Hello everyone! I am so incredibly sorry that I haven't updated this story in over a year. A very special apology to the reader that Pm'd me a couple months ago, I lied when I told you I was updating that weekend and lying is wrong. Anyway here is the latest chapter, please still read it. I have about half of the next chapter written so that could possibly be up tonight as well. Also I am considering going back and re-writing the earlier chapters just for editing's sake. Thank you guys for still reading and re-reading this story, I know you are, it means the world to me.

As always, besos!

Ronnie fell off the face of the earth for two weeks. After that first night apart she moved the few things she had at Vince's back to her townhouse so that Vince could come back. He knew that she was coming around the shop and the Toretto house but she was extremely sneaky about it and he had yet to see her.

It was 5pm on a Thursday when Ronnie pulled into the garage bay. She killed the engine and looked around cautiously. She knew that Vince rarely hung around past 4:30, his car was gone and she felt safe that he was nowhere near her.

Dom strolled downstairs from the loft office and looked surprised to see her sitting there in her car. "Ron? You ok kid?" He leaned in to her driver's side window.

"It's Carmine. He was shot this morning." Carmine. Her eldest brother, the one she was closest to.

"Who killed him?" Was Dom's first response.

"God, I don't know. Taylor called and told me. He said that they had a lock on the families and they think that it's just some pissed off lackey." She lifted her head from where it had been resting on the steering wheel.

Dom noticed the tear streaks on her face and opened the door dragging her out of the car and into a hug. "It's going to be ok kid."

"Can you take me to the airport in the morning?"

"Are you going to tell him?" Dom rumbled in reference to Vince.

Ronnie nodded her head forcefully. "I'm mad but I'm not going to make the same mistake twice."

6:30 the next morning Vince awoke to a loud banging on his front door. He groggily made it to the door not even bothering to put pants on. The sight he came face to face with was not one he was expecting at all, a sniffling Ronnie. It was clear she had been crying and Vince immediately saw red. "What is it? I'll kill them." He spoke calmly. He knew that whatever was bothering her was not him. There was a pained look in her eyes that he was certain didn't connect to him in anyway.

"I'm going to New York." She sniffed loudly.

Vince looked past her and into the driveway where he saw Dom waiting patiently in his car. " What's going on?" He questioned falling into a panic.

"Someone took a hit out on my brother. He was killed yesterday morning. The funeral is on Monday. I just didn't want to leave again without saying anything."

"Do you want me to come with you?" he lifted her chin and pushed her hair out of her face.

"No. It's not safe right now." She stared up at him.

"Then I really don't want you to go." He rested his forehead against hers and slowly wrapped his arms around her hips.

"Taylor will be there, he wont protect you like he'll protect me. Mostly because he hates you and hasn't seen you naked."

"I'm going to let that one slide seeing as how you're crying and I'm in trouble." He smiled at her.

His smile almost calmed her. "Smart. I'm still upset with you but I love you." She whispered pecking his lips lightly before disappearing into the morning darkness.

Monday Afternoon came and Ronnie sat silently in a pew in between her youngest brother Tony and Taylor. Her legs sat crossed and Taylor had one large hand draped across them. She knew she should move it but at that moment she didn't really care. The service ended quickly and the burial even quicker. That type of send off was typical in their line of work, the reality of everything always hit a bit too close to home for them all. After one of their own died questions began to emerge, 'when will I die?' 'What's on the other side when I do?' it was too real, too close.

She followed Taylor quietly into the apartment that they once shared. It was agreed that she would stay with him during her visit. The rest of her brothers were deemed as too much of a target. " Shorty are you ok?"

Ronnie looked at him quizzically. " Seriously?"

"I know. Stupid question. You know I'm no good at this kind of stuff."

"I know." She hugged him warmly. " Honestly there is only one thing that I want to hear from you right now, my name." he leaned down and kissed her tentatively before she pushed him away. " I really want to because I know that it would make me forget about all of this, but I 'd only be forgetting for a little while and then when it was over I'd still have to deal with this and the look on Vince's face when he found out."

"Oh him. You know I'm prettier than him right?" Taylor tried his hand at making her smile. He understood that she couldn't cheat on her boyfriend with him even under the perfect pretense of grief. Lying, cheating, this lifestyle in general wasn't her style. He respected that about her, it was what he found so attractive about her.

"Yea Tay no one has ever been or will ever be as pretty as you." She smiled slightly. "Anyway enough of that. What is the plan for tomorrow?"

Taylor quirked an eyebrow at her. "Plan? There will be no plan for you shortstack. I don't want to have to explain how you got your ass blown off to anybody."

"You're a poet, really." Ronnie glared at Taylor before seeking out his bedroom, slamming the door and hiding until the next afternoon.

4 Weeks later

"Ron! What the fuck are you still doing in New fucking York?!" Dominic roared into this cell phone.

Ronnie had successfully hidden herself in the city for an entire month. She avoided Dom's phone calls and sidestepped Taylor's disproving glares. This time however she couldn't ignore Dom. He went above her and called Matty.

"I hate you." Ronnie mouthed to Matty silently. "Dom you know I've got things to take care of. Hop off my vadge."

"Bullshit Ronnie! I talked to Taylor; I know that you've been done with business for weeks. Vince is worrying himself to death." Dom slammed the door to his office shut. He didn't need the rest of the shop hearing him yell; of course a two-inch thick door wasn't really doing much good to block out his voice.

" Dominic, there are just a few things here left to take care of, some things I have to do." She sighed trying desperately to get him off the phone.

"Running away from your family isn't one of them." Dom hung up the phone; he knew it was a low blow to essentially deny that her blood was her family. Even worse was the fact that he mentioned her running away. She was insecure about her inability to commit to anything, whether it be figure skating or Vince. It was a risk that Dom was willing to take; he only hoped that it would force her to face her fears not run away from them faster.

"Just call him." Taylor grumbled when he felt Ronnie shift next to him on her couch. They had fallen into a routine over the past few weeks; during the day they worked and at night they ate dinner on the couch in front of the TV in the apartment Ronnie had rented after a particularly intense fight with Taylor her third night back.

"I'm not calling him." She glared at her phone. She wanted to talk to him the second Dom hung up on her.

"You're going to have to talk to him at some point." Taylor was suddenly finished with the conversation. "We've got an early morning. I'll see you tomorrow." He offered harshly before walking out the door.

"God , everybody hates me." She mumbled to herself through the beginnings of tears. For the first time in the month she had been gone she not only wanted Vince, she needed him and that scared the shit out of her.

Ronnie woke up the next morning in a cold sweat. She groaned to herself through her entire morning routine. She was tired and didn't feel like dealing with anything or anyone. She showered and didn't even bother with fixing her hair, opting instead to put it into a wet bun. She pulled the dark denim jeans and white tshirt from her closet without thought or effort and struggled to put them on and reach her phone when it started ringing. "What?" she bit into the receiver.

"You on your way yet?" It was an annoyed sounding Taylor. Apparently already at Matty's place and waiting on her was not what he wanted to be doing.

"What the fuck crawled up your ass and died?" She bitched snatching her leather coat, keys and purse before clacking towards the front door.

"Ronnie please don't be a bitch today. I'm tired, hungry, sore and horny as hell. I don't need to add pissed at your dumbass to the list."

"Don't talk to me about horny." Ronnie laughed despite her foul mood. A year ago this would have been foreplay for the two of them. Now it was just a couple of associates licking their wounds.

"Goodbye Ron."

She heard the line go dead and smiled a reminiscent smirk. That jovial moment was short lived however when she opened her door and came face to face with him.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" she exhaled.

"I could ask you the same damn thing Veronica." He moved to enter her apartment.

Ronnie held her hand up and pushed him back out. "You can bitch at me in the car. I'm late for work."

Vince scoffed but followed her anyway.

The car ride was silent for the first five minutes until Vince began his tirade. "Why are you still here?"

Ronnie sighed loudly, " I told you I have things to take care of. Loose ends."

"Are you back with him?" Vince asked coldly.

"What?" Ronnie croaked in shock. "No." she exclaimed.

"Then what the fuck is it Veronica? Are you fucking him behind my back for revenge? Why the hell else are you here?"

"Me? Why are you here? If I wanted to see you I would have come back." She slammed the car into park in front of the restaurant. She slid out of the car and slammed the door behind her.

Vince Followed. " I came here for you. I figured last time I let you just run off without even trying to find you. I waited for you like a dumbass." He yelled following her in the back door. "I thought I'd try something new and come get you. Forgive me for not wanting to lose you again."

"Vince you cannot be here right now. You don't understand, it's not safe." She yelled back gaining the attention of the few men, including Taylor, that were sitting in a booth in the corner.

"What part of that statement is supposed to make me feel better about you being here?!" He exclaimed.

Taylor decided that was the moment for him to intervene. " Why don't we take this to the back." He suggested ushering the couple to the back office. "Vince could you just give us a second?" He stopped Vince right out side the swinging door that led into the office. The lingering look that Taylor gave Vince through the window in the doorway prompted Vince to stand close by.

"What now Tay?" Ronnie groaned picking up a breadstick out of a random breadbasket sitting on the desk.

"Why are you so pissed off about him showing up? You would usually think that it's romantic."

"I'm just not in a very romantic mood. I'm still pissed at him." Ronnie groaned

Taylor's eyes bugged, "For what? Doing exactly what you did?"

"Excuse me?" Ronnie's voice was dangerously low.

"So he had drunken sex with Mia, once. So fucking what!? You were here with me, doing the same damn thing, except you were in a relationship with me."

"What is your point with all this? You think I don't know that what I did was worse?" She was starting to cry and that was not what Taylor wanted at all.

"All I'm saying is that you can't be mad at him for something that you did too. You love him." He patted her shoulder gently.

"I know." She sighed.

"That leads me to my next question. Have you told him yet?" Taylor questioned in a tone that reminded Vince of a teacher reprimanding the class clown.

"It has nothing to do with him." Ronnie said lowly.

"Bullshit Ronnie. This is going to rock his fucking world and you're just going to let it happen without even warning him? You need to go home." He demanded.

Ronnie's temper snapped. "Fine. You want me to go home? Fucking fine I'm going." She stormed out of the door and past Vince, through the restaurant and to her car. Taylor watched her drive off towards the expressway and most likely to the airport.

"What the hell was that?" Vince breathed.

"Well, the good thing is she's going back to California."

"Can I get a ride to the airport?" Vince groaned in response, not really looking forward to getting back on another plane.

"No. You should wait a couple of days. She's got something to tell you and it's going to be difficult for her and you. She needs a couple days to cool off from me and figure out what to do." Taylor dropped something cold into Vince's hand.

"What's this?"

"Key to her apartment."

"And she expects me to believe that nothing is going on between you two?" Vince scoffed in Taylor's direction.

"It's not. I tried but she wasn't going to have any of it." Taylor assured.

"The thing that she has to tell me. What is it?" Vince followed Taylor outside to a waiting car.

"It isn't my thing to tell. It's going to be a difficult thing for her to go through, you know because of her mom and everything, so just try to be supportive. Max is going to take you by her place. Get her shit and check into a hotel. She was telling the truth, it's not safe here for you, or her. At least one good thing is coming of you popping in." Taylor shut the door to the car with Vince inside.

The window rolled down slowly. "Taylor, thanks for taking care of her. You're important to her, I don't like it but I recognize it."

"Anytime Vince."