OK, here we go again- thanks everyone for your reviews so far!


"What're you most scared of?"

"Not knowing where my daughter is."

"Before Eva," Matt leant forwards, across the table towards Lily, "when were you most scared?" He asked the woman and she took a moment before laughing and shaking her head; it was the first time Matt had seen Lily laugh in a while. She picked up her drink and drained it in one. "What?" Matt asked, smiling too as she continued to laugh.

"It was meeting Alex's parents," she said her eyes glazed over in reminisce. "You want some advice kid?" She looked over to Matt who nodded. "Never, ever, ever" she shook her head as she said each word, "listen to Alex's advice; in fact do the opposite!" She said quickly. "Idiot." She muttered under her breath.

"Why what happened?" Matt asked, signalling to the barmaid for another drink.

"Alex told me to tell the truth..." She looked up and Matt gave her a what's-so-bad-about-that look. "That was not the way to go!" She said with a slight laugh. "The conversation basically went; hello, I'm Lily, my dad's a drug dealer and is currently in a Peruvian prison, I see my mother once every few years whenever she remembers me so don't expect a Christmas card. I studied Physiology at Oxford University which really was a waste of time because half way through the course I was arrested for aiding the escape of a political prisoner in Kuwait. It was an accident," she added as she saw the impressed look on Matt's face. "I'm sorry about that time I snuck into Alex's room and was..." she searched for the right words, "really LOUD." She said pointedly, "Erm, I love your son and I hope you love me." She smiled at put her thumbs up at Matt who stared at her before dissolving into laughter. "Yeah," she said in a bored voice, watching him slip down his chair, "you should've seen Alex's reaction." She commented before the humour left her and she found herself wondering where Amnias had taken her daughter.

"Well they must've liked you," he said after a while, "considering you did marry Alex." Lily smiled and nodded.

"Let me go Matt." She said suddenly and the smile was wiped off Matt's face instantly.

"What?" An hour ago they'd all arrived in Venice, Amnias had taken Eva somewhere and told Matt to keep an eye on Lily. Amnias had taken them to a hotel and right now Matt and Lily were sat in the restaurant that was on the roof.

"Let me go to my daughter." She said sternly. "And you can tell Amnias something else happened; you lost sight of me as this place burnt."

"This place...?" His voice faded as from underneath her dress, one which Amnias had chosen specifically for her to wear to dinner, she removed a match box. Matt laughed, "You really think a little box of matches will make this whole place go down?" But again his smile faded as Lily reached across the table, grabbed the bottle of wine from beside Matt, took her napkin and forced it into the bottle, making sure the end of the napkin was wet.

"You ever heard of a Molotov cocktail?" She asked and put the bottle in front of her, Matt swallowed hard. He'd heard of them; a civilian developed bomb was the basic gist. "You know how I said it was an accident, the Kuwait incident?" Matt nodded, "it wasn't." She said quietly and put the matchbox on the table next to the bottle of wine. "Have you figured it out yet Matt?" She asked with a sick smile, "Amnias said we all have secrets; have you guessed mine?" She pushed her chair back so it screeched against the floor, luckily the restaurant was so busy no one heard. Matt thought about it, about what her secret could be before he shook his head. "It's your choice," she said and nodded to the bottle, "let me walk away freely and no one gets hurt, make a scene and..." she nodded to the wall opposite and Matt saw, running along every wall in the restaurant was a shelf of lined up bottles of alcohol; if the cocktail hit that this place would explode before anyone had time to blink. "Your brother loves you," Lily said suddenly, interrupting his thoughts. "He wants you back on our side-"

"You don't know that-"

"I know Hex." She said quietly and stood up. "Goodbye Matt." He watched her as she walked out of the restaurant. In the end he never gave her consent to leave but there was something about the woman, about her confidence that she made her almost seductive when it came to getting her way. And just like that, Matt had figured it out.


"Baby?" Paulo whispered to her, still unsure if she was speaking sense. "Are you calling me baby or...?" He muttered incoherently, he knew what she was trying to say but he just couldn't accept it. Li wiped her eyes and sat up straight before clearing her throat.

"I got pregnant." She said bluntly, "I was three weeks into my pregnancy when I waited for you at the train station." Her bottom lip trembled as the news began to sink into him. "And you didn't come." She said through a sob, "I didn't want to do it alone!" She said desperately. "I terminated the baby." She said softly.

"You had an abortion?" Paulo said and Li was shocked; usually when she was upset Paulo would always cheer her up but for the first time in seven years he sounded angry. She nodded. "Didn't I get a say?" He demanded an answer by shaking her shoulders. "That was my kid too right?" Again she nodded. "Then why didn't you ring-"

"Why didn't you show up?!" She shouted back. "I loved you," she sobbed but Paulo wouldn't let her play the innocent card, he shook her shoulders again to force her to look at him. "And you said you loved me but you didn't show-"

"That's no excuse!" He shouted at her and stood up. "When it's between me and you it's OK to be immature, to be scared, but when there's a kid involved...our kid-"

"Scared?!" Li said and stood up too, "you have no idea what it means to be scared!" She shouted. "I couldn't go through it alone, not since mum and dad died-"

"Guys I'm in the basement of the bank...GUYS!? HELLO?!" They heard Amber's shouts from the radio outside the alley and took one last look at each other.

"We'll talk later." Paulo said, Li nodded and they moved out of the alleyway. It took a moment for Paulo to realise the sounds behind him were quiet screams from Li as the man pressed a knife against her throat.


Alex heard the car before he saw it but it was too late; the two of them were caught in the lights flooding from the headlamps. They both shielded their eyes against the glare and the car reversed so it could pull up alongside them. Alex swore softly; how could he have let this happen? He was sure no one was around. He felt Hex untie any connections in the wiring that he had made and they both turned to the car; there was no use running now. The passenger door opened. A sense of relief, shock and anger went through both the men as they saw Amnias looking at them from his seat. Alex took a step forwards as he saw sat in Amnias' lap and playing happily with a teddy bear, was Eva.

"I take it you want to say hello to her?" Amnias said and right now Alex couldn't care less if he were in the middle of Venice about to rob this bank, or that Amnias was a potential murderer, he just knew he wanted his daughter back. Alex nodded; he knew not to make any sudden movements with Brad since his mind broke. Eva looked up from her toy and saw Alex.

"Daddy!" She squealed and dropped the teddy bear before holding her arms out for Alex to pick her up. Alex walked forwards and even Amnias' eyes softened as he saw the look on Alex's face. Eva tried to push Amnias' arms away from her as Alex approached the car. "DADDY!" She said a little more desperately and her bottom lip trembled as she was about to cry but Alex reached her and took her out of his enemy's arms.

"Eva." Alex said calmly as he took her and held her close. He'd missed her baby smell, her hugs and for the first time in a while Alex found himself blinking away tears as Eva buried her face in his shirt, something she did when she wanted to sleep. He kissed her forehead and when she looked up at him she looked so much like Lily Alex had realised he'd forgotten about his wife. "Lily?" He said, addressing Amnias for the first time.

"Matt has her." He replied and this time Hex took a step forwards, "don't worry you can have words with him later." Amnias added as Hex's eyes narrowed. "I just thought you two may need a little incentive to keep going." He smiled at them. "Now Alex, if you wouldn't mind giving-"

"You're lucky you thought to bring Eva with you." Alex said scathingly, "if she weren't here you'd be dead by now." Amnias smiled as he said this. Eva seemed to notice Hex and over her father's shoulder she began to converse in a language only she understood.

"Amur!" She shouted to him and he smiled at her.

"How is Lily?" Alex said.

"She's a lot of trouble," Amnias said and for some strange reason they were talking like how they used to talk, when they were friends. "One thing I've learnt; don't mess with mummy." Alex laughed; Lily was just like that when it came to their daughter. Another car pulled up behind this one and Alex and Hex looked at each other uneasily. "That car is for you two." He said slowly and they looked back at him.

"What do you mean?" Hex said and Amnias rolled his eyes in an exaggerated manner.

"I mean get in." Amnias said quickly.

"What about the bank?" Alex said, gesturing back to it, as he did he realised Eva had fallen asleep.

"I'm afraid I have some bad news," Amnias looked downwards and shook his head dramatically.

"What bad news?" Hex asked, taking a step forwards again so he was in line with Alex.

"What do you know of The Devil's Backbone?" Amnias asked and Hex and Alex shrugged, the madman laughed loudly and they all became aware of the sounds of fire engines' sirens in the distance, preparing to put out the fire they had created. "Well, I've changed my mind; I don't want money-"

"After all the trouble...?!" Hex began but was quietened by the maddened look Amnias gave him.

"I don't quite think you get the position you're in." Amnias said in a deadly whisper, "I have your wife and child," he nodded to Alex, "and now I have your beloved Amber." Hex and Alex's eyes widened, "you really thought splitting up was a good idea?" He laughed. "No, no no!" He shouted. "I want to see you all break." He muttered, "the real games are beginning, get in the next car." He shouted at them and Hex moved off but when Alex went to the car Amnias held out an arm to beckon him back. "Give her to me-"

"Brad-"

"I have Lily; Eva will be fine with her." Amnias urged and Alex finally gave in. He handed Eva back into Amnias' arms and it killed him to think that Eva's heart would break when she woke to find this insane man looking over her. Alex took one look at her again and was walking off again when Amnias shouted back. "One quick question Alex!" He leant out of the car with Eva in his arms and Alex turned back to him. "Do you reckon Eva looks like me?" He asked and with a laugh shut the door so they car could move off, leaving a stunned Alex in his wake.


You know what's annoying about this story? Things are happening but nothing's moving. Do you get what I mean people?!

Also, I will give a cookie to anyone who can guess Lily's secret! You'll never get it cause it's kinda crazy but WHATEVER!

Review if you like!