Beauty & A Beat (She Don't Like The Lights Sequel)

Chapter Eight

Justin's P.O.V.

I took a deep breathe, and exhaled before gathering up my courage and rounding all my thoughts. My shoulders relaxed as I looked up to see a reassuring nod given by Jasmine. Returning the nod, I ushered for her to come sit beside me by the corner. She followed me, and sat down. Our shoulders touched as I breathed in and out, acknowledging her presence. I brought an arm around her waist, and nuzzled my face against her hair. 

"I trust you Jasmine."

She nodded against my chest and pulled up, so ours eyes were locked. I examined every, perfectly sculpted feature on her face, not wanting to speak. Her hazel eyes held dozens of questions, anxious for answers. Her plump lips were set in a straight line, sealed. I couldn't help but acknowledge her beauty. 

"Go ahead Justin," she spoke solemnly, interrupting the silence, and breaking me loose from my stare. 

I closed my eyes, and let everything out, the lies, blackmailing, and betrayal that had been eating me up, and making me come close to losing my sanity. I once again regretted telling Jasmine such a stupid lie, realizing how sincere she was being to me. 

"Let's just say that living in a midst of fame doesn't always have it's benefits. This industry has it's cons. It's schemes. It's frauds, and lies." I began, averting my gaze away from Jasmine, and towards the bare wall. "When you begin to rise in this industry, there are people who target you, who crave to bring you down. In this world of ours, anyone can get away with doing anything, no matter how deadly. Money is the key to everything right? Well, I never really realized how much greed and thirst for money there is in some people. Enough to have them do anything."

Jasmine shifted in an upright position, intensity peering through her eyes as she became instantly interested in what I had to tell her. She etched closer, nodding telling me to continue. 

"I was approached by someone one day last year. He was an ex employee of Island Def. He came to me, telling me his group needed someone new to help him, and he'd do whatever for me to agree. Being unaware of what his group wanted, I obviously was hesitant. He told me that I needed to help him exploit some of the most successful producers, and executives in this industry, and go to whatever lengths to do so. He wasn't shameful in telling me that they'd gone to extents where killing someone was done, to help them with their job."

I licked my lips, and paused to look and at Jasmine, who was still intently listening, then continued.

"I obviously found this quite shady, so I tried to tell the man I wasn't interested. He simply laughed it off and told me I didn't have a choice. Getting angry at his demands, I told him to leave my house, which he willingly, and calmly did.

"I thought I had enough of him, so I didn't bother telling anyone about his stupid notions and group. It seemed quite silly back then, nothing too big of a concern. But he came back to me, rather he reeled me in knowing my weakness, which was Marie. I was dating her back then, and I sincerely really liked her. Almost loved her, you could say. Our relationship was a hidden, yet serious one, well at least I thought so.

Somehow this man got a hold of her, and called me up one night telling me he had her captive. Getting instantly raged and worried, I demanded to speak to her. He gave her the phone and she was in tears, frantically asking me to come help her out. She told me it wasn't safe where I was and that I should be cautious once I was there. I didn't get a chance to ask her where she was, because the man cut the phone off. Luckily, the call was long enough to trace, which I did. It was an old warehouse. Almost like Marie's parent's studio. I was cautious when I entered, but hearing Marie's frantic voice, I barged in only to be greeted by the man who started the dilemma. He had a couple others with him, who stayed back. What raged me the most was when they brought a gun up to Marie's side, threatening to shoot her."