Jack was still begging. His father was still ranting about religion, sin, shame, family honor, all that bullshit. Meanwhile, Robert was bleeding out while these people argued over whether loving another man offended God.

What a fucking nightmare.

"Father," Jack whispered weakly, "please... he’s dying." 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

"Then let him die," the old man replied without hesitation.

The hallway fell silent after that. Even the suited guards looked uncomfortable now.

Jack lowered his head completely, hands trembling against the floor.

And me?

I just stood there behind the cracked door, gripping the hidden camera tightly while my mind raced through every possible option I had.

Because no matter how much I hated Jack, I couldn’t leave someone to bleed to death.

Fuck it.

Dunno why but... Instead of opening the door like a normal person, I kicked the shit out of it.

The hinges groaned loudly as the door slammed against the wall.

Every single man in the hallway jumped and turned toward me instantly. One of the guards reacted first. He pulled his handgun from the holster and aimed it directly at my head before I could even fully step out of the room.

My heart nearly exploded out of my chest, but I forced myself to stay calm.

I raised the hidden camera in the air. "I have the footage," I said loudly. "And it’s uploaded to the cloud already."

"Who the hell is this?" the father barked.

"E-Evan?" Jack stared at me in disbelief while getting back to his feet. "What are you doing here?"

His father looked between us with growing disgust. "Who is he? Another one of your little gay friends, Jack?"

"Father, no!"

"I bugged the bedroom to blackmail Jack," I explained as calmly as I could manage despite the gun still aimed at me. "I wanted him to stop harassing my friend Nala. But instead I walked into... whatever the fuck this is."

The old man’s jaw tightened. "You," he muttered.

"If you don’t save Robert," I continued, pointing the camera toward them, "and if your son doesn’t leave Nala alone, I’m posting everything online. Every second of this conversation."

The father stayed silent this time.

"Save Robert," I repeated. "And we forget this ever happened."

"You’re bluffing," he replied coldly. "That tiny thing doesn’t upload anything to the cloud."

Right as he said that, my phone rang in my pocket.

I almost laughed from the timing. I pulled it out and saw Cora’s name on the screen. Holy shit. She had to be watching through the hidden camera feed. Which meant she saw everything.

God, I fucking loved this girl.

I answered immediately and put the phone on speaker.

"If you hurt Evan, I’m going to kill all of you!" Cora’s voice exploded through the speaker so loudly it nearly echoed through the hallway. "YOU GOT THAT?!"

The silver-haired man blinked in confusion.

"Who exactly—"

"She’s my partner for this... uh, for this little operation," I interrupted. "So let’s try this one more time. Save Robert. Leave Nala alone. And this footage never sees daylight."

The father narrowed his eyes at me.

"And why," he asked slowly, "should I believe you?"

"Because I don’t give the slightest fuck about your son being gay," I replied. "I don’t care about your money either. All I want is for my friend to stop getting blackmailed for nudes."

The old man’s expression shifted immediately.

He turned toward Jack with genuine confusion now instead of anger.

"You were asking a woman for nude photos?" he asked. "So you’re not actually gay? Thank go—"

"What the fuck?" I cut him off. "This is seriously not the important part right now."

Jack covered his face in embarrassment. "Father, please..."

I ended the call before Cora decided to threaten murder again.

The guard’s gun was still pointed straight at me, but nobody moved.

"So," I said, forcing confidence into my voice even though my legs felt weak, "are we taking the deal or not?"

For a second, nobody answered.

Then that awful system notification appeared right in front of my eyes.

══════════════════

Evan Marlowe [Level 21]

──────────────────

EXP: 0 / 31500

[░░░░░░░░░]

──────────────────

Current Credits: 0

Current SC: 0

══════════════════

Fuck.

Everything gone. All because I did something good. I almost wanted to scream.

That damn tag really punished me for helping people now. If I wanted to stop shit like this from happening, I seriously needed to get rid of it and crawl back to neutral somehow.

Still...

It was worth it.

At least Robert wasn’t going to bleed out on the floor while these lunatics argued about religion.

"I-I accept," Jack said quickly, tears still in his eyes. "Please. Please save him."

His father didn’t answer immediately.

He stood there silently, one hand resting against his chin while he thought everything through. His gaze shifted from Jack to me, then toward the guard with the gun.

The hallway stayed dead quiet.

Finally, the old man exhaled slowly.

"Are you making yourself my enemy, Mr. Evan?" he asked.

I shook my head immediately. "I’d really rather not. I just want a peaceful life. Leave Nala alone and save Robert. That’s all I’m asking."

"And if this video leaks?"

"It won’t," I replied firmly. "You have my word."

The man studied my face for another long moment. Then he looked at the guard and motioned for him to lower the gun. The guard hesitated before finally lowering it from my head.

Honestly, I almost collapsed from relief right there.

The father rubbed his forehead tiredly. "Young people," he muttered bitterly. "Always dragging disaster behind them."

Then he looked toward two of the suited men.

"Call a doctor," he ordered coldly. "A private one. Nobody speaks about tonight."

The two guards nodded immediately and headed downstairs.

Jack looked like he was about to cry again, though this time from relief instead of panic.

"Thank you," he whispered.

"Don’t thank me," I replied. "Just stop fucking bothering Nala."

"I will," he said quickly. "I swear."

The silver-haired man still looked furious, but now it was the exhausted kind of fury instead of explosive rage.

"If my family’s reputation suffers because of this," he warned me, "you will regret involving yourself."

I shrugged carefully. "Then I guess we both better keep our promises."

For a few more seconds, nobody spoke. Then the old man stepped aside slightly and gestured down the hallway.

"You should leave now, Mr. Evan."

Trust me, I was more than happy to.

⟁ ⟁ ⟁