The sun had set as I was walking next door to Vince's. I left my gun at the house, I had to make them trust me, if they found a gun on me that would be thrown out the window. I knocked on the door and Sean opened the it, he stood aside motioning for me to come in. I came inside and the living room was filled with smoke, and 90's rap was playing in the back ground. Zig was sitting on the kitchen counter cleaning a gun and I momentarily regretted not brining mine. Vince was on the couch leaning over the coffee table and sorting baggies of drugs into separate piles, my presence had not distracted his concentration. There was also a girl sitting on the other end of the couch with long blond hair, she reminded me of the way I used to be. She was dressed very conservatively, and she wore a huge smile on her face with her hands in her lap. Sean walked passed me to sit by the girl throwing his arm around her, he kissed her lightly on the cheek. He motioned for Eli, who had been sitting by the radio sorting out money into piles, to turn the music down. Eli turned the music down and I just stood there in front of everyone being watched, waiting for someone to say something. Finally after an agonizing minute of awkward silence Sean spoke.

"Throw your bag to me." Sean put his hands out, this was a test, to see if I would obey commands. Without hesitation I tossed my back pack to him. "Good, thanks. These will all be gone by tonight, no worries. You'll get your cut of the profit by the end of the week, everything we sell combined, well we share the earnings. This is a family, not a one person operation. What we sell you get, what you sell we get, is that gonna be a problem?" He was still testing me.

"Absolutely not, family help's each other right?"

Sean sat up straighter taking his arm off of the girl next to him, "That's exactly right. So, you know the guy's, but I don't believe you've met Emma."

Emma stood up walking over to me with a huge smile, she hugged me. She pulled away still smiling, "It's so nice to have another member of the family!"

I nodded, "It's good to be here."

Sean motioned for Eli to turn the music back up and everyone went back to what they had been doing before. Emma led me to another couch and motioned for me to sit by her, she made me nervous. She was so touchy and I had a wire on, if she kept touching me, my whole cover could be blown. I excused myself to the restroom and threw the wire out of the window, I couldn't risk it, not on day one. I came back into the living room and sat by Emma, her facial expression had become more serious, and for a moment I was afraid I had been caught.

"You should turn around and leave Clare." Her tone was serious, and her eyes held a certain darkness in them.

"What? Why do you say that?"

"This life, this isn't the life you want to get involved in. I love the boy's, but they do bad things. They say it's to protect each other, to survive on this block, but it's not. It's all about money and who runs what. Take zig for example, he only joined the family because had no where to go, and Sean made him believe he'd be safe with us. He isn't though, none of us are. Everywhere I go I look over my shoulder, wondering if the rival gang is going to take me out once and for all. Once you're in, that's it, you cant leave even if Sean let you. You'll always be associated with us, so I'm telling you now to run. Girl to girl, If I could go back, I'd run." Emma's eyes were skimming through the room making sure no one was listening.

"So, you don't want to be here, or with Sean?"

Emma rolled her eyes, "I love Sean more than anything, that's the reason I'm here in the first place. That doesn't mean I believe in the life he has chosen, he didn't always used to be this way, he was smart and he made good grades. He avoided the temptation of gang life that this block presented to him, all he cared about was his mother. She was in cancer remission, she had beat it. Then one day she's unloading grocery's and the rival gang tries to rob her, she refused to give up her purse, so they shot her in the head. She died instantly, Sean and I ran outside as soon as we heard the gun shot. Losing her like that changed him forever, in so many different ways. He joined the gang eventually becoming the leader, he insisted it was neccassary so that I could be protected. He wanted revenge on them, and he wanted me to keep me safe. So here I am trapped in this life that I never envisioned for Sean and I, but I cant leave him. I love him. You though, you have an opportunity to go right now before you get in to deep. The boy's are like family to me, but they do bad things, the kill, they steal, this isn't a joke."

Hearing Emma's story made me sad for her, but just like Sean, I had a score to settle. Nothing would get in the way of that. "Emma, I appreciate the concern, but I'm not going anywhere. Everyone has there reasons for being here, like you said, and so do I."

Emma shook her head in disappointment, "What possible reason could you have for wanting to ruin your life?" She sat up and walked away towards Zig, he handed her a joint and she stared me down from across the room. I felt bad for her, but she didn't understand why I had to be here. I sat there looking around, feeling agitated. I was supposed to be gathering evidence to put each one of these horrible people away for life, yet I didn't have a wire on or any kind of opportunity to take photo's. In my deep thought I was yet again tapped on the shoulder by Eli, I looked up at him and he sat next to me. I momentarily noticed Vince give him a warning look.

My voice was cold, "Can I help you?" I didn't trust Eli, he was hard to figure out. He had pretended to be this normal theatre student focused on a play, yet he was part of one of the biggest gangs in Toronto. He even led me to the gang himself, he was sneaky.

"We're family now, is that anyway to talk to family Ms. Edwards?" His tone was light, like the way it had been before I found out he was apart of this operation.

I needed to appear loyal, "You're right, it's not. I apologize."

Eli's face dropped, "I was hoping you wouldn't say that. Clare, why are you here? You're talented, you can be in the school play and graduate, you don't have to be here." I was so confused. Eli had led me to the gang in the first place, why was he now trying to persuade me away from it? Before I could respond the door swung open, it was a girl with big curl hair, red lips, and black leather boot's. She was beautiful, breathtaking even. Eli scooted away from me, and she gave me a death glare.

The girl averted her eyes towards me, "Who's that?"

Eli walked over to her, "Bianca this is a new member of the family, Clare."

Bianca rolled her eyes and turned her attention to Sean and Vince, "It's time. Let's go." everyone scrambled about the room picking things up, and heading for the door. I looked around confused, picking up my bag. Vince grabbed my arm, "What do you think you're doing blue eyes?"

"I thought we were leaving, we have to get this stuff sold, right?"

Vince put his head back and laughed, "Not so fast, you aren't ready yet, this shit is dangerous. Besides you're still on probation girl, you have to earn our trust. I mean for all we know you could be with the feds." Vince was obviously joking, but it still sent shivers down my spine to hear him say that. I was probably more trained and equipped to handle selling than any of them, this whole process was going slower than I had anticipated.

"So, what am I supposed to do?" I kept the annoyance out of my voice.

Eli is going to stay here with you, to keep an eye out for you. None of us are ever alone if we can help it, he will take good care of my girl for me." My eye's became wide, his girl? That wasn't part of the plan, and Vince's strong personality and sense of entitlement disgusted me. He winked at me and headed out the door, everyone else was gone except for Bianca and Eli, I was staring at them without even realizing.

"Excuse me, do you mind new girl?" I ,embarrassed, quickly looked away. In the corner of my eye I could see Bianca kiss Eli. "Alright we'll be back, keep an eye on the new girl."

Eli nodded, "Of course, be safe Bianca." Bianca shut the door behind her, leaving Eli and I alone.