenly got up.

"Three years ago, Naraku had a relationship that he doesn't want to talk about. So this leaves me with the other option which is you."

"What do you mean?" She asked, following each of his steps with her eyes. He laughed again and leaned on his desk, folding his arms in front of his chest.

"I want to take something from Naraku, something that he's clearly attached to. It's a choice between his dignity and you."

"I don't understand."

The business man looked at her for a few seconds, smiling before he went to his desk. He took a newspaper and made his way towards her.

Her heart started beating as fast as it could in her chest. He was coming towards her and his manly scent was starting to drug her. He was gorgeous, everything she would dream about in a man. His body, his eyes, his voice. She mentally slapped herself. She hated him! She hated him with passion!

"Have a look at this newspaper."

She took it from his hand and when their fingertips brushed, their eyes clashed with each other. Unable to hold his gaze anymore, she diverted her eyes to the paper in front of her and gasped loudly earning a smirk from him.

"Don't worry Mercedes. This is the unpublished edition. However, I will publish all these details about our beloved Naraku if you do not accept what I have to propose which is, by the way, very generous of my part."

She looked at him, anger in her eyes.

"You're sick." She spat. Angering him for the first time. He lost control and pushed her to the wall. She moaned from the slight pain that her collision with the wall caused.

"Say it again and I will publish it!" he murmured in her ear, his breath caressing her skin, causing a new sensation to erupt deep within her stomach. She didn't know what to do so she stared at the half heart he was wearing on his neck. Oddly, each time she saw the pendent, she found it even more familiar.

"I am sorry."

He smirked.

"Say it again Mercedes." He whispered. She frowned. He was trying to break her.

"I am sorry." She repeated, helpless, his proximity affecting her in more than one way. His body that was so close to hers moved away, giving her some personal space.

"That's better. From now on, you will be obedient around me, do you understand?"

She nodded.

"And you will learn to respect me like you respect Naraku. I will not tolerate any outburst."

He went back to his desk and grabbed a black box.

"Come over here Mercedes."

She obeyed and went to him. He looked at her.

"Do you want Naraku to go to jail?"

"No." she murmured, not meeting his beautiful eyes. He frowned.

"Look at me!" he commanded, grabbing her chin and titling it upwards. Their eyes met and she could feel her blood beginning to boil.

"Will you do anything to save him?"

"Yes!" she strongly responded. He smiled and let her chin go before giving her the box. She slowly opened it and when she saw what was inside, her eyes grew wide.

"No!" She yelled, looking at him. He simply grabbed his cell phone and dialed a number. He waited patiently before speaking.

"Good morning. Can you please give me the number of one of your journalists? Yes, I already have an appointment with him. His name is…"

He was not able to continue as Mercedes snatched the cell phone away and pressed the red button, ending the call, her face showing her fear.

"Okay." She murmured.