Sold? Oh Please.

Patricia cursed when she drove past the second red light, speeding through confused cars and annoyed drivers. Any moment now the cops will be on her tail, their characteristic sound and blue red light urging her to pull over. The thought that should spark regret and reprove only stood to fuel her strong resolve even further, her heeled foot pushing into the accelerator, raising the arrow that warned her that this road was not supposed to accommodate that speed, but she wasn't thinking straight, how could she? Her life was about to implode!

"Call George Lee." She said, her voice as shaky as the hands that gripped the steering wheel. 

"Dialing George Lee" her only companion the mechanical voice said, assuring her that her request was heard.

The phone could not ring for longer, why wouldn't he pick up?! She cursed, her voice rising to a crescendo. "Stop staring at the phone, you fool, pick it up!" she said, her voice as tense as her hands. 

"You shouldn't be calling me if you have conscience." George Lee said, his voice a little more calm than the last time they spoke. "I told you not to call, I'm am so busy after the mess you put me in, niece." The last word spit out like some disgusting. 

"You think I do not know? Look, I understand, I messed up but it's already out. You knew this was going to happen before it did and you assured me it wouldn't, what the hell happened?" Patricia's voice rose. "I can't fix this, Patricia, you can't fix this. All we can do now is lay low, do not react or draw attention to the family. Yes the news got out, but a lot of people still haven't heard about it." "What do I do?" Patricia said, her voice now barely a whisper. 

"Lay the hell low, I'm going into a meeting with Paradise right now." He stated bluntly, "the old man will soon call, you should be worried about that." 

And true to his words the old man called, and she had to respond. But it was comforting to know that George was going to be with her this time but even then he was still as scary as ever. Xavier Lee, the family patriarch. "Hello?" Patricia said, her voice tense. "I can't talk right now, I'm driving." She said, her voice still tense

"Get here now!" he yelled.

"Yes grandfather."

************************************

"That's it right?" Jessie muttered as Lenora groaned, shutting her laptop angrily.

"Yes. I can't go back in, they've locked me out completely. I can't get back in even if I changed my programming, they would have identified my programming patterns and I can't change that."

Jamie sighed, walking over to her, he stroked the back of her hair softly. "We should get going" he suggested and she nodded.

"I'll send one the cars to take you back to your house." Jason offered.

"Oh you don't have to, we drove here." Jamie politely refused. "I just need help finding the car, this house is way too massive." he said bluntly. 

Jessie could tell he meant it to be a joke but then... some people apparently did not understand that you crack a joke with words, tone and facial expressions.

"Follow me I'll show you." She smiled, leading the way, Jamie following behind her obeidiently, leaving behind Jason and Lenora.

"Um... I'm not sure how to ask this but have you heard of Paradise?" Lenora asked as they followed behind Jessie and Jamie. 

Halting, with unbridled anger swirling intensely in his dark eyes he looked down at her with a wicked grin. "Ask the question properly and stop beating around the bush." Jason stated.

Nodding she cleared her throat and asked again, this time properly "how are you connected to paradise?" 

"I'm the leader of that organization" he answered, continue his pace and wordlessly urgung her to do same. "Though this days it seems I am only a stand in for the real boss." "So you're Paradise's boss?" Lenora asked, confused and a little scared. "No, but I'm in charge of the organization. That's what they call it." he replied. "Paradise is an organization that was created to hide the truth about the world, the people, the government and the laws. They say they do good thingd like prevent wars and stop bad people from getting government posistions but that doesn't seem like the case anymore."

Lenora shut her eyes and fisted her palms by her sides. "Are you telling me you were naive enough to actually believe that?"

"Unfortunately so, I didn't want to believe my mother created such a beautiful thing and it has turned so rotten now, all that pain, all that suffering, for nothing." Jason replied. "How long have you known about paradise?" 

"Long enough to know that has never been pure or good. Look I'm not trying to say your mother was bad or anything but from what I have discovered from that organization they are everything that is bad in this world. This is my honest opinion." She said seriously, looking straight into his eyes, "It's obvious you idolize your mother but with due respect paradise has never been good and will never been good, whatever your mom had you believe was a lie."

"I don't care what you think." Jason answered, cutting her off, "I'm not trying to argue about this. I just want to know how you know about paradise." "I was a part of it, I should have been a part of it but I didn't know about it at the time. I was a girl, I was a kid, I was young and proud. I thought was the best hacker and programmer out there, I felt unstoppable. So I hacked into everythimg and everywhere until I hacked into paradise." She explained. "It was amazing at first, but when i realized what they were doing, what they were making me do I tried to get out but they ruined my life and ruined my families' as well."

"I could care less about your sob story." Jason spat. "Why should I believe you?" "Because I'm telling you the truth." She answered, "but you don't have to believe me.. I just hope you wouldn't ignore the truth right in front of you as well."