Gun sighed as he looked through the details on the iTablet. Placing it down on the table, he looked at Troy and Delta asking, “And why are you telling me all this? It’s not like I am going to marry him and inherit all of this.”

Troy chuckled, “Just so you understand how things work so that you are prepared in case the police approach you or members of other syndicates.”

Licking his tongue across his teeth as he thought about this. Looking back down at the information, then asked, “Just them? Wouldn’t it be better if I don’t know anything at all?”

“You’ll die if you know nothing and as I said when I first approached you, I want you to be proud to stand beside King,” he said.

Gun sighed.

“Are you worried?” Troy asked.

Gun nodded. “It’s just that this isn’t easy. The more I learn, the worse it gets.”

Scrolling through the information, he continued, “Drug trafficking, human smuggling, prostitution rings, political corruption, illegal gambling, extortion, cybercrime, influential manipulation–how do you go to sleep?”

Troy looked at Delta for help. Sitting down in front of him, she said, “Not everyone grew yo in a stable home. And because our backgrounds differ, we made a way for us to survive. It may not be legal and some of us die, but as long as we have a reason to move forward, all of this isn’t hard to ignore.”

“That’s bullshit,” he retorted.

Delta shrugged, “Put yourself in the shoes of an orphan that is hungry and standing in front of a food stall and there is no one looking. Would you steal what is in front of you? Wait for someone to give you their scraps or walk away with the hope of surviving another day?”

Gun thought about his words. It wasn’t easy. He saw all the hungry people on the streets and how the food vendors cursed at the helpless. Sighing, he asked, “Then how do I live with this? I don’t think I can.”

“You’ve known since Singapore how things are. Why haven’t you gone to the police yet? Even the politician who stalked you? You never reported him.” Troy asked.

Gun frowned, “King took care of it.”

Nodding his head, Troy asked again, “HAs it never occurred to you that leaving King to handle it would lead to the politicians’ demise?”

Thinking about it got Gun worried. “He isn’t dead, is he?”

Shaking his head, he answered, “No, but because he stalked you, we were able to use him to make ourselves influential.”

“How?” Gun questioned.

Smirking, Troy said, “You will know the answer once you are invested in the syndicate called SOG.”

‘Speaking to him was useless,’ Gun thought.

*

King walked into the bedroom and saw Gun concentrating on the iTablet.

Leaning down to kiss him, he asked, “What are you up to?”

Sighing, he looked at King, “I’m doing research.”

“About?” King asked as he took the iTablet from him and placed it down on the nightstand.

“Illegal activities,” he mumbled.

“Why the hell would you want to know about that?” He asked.

Gun recalled Troy’s words about not telling King that he was learning his business, “My man does illegal activities.”

King burst out laughing and hugged him. “Aww my baby, you’re interested in my work? Okay, I’ll teach you, just not now. It’s time for us to spend time together. It’s been a long day for me.”

Gun sighed in his arms and closed his eyes. He couldn’t wrap his mind around all of this, but Troy was right. He had known all this time what was keeping him from telling the police what he knew about the man he was spending his time with.

Am I really in love with him?

Or am I scared?