"Keep your mouth shut," Damon warned as he came around the SUV to escort Katherine. His arm throbbed incessantly, and it left him feeling irritated and short-tempered. "Don't say a word unless you are specifically asked something."

Katherine's face contorted with distaste. "Are you always this controlling and rude with my sister?"

He scowled at the woman who would one day be his sister-in-law. "I love Elena, and I will do anything for her—but you have pushed me right to the edge tonight, Katherine. You need to remember that I'm the only thing standing between you and a bullet."

"I'm sorry," she said quickly. "I really didn't mean to shoot you. I was mad and my hands are shaky. I haven't been eating, and I was using a little bump here and there to stay awake. It was an accident. I mean it."

Damon didn't doubt that it had been an accident, but he wasn't about to cut her any slack. "You could have killed me or Elena tonight. We are family, Katherine, but that doesn't mean I have to like you."

"Since when are we family? And that goes both ways. I don't have to like you either."

"I'm going to marry your sister. That makes you my family."

"Does she know that?"

Damon glanced at the SUV where Elena waited. "She will soon."

"You better treat her right, Damon."

"Does she look unhappy to you? She is living in a beautiful home. She has her pick of a fleet of luxury vehicles. She doesn't have to worry about money anymore and can focus on her handbags."

"That is not what I meant," Katherine argued. "I mean that you better love her right. She is soft inside and good. She needs someone who appreciates that. She needs a man who will make her feel special. She needs a man who can be her rock."

"I do love her. She means more to me than you can ever imagine or understand." Damon couldn't believe he was talking about his relationship with Elena with her sister. This night was getting crazier and weirder by the minute. "I will make sure that Elena never wants for anything."

"All she has ever wanted is to be part of a family."

"I will build a family with her," he promised.

"Are we going to make this deal or what?" Zec called out. "Some of us have schedules we are trying to keep."

"Remember what I said," Damon warned. "These men are a different breed, especially Zec. He is the most dangerous man you will ever meet."

Katherine nodded to assure him she understood. He led her across the hangar to where the two men waited. Logan she was probably familiar with because of Mason's involvement in the underworld, but he noticed the way she stiffened at the sight of Zec. He didn't blame her for that reaction. Even after all these years of doing business with the smuggler, Damon still felt uneasy around him.

Wealthy and powerful, Zec had built a legitimate import and export business based out of the Balkans. He used it to hide his illicit activities. There were few things he wouldn't smuggle from country to another. As far as Damon knew, Zec drew his only line at human trafficking. Everything else was fair game.

Intensely private and secretive, he was a difficult man to pin down, and other than Logan, Damon didn't know if he had any true friends. The scar across his throat from the razor that had slashed him open served as a reminder that this was a man who had cheated death and feared nothing. In the past, he had done some huge deals with Zec. He liked to think they had a good working relationship, but he never took it for granted. Zec was the kind of man who would think nothing of cutting his throat over a perceived slight.

"Let's see it," Zec rasped in that destroyed voice of his.

Katherine held out the small jewellery box filled with flash drives. Nervously, she admitted, "I don't have the decryption key. Edgar was the only one who had it, and he is dead."

"That is what happens to people who try to double cross me." Zec showed little emotion as he admitted to having ordered the hacker's death.

"You were the buyer all along." Damon had suspected as much, especially after Logan was so helpful. Pinning Logan in place with a look, he said, "And that is why you were so happy to run interference for Elena."

Logan smiled and shrugged carelessly. "It is easier to ask Giuseppe for forgiveness than permission. He will be angry tomorrow when he realizes that we caused this mess. He might even thank me for helping solve the Kai Parker's problem without any of us having to lift a finger. He will get over it when he gets his cut."

"Speaking of money," Damon said, "I want to talk to you about Zel's debt."

"There is nothing to talk about," Logan replied. "He fights on Saturday night. If he wins, the debt is settled. If he loses, he still owes me."

"Send me that bill."

"You are the second person to ask me that today."

Damon assumed Stefan was the other one. "Zel has had enough, Logan."

"As touching as your concern is," Zec interrupted, "I don't have time to stand here and listen to you two negotiate an old debt. I'm here to finish my deal."

He stared at Katherine, and she shrank back as if struck. "I'm not paying you a single penny for those. You and your boyfriend and that scam artist hacker tried to mess me up with this deal. First, you agreed to sell this information exclusively to me. Second, you tried to sell another copy to Kai. Third, you found out that you had something Marko wanted and gave him the chance to buy the information back."

Damon struggled with the shock that tore at him as Zec described Katherine's brazen double and triple dealing. Was she stupid or just that greedy?

Zec's lip curled as he slashed his hand through the air. "This should have been a clean transaction. No blood. No deaths. You three set the city on fire with your greed and your lies, and you have forced my man here," he gestured to Logan, "and this man," he gestured to Damon, "and all the other bosses to put out the flames. So you don't get shit."

"That is not fair!" Katherine snapped. "I worked hard to get these!"

"Fair?" Zec laughed right in her face. "Do you know what fair is where we come from? Fair is killing you and your sister and your sister's friend and Damon for your betrayal. So—I will give you a choice. I can treat you fairly." He pulled aside his jacket to reveal two holstered weapons. "Or I can teach you a hard lesson about liars and thieves."

Katherine gulped and licked her lips. "I will take the hard lesson."

"Good choice." Zec let his jacket fall closed. Glancing at Damon, he said, "You know the terms."

Relieved that Katherine hadn't stupidly called his bluff, Damon nodded. "It is all in the bag."

"It will be three to five days before she will contact you. You know the rules about phone and internet use." Zec paused. "Do you have any location requests?"

"It needs to be some place that Elena can visit easily." He remembered what Katherine had said in his office about running away with Mason to Thailand. That dream had died with her lover, but that didn't mean he couldn't still give her some part of it. "Some place warm," he added. "With beaches and low living costs."

Katherine glanced at him in surprise. He wasn't an ogre. Yes, she had shot him and put Elena in danger again and again, but he wasn't going to punish her for the rest of her life by asking Zec to drop her in some shithole.

"Beaches and low cost of living?" Zec repeated. "I can make that happen."

Damon signalled Enzo to hand over the duffel bag. "Get Elena."

After giving one of Zec's men the bag, Enzo lumbered away, and Damon turned to Katherine. He reached into his jacket and produced four thick envelopes of cash. "These are for you. It is all you are going to get for a while so make it count."

Seemingly surprised by his generosity, Katherine accepted the money from him. "Thank you, Damon. For everything," she added sincerely. "I know you didn't have to help me, but you did and I'm grateful for that."

"Be careful, Katherine. Be smart. This has to be the last time you get in trouble like this. I won't allow Elena to be put in danger again."

"I understand," she promised. Then, sheepishly, she added, "I'm really sorry about your arm."

Logan frowned. "What happened to your arm?"

Unhappily, he grumbled, "She shot me."

Logan's eyes widened fractionally. "When? Tonight?"

"Yes." Damon motioned towards his injured arm.

Logan chuckled darkly. "Hell, you really know to pick sisters, huh?"

Damon grunted in agreement, all the while thinking of Stefan's advice about the dangers of dating sisters. He would have to remember to buy Stefan a beer the next time they were out and ask him for advice. He hoped that Katherine would learn from this experience and go straight, but he was a realistic man. He had to prepare for either outcome.

Elena approached their small group. When Logan spotted her bandaged hand, he asked, "Did your sister shoot you, too?"

Elena frowned at him. "No, I burned myself."

Logan glanced at Damon. "All this time and all those women and you still haven't found one who can cook?"

Elena rolled her eyes. "I burned myself on a pyrography pen. I'm fully capable of cooking a meal without setting a kitchen on fire."

"You will have to prove that by cooking dinner for me," Logan teased.

"Fat chance," Elena shot back rudely.

Damon watched Logan to see how he would respond to Elena. The loan shark surprised him by offering an olive branch.

"And would my chances improve if I arranged a sit-down with your friend and made things right for her?"

Elena hesitated. "I'm not sure that is possible. She is carrying around a lot of hurt and anger over the way that all went down. It isn't just taking her horse and humiliating her father that she holds against you. Her mum died in that awful homeless shelter. Bonnie couldn't even scrape together the money for her mother to have a proper burial. They forced her to cremate her mom and put her in that terrible pauper's field. She doesn't even have a real grave or a place to mourn her mother."

Logan's face darkened. "That wasn't my entire fault."

"I know that. Deep down inside, I'm sure Bonnie knows it. You are just an easier target to hate than the banks and the SEC and everyone else who ruined her life."

Looking at Logan, Damon wondered if this was the first time he had ever considered what really happened to the families connected to the debts he collected. Or maybe it was the first time someone had ever laid it out so plainly to him. Judging by the change in his demeanour, Logan was troubled by the facts that had been presented to him. Damon was left to wonder what his friend would do about it.

Standing back, he gave Elena and her sister some space as they hugged and cried. He hated to see Elena so upset, but there was no other way to help her sister. Hector wouldn't be able to keep the local boys from going after Katherine now that the body in the morgue had been identified as Kai's. Marko would want revenge once Zec used that information he had just obtained to blackmail him.

With his trademark coldness, Zec rasped, "It is time to go."

Elena and Katherine reluctantly separated. They whispered and smiled one last time before Katherine turned her back and headed straight for the stairs leading up into the jet.

Zec eyed Elena with some interest. "So you are the girl who stood up to Kai and then killed him, huh?"

Elena didn't correct him, and Damon was glad for it. Sometimes it was better to be the star of an underworld legend.

Nodding with approval, Zec addressed Damon, "This one will do, Damon."

Confused, Elena looked to him for an explanation but he simply shook his head. Later, if she asked again, he would tell her. Taking her hand, he tugged gently and coaxed her to follow him back to the SUV.

Logan fell into step beside him. "Are you headed home?"

Home sounded so good right now. He wanted to drop into bed with Elena and sleep for the next twenty-four hours—but it had finally occurred to him that he and Elena needed to have a real discussion about their future. Tonight had changed everything. "I need to make a stop first. Why?"

"I can send my doctor to visit you. He can get you patched up if you need it."

"I do." Damon could feel the bandage on his arm growing wet. "Send him in an hour?"

"Sure." Logan broke away toward his own idling car.

Damon wiped the tears off Elena's cheeks and kissed her before helping her into the SUV. The heartache of sending her sister away wouldn't leave her anytime soon. She needed time to grieve, and he needed to remember that. He had promised Katherine that he would be good to Elena. He was determined to keep that vow.

"Where are we going?" Enzo asked after sliding behind the wheel.

Damon rattled off the address as he buckled his seatbelt. Elena kept her gaze glued to her window as they backed out of the hangar and then twisted to look out the rear window. She seemed unable to tear her gaze away from the plane that would carry her sister away.

"She will be fine, Elena." He didn't want her worrying unnecessarily.

"Are you sure?" She bit her lower lip with concern. "That guy with the scar on his throat looked really dangerous."

"He is dangerous," Damon confirmed. "But he won't hurt your sister. We made a deal. He is duty bound to honour it. In a few days, Katherine will call you and you will see that everything is fine."

"I hope so," she answered softly.

x x x

The drive across the sleepy city was quiet and uneventful. They rode in silence, each of them mired in their own thoughts. Damon suspected Enzo was thinking of all the ways he could get out of bodyguard duty as quickly as possible. In the last week, Enzo had been through a baptism by fire. He had gained a better understanding of the city's underbelly and the players and the loyalties and grudges that would always complicate things.

Damon smiled ruefully as it finally dawned on him that his father and the mafia family had planned this from the beginning. He now suspected Giuseppe had known all along that Logan and Zec were scheming to pull off that massive identity theft. Assigning Enzo to Elena had been the family's way of ensuring there was an inside man to report back with information and that Enzo got a much-needed introduction to the city. Before the mafia family could turn Enzo loose on the streets, the family had to test him and be sure that he was trustworthy and loyal. If this week with Elena hadn't proved that, nothing would.

Giuseppe truly was a master when it came to the game of surviving in the underworld…much better than Damon.

"Pull in there," Damon instructed when they reached the half-completed retail centre. Enzo stopped in the parking space Damon had indicated. He glanced at the hulking enforcer. "Wait here. We won't be long."

Damon grabbed the envelope holding the legal paperwork before getting out of the SUV and walking around to Elena's door. She eyed him with confusion as he took her hand and led her to the dark and unfinished building. He hadn't been to the building in a few weeks, but the lockbox combination on the sealed door was the same. He punched in the code, retrieved the keys and opened the door.

"What are we doing here?" Elena followed close behind him and latched onto the back of his jacket so she wouldn't get lost in the dark.

"We are going to talk about our future." He found a light switch. Only one side of the room was illuminated but it was enough for them to see each other.

"Our future? Here?" She glanced around the unfinished building. "In this abandoned place?"

"It doesn't look like much right now, but it will. Give me some time."

"And what will it look like when you are done?"

"Read this." He handed her the envelope. "You will understand."

Gawking at him as if he were crazy, Elena took the envelope. "You realize it is almost two in the morning, right?"

"Humour me, sweetheart."

"All right." Elena opened the envelope and removed the papers inside. She scanned the first document, and her eyes widened. She glanced up at him as if unsure that she actually understood them and then started reading each one. "Damon, what is this?"

"The paperwork for incorporating your business is straight-forward, but you will need an attorney to review them and make recommendations. I have the names of a handful that I trust."

Elena flashed a page at him. "And this?"

"My father and I have decided to turn this into a high-end shopping destination. Sarah will have a gallery of her very own down on the other end. Kazimir and Zoya will move their jewellery store into the larger centre space. And this space," Damon gestured around them, "will be your handbag shop. Maybe you can let Bonnie share the space with you."

"My own shop?" Elena asked in shock.

"I spoke to Rose Slater a few days ago. She knows people in the fashion production industry here. I'm going to get some quotes from her so we can figure out a way to increase your production while still keeping your designs handmade and unique."

"Employees? Me? A boss?"

"You will be good at it," Damon assured her. "You have what it takes to build something truly special here, Elena." Pointing to the real estate paperwork, he said, "After you sign those, you will own this building. Forever," he added. "It is yours."

"Mine? Forever?" Elena repeated in disbelief.

"Whatever you decide about me, this place will be yours irrevocably."

She narrowed her eyes. "Whatever I decide about you? What does that mean?"

"It means that we can't go on as we are, Elena." Even before Katherine had shot him, even before the misunderstanding with Marissa, Damon had come to accept that as fact.

Visibly crushed, Elena asked, "Are you breaking up with me? Is this your parting gift? Is this supposed to make up for not having you? Because if that is the case, I don't want it. I only want you. Just you. Always."

"Elena," Damon said with a tired laugh, "of course not. You and I are so tangled up in each other we can never be separated. The only way I'm walking away from you is if you walk out the door first and leave me behind."

"That is impossible," Elena said simply. "I don't ever want to let you go."

"Good." His heart thudded powerfully in his chest. "Because I love you, Elena."

Elena burst into tears. Taken aback, Damon wasn't sure if they were tears of joy or sadness. Crossing the distance between them, he embraced her with his uninjured arm and kissed her cheek. "Don't cry. Elena, talk to me."

She wound her arms around his neck and kissed him hard. Rising on tiptoes, she deepened their kiss to one of such passion that it left him throbbing and lightheaded. "I love you, Damon," she whispered as she gazed adoringly up at him. "I love you so much."

"Then there is only one thing for us to do," he said firmly.

"And what is that?"

"Tomorrow, we both fly to Vegas to celebrate my birthday. We will bring Enzo and Bonnie with us."

"And then?" Elena asked breathlessly, her eyes alight with hope and excitement.

"And then we get married," Damon said matter-of-factly. "We make it official. You and me. We get married." He kissed her until she started laughing. Pulling back, he smiled at her and brushed his fingers down her cheek. "What?"

"Is this really a proposal?"

"Do you want me to kneel? I will." He started to slide down to one knee but she stopped him.

"Don't be silly!"

With a mischievous grin, Damon reminded her, "You enjoyed yourself the last time I was kneeling in front of you."

"Damon!" A blush darkened her cheeks and ears.

Laughing, he kissed her again. More serious, he traced her lower lip and asked properly, "Will you marry me, Elena?"

Her lip trembled beneath his thumb. "Yes, Damon. I will marry you."

This time their kiss seemed never-ending. Neither wanted it to end as they celebrated their decision to spend their lives together and to build a family.

"Are we really going to do this?" Elena asked as Damon combed his fingers though her beautiful hair. "Just run away to Vegas and get married?"

"It is the most obvious thing, isn't it? You love me. I love you. It is what people do when they love each other the way we do. I didn't know it was possible to love like this until you, Elena." He took her hand and put it over his heart. "I didn't know it was possible to feel like this."

"Neither did I," Elena admitted. Lightening the mood, she pointed out, "We won't have much of a honeymoon. You are probably going to end up with stitches tonight, and I have a gauze paw complicating things."

"Elena, you underestimate me." Damon let his hand ride the curve of her back right down to her plump bottom. "I can think of twenty different ways to have you that won't hurt either of us."

Elena arched her brow. "Only twenty?"

"Careful," he warned. "Twenty-one includes leather cuffs and silk rope."

"And twenty-two?" Elena asked with a playful smile.

Damon laughed and kissed her again. He loved her so much. After everything they had survived in the last week, there was nothing they couldn't face now. Hand in hand, side by side, they would create a new life together, one filled with love and passion and happiness

And nothing in this whole wide world would stop.