9 LESSON ONE

IS HE INSANE? OR has he seriously just lost it? Those are the questions that I automatically asked myself when I heard the words that came out of Cyrus Delton's mouth. At first, I laughed, expecting he'd laugh too and eventually tell me he was joking. But Cyrus kept his face serious, and at that moment I was completely sure that this was going to be a serious matter that would become a huge pain in the ass in the future.

"We have to train you immediately." He continues to tell me without even wondering what I'd feel about all this.

"Train? What am I? A dog?" I ask him as Cyrus moves away from me. He walks towards his desk, my eyes following him as he takes a seat. I then walk towards him and cross my arms, waiting for him to answer me.

"Like what I said, if you want to be the best, you have to be the best. Everyone is a suspect, and these suspects aren't just some ordinary criminals. These are masterminds. They've been playing the game before you could even choose a player. Defeating them would nearly be impossible with what you are now." Cyrus explains further. And I know this may sound random, but I haven't seen Cyrus be this excited about anything before.

"Alright, I get it. But, act like a saint? Are you serious? Do you think I could just magically turn oh-so-perfectly-good for no apparent reason at all? You can't fake good. That's like human nature." I point out to him, and Cyrus stands from his seat again and approaches me; immediately making me back away from him.

"Not all saints were born good Mr. Vincent Carter. Don't be fooled." He tells me, still moving close like he was intentionally making me feel uncomfortable. I was taking a couple more steps back, trying to avoid him from getting too close to me.

"Look, I get the whole 'not born good' thing. Well, at least I think I do, but your brother is obviously loved by a lot of people, which means there's something about him that makes him naturally lovable. And newsflash Mr. Delton, I don't have that something." I tell him, and Cyrus suddenly chuckles in a mocking tone. It was like I just told him a tasteless joke. When in fact, I was very serious about my statement.

"You think Tobias has something in him that makes him lovable?" Cyrus asks me.

"Don't make me laugh. He was nothing, nothing at all. Same as me, Catalina, and Chance." Cyrus then explains.

I take another step back, and only then have I realized that I finally reached a wall. Cyrus is able to corner me now. I try to move away but he stares down on me, locking me in place. He isn't even holding me, but I feel like I'm not allowed to move.

"Mr. Vincent Carter," he calls out in a low voice, causing me to gulp.

"Do you seriously think we wanted to be like this?" He asks, and the question caught me off guard. This is a huge hint in his family. A huge hint for the Delton's. I'm just not in the right time and place to properly process and decipher it yet.

"In the eyes of the ignorant, we look like the perfect family. But the truth is, we weren't born perfect. Instead, we were molded into perfection." Cyrus explains further. He was so close to me now that I could even smell the mint scent coming from his mouth.

"Molded into perfection," I repeat myself.

Cyrus continues to stare at me, and then he lifts his hand close to my face and grabs my cheeks aggressively. I was too surprised to even do anything about it.

"When I'm done with you Carter...you will be more than just perfection." He says, and the way he said it brought chills down my entire body. His hold on my cheeks tighten. I was supposed to push him away, but Cyrus lets go of me first and continues, "And you don't have a choice now do you?"

Cyrus's serious expression once again turns into a smirk as he finally moves away from me; walking back to his seat as if nothing happened.

I massage my aching cheeks before glaring at him. But as much as I hate to admit it, the man was right. Even if I can't quite comprehend it just yet, I should be willing to 'train' with him in order to have an upper hand against the people at the mansion.

"What do I have to do then?" I now ask in defeat, making Cyrus grin.

"There are three stages." Cyrus starts, putting three fingers up for me to see.

"But for now we'll focus on the first stage, which is quite challenging." Cyrus continues, putting two fingers down and leaving just his thumb up.

"One of the reasons why Tobi is...loved...is because he knows how to follow orders. He knows whom to follow, and he knows what to follow. Being able to do favors for others will give you a slot for future transactions. It would seem like you're a nice person, but in fact, you're only investing." Cyrus explains in the most business-like way that he could.

"So you want me to follow orders? That's it?" I ask, making it sound so simple. But the look on Cyrus's face obviously pointed out that it isn't as simple as I laid it out to be.

"Following is not as easy as lying. You can't fake an order. It's either you do it, or you don't. It's either you disappoint the person you're following, or you please him. And pleasing people...is a trait Tobias Delton is so damn good at." Cyrus explains. I try to process everything again. It feels like I'm in a class with a very strict teacher. And if I don't understand him, I might get beaten with a stick.

"So what exactly do you want me to do?" I dare ask him, but the grin on Cyrus's face immediately made me want to regret even opening my mouth in the first place.

"Please me." He says without an ounce of hesitation.

I look at him straight in the eye without saying anything. And when the silence was too painful to bear, Cyrus breaks out in laughter. I cross my arms and continue to look at him seriously, waiting for him to stop. And when he finally did, Cyrus clears his throat and teasingly asks, "Why so serious?"

"You wanted me to take this seriously, then I'm taking this seriously. But if you want me to fucking bullshit this then I will fucking give you bullshit." I tell him, but Cyrus didn't even look the slightest bit bothered by my threat.

"Alright, I'll stop beating around the bush." He finally says. I hope he isn't bluffing anymore because if he is, I'm definitely walking away.

"I stand by my first statement. Please me." Cyrus tells me again, but this time, with a serious expression that almost made the hair on my skin stand again.

"Alright, I'm walking away." I declare. But before I could even look away from him, Cyrus immediately says, "Is the task too hard?" He was obviously provoking me. And it pisses me off how it's annoyingly working.

I clench my fist and take a deep breath.

"Alright. How may I please you, gentleman?" I ask him with my right eyebrow raised.

Cyrus still hasn't broken his composure. He was still serious when he looked at me.

"Based on how you have known me, what do you think would please me?" He asks, and surprisingly enough, the question was a challenge. I've been with him for only three days, and most of those days aren't even clear to me. If I base it from what I've observed within those three days, I would say that Cyrus would be pleased by...

"Nothing," I answer him, "Nothing pleases you."

"Are you sure about that?" He then asks back. And that question alone made me think about my answer again.

Cyrus waits for my next answer, but it looks like he has a brand new idea in store.

"I finally decided on what I want you to do Mr. Vincent Carter. And I think this task will secure your loyalty to me." He says, but I immediately shake my head and remind him, "I'm not here to be loyal to you."

Cyrus smirks like he already expected that I'd tell him these exact words, "Your loyalty would be the only reason why I won't dispose of you like the rest of the disloyal gentlemen that I have encountered before you."

"You do know I'm a cop right?" I ask him, just to be sure that he hasn't forgotten about that little fact yet. But Cyrus was still grinning, and it was now clear to me that he was fully aware of that little fact.

"Oh, I know." He confidently tells me, "But cops aren't bulletproof. And I so happened to be very good with handling guns."

...

It was now late at night, and I was standing at a corner of a parking lot; hiding behind the dark so no one could see me. I was waiting for someone. It was a tricky task, but I had to do it regardless of its difficulty.

It's been at least thirty minutes now, and there has been no sign of anyone in the area. The boredom was killing me, but I take the time to take a deep breath so I could mentally prepare myself for what I was ordered to do.

I close my eyes and take a slow and deep breath.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Inhale.

Exhale.

My eyes immediately shot open when I hear footsteps in the distance. I look at my left to see an old man walking towards the car that was only a few inches away from where I was hiding.

He's talking to someone on the phone. He's too distracted to look around. When he walks past me, I wait for him to stand on the spot where I wanted him to be in.

I ready myself and finally run towards him afterward. When I got a hold of his shoulder, the old man looks at me with confusion.

"What in the-" The man ends his call when he sees my face.

I was wearing a fedora and a facemask so he doesn't recognize me immediately. But when I remove the facemask, his eyes widen from surprise. He knew who I was. And he was even more confused about why I was even in front of him.

"Aren't you President Cyrus's new bodyguard?" He asks.

"Hi, Santa." I casually tell him, surprising him even more. Before president Boris could even get mad from my insult, I adjust the black gloves that I was already wearing and tell him, "The president was not pleased by how you treated his brother Chance. As much as he wanted to negotiate business with you, he found that it was no longer necessary to use you."

President Boris's eyes widen from surprise.

Soon after it turns into rage.

"Use me? How dare he refer to me as someone he can simply use!" He angrily tells me.

I grin and slowly take out the knife that Cyrus gave me a few hours ago. I told him I was more used to using a gun, but he told me that a Saint's weapon is always a knife, so I took the knife with no complaints.

"My apologies," I tell the man who was standing in front of me.

I look around the area again; making sure no one was around. Then I check the CCTV cameras for the last time. I was examining it earlier and I'm now a hundred percent sure this is the blind spot.

Now, I just have to be quick.

Like how I've always been in the past.

"The Delton's send their regards," I tell him, and before he could utter a single word, I finally swing my arm fast; the end of the sharp knife slicing through his neck like I was cutting Christmas ham. His blood then splatters on my face. He struggles a little, but after a few seconds, he falls down.

He holds onto his neck, trying to stop the bleeding. He tries to grab my leg but I kicked his hand off me. The parking lot became silent right after. I study at his body, not even bothered by the fact that he was already dead.

"Looks like Christmas came early. Red really does suit you Santa." I tell him as I continue to watch the blood ooze out from his neck.

It's scary how this felt so natural to me. I've killed dozens more. I've been open about that. This is like killing an ant. It's just another unfortunate accident. That's all.

But I couldn't shake my uneasiness away. How long has it been since I've taken a life? How long has it been since I've seen blood on me? How long has it been since I've felt this kind of adrenaline?

I almost smirked. The emotions inside me felt too excited that I almost couldn't contain it.

I take out my handkerchief and wipe the blood off my face before wiping the blood off the knife. Soon after that, a car arrives and parks in front of me, and I went inside without any hesitation. Luis looks at me with an empty expression. I don't say anything to him either. He takes out a plastic bag and opens it for me. I put the bloody handkerchief and knife inside before removing the gloves and shoving it in as well. Luis hides the plastic bag inside the compartment and immediately drives away from the scene.

I take a deep breath and adjust the rearview mirror. Sitting at the back was none other than the evil man who ordered me to do this task, Cyrus Delton.

"You didn't lie when you told me you've already killed someone." He says, but I still kept quiet. I was not in the mood to joke around with him. I did what he ordered me to do. I only did it because I knew that there would be consequences if I didn't. And he already made that very clear to me earlier.

"Are you pleased?" I now ask him.

Cyrus grins and adjusts himself in his seat, "Very much so." He answers me.

I take a deep breath and look out the window. I could see my reflection on the window. There were bloodstains on my shirt, but it didn't even bother me.

"Then can I ask you a question?" I ask him further. Luis immediately glances at me right after. I know he doesn't want me to proceed, but he knew that it was not his place to butt in.

"What's the question?" He asks me.

"If killing someone like President Boris is so easy for you, then was it difficult to kill your father?" I finally ask him, and Luis almost stops the car upon hearing my accusation. But the man sitting at the back doesn't even seem fazed.

"I hope it wasn't." He surprisingly answers me. I wasn't sure if he was hoping that it wasn't difficult to kill him, or if he was hoping that it wasn't difficult for the person who actually did.

I look back at the rearview mirror to check his reaction, but I immediately regretted it when I saw the dark and empty expression on his face. It's the same expression that he'll usually wear when he's in front of others. It's the expression that I soon realized was the expression he would use to hide the pain. The sadness.

Cyrus looks back at me through the rearview mirror. And for a moment, I forgot that I just had killed someone a few minutes ago because of an order that he forced upon me.

This isn't a man who would kill his father.

This is a man who was afraid of him.

"I hope it wasn't." He tells me again before adding, "Because it was already fucking difficult to live when he was alive. How could I possibly kill someone as frightening as that?"