the living room. Jace looked up at the water stains on the ceiling from where it had leaked. The room was filled with furniture covered with white sheets. The only lights on in the house were the ones coming from the cameras that were filming the beginning of the show. The old mansion smelled horrible. A combination of mold and vomit permeated the stale air. Jace held his breath for a few seconds trying to prevent himself from hurling all over the floor. All the other contestants were holding their noses and complaining about the smell. All except Kelly. He peered over at her, she definitely had her game face on. No emotion, no weird offensive facial expressions for the stench that was nothing less than the smell of death. She was right. She would definitely be his biggest competition, but he still was going to win. There was no question about that. Everyone in the room including the television staff was fanning themselves with anything they could find. It was hot. The kind of heat that would make your skin blister. That must have been the reason the wallpaper had peeled right of the walls. The temperature had to be over one hundred degrees and probably melted the glue that held the paper in place. One thing was for sure, the heat wasn't helping the smell at all. Sanders entered the house with more camera men following. "We'll get started in a few minutes, will everyone please line up in front of me so the camera can get a good shot of each of you." They all lined up as instructed, Jace stood in between Kelly and the fidgety woman. Being that close to Kelly was driving him insane. He caught the faint scent of her perfume, it was much more preferable than the horrible stench of the old house. Before the cameras started to roll the woman to his right leaned over to him and spoke in a hushed tone. "Do have any stuff on you?" "What?" The woman repeated her question. "Do you have anything on you?" Jace was confused at first but quickly realized what the woman was talking about. She wanted drugs. He turned to his left; Kelly heard the woman too, she had a disapproving scowl on her face. A look a mother gives her child when their hand has been caught in the cookie jar. He straightened his back and faced forward. He answered her without looking in the drug addict’s direction. "No." What the fuck was wrong with that woman? Why would he bring drugs to a television show? Was she crazy? Her withdrawals were obviously clouding her thinking. He saw the many effects of being addicted to drugs on the street every day. His first job had been to supply the demand, and then he was moved into a higher position in Cesar Gonzales' cartel. When Cesar told him he no longer had to deal drugs on the street corner anymore he couldn't have been more relieved. Not that his new position was any better, but at least he wouldn't have to see one suffering person after another all day long. Men would beg him for drugs and women would offer sexual favors so they could get a quick fix. At first, he thought they all were pathetic beings walking around in a daze like zombies. As he got older he realized what a horrible disease drug addiction was. It took over your life until there was nothing important left in it, leaving an empty shell of your former self. Right now he didn't care what Kelly or anyone else thought of him. All he was interested in was winning the million dollars. He was growing impatient and was wondering when they were going to start filming. To him they were wasting their time. Time he didn't have to spare. His mother didn't have much longer to live and he wanted to be with her as much as he could before she passed. A make-up artist put the finishing touches on Alec's face, he brusquely pushed her away as the director shouted one minute to filming. One minute closer to finally having