❝All the things I did
Just so I could call you mine
All the things you did
I hope I was your favorite crime
Cause baby, you were mine❞
-Favorite crime , olivia rodrigo
☌ in which:
An ex...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
In the world we live in, there are many wolves who prowl around, licking their paws, tasting their past prey, and anticipating for the next sheep they're gonna stumble on. Some wolves attack as soon as they see their prey, biting in and enjoying the kill. Some others wait till the sheep is feeling safe, not suspecting the upcoming attack before they dive in and kill.
Of course, there's another group. The ones that will come forward, charm you with their disarming smiles and meaningless compliments, and befriend you, to the point that you would consider them your greatest friend and share all your secrets. And then, when they think they're safe, that their friend is in no way a threat to them, that's when they find themselves at a loss. Everything they ever held dear is now gone and in the hands of their friend, a friend who there is no trace of. A nameless man, a ghost.
The last group is not what you would find in the animal kingdom, most animals know when they're in the company of a predator, and with nothing but their instincts to guide them, they flee. Humans often ignore these feelings, the feeling of unease. They prefer to gloat in the compliments and surrender themselves with people like them. They're ignorant of the nature of humans, how they're built to lie, deceive, and betray.
Some are aware but prefer to ignore these in hopes of never being betrayed, of having happy friendships and relationships. They'll turn a blind eye to the wrongdoings of their friends believing this way they won't be left behind, forgotten. All of this, of course, is in vain, for when the wolf is done eating he has no reason to stick around and risk the guard dog or the chaperone to find him. He'll flee into the woods, somewhere no one can find him until he finds his next prey.
In society, they're called con-men. Nick Cooper was once in the last category, using knowledge of his prey's interest to get close and then leave them with nothing. It supplied him with enough money to last for a lifetime and more, and he shared quite a lot with his beloved sister, Yasmine, but he always had more and more. If you asked some, they would call it addiction while some would call it being greedy, never satisfied with the money. Nick would call it a bit of both. The thrill of a new prey was intoxicating, to fabricate a new mask based on someone else, using his forgery skills to craft identities to match the masks, and the big reward at the end was everything to him.
He usually never looked back at the destruction he left behind, mostly looking forward to buying something new, sending his sister some money, and planning his next attack. Sometimes, on rare occasions, he would look back and be left shaken at what he had done. Of the lives he had destroyed. Sometimes he would move on, convincing himself it was nothing, that they would deal with it and learn not to trust anyone they stumbled upon easily. Other times, he would drink himself unconscious.
But after years of being a Con-man, it became too much. Too many lives were destroyed, too much damage was done to people who didn't deserve it, and too much guilt. He made amends, left money for those more in need of it, donated a large sum to charities, and then moved from America to The United Kingdom.
