Chapter 1 Painful memories

Lost in her painful memories, Lara gazed out into the enchanting gardens of Croft manor. She recalled how desperate and alone she felt in Egypt, left to die by her one time mentor, the only person she trusted. No matter how hard she tried, the ones she loved were always the ones that paid, her thoughts then transferred to Kurtis. He was nothing but another painful memory to her now. It had been 3 months since she had last seen his handsome face, the only thing to remember him by was his Chirugai. She was brought back into reality by the calls of Winston, her devoted butler.

"Lara, Lara? Ah! there you are, I have served dinner, if you feel up to it that is." He called peering around the corner of the dark library. Lara had been so lost in darkness lately, he had no idea what had come over her, she used to be so vivid and alive.

"Yeah, hang on a second." She placed her book on the table in the centre of the room and wandered off in to the noble dinning room, her mind absent from her body.

The great drawing room looked empty, nothing but a large table set out for two people.

" I'm awfully grateful for all that you do for me Winston, you do know that don't you."

" Of course Lara, here sit, I've got a lovely dinner prepared." He responded pulling out a chair at the end of the grand table.

Lara took a seat and continued to stare down the room, once again lost in her own thoughts.

" Here we go, as you used to like it when you were just a little girl." Winston placed the grilled fish down in front of Lara. The smell seemed to get her attention back to what her butler was telling her.

"Huh, yeah, thanks." Nodding her head in appreciation.

"Lara what's up? Ever since you've come back from Prague you seem to be very…distant."

"I'd prefer if we didn't have to talk about it." She replied dismissing the conversation.

"Okay. But if you ever want to talk, you know that you can always talk to me?"

" Yes I know. I'm sorry, I just don't feel like eating at the moment, I'm going to have a swim, I'll see you in the morning." She left the room and headed towards the pool.

After changing into her swimming costume, she sat on the edge of the pool, her eyes tracing the glistening droplets of water falling from her petite feet as they moved in the water. She sighed. Slowly lowering herself into the cold water, she let out a gasp as her body adjusted to the temperature. The water relaxed her body, she paddled around on the surface. She thought of finding the pool of blood in the middle of the Strahov. A delicate tear fell down her cheek. She shook her head wondering what had happened to her. She had only known the man for a few days.

"How come I can't get the bastard out of my head?" she screamed. She had never acted like this before. Wiping her cheek she dived down to the base of the pool. Getting her anger out; she kicked her legs as hard as possible, this seemed to calm her somewhat. After a few minuets she surfaced, taking a deep breath. She tried so hard to tell herself that he was gone, he still lingered in her mind. Paddling to the edge of the pool she closed her eyes and reminded herself of the first time they met.

Flashback

She felt the cold metal against her neck, the man behind her came closer and a rough hand began the slowly slide down the side of her body. His hand rested slightly on her hip before removing her gun from her holster and dropping it on the cold floor. The hand once returned to her, moving slowly along her slender stomach and again removing her other gun. She gnawed at her lip. She tried to turn and face the man but he pushed the gun harder against her neck, whilst slowly removing the painting from her backpack. He moved the gun to below her jaw. She swung herself around forcefully and locked eyes with him. They stared deeply into each other's eyes, their heads moved towards each other as if they were going to kiss. Just before they were touching he pressed the gun hard against her chest and slowly turned to walk away. She was overwhelmed by his effect on her. She acted so weak, so unlike her.

End of flashback

She shook her head to get the thought of him out of her head. His presence still remained in her mind. Time would not erase her memory of him. Again she dived down to the base of the pool trying to drown her thoughts. When she reached the surface, she heard a forceful bang come from outside on her assault course. The noise made her jump and pull herself up from the water. Placing a soft towel around her she grabbed her pistols and began to move towards the window where she heard the bang escape from.