Trigger The Years Past - 22. Chapter 22: First Contact

Miracle sat in the large garden tub, jets on causing the blue colored water to bubble, the water being blue due to the bath beads he filled it with and the blue lights built into the tub beneath it, a large sky light above, leaving view to the open stars and the moon light that shined in that mixed with the light of the forty inch television mounted to the wall in the corner for perfect viewing from the tub, candles were lit around the tub for a mixture of a warm glow to contrast with the coolness of the blue glow.

"Miracle.." Kevin stepped to the door. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm just glad my parts over." He looked over at Kevin. "Why don't you join me?"

"Can't you tell that I thought about it?" Kevin grinned and looked down at his fluffy white robe as he walked in.

"Yeah." Miracle grinned.

"So...uh..." Kevin pulled the tie and let the robe fall from his muscular frame and he stepped up onto the pedestal and down into the hot water as he lowered down into the tub across from Miracle. "Are you going to go back, see what happens?"

"Well, Cheston brought Dayna there, what a surprise that was." He rolled his eyes. "As if he could squeeze information about Issac out of her. He really wasn't tell all with her, so that was like grasping at straws." Miracle grinned and moved forward and straddled Kevin's lap.

Kevin grinned and his hands ran up Miracle's thighs as he moved to sit ontop of him. His hands then moved up and rested on his hips. "Who do you think will get called next? What do you think the next move will be?"

"Well, Cheston's really pushing this faked text angle and...it's going to fail. Part of me wonders if he's doing that, knowing that it will fail." Miracle looked thoughtful.

"That video of you...it was sad." Kevin looked up at Miracle. "I had no idea that you could express yourself like that, so deep and...so...heart breaking."

"It was the night of the party, I think." Miracle said. "If I remember right, me and Cody left and went to The Empire State Building and...he recorded it with his phone. I guess...I just really went into myself...and I don't know why."

"Maybe to escape the chaos? A lot had happened that night." Kevin grinned. "My dad was furious when he saw what happened to his office, I had to sit through a full day of him yelling...and I just kind of sat there and just...listened."

"Did they ever get the disk out of the computer?" Miracle asked.

"Well, first you should of been there when the police went in. That Laquisha woman had apparently been sold one to many rounds of Melanie's stories." Kevin grinned. "No, no one ever bothered to try to get the disk out. I never mentioned it, I thought it was best if it was tossed out to the wasteland with the computer and...never seen again."

"Well, that was nice of you." Miracle rested his hands on Kevin's shoulders and then he leaned closer and pressed his forehead against Kevin's.

"It wasn't anything, I just...didn't mention it." Kevin looked up at Miracle and his hands slid up his back and he pulled him closer. "I just...think about those small times, before we were actually together, those moments that...well, they became special to me when...at the time, they weren't supposed to be. I mean, getting to be the one that actually saved you at the warehouse, I was just the guy that was there, but now it's special to me, and...I'm glad that it was me."

Miracle grinned and pulled his head back. "Be honest, did you feel anything? Any little thing, even a small thing? Something that maybe hit you for just a second and you were forced to brush it off?"

Kevin grinned. "Well, an ego boost at actually saving you, if that counts." He laughed and shook his head. "I felt...really protective, I don't know if it came from...what I did to you...or what, I just couldn't let anyone hurt you, and in the moment, you were all that I was thinking about, getting you safe."

"Miracle...why me? Out of all of us...you forgave me. And I know Melanie had something to do with it...but knowing you, I don't think you would have forgiven me unless it was something you wanted to do, for your own reason." Kevin looked up at him.

Miracle tilted his head thoughtfully. "Well...I don't know." He shook his head. "You're looking for another reason, one that isn't Melanie, and...I'm not sure if I could give you one." Miracle looked down. "I...was really hurt that night." He looked up at Kevin. "What were you thinking?"

"The sex part felt so wrong...I didn't even get off." Kevin admitted. "I tried and...after like a minute, I couldn't do it, you blacked out for a period, so it probably gave you the illusion that I went on and...you know." Kevin sighed. "Then Brad had the others throw you on the ground and they started kicking you and...I did too, a couple of times, I...didn't want to be the odd ball out. Though I could of, Brian stood off to the side, no one said anything to him."

Miracle slowly nodded. "I'm sorry for bringing it up...I mean it must be just as awkward for you...if not more..."

"Of course it is." Kevin looked up. "I love you...and I hate it....that I have to live with the fact that I hurt you like that."

Miracle shook his head and leaned forward and kissed Kevin. "Forget it, the past doesn't hurt us anymore. Curiousity kills the cat, that's me, and...not sure how many of my lives I have left."

Kevin grinned at Miracle and he leaned forward and kissed him deeply and heatedly, pulling Miracle forward as he leaned back into the water.

Miracle looked around the table at his parents and then he smiled at Kevin.

"This is odd, it seems not to long ago this was Cheston's house and...well I just thought we would be doing this family dinner thing with him." Erica rolled her eyes. "Not that I want to now." She grinned. "This is so much better."

"Thanks, mom." Miracle nodded. "I know, everything changed up so quick." Miracle sighed and looked at Kevin. "But, I'm with who I truly belong with, I believe that."

"Trust me, I have nothing but your sons best interests at heart." Kevin looked between Erica and Jeremy. "Though, Cheston probably fed you the same line, so I'm sorry if I...can't say anything that will sound...reassuring."

Jeremy shook his head at Kevin. "Don't worry about it, I doubt Miracle lands two crazy guys in a row." He grinned. "At least I hope my son doesn't have that luck."

"I can have some pretty bad luck." Miracle looked between his parents. "There is something I need to tell you guys."

"Hmm?" Erica looked up from her plate.

"Well...Kevin and I are...going to have a child together." Miracle forced a smile. "Rayne is carrying my baby."

Kevin's eyebrows lifted and he stared at Erica and Jeremy.

Erica stared at Miracle and dropped her fork to her plate and a clanging sound was made. "Miracle..." She looked over at Jeremy and then back at Miracle. "I...well...I would have given you...the are you ready speech...but...if it's done..."

Jeremy looked at Erica and then he looked at Miracle. "I wish you had talked to us about this first...uh...I think what your mother is trying to say is that we don't...well, quite think you are ready to do such a thing...but..." He looked at Erica. "It's done..."

Miracle's put on smile started to fade. "Yeah..."

"Wait, didn't Cheston want to force you to have a baby? Did he find another woman to do it? Did he blackmail you with something else?" Erica asked.

"Not exactly." Miracle poked at his food. "Rayne...wanted to make Susan jealous, though I doubt that it's working..."

"So, how did Rayne make you do it?" Jeremy asked.

Miracle took a deep breath. "It's just done." He looked up. "And I know, everyone thinks I'm not ready...but I have you guys to support me, Kevin is here...and we have his parents...even if they are half a country away."

Kevin nodded. "I will be here for him...and the child."

"Yeah, and what happens when you move off to California and Kevin goes off on trips for his games?" Jeremy asked. "Are you even moving to California? How are you guys working this anyway?"

"Of course I'm moving to California. I planned to give you guys this house..." Miracle said.

"Right, so his parents are all the way on the east coast, we'll be a state away, and you'll be alone while he's on game trips." Erica looked up.

"The game trips usually only last a night or two." Kevin looked around. "We get there the night before, sleep, play the game the next night and either come home right after the game or...stay gone another night, then return that next day, it depends on the distance."

"I could hire a baby sitter." Miracle said.

"Evil baby sitters caught on camera?" Erica's eyes widened.

"Well, I don't even know if I would leave the house, but at least I would have someone there to help. Maybe we could hire a qualified live in nanny." Miracle shrugged.

"No, this can't happen, if you move to California, we're moving there too." Jeremy shook his head and looked at Erica. "He's not ready to be entirely away from us."

"Fine, I'll give this beautiful house to Mysti and Rayne, what a way to punch Cheston in the gut. Actually, I can buy out the cabin." Miracle looked at his parents. "It was an accident...but Cheston found the cabin, where you guys lived when I was a baby."

Erica squinted her eyes. "He found it?"

"Well, he wasn't trying to find it, the place was just a good vacation spot to him. The owners rent it out, but I bet with enough money, I can bribe it out of them." Miracle took a sip of his drink.

Erica looked at Jeremy. "Well...we'll be right back where we started."

Jeremy grinned at Erica. "Did you save the furniture in storage too? That would be a little insane."

"I tried." Erica said. "But then it seemed a little over kill to pay a monthly bill to store furniture I...thought I would never need to use again." She looked over at Miracle.

"Should of kept paying it." Miracle took a bite of his salad.

"What a way this story is weaving." Kevin finally spoke up after being awkwardly silent for a while.

"It's all headed home." Miracle leaned back and crossed his arms.

Erica stared at Miracle. "Maybe you two should have the place." She said. "I bet it was a rush of emotions when you got there, when it all flooded back. You deserve to have that place, it's your paradise as much as it was ours."

Miracle stared at his plate of food. "I wouldn't want to taint it...more than I already have. I wish I had never stayed there, that we had just left it untouched."

Jeremy watched Miracle. "How could you think you would taint it? That's not true."

Miracle looked up, tears in his eyes and he shook his head. "Because...I'm not the same innocent child anymore."

Erica reached over and took Miracle's hand. "No, you grew up, but just because you grew up...that doesn't mean it's not special to you or that you don't have a right.."

"It's because it's special to me...that I couldn't..." Miracle shook his head. "I mean...I do bad things...and I don't want to bring those bad things there, you guys would keep it safe.."

"What bad things?" Jeremy asked.

"Drinking, and drugs, and...sex, and...just everything that would kill what that place means to me." Miracle shook his head. "Just promise, if I get it, you guys will take it...and protect it."

Erica shook her head and smiled. "Miracle, we used to do those things, we would drink out on the beach...and...well, how do you think we made you?"

"It's different, I think about Mysti's party, where I accidently over dosed...and I just picture a bunch of strange people...and then the next day, the place is trashed, people are passed out everywhere..." Miracle shook his head.

Jeremy looked over at Erica. "He means open house party...big party..."

"Oh...that kind." Erica looked over at Kevin.

"I...do have a lot of friends...and the party might be big...if there were one...but if he's talking about sex and orgys and shooting up and..." He trailed off. "Well, my parties are never like that, not usually, I've never investigated any bedrooms during them. I do imagine they might contrast to Mysti's type of party." Kevin's eyebrows lifted.

"Miracle..." Kevin continued. "If you are that set on preserving it....we can have parties somewhere else, I'm not the one that has to host them all, hell I never have to host again if I don't want to."

Miracle looked up at his parents. "Could you just do what I say?!" He cried out, the tears finally fell from where they had clung to the edges of his eyes.

Erica nodded. "Okay, we'll keep it, I just...wanted you to know...it's just as much yours."

Miracle nodded and stood up and walked away from the table and off through the kitchen.

"Miracle!" Kevin started to stand up.

"Let him go." Erica said. "He's upset that he got upset." She sniffed from where she nearly cried herself and looked between Jeremy and Kevin.

Kevin sighed and sat back down. "I'm sorry, I know Miracle has his sensitivities about...certain things." He shook his head. "I mean, obviously I don't know him as well as Jaemin did, no guy ever has, but...I'm willing to have the patience."

"Here's a piece of advice, if you want to learn Miracle, and this is how Jaemin did it. You have to stick around, you learn by being with him. Even when he did Jaemin wrong, how do you think Jaemin learned his triggers? His flaws? His good sides...and his bad sides? Jaemin had to go across the field and then grab the line and let himself get dragged through the mud to learn everything." Erica poked at her salad.

Jeremy looked at Erica. "Shes the wise one when it comes to that."

"Your fault for joining the stupid army. Could of came to Vegas and tried our luck at gambling first." Erica frowned. "Could of sold the house and became renters. Would of sucked...but, at least you'd know our son as much as I do."

"Rub it in..." Jeremy stared at her.

"Oh I am, enjoy the scent, it's Vicks Vapor Rub." Erica started laughing.

Kevin looked back and forth between the two and then simply looked down at his dinner.

Miracle sat between Kevin and his mom while his dad sat on the other side of her in the middle of the benches on the prosecution side, Mysti and Nikolai sat in the back and Cody and Gavin sat a bench away from Miracle and Kevin as everyone seemed to get settled.

"The defense wants to call Susan Faircloth to the witness stand." Cheston said as he stood up.

"Oh god, what is this going to do?" Miracle whispered.

Susan went to the witness stand and took her oath before sitting down and making herself comfortable.

Cheston grinned and walked over. "Susan, you and I met with Miracle to discuss a matter concerning him being the donor for our child. Could you tell me his demeanor at this meeting?"

Susan looked at Cheston. "He was hostile, belligerent, clearly did not want to be the donor, even though he claimed he wanted a child to exist, though he made a point several times that he wanted the child to hurt me. And then he even joked about the child being African American, and that it might be due to the aliens getting to me first."

Cheston nodded. "How did he want the child to hurt you?"

"He was speaking of the contract, said he did not want his parental rights terminated until the baby existed in the outside world so that he could insist that drugs for pain could not be used, and wished for his baby to hurt me for every second of the delivery." Susan explained.

"Now is there anyone else in your life that wishes to cause you pain, emotional or otherwise?"

"My Cousin, Rayne, is vindictive, she has always hated me growing up, she hated me and she hated my parents, I couldn't tell you why."

Cheston nodded. "And has she done anything recently to try to bother you?"

"Yes, for some reason, since that meeting that you asked me about, Rayne has become pregnant with Miracle's child, he donated to her so that she could make me jealous, then they both came to the house and she confirmed that the procedure had succeeded."

"Do you believe that Miracle wanted a child?"

"No, I don't." Susan shook her head.

"So how do you think Rayne managed to get him to go through with it?" Cheston asked.

"I'm sorry, but I have no idea."

Cheston nodded. "Nothing further." He walked away.

Simon stood up and walked over to Susan. "You claim that Miracle was hostile and belligerent at this meeting, why would he be this way?"

"Because he was angry." Susan said.

"Angry about what?" Simon asked.

Susan sighed. "Because he found out that Cheston and I were secretly together." She said, not elaborating on Cheston's scheme.

Simon stared at Susan oddly and then he grinned. "If you and Cheston were together, why would you need a donor?"

Susan's eyes narrowed. "Because...Cheston has problems."

"So Cheston figures, his boyfriend will donor his girlfriend for a baby? Who was he going to raise the child with?"

"He was supposed to raise the child with me." Susan looked up. "He was only with that twit to make him a donor!"

Cheston closed his eyes and his head fell into his hand.

"So you two were going to trick Miracle into donating to you? Let me get this straight, from Miracle's point of view, you were surrogate, and the contract would have been a signing away of parental rights that you gambled on him not reading?"

Susan's face tensed up and then she nodded. "You figured it out."

"Nothing else." Simon walked off and sat down.

Miracle grinned and shook his head. "I'm sure the jury loves Cheston right now."

"Talk about a scheme blowing up in your face." Kevin mumbled.

Cheston took a deep breath and despite his embarrassment, he brought himself to stand up. "Defense calls Rayne Dacre to the stand."

"What?" Miracle's eyes widened as Rayne shared a look with him and she walked up and took her oath. "Oh no..." Miracle watched Rayne.

Cheston smiled, trying to shrug off Susan's awful testimony and walked over to Rayne. "So, you are pregnant with Miracle's baby, do you confirm?"

Rayne stared at Cheston. "No, I think I had a miscarriage, either that...or my period came early...or something. I could of been trippin too...I don't really know." She almost wanted to laugh at him.

Cheston's eyebrows lifted and he did laugh. "Wow, okay, but at one time you were pregnant with Miracle's baby, can you say that?"

"Sure." Rayne grinned.

"Now, I can tell you from personal experience, and I know that it's awkward, my personal ties to this case, so I may not get a lot of credibility here, but Miracle didn't want a baby, Susan didn't believe he wanted one either, as she testified to...just moments ago. So how did you make him give you a baby?"

"Because, I used my tattoo shop money to start the process." Rayne said.

"So you premeditated that he would do it?" Cheston nodded. "Pretty confident that he would do it."

"Lets just say I told him something." Rayne crossed her arms.

"Did it have anything to do with an app?" Cheston asked.

"I told him I had a brother, Issac, turns out he knew Issac, and...Issac made an app, but all it did was scramble phone numbers, completely traceable, it was nothing more than a caller ID faker."

"So there is an app." Cheston nodded. "And since Issac's demise, did you take it over?"

"No, I didn't."

"Are you sure about that? You weren't home...but there was a warrant for your home and..." Cheston walked over and grabbed another bag and held it up. "Your cell phone was retrieved and the app was on there, moderator access. There is also a log archive. The mysterious thing is, the log was cleared. Fortunately for you, it was cleared from another location, another moderator."

"Well, if it was cleared from another location, another moderator, obviously I didn't take it over." Rayne stared right at him.

Cheston nodded. "Why would the log be cleared?"

"Privacy protection, the log gets cleared weekly, it was Issac's rule, and any moderator followed it." Rayne said.

"But Issac didn't update it, Dayna testified that it was merely a caller ID faker, who upgraded it?" Cheston asked.

Rayne's eyebrows lifted. "One of the other moderators, someone far more advanced. Issac was more into the crap than me, I just used the thing every once in a while."

"And you can't tell me who, why?" Cheston asked.

"Because they literally use the program to hide from outside forces, going through other peoples phones to text and call, they have a special code that allows them to do it without being logged, obviously I don't have it because I don't actively moderate." Rayne spoke, annoyed. "A moderator could call from Russia and really be from Africa...if they wanted to get really advanced, generate their own location and it could trace to Mars...or Stormwind City."

Cheston took a deep breath and nodded, knowing Rayne wasn't going to spill. "Nothing further."

Simon approached as Cheston returned to his seat. "Rayne, if a person is using the app, it would clearly be seen on their phone, as an icon, correct?"

Rayne nodded. "Yep, it's a cup to cup with a string icon."

Simon nodded and looked at the jury. "It should be noted that this icon was not discovered on Miracle's cell phone as evidence, nor has it been revealed to have ever been on the phone in any form or matter." He shook his head. "Nothing further."

Miracle sighed and his head fell forward as Rayne came off the stand.

"You're pregnant with Miracle's kid?! What did you do?!" Mysti chased Rayne down the steps of the court house.

Rayne reached the bottom and placed her hands on her hips. "Oh please, go over dose on Midol."

Mysti walked around and stepped in front of Rayne and stared at her. "What did you do? And we have a brother?! Issac? And who the hell is Dayna?!"

Rayne started laughing. "All the family baggage comes pouring out." She looked at Mysti. "This is all Susan's fault, all of it. If she hadn't hooked up with that infertile jerk, none of this would of happened."

"You blame everything on Susan, when are you going to take some responsibility?" Mysti stared at her.

"Look, Susan hooked up with that guy that can't even put a bun in her oven, and he feels so pathetically guilty, it's like Miracle told me at the clinic, he thought if he did all kinds of work, finding a guy and working him, it'd make up for not being able to make her pregnant himself. He wanted to do all the labor to make himself feel better." Rayne shook her head.

"Okay, so Miracle finds out that he got played, he gets pissed off, naturally, what does this have to do with you getting pregnant by him instead?" Mysti asked.

"I used all the money for the shop to start the process. Miracle did agree to fund us, so I told him that if he didn't give me a baby that I wouldn't accept his money and we would lose out on the shop. He didn't want to do that to you...so he went along with it, happy?"

"Fine, matter one, settled. Issac?"

"Issac is dead. He was with Miracle at one time, they were lovers, he got murdered in a shoot out. Issac was born after you, we all have different dads. Yeah, that guy mom is with now? Not our dad. Remember when mom went into rehab and we were dropped off on Susan and her parents?"

"Yes." Mysti nodded.

"Well, when she got out, instead of coming for us, she went after johns again, that's when Issac was born, then she went off and met a doctor and Dayna was born and they had an affair, but she was difficult, so he stuck her in rehab, he couldn't hide the kids so he told his wife, and she left him to raise Dayna and Issac. Well, by the time middle school came, he was going to take Dayna away and leave Issac, he hated Issac because that wasn't his kid. Dayna is the only one of us that knows her real dad. So that's why I left, I had to go and pretend to be a girl from the streets and take care of them because Dayna wouldn't leave Issac, and so Dr. Dad took off and just sent her money every month. Once they were in high school, I came back home, they could take care of themselves."

Mysti stared at Rayne and then walked around her and sat down on the steps. "I can't believe it. We had a sister and a brother that we didn't even know about."

"Yeah, well, trust me, Dayna isn't worth knowing. She takes way to much after her dad, stuck up to the bone." Rayne sat next to Mysti. "Issac was a cool dude though. Sucks that he had to be the one to go." She looked around. "Hey, there's Miracle's dad if you want to go hit on him."

"What?" Mysti looked up.

"I just heard you got a little chummy with him at the hospital when I screwed up Sterling." She shrugged.

"Well he's hot...but I'm not getting into a cat fight with Miracle's mom, just...no." Mysti shook her head.

Miracle hummed as he sat in bed on his lap top and was messing around on Facebook when the screen suddenly went black. He looked confused and started punching the enter button. "Uh...I think my monitor broke!" He called out, then the screen popped back up again, except this time it was a black and white image of a well, like old footage and he came to find that it was the footage of the video tape from 'The Ring.' His head tilted to the side. "Or...someone knows my sense of humor..."

Miracle continued to watch and the little girl climbed out of the well and then in super speed she ran across the distance to come face with his monitor and lifted a hand to her lips. "Shhh." The sound of a young male's voice came from his speakers.

His eyebrows lifted and he stared at the awful image. "This is creepy."

"I thought you'd find it funny." The boy said, all the while the little girls mouth animated when he spoke. "Actually, I've contacted you because I have information that, well first, it's probably going to piss you off, but in the long run, it's going to really help you out."

"Who are you?" Miracle asked.

"The top of the grapevine, as they call it. I achieved what Issac wanted to achieve, well the potential anyway. I've not done anything criminal...yet, but I could, and I have the resources."

Miracle slowly nodded. "Well, you definitely aren't skyping me."

The boy laughed. "Oh no, this isn't Skype, it's actually a live virus that I control, it allows me to make this pop up appear to you and I communicate through it."

Miracle slowly nodded. "So what do you have? The information?"

"Why don't I just let you hear it?" The boy went quiet.

"I'll be just outside the door." The guard said.

"Good, I would like some privacy with my potential client." Cheston said.

Martin looked up and grinned. "So did you get it?"

"I got some stuff." Cheston said.

"Good, you will be my defense attorney, it's the price you pay for what you wanted done to the girl."

"Lacey." Cheston leaned forward. "What really happened to her anyway?"

"Oh, she is in a room, nice and cozy, don't worry, she is in the best of conditions. Of course she has to stay in there, meals get delivered to her...but conditions are...top notch if she can deal without windows."

Cheston nodded. "And just where do you pick up rooms like that?"

Martin grinned. "It's in the basement of a house Eric purchased here, he had the room made like that. It was in case he ever had to...put Miracle there."

"Wait...if he knew Miracle could be in Nevada, why wasn't he ever pursued here?" Cheston asked.

"The Hells Angels? Eric didn't want to get into their mess." Martin frowned. "And I know they are responsible for actually killing him, point is that Miracle involved them to begin with, and I like to go to the source with my blame. Let the skin heads die of alcohol poison and reckless violence."

"So how long do you plan to actually hold Lacey?"

"Until you tell me what to do with her, that was your idea, I did it to put you in debt to me...for this, my defense attorney." Martin grinned.

"If I let her go...Miracle will know I did it, I basically told him we got her deported."

Martin's eyes narrowed. "You idiot."

"It was supposed to be a punishment to him, he had to know I did it." Cheston said.

"I'll figure it out, better yet, she stays until my trial is over, I want to ensure you keep your end of the deal." Martin leaned back.

"Just don't hurt her, I don't want anyone hurt."

Martin grinned and shook his head. "Naive boy...helping me hurts Miracle, you know that. But...I think you want to, he threw you away."

"Maybe so." Cheston looked down. "Sometimes I'm conflicted, sometimes I feel like I'm Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde."

"But you know what will happen to him in here." Martin's head tilted to the side. "In the end, how do you feel about that?"

Cheston frowned and looked up. "I wouldn't wish that on anyone."

"What about Susan? You know, if we do over throw him, it would be a sweet revenge to visit...and walk away with his baby."

Cheston took a deep breath. "You're hardcore...like Eric. I don't think I could be that evil..." He looked up. "But I came to you, I needed you to help me with Lacey...and now you have the power."

"That I do, it would be wise to keep that in mind." Martin nodded. "See you at the trial, if not before then."

Cheston frowned and stood up and headed for the door. "Guard!" He called out and the guard opened the door and he walked out of the room.

Miracle listened to everything and his eyes widened. "Lacey was never deported, shes being held prisoner." He looked up. "Wait, how did you manage to get that? If it was private, how?"

"All I had to do was get his phone to call mine and then erase it from his recent calls, it was that simple." The boy said. "I was told by a contact that he was going to the jail, so I wanted to see what I could find out."

Miracle looked at the screen. "But why? I mean...why involve yourself? What...what do you get out of all of it?"

"Well, it's simple. If I help you save Lacey, and trust me, you will need me to find her, you will tie the knot with Mr. King, and what I have on him will put him away for a very long time, kidnapping is a serious thing. Once he and Martin are convicted, and of course you will have to do something with his miserable mother, as the spouse, you stand to gain the entire empire."

"And then what? I just give it to you as your stepping stones to start your own legacy?" Miracle stared at the screen and then brought a hand to his face, not even being able to take the little girl's image seriously.

The guy laughed. "Of course, I wouldn't expect you to give it all to me. Though it would be favorable if we could share it together. I'll get back to you."

Miracle's eyes widened as the image zoomed out and his Facebook popped back up and he sighed and leaned forward, shutting the lap top. "Damn it." He climbed out of the bed and walked around. "Lacey is kidnapped and I have no fucking idea where she is!"

Miracle headed through the crowd of the club and looked around, soon spotting the round semi circular cushioned booth where Nik, Mysti, Rayne, and Dizon were sitting at and he quickly made his way over, nearly shoving people out of his way, not caring if he seemed rude, it was as if he couldn't get there fast enough.

"Guys!" Miracle yelled.

Nik's eyes widened. "What's the 911?"

"First..." Miracle looked at Rayne. "What are you doing?"

"Don't worry...it's soda...and I think E-Cigs are safe, can we agree? I got to have my nicotine some how." She grinned.

"Fine, I guess it doesn't hurt." Miracle sat in the booth and looked between Rayne and Dizon. "Can either of you tell me who in the hell the top of the grapevine is?"

Rayne's eyes widened as she sipped her coke through her straw and nearly choked on it as she sat the glass down. "The top..." She kept coughing.

"Rayne, chill out..." Mysti started patting her back.

"We don't know who the top of the grapevine is." Dizon stared at Miracle. "Why?"

"Because he contacted me." Miracle looked at them. "Apparently Cheston went to the jail and who ever this person is, they have a contact who saw him and told this person he was there. So top of the grapevine remote hacked Cheston's phone, made a call to his own phone, recorded the conversation and then deleted all trace of the call."

"Wait...hold on, how did he contact you?" Rayne asked.

"I was on Facebook, and my screen went black and he showed up as the little girl from The Ring...but his voice, well it sounded like a normal voice, if that was his real voice, in fact...he sounded quite young, maybe Gavin's age, maybe younger." Miracle shook his head.

"Seriously? The top of the grapevine is a teenager?" Rayne's eyes widened and she took a puff on her E-cig.

"Unless it was a faked voice." Dizon looked at Rayne and then looked at Miracle. "So what happened?"

"Apparently Lacey was never deported. Cheston went to Martin and wanted her kidnapped to punish me and Martin used his outside connections to have it done. Apparently Eric has a house here...somewhere. He had a room built in the basement, some nice, fancy, windowless, room, in case he had to put me in it, but he never bothered because I was associated with the Hells Angels when I was last here."

Miracle shook his head. "Anyway...this person recorded the whole conversation and wants to put Cheston away for kidnapping, thing is...he wants me to marry him first, then he wants me to do something with Maria so that, when Cheston and Martin get convicted, I get the whole empire."

Nikolai stared at Miracle. "So...this high and mighty hacker wants to help for the greater good of...you?"

"Well, no." Miracle shook his head. "He kinda suggested us coming together and sharing it, but he didn't say that was what would happen, or that I had to do that, he didn't say what he wanted one way or the other, just that he would contact me again."

Miracle shrugged. "We might just split it, maybe he'll get the bigger half, I don't know. I mean, I already have Cheston's money, his house, I just want profits for Eric's auctioned property, and then we can...maybe split Cheston's share and he can have Maria's. Seems...more fair for him...but I wouldn't know what to do with all the money anyway."

"What if it's Dayna?" Mysti all of a sudden said, speaking out of no where.

"What?!" Rayne looked over at Mysti.

"What if shes the top of the grapevine?" Mysti looked around. "Wouldn't that just be crazy?" She grinned.

"Did you really take to many fucking Midol? You obviously failed! You have lost your mind if you think Dayna is the top of the grapevine!" Rayne's eyes widened as she looked around. "Dayna...were you even in court when she testified Mysti? She was pissed at Miracle! She wouldn't help him!"

"Yeah, she kind of does blame me." Miracle frowned. "And I can't really blame her." Miracle looked over and his eyes widened. "No fucking way."

"What?" Nik looked up at Miracle and then twisted around.

"It's one of the jurors...just sitting all by himself..." Miracle grinned. "Should I break the rules?"

Rayne looked over and laughed. "He'll probably run as soon as he sees you...hell, it could be a tactic set up by Cheston. I mean, seriously? A juror is just propped at a table right there, all alone?"

"That's why I'm not telling him my secrets...he's telling me his." Miracle grinned and slid out of the booth and ran off through the crowd.

Nik watched Miracle. "He hasn't even figured out how...he's going to marry Cheston and still be with Kevin, and get the empire, much less what he's going to do with Maria..."

"In Miracle's mind, that was a problem of minutes ago, he's moved on to the next thing." Mysti looked at Nik.

"Maybe I can get Susan to take care of Maria." Rayne sipped her soda, thoughtfully.

Miracle emerged from the crowd and walked over to the small high top table and placed his hand on the surface as he walked closer. "Juror..."

The young man, clearly still in his twenties, of course at least twenty five in order to qualify for his position, he looked up and he couldn't help but to grin at Miracle. "Witness."

Miracle stepped up onto the bar and slid into the stool across from him. "We're cheating, but I don't guess we're technically breaking the rules, yet." His eyebrows lifted. "I mean...one can't assume what we're talking about, can they?"

He watched Miracle. "Worse they could do is throw me off, and I personally don't care if they did, though...it would be sad if I were replaced with someone who didn't believe in you."

"So you do?" Miracle asked, seeming surprised, but whether that surprise was sincere, that was his secret.

"Well, you have to admit, that video was pretty heart breaking." He reached out a hand. "My names Levi, by the way."

Miracle shook his hand. "You know mine."

"Yeah." Levi laughed and pulled his hand back.

"And what about the recording?" Miracle asked.

"I'd say double edged sword, a loving person, someone with a heart...but you don't fuck with it." Levi shook his head.

Miracle grinned. "No, you don't." He laughed softly.

"I also have to say, Cheston made himself look pretty bad quite a few times himself, the recording wasn't his best moment...but then he tried to say you were taught to be a con artist as a child..."

"I wish that were all it were. Yeah, just teach me to lie...that's so much better than what really happened." Miracle's eyes widened. "Awful subject! Move along!"

"Yeah, sorry. I just meant to prove a point." Levi nodded.

"I know." Miracle looked around. "So, do you normally club alone?"

"Well, a friend was supposed to meet me here, but...his sister got into a car wreck, nothing major, but he did have to go pick her up, and then that really killed his mood." Levi nodded.

"So you weren't just sat here like a sim to lure me into a trap?" Miracle's eyes squinted.

"No." Levi grinned. "Though I could understand why you'd ask, I'm sure you didn't know Cheston had recorded you. He would get in huge trouble if he tried to use a juror for anything."

Miracle nodded. "True, I guess I'm just on edge about everything. It's like if you make one wrong move..."

"I really don't think you have anything to worry about. If any of the others see you as anything other than sympathetic, I would wonder what planet they came from."

"He did raise some good points though. The fact that I've been in similar situations so many times, what I pulled at the car dealership..." Miracle looked up at Levi. "Are you sure you're being unbiased?"

"I paid attention every time he cut you off. Martin's psychotic son, clearly you dealt with stuff in the past. As for the dealership...you met a really nice guy, maybe even a sucker." Levi reached forward and took Miracle's hand. "There is always an explanation for everything, even if you didn't stop to find out what it was."

"Maybe." Miracle looked down at their hands and he toyed with Levi's fingers and then pulled his hand back.

"So, why the blonde? In the video you had brown hair." Levi said.

Miracle took a deep breath. "Just something I did one day and...I just keep it that way. I guess, maybe there is some subconscious reason why I don't let it go."

"Either one is fine, I was just curious." Levi took a sip from his beer. "Do you want a drink?"

"Oh no, actually the last time I had drinks, I was at a party, there were some drugs, I accidently over dosed, and despite the accident part, I was put on suicide watch..."

Miracle looked up. "It wasn't fun experiencing that again, I mean, I get it when you actually try to over dose on purpose, so the first time, while annoying, understandable, but this time, well it sucked." He shrugged. "So I'm waiting a little while on any drinking or anything."

"Is it safe to say...you burned your diary because you just had a lot of bad shit wrote in it?" Levi grinned.

Miracle lightly laughed. "You can say that, but there were some happy times too, in the end though, you just...have to move on and start fresh. So that's what I'm doing."

"Tell me one bad thing you had wrote in it." Levi grinned. "Come on."

Miracle grinned. "Okay, this is actually a funny one. But when I was in the psyche ward, I spent some time in there and I had a doctor, Miss Whitney, and she tried to get me to do group counseling, I hated it so I made her accommodate me with private counseling."

Levi nodded, listening.

"Well, my room didn't have a window, and I can't stand florescent lighting, not by it's self anyway, I enjoy natural light. She wouldn't let me have a window because she thought I'd cut myself."

Miracle rolled his eyes. "Anyway she asked if I had made any friends, and I told her I made a friend and his name was Jamie, and because it was a guy, she said I was relapsing."

"Sex addict?" Levi asked.

"Sex addict, love addict, throw in a couple of different things." Miracle shook his head. "Anyway I told her that Satan spoke to me and..." Miracle looked up, trying to remember. "I think I told her that Satan told me to punch her in the face or something and...she walked out of the room. So I wrote about that in my diary."

Levi laughed and shook his head. "So you had fun in there?"

Miracle slowly shook his head. "I could tell you some funny stories...but my time there was actually really sad. But sarcasm is kind of a defense mechanism for me."

"Your boyfriend killed himself, that's why you were there."

Miracle nodded. "I...was standing on the train tracks, I was going to let the train hit me." He looked up at Levi. "My parents had been hanging out by the tracks, I guess they were walking up and saw me, I had closed my eyes and I was waiting...and I felt this force hit me, it was my dad shoving me out of the way just in time."

"Thank God..." Levi stared at Miracle. "You didn't need to die, you have so much left."

"I couldn't hardly form words." Miracle looked up at Levi. "It was like...starting life again...starting it from nothing. It took a lot to get me where I am now. And I...well I have friends, but...I'm not productive, I don't do anything, I'm not good at anything, just finding men to depend on, I have no problem doing that."

"It takes time, don't be so hard on yourself."

Miracle brought his phone up. "Smile or look serious, whatever gets a best shot."

Levi grinned. "I'm not sure what does."

Miracle snapped the photo and then handed his phone over. "Give me your digits."

Levi grinned and took Miracle's phone to put his number in.