Golden Boy

T W E N T Y- F I V E

Third POV following Jace (I didn't like the idea of doing it in the first pov for him. Enjoy and Happy Valentine's Day!)

Hard raindrops plummeted down to the ground, making it hard for Jace to hear the messenger standing two feet in front of him explaining the new details of a deal his boss and Jace were in the middle of negotiating. He was smart to have kept his distance considering that Jace remained unhappy with what they offered him. Jace wanted more say with his next task that involved gaining intelligence on the CEO of a start-up tech company that was set to innovate the next wave of electric cars. His handler wanted him to go about the situation with four other people in tow behind him, but Jace preferred to work alone and away from the prying eyes of his competitors. 

The messenger, Kole, remained rigid under the rain, letting it soak him with no intentions of taking cover, forcing Jace to bear the weather as well. He passed on the information relied on to him by his boss, confirming that Jace was to bring at least one person with him to gather the intel, otherwise the job was going to be passed down the chain to the next willing employee who happened to be Frankie Hillinoir—Jace's closest peer who was vying for his spot within the ranks, and Jace didn't want to give him the satisfaction of winning. 

"Are you still up for the task?" Kole yelled over the rain to be heard.

Jace took a moment to mull over the details of the deal, not liking the fact that he had to be accompanied as if he needed a babysitter, but if he refused then it would go to Frankie's smug face and he didn't want that to happen either. So he sucked in a breath and said yes. Kole nodded his head and pulled out a leather pouch the size of a letter and tossed it over to Jace who plucked it out of the air. 

Jace turned on his heels, retreating from the indiscreet alley to take cover under a shop's awning as the rain continued to pour. He tucked the leather pouch inside of his own jacket, rushing to where he parked his car a couple of blocks down. 

He shook his hair out pulling out the pouch from his jacket, opening it up to reveal a single file, detailing everything he needed to know to do his job effectively.  

Pulling away from his parking spot in front of a Deli in Harlem, Jace's thoughts couldn't help but float back to his grandmother and the visions she had that led her to change his life. He still wasn't sure what to make of it all, whether or not to even take Dayna seriously. But he had no choice, she made sure of that. It was up to him to keep Elliot alive making her another task to oversee, a job that he would hopefully finish soon. 

Jace also couldn't get their Thanksgiving dinner out of his head ever since it happened two days ago. Elliot came from a steady nuclear family, who actually liked each other's company and didn't spend the entire time bickering like his family did even before when his parents were alive. He envied what Elliot had and what she probably took for granted. He wanted the same for himself even though he knew it was never going to happen. He's accepted that he will never get to live the simple life, married with kids, living in a nice house away from any trouble. 

He then remembered Elliot and how much he regrets using her house as a cover. It was the first time he's been in a situation that required him to take cover and he was dumb enough to lead his attackers all the way back to Ardsley. If he had been paying more attention to his surrounding then he would have felt someone on his tail. But instead, he was distracted by the festivities of Halloween and was rushing home to join his party and pretend like he was a normal teenager celebrating the holiday. 

Desperate, he took cover in Dayna's old house—the one he knew would hide the trace of his magic, making him invisible to his attackers. What he didn't expect was to stumble across a lone Elliot, hunched over her desk typing away on her computer while blasting Spanish trap music. He thought it was odd considering that it was the one night in Ardsley that everyone went out to party.