It had been three hours since I'd arrived and despite the broken jaw and blood on the floor the agent hadn't spoken a word. I could see that Lissa was beginning to get as impatient as I was and I knew that Robert would be heading down here soon, so I had to get this agent talking and fast. I looked down at my bloody knuckles and knew that at half of them were broken despite the brass ones I wore to hit the agent.

I don't know what made me decide to do something so against protocol but I slipped the brass knuckles off and handed them to Lissa. I walked over to the agent and leaned down so that I was at his height, seeing as he was chained to a chair. I studied the gash in his eyebrow, his bloody mouth, and his broken jaw, realizing that I'd done more damage than normal.

"I'll bet you have a family." I said and felt a bit of guilt for what I was about to do. The man's expression changed then and his eyes went wide.

He nodded once and I looked to Lissa, my eyes begging her to play along with what I was about to say. She nodded in understanding but I could tell that she would want to discuss this with me later.

"We can make sure that you see your family again if you just answer a few questions for us." Lissa's voice was one of comfort and unfortunately, this made her an amazing liar. There was no way we could guarantee this but none the less, the man's features softened.

He took a deep breath before saying "I was sent here to be sure that Noleen was dead and that Dimitri didn't know about his father's work. He obviously doesn't know anything because he would have packed up and left for Ireland by now. He definitely wouldn't be letting a stranger take care of his precious daughter. I wouldn't."

I kept my face completely calm but on the inside, I was a mess thinking of Vivienne. I wanted that little girl safe despite the cost to me or anyone else. "What goes on between me and that family is none of your fucking concern."

"Assassin's aren't supposed to care; we are supposed to be lethal and uncaring." The man said and looked down at his feet.

I let my voice be gentle this time as I asked "What does Randall Ivashkov have in store for his son and granddaughter?"

The man bit his lip and said "He's going to kill Dimitri and turn his granddaughter into a lethal weapon to let her loose on a rival agency."

I felt anger boil into my blood but saw in the man's eyes that he wasn't lying about this. I heard Lissa gasp and a door slam. I turned and saw Robert walking towards the man in front of me, pulling out his gun.

I stood there in complete silence as the man looked in my direction. "You burn in hell!" he screamed before Robert took his life.

There wasn't even time for me to react before Robert had me pinned to the wall with the gun at my head and his hands wrapped around my throat. "We don't make deals in this agency but it was sweet of you to try to lie to him to get the information. Slip up again and I will personally send Vivienne to Randall before killing you… after you've killed Dimitri in front of her eyes."

He released my throat and walked out of the room, leaving me gasping for air. Lissa looked at me and her jade green eyes were extremely wide. She walked over and hugged me, surprising me after the violent encounter I'd just had.

I wrapped my arms around her in a friendly hug for a second before breaking from the embrace. I made my way to the room where I knew Mia would be. She sat at her desk and was looking through the files before she saw me.

She smiled and handed me the file that we had on Noleen. "Good luck."

"Thanks, Mia." I said and headed back to my apartment.

As soon as I got there, I laid the file on the table in my room and I stripped my jacket off before throwing it on the bed. I heard a knock on the door and groaned as I walked to it, hoping that it wasn't Adrian at the door.

I swung the door open and saw Dimitri in the door way, which immediately caused my mind to go blank.

"Hey." He said and I could see that he was more than a little unsure of what he was doing.

I walked a little closer to him and asked "What are you doing here?" The question held more concern than annoyance, something that was rare for me.

"Your friend called from your phone. I guess you left it with her but she said that I should come by and check on you. She gave me the address and hung up. I peeked around him and saw that Vivienne was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's your daughter?" I asked and he smiled lightly but still managed to give me the "are you crazy" look.

He crossed his arms and stared down at me for a moment before saying "She's with Christian."

"Is Tasha there?" I asked and he shook his head. "Good. Vivienne hates her, for whatever reason. I'm not too fond of her myself though."

He ran his fingers through his hair and said "She's an old friend but I've come to the point where I'm around her as little as possible."

I rolled my eyes before saying "I just don't like her. End of story." I told him and he laughed lightly. "You really came all the way down here just to check on me?"

He nodded before saying "Of course I did."

It was weird, having someone show up to check on me instead of handing me a new assignment or needing a favor. I was about to say something when I saw an all too familiar face in the distance. It was an assassin from Victor's agency, one I didn't know by name but knew by gun. Unfortunately, he wasn't picky about victims but knew who was Robert's assassins and would do anything to cause pain. I would have to get Dimitri in here before the agent noticed him.

I took a huge leap of faith and did the only thing I could think of to get him inside. I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him. However, I wasn't expecting the reaction I got. His arms wrapped around my waist and pulled me closer, deepening the kiss. I closed my eyes for a split second before quickly opening them and keeping an eye on the agent, who was talking to someone across the street.

I pulled him in a little closer until I was able to close the door behind him. I expected Dimitri to pull away at the sound of the door closing but instead he continued to kiss me gently. His lips were soft and… wonderful.

I found myself kissing him back before I knew what was really going on and, for once, closed my eyes and let my guard down. This proved to be a big mistake as he pulled away from me quickly.

"Forgive me, Rose. That was out of line." He said and I found my mind was slightly fuzzy. I couldn't think straight for a minute before my assassin's training kicked in.

I nonchalantly shrugged and said "Forget about it. It's out of our system now. It won't happen again."

He nodded but I didn't miss the slightly stunned look in his eyes, before he looked at the clock. "I've got to get back to Vivienne. Are you sure you're okay?"

I couldn't believe that after what just happened, we could both act so normal. "I'm sure."

"Will you still come by tomorrow? To watch Vivienne?" he asked and I nodded before giving him a confused look.

I crossed my arms and said "Of course I am."

I couldn't help but notice the relieved expression that came across his face before he opened the door and said "I'm glad that one mistake hasn't changed our friendship."

I felt my heart race slightly and saw in his brown eyes that he was testing me in a way. I didn't trust myself to speak so instead I nodded. He walked out the door with a troubled expression on his face but as I looked past him, towards the street, I saw that the other agent was gone.

I shouldn't have cared and I shouldn't have been relieved that Dimitri would be home safe with Vivienne tonight. I should have let him go so I wouldn't have to kill him myself but I didn't. I placed a finger to my lips and felt the lingering feel of his kiss.

What Dimitri had said wasn't true. Our "friendship" had changed and the attraction that I'd been denying since I met him had turned into something else without me noticing. Dimitri wasn't just another assignment anymore. I knew in that moment that our kiss had changed everything and I couldn't deny that I actually felt… something.

I felt something for Dimitri Belikov: my assignment, Vivienne's father, a person who considered me a friend. I would grieve now when he died, regardless if it was by my own doing or someone else.

Either way, there were two things I was absolutely certain of in that moment that wouldn't change: Dimitri was going to die and my emotions had made me completely vulnerable.

I was fucked.

***Well there's my next update. I hope you all are still enjoying the story. I've been sick lately but wanted to update so I hope this chapter turned out alright. R&R and thank you for reading.