Damien, EJ, and Lexter had been tailing C.C. since the crack of dawn, their patience running thin as the sun high above the clouds.
Huddled behind a parked van, the three exchanged weary glances, their initial enthusiasm long replaced by frustration.
They'd been shadowing him nonstop, hoping to uncover some juicy dirt, but so far, their efforts had amounted to nothing.
"Are we even going to find anything on this guy?" Damien muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. His eyes darted toward C.C., who was casually exiting a salon, looking completely at ease.
"I don't know, man," EJ replied with a yawn, adjusting the lens of his small camera. "We've been following him all day, and all he's done is work at that salon. It's boring as hell."
"Yeah, seriously," Lexter chimed in, leaning against the van. "I thought we'd catch him doing something shady, but this is just lame."
The three had anticipated a day full of thrilling revelations—some scandalous secret that could blow C.C.'s rising reputation to smithereens.
But instead, they'd been stuck watching him sweep floors, wash hair, and chat casually with customers at the salon. The mundanity of it all was a stark contrast to what they had expected.
"Maybe we're wasting our time," Damien said, shaking his head. "I mean, how long can we keep this up?"
EJ was about to reply when something—or rather someone—caught his eye. A tall, elegant woman with flowing pink hair approached C.C. from behind, moving with a predatory grace.
Her expensive designer coat, the heels that clicked rhythmically on the pavement, and her aura of power instantly set her apart from the mundane world around her.
"Whoa, who's that?" Lexter whispered, eyes wide as he nudged Damien. "You seeing this?"
Before they could process what was happening, the woman talked to C.C. before the two exit from the salon without so much as a glance in their direction.
"Yeah, but think about it," EJ chimed in, tapping his phone screen. "If we post it, we're not smearing C.C.'s name. We'll be doing him a favor. People will go nuts over him being associated with someone like Felice. He'll get even more popular. And no matter how bad it look, Raneisha's massive following would still make C.C. popular whether in a bad or good way."
Damien leaned back against the van, crossing his arms. "You're not wrong. This'll blow up for sure. But not in the way we want. Instead of ruining his image, we'll be turning him into a freaking star."
EJ sighed, slipping his phone back into his pocket. "So what do we do now? We've been tailing him since morning, and we've got nothing."
As the sun continued to set, casting long shadows across the city, the three began to lose hope. They had followed C.C. across town, from the salon to a restaurant, but no scandal had emerged. Just when they were about to call it quits, something unexpected happened.
They had been casually following C.C. as he walked home, his pace relaxed, hands tucked into his jacket pockets. But just as he turned down a narrow alleyway, a group of rough-looking guys appeared from the other end, blocking his path. Their sneers and tattoos marked them as local thugs, and it was clear they weren't here for a friendly chat.
"Is that . . . trouble?" Lexter asked, peeking around the corner of the alley.
"Looks like it," Damien muttered, pulling out his phone to record. "Finally, something interesting."
The three watched from the shadows as the situation quickly escalated. One of the thugs—a burly guy with a scar running down his cheek—stepped forward, cracking his knuckles. "You think you can just walk through our territory, punk?"
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Cain didn't flinch. He remained calm, his eyes assessing the group. "Your territory?" He shook his head and laughed a little. This must be the posers. "Good that you're the one who showed yourself. Let's get this done and over with."
The thug laughed, a cruel sound that echoed through the alley. "I don't think you understand where you are, pretty boy."
Damien, EJ, and Lexter exchanged nervous glances. They weren't sure how C.C. was going to handle this, but something told them it wasn't going to end well.
But what happened next left them speechless.