Hi guys! I'm here with another chapter! Not many thins happen in this one, it's more like a link. Hope you like it anyway! J-ru , I've already got my twitter on my profile, I'm waiting for you to sign up! ;) I'll tell you about my exams then haha. Thank you everyone for reading and for you awesome comments. Enjoy it! C.

"I can search you, or Vito can. You can decide." I glared at her, but it didn't seem like she was going to let this one go. So I threw my backpack at her feet. The jacket tumbled out of the straps. Then I yanked off my shoes and tossed those to her. My T-shirt was sweaty. I hoped it grossed her out, but then I remembered who she was married to.

I emptied the pockets of my jeans onto the bed before dropping my pants and kicking those to her.

"Happy?" I asked. "Underwear too," was her response. Really? I was wearing a fucking thong, what could be in there?

I scowled andtook it off. I threw it at her. She caught it, held it up for inspection, then dropped it on the floor. She could have given it back, but no. I had to stand there buck-ass naked while she very thoroughly searched my clothing, felt the seams of my jeans and jacket, took the lining and laces out of my new Chucks, upended my backpack and combed the contents, took the battery out of my cheap phone, and finally made me spin in a circle to make sure there wasn't a wire taped anywhere on my body.

It was humiliating. Which was exactly what she wanted it to

be.

"You broke his heart when you left," she said. "That's dumb. I've already got a father." I replied, not that it was true though, but I was thinking about Trick.

"Get dressed." Gee, and I was so enjoying standing here naked. I pulled on my clothes, put my wallet and cell back in my pocket, and sat on the bed. "So what now?" I asked. "Are you hungry?" She sounded like she was being nice, but the face was still angry. "Starving."

"Come on."

I followed her back downstairs. She pointed at the kitchen table. I sat down. Then she brought me a beer—they kept them in the fridge for company—and pulled out the makings of a sandwich. I remembered why I used to like this woman back then, when they were the only I had, those awful months they were the closest thing to a family I had. A year and a half had gone by since I'd been in this house. But this woman remembered that I liked turkey and Swiss. No tomato. Pepper, but no salt. She used the good mustard, the kind reserved for Vito, and not offered to anyone else. That meant she still liked me. She even found a stockpile of Cheetos.

A door slammed somewhere. "Where the hell is she?" Vito shouted. "If you're gonna kill me, can I finish this sandwich first?" I shouted back, right now I only hoped the answer was yes.

Vito stomped into the kitchen. His wife set a second sandwich on the table. Then gave Vito a look that made him sit down. He ate the first half of his sandwich without breaking the death stare he was giving me. For the second half he looked everywhere except at me.

When we were done eating, yes, we both cared too much about food, sometimes I wondered if we were related, Vito stood and grabbed the collar of my shirt. I snagged my beer and let him drag me to my feet.

"Wait," She said said. "Not now." Vito twisted my shirt so it was choking me a little. "You need to know—" "Not now!" Vito hauled me into the study. "What the hell are you doing here?" "Where the hell else am I going to go?"

"I don't care where you go." "I got nothing, Vito." "That is not my problem." "Just help me out a little, okay? I need somewhere to hide. I need some way across the border. Help me, please," I was begging. I was giving him the power. He liked power.

"No. You made your choice. The family will not help you. Now get out of my house." Vito pointed toward the door.

"Fine. Pay me and I'll go." I didn't stand. I just took a drink of my beer.

"Pay you? Pay you what?"

"Don't play dumb. It was a stupid fucking accident, but I still deserve to get paid. You owe me that at least."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

For a moment, I thought he was just covering his ass. It's not a good idea to admit that your associates put a contract on someone. But then I realized that he actually didn't know.

"Oh my God." "What?" "You don't know." "I don't know what?" And that was when his phone rang. He grunted some mono-

syllabic words, glared at me, grunted some more, then hung up. "Stay here."

I waited all of sixty seconds before following him to the TV.

"...crime of passion. The agents in charge of the investigation report only that the murder was brutal, the victim stabbed half a dozen times, before the suspect fled the scene. The suspect, Isabeau Dennis, is thought to be armed and should be considered dangerous. The victim's brother, is also sought for questioning; however, the police maintain that he is not a suspect in this case."

Vito turned off the TV and slowly turned to look at me. "You killed Lauren."

I spun and walked back to the kitchen. I left my empty beer bottle by the sink and grabbed a fresh one. After a fruitless two minute search for a bottle opener, I sat cross-legged on the floor, and stared at the beer that I couldn't open. Vito took the bottle out of my hands, popped the top with an opener that was stuck to the side of the fridge, and handed it back. I drank half. Burped. Hiccupped.

"She was going to leave me," I told my beer. "Lauren?" Vito asked. "Yeah. I was going to propose and she decided to leave me. I bought a ring and everything. When I showed Dyson, he told me not to do it. The bastard knew. He knew she was going to leave me, for another woman again, that fucking blonde bitch, Tamsin or something like that." I had tos ay something and I knew her lovely mother would be listening. "They were going to take off with the money and leave me with nothing. After all I fucking did for them." I looked up at Vito. "After all I fucking did for them," I shouted. "Now I got nothing."

"Come on." Vito held out his hand. I took it and let him pull me to my feet. "Do you have a change of clothes? We are going to see someone."

"I have a clean T-shirt." I shrugged.

"Okay, go change." Vito tried to take the beer, but I wouldn't give it up.

I went upstairs, changed into a less funky shirt, and put my shoes back on. I remembered to grab the jacket. Hopefully, it would cool down enough for me to wear it.

Vito was waiting downstairs. He was on his phone. I waited until he ended the call. He clapped a hand on my shoulder and led me out to the car.

I realized as I climbed in the passenger seat that this might be my last car ride. Which was fucking depressing so I ignored that particular thought. Vito was a pretty easy guy to read. When he was pissed, he let you know. And when he was feeling kind, he showed it. He had opened my beer. That was nice Vito. Nice Vito didn't want to kill me.

I was placing all my bets on someone opening a beer. Not a great move.

I didn't pay much attention to where we were driving until I realized that we were in a familiar neighborhood. Evony's neighborhood.

"What the fuck, man?"

"Excuse me?" Vito asked. "You're taking me to Evony. She will kill my ass for sure." "Ev won't kill you. She may not like you very much, but she isn't going to kill you." Ev? What the fuck? "The bitch is psycho," I said. "Hey, watch your tongue. She could have killed you a hundred times and she didn't." He liked her, I could tell. "Great, that makes me feel all better." I rolled my eyes. "If I die, it's your damn fault." "Calm down." Vito parked in front of Evony's house. "I'm having trouble staying calm in general. This is not helping."

Vito got out of the car and waited for me on the sidewalk. Reluctantly, I got out. For good measure, I pulled on my jacket. It was getting dark. Good enough. By the time we got to the door Evony was waiting. She looked not happy. We followed her inside.

Alexis, and Vito went into another room, leaving me with two angry looking thugs. "Hey, guys." Nothing.

"You want something to drink?" I turned to go into the kitchen. "Sit down," One of them said. "Fine." I fell onto the couch. As far as they knew, I'd done them a massive favor. They could at least be cool about it. We spent an awesome ten minutes in silence. They were trying to have a staring contest with me. I made just enough eye contact for them to know I was aware of it, then pointedly, disinterestedly, looked away.

"Bo," the new boss, Evony, said. "Evony." I figured if we were saying names. "I understand that I owe you a debt of gratitude, or that's what my predecessor would have said." "Whatever."

She stepped closer to me. From behind her, Vito gave me a hard look that made me get off my ass. As I stood, she held out her hand. I shook it.. But that wasn't her plan, she pulled me much closer and she kissed me hard, but briefly. She smelled like lavender, but with something musky underneath it. And cigarettes.

Evony gestured to Vito who handed her a small duffle bag. Then she gave me the duffle. It was lightweight and a little bulky. Cash.

"For taking care of the problem," she said. "Huh?" "That bothering bitch who considered herself too good for the family." I didn't like not being able to answer that, or to punch her in her face.

"Killing your competitor is only worth ten grand? So you're cheap, in addition to being an asshole." I spatted. "I had no competiton, not back then, no never."

"We will escort you to a safe house. In a few days, we will have arranged for new identification and safe passage to Canada." She expected me to fall at her feet and thank her. Fat fucking chance. But something was wrong, how on earth would Evony let this go, and give me money for it? Something was really wrong, she knew I still had 'their' money, I killed the fucking boss. More importantly, I hadn't gotten enough information. Unless being an evil asshole was a crime. Which totally should have been.

I guess I was too quiet for too long because Vito said, "Bo?" "What?" I jerked a little when he said my name. "Are you all right?"

"Uhh, yeah. I was trying to think of decent leverage to keep me alive, but I got nothing. So, please don't kill me?" I realized after I said it that it was exactly what Lauren would have said, trying to look hopeless but never loosing the sarcasm, so I could still feel some dignity . And she was Smart, wasn't she?

The safe house they took me to was in a suburban neighborhood outside the city limits. It looked like a lot of other suburban neighborhoods I'd been in.

They led me inside the house. I was given a room on the second floor and told to keep away from the windows. One of their lackeys took the room across the hall. The other one took the one next to mine. Evonyclaimed the master bedroom, obviously, wait, why the fuck was she staying? How was I supossed to sleep like that? Vito went out to get us some dinner, he on the other hand, was good news, he liked me and that felt like a little protection. I felt naked, vulnerable, more than ever.

I jumped on the bed and look at the ceiling. I needed to clear my head, I didn't know why I was still alive, why they had been so kind to me. Something was wrong, I could smell it. I assumed that they would want more information to decide what to do with me, but why let me live? They had everything they wanted, I here, Lauren supposedly dead. They just lacked the money, that had to be it, I didn't even have an excuse for that. If Lauren was dead, I would have the money and I wouldn't be asking for help, at least not money. Damn, I hadn't thought of that, the fuckng detective hadn't thought of that. I had to buy time, probably the little I had left.

So..?