1. The thief is a girl?

Nile.

"Please, wake up, Mr. Garres." 

 I am back in that dream again.

That nightmare where I am groveling on my knees, crying and being the very essence of what it means to be pathetic. For years the image is still burned clearly into my brain. My willpower is too strong when I am awake for it to show itself.

So it only lurks in my dreams. A recollection of the lowest point in my life.

"Mr. Garres…?"

The voice finally wakes me up, and I pry one eye half open to see the woman on my bed, tapping my arm. 

I groan in irritation, holding one hand above my eyes to block out the light.

"What do you want?" I ask.

"Your phone has been ringing nonstop for a while now, sir." Her voice answers timidly. "With your permission, can I please bring it to you?"

I am tempted to promptly go back to sleep, when I realize I have never seen this particular woman before. I open my eyes fully to stare at her for a full moment.

"Who are you?" I finally ask.

She blushes, suddenly lowering her eyes and fiddling with her dress. The dress was actually lingerie.

"I am Lily. Number eight in your harem, sir. It is my fault that you don't remember me, I am sorry, I was brought in late when you already had a few glasses of alcohol. The other girls told me about the rules, and I have not broken any of them."

Casting a lazy glance across the master bedroom, I find it empty, meaning the girls had scurried out of sight, because I never like to see any one of them when I wake up. 

I push up from the bed, and lean closer to Lily. Her eyes widen, struggling to stay on my face. 

"Do you truly know the rules? If you really do, your pathetic self will not still be crawling around on my bed."

She gasps in true terror, tears gathering in her eyes, "I'm sorry, sir. Please don't be mad at me, I beg of you. I really had no idea I was supposed to leave before you wake up."

"Get lost." 

She nods, "Thank you for giving me permission to leave, Mr. Gares." 

She staggers out of the bed and practically runs out of the bedroom. 

I close my eyes and drag in a deep breath. I must have been dead drunk last night if I ordered for another girl without even knowing it. 

My phone begins to ring from the couch, and I slowly uncurl my body out of bed.

I answer the call, "There better be a reason why you're pestering me so early in the morning."

It should be noon by now, but whenever I say is morning, morning it is. The voice on the other end of the call is my head of security. And he sounds distraught.

"Boss, the trillion dollar asteroid diamond piece has been stolen."

I go still immediately, but a second later, my eyes narrow. 

That is the latest and rarest piece of gem in my possession, and every last business magnate or oil tycoon were clamoring to buy it. But I have no intention of selling it. 

The best always belongs to me. And only me. I can only rub ut in the public's noses, do publicity stunts to make them thirst and hunger, but in the end, a diamond found on a fallen asteroid is only meant for the elite of the elite and that is me.

Now, I hear it is stolen.

I let out a cool exhale, and continue, "Mike. Are you ready to spend the rest of your life, and ruin your wife and your kids' lives in the process of paying the price of your carelessness?"

I never yell at my security. That is for lesser men. Besides, a cool, calculated approach to their stupidity is bound to bring better results.

He sounds choked, "Absolutely not, sir! We have our men combing the area and searching for the thief the moment it was stolen, sir!" A gulp, then he continues, "I just wanted to know, sir, if you want us to involve the police."

"No." I say almost too quickly. "No police. I give you an hour to find the thief. Don't make me call you first."

"Yes, sir—"

I hang up and fling my phone away. Making my way into the jacuzzi, I brush my hair out of my face and lean into the warm water. 

I usually get the police to handle cases of stealing, but now, that is not an option. 

My younger sister, despite my warnings, got herself mixed up with the wrong crowd and hard drugs were found in her possession. Of course, the drugs were planted.

I was able to bribe off the officers that caught her, and seal their mouths with money, but I can not have any more police around until her case completely dies down.

So, I have to handle this petty thief myself now.

It already sounds like a chore, as I have a million better things to spend my time on.

My gaze hardened against the wall. This culprit who had the audacity to steal from me, will regret being a complete waste of my time.

In thirty minutes, my phone rings again, and it is Mike, informing me that the thief has been caught. 

Without waiting for another word, I get dressed and head down to my garage where the driver is already waiting to take me to the security headquarters. That is where my security has the thief locked up.

On getting there, Mike is dutifully holding a security case. 

"The jewel has been secured, sir." He said.

 I open the case, and the shiny and unique diamond stone sits in the middle of some red velvet, beautiful as ever. I nod and close the case, asking,

"Where is the thief?"

He swallowed slightly, "S-she's in the steel room, sir."

My eyes snap back to him. "She?"

He looks more uncomfortable than usual for some reason as he explains, "The thief is a woman, sir."

He guides me into the steel room, which already has a three men lining the walls. I give them a bored look, shoving my hands in my pockets. 

The sight of them, combined with the cold color of the walls made being here feel like such a chore. However, once my eyes rests on feminine figure cuffed to a chair, things start to feel a bit more interesting.

She is a wild redhead, with fiery locks that currently look like a bird's nest on her head. Her eyes are green, but filled with the fierceness of a cornered and guilty animal. 

The stark lights of the steel room makes the tiny freckles on her nose more visible. Her clothes are rough from trying to escape my men, and her wrists are bound to the chair with metal cuffs.

"So you are the snobbish leader of these pricks? They have the guts to manhandle a woman?" She spits straight at me.

"The same way you have the guts to steal from me?"

"What's so special about stealing from you? Who even are you?" She scoffs.

The fact that she appears not to know me is insulting. I usually don't have to introduce myself in gatherings, because I am automatically recognized and respected. To be fair, the type of gatherings I attend do not have insolent criminals like her in attendance. 

I take a step forward, "Why don't we start with you telling me your name? You deserve that for being such an impressive criminal. My security is really tight, so you must have good skills and experience to be able to steal something of mine for thirty minutes. That's a long time."

She glares, "You rich people, all so arrogant. My name is Dymond, so can we move on now? Why are you prolonging this? Aren't you going to send me to jail yet?"

I straighten up, and motion at Mike. He steps forward, saying,

"Her full name is Dymond Hilary. Graduated from LilyField College two years ago. Had a job at McDonald's up until six months ago. An apartment registered under her name is located in the next city, but she has not been there for the past six months."

I watch her eyes widen with a sardonic smirk on my face.

"How—?" She chokes.

I let out a small sigh, "Now I see why you're so oblivious to who I am. If you knew you would not dare come two feet within anything that's mine. So you're from the next city. Care to tell me why you left your job and apartment to come here? And become a pathetic little thief?"

She flinches slightly, but recovers quickly. Her chin juts out as she responds,

"Are you so dumb that you don't know the answer to your own question? I steal because it pays better. I could have gotten a pretty good price for that piece of shit diamond of yours."

I still at the direct insult, and feel my men freeze as well.

The feeling is foreign, as it has been a very long time since anyone dared to say anything slightly offensive in my direction. 

A cold simmer of anger boils through my veins, but I realize I don't completely hate it.

The one thing I hate though, is having my men watch this little girl insult me.

"Get out." I say flatly, without breaking my gaze on her.

They understand the command faster than lightning and all exit the room. The steel door closes, leaving me all alone with the redhead thief. She is scared, even if she absolutely refuses to willingly show it.

I can see it in the dilation of her pupils, the slight quivers of her lips, and the helplessness in her shoulders. In one crazy second, I actually feel bad for her. In the next second, however, a hateful smirk is curving my lips.

"We are alone, now. Why don't you repeat what you just said, if you really dare?" I say.

She stares at me, chest heaving with her nervous breaths, but she says nothing. 

"I thought so." I say. "Before I decide on how to make you pay for your crimes, I will like a few questions answered. Mike did not mention any apartment registered under your name in this city, neither did he mention a job. Meaning you are likely homeless, and jobless."

I tilt my head a fraction, "So is this what you do to survive? Stealing? Why? What reduced you to this, Dymond?"

"Don't use my name!" She says with a quivering voice.

I know I have gotten into her head at this point. But at the same time, it feels like I am the one being trapped by my own curiosity.

"Answer my question." I say in a harder tone.

The room goes even quieter, with nothing but her breaths breaking the silence. A few seconds pass and she still does not say anything.

It frustrates me, and that is when I realize that I am dead intent on knowing her full story. 

That realization triggers a deeply buried anger that I feel towards myself, and I straighten up, clenching my jaw hard. 

I had no time to play around with some criminal. The fact that I had briefly let myself go made me even angrier and hateful towards her.

"I will let you go free, only if you beg for mercy." I say, my sadistic urge to watch people beg taking over me.

She looks at me like I am a demon, then she glares at me with determination. "I will never beg!"

Her response makes a dangerous kind of rage suddenly fill me, and I know I have to leave this room before I completely lose it. I have made people grovel on their knees before me, begging and pleading.

I enjoy it.

It makes me feel better about myself, now I can't even get that from this pathetic thief.

"Rot in here, then." I say venomously, swivel on my feet and storm out of the door.