I opened my eyes. I didn't have my glasses on. I had fallen asleep, and I didn't know how long it had been. I leaned over to one of the bedside tables looking for my glasses. I found them in the other one and put them on.

Outside it was night and you could see the snow falling. Christian wasn't by my side. I got out of bed and headed for the bathroom. I arrived in front of the mirror and dared for the first time to look at myself.

My face was a mess. On my eyebrow there was a scar of at least two centimeters. I touched myself gently there.

— Ouch! —it still hurt.

My eyebrow was somewhat swollen with a slightly purple eye.

Then I stared at the little chain with the badges on my neck. —I don't think I was ever going to take them off. —I said as I went back to the room and looked in one of the suitcases for some clothes to wear. When I was dressed and presentable, I left the room. I picked up my phone that I had left charging on the bedside table the night before. I had several calls from Kate and many more from my mom. And I decided to make a brief call first to my mother and then to Kate so that they wouldn't worry.

Mom was hysterical and super worried, but she was calmer after talking to me. And Kate, however, was upset that I had hung up on her.

— Why did you hang me?

—I didn't, my battery's dead.

—We were worried, we all knew what happened at the convention. Are you all right?

—Yes, we're fine.

—But the media don't say much. Did they steal the prototype?

—Yes, the feds are already in charge. —I answered her evasively.

And I'm engaged to one of them.

I was dying to tell you about my engagement to Christian. But it was neither the time nor the place to do it. We would find a way to do it.

— So you're coming back?

—I don't think so, Kate, not until this situation is resolved.

—You keep me informed.

—I will. —I said to her as I hung up on him.

I didn't want to involve her in the things I was involved in. I left the room in search of Christian and found him in the living room. He was sitting with his laptop on his lap. Very focused on what he was doing. More than concentrated, now that I was getting closer to him, he looked worried.

— Is everything all right? —I asked him as I sat next to him. —You look worried. —I said to him as I pulled a lock of hair away from his face.

—Yes, I have a little problem accessing the security cameras where the thieves are. —he said to me as he got another denied access sign on the screen.

— May I? —I asked him while he looked at me raising an eyebrow.

—All right. —he said to me as he handed me the laptop. And I quickly got on it. —But I don't think you can do much, I've been trying for almost an hour and it's completely impossible.

—That's it. —I told him, giving him back his laptop.

— How did you do it so fast?

—You had almost done it, you were just putting a wrong code. —I said to him, lying on his shoulder.

— Wouldn't you be interested in working for the CIA?

—No thanks, I love my job.

And then he stared seriously at the screen.

—I think we'd better get going. —he said as he closed the laptop and put it on the sofa.

Christian went out to the room, took one of the suitcases and put it on the bed. And then he opened a compartment I hadn't seen. He took out two bulletproof vests and stretched out one for me. He took his pistol and several other accessories along with two extra magazines.

And I watched him twist something into the barrel of the gun.

— What's that? —I asked curiously.

—A silencer. —he said to me as he finished adjusting it and began to put the other one on. —And a flashlight. —he said as he finished fitting the accessories.

He took his phone, a black leather jacket and a little box.

— Aren't you going to call your team?

—Only if we need to act, we'll just go see what they're up to. Let's go. —he said to me, holding out his phone. —I'm going to need you to guide me to where they're going.

As we passed through the living room I stared at the laptop on the sofa.

— Do you mind if I take it?

—If you think it can be useful to you, go ahead.

I picked up the laptop and we headed for the underground parking lot. As soon as we got in the car I turned on the phone and led Christian to where the little blinking dot on the map was. It had been stopped for almost half an hour.

I took out the laptop I had brought with me and started doing extra work. Five minutes later I already had a map of the place where he was. I took the map and transposed it with the pager on Christian's phone.

I closed the laptop.

Twenty minutes later we were stopping in front of a nightclub.

—It's in there. —I said to him as I saw the phone in my hands again.

The dot hadn't moved yet.

—They are not as stupid as I thought, they decided to meet in a public and crowded place. —he said to me as he took out the little box and opened it.

Inside were the headphones and microphones. I knew what I had to do, so I took my game and put it on.

— Aren't we going to wait? —I asked him as I watched him unzip his seat belt.

He got out of the car and turned around. He opened the door and held out his hand to me.

— Shall we go? —he said with a sensual smile on his lips.

—I don't think I'm dressed up for a nightclub. —I said to him, looking at the jeans I was wearing at the time.

—You're perfect like that. —I got out of the car.

Christian smiled sweetly at me. He lifted one of his hands towards my face. And as he caressed me, he brought his face closer to mine to give me a kiss full of love and passion. He separated from me and took me by the hand and led me towards the entrance of the club.

I had no idea what he was gonna do to get into the club. When we arrived at the entrance where there were two huge guys Christian smiled at them, put his hand inside the jacket and pulled out a wad of bills.

— Do you think I could come in with my girl and have some fun? —he told them, holding out the wad of bills that one of the guys quickly took.

—Welcome brother. —he said as he opened the door to let us in.

—That was easy. —I said to him knowing that he could hear me perfectly.

—Now comes the hard part. —I felt his warm voice in my ear perfectly despite the thunderous music.

We walked down a short corridor as the music grew louder and louder. Inside the lights and the loud music wouldn't let me hear what Christian was saying to me. He passed an arm over my shoulders in a protective way and led me to the bar.

—A whiskey and a soda. —he shouted to the waiter as he held out a bill.

And our drinks were quickly in front of us.

Christian led me to a private room and sat by my side. He wet his lips with whiskey as I watched him scan the place, trying to locate the people we were following.

And then I saw him.

I could never forget that face.

—At the end and towards the corridor. —I told him while I was sipping my soda.

— Where exactly is he going? —he asked himself a very low question, but I listened to him perfectly.

—I've updated a map of the place, so there's no loss. At the back there's an office and a supply store downstairs. —I said to him holding the phone while he looked at me impressed.

— How did you...? Forget it. —he said to me as he stole a kiss from me and held my hand tightly. —Let's go.

Christian pulled me onto the dance floor and we started dancing to the catchy rhythm of Hailee Steinfeld's Love Myself.

His body stuck to mine, his hands on my waist, seducing me with his movements as he slid them to my buttocks and back to my waist. I wrapped my hands around his neck and slid them across his chest, letting the song flow through my body and forgetting everything around me.

Christian moved us among the people as we danced. Driving us to our destination. Everyone ignorant of what was really going on. We arrived in the hallway and Christian took me by the hand and led me there as he kissed me by squeezing me against the wall, his hands sliding down my body, making a groan escape my lips. I knew we were pretending, but I couldn't help but be excited by his caresses.

When we reached the end of the corridor and turned, there was another corridor on the right and at the end were the stairs to the cellar. Only when we were out of sight of the people did it separate from me. Christian pulled out his gun and stared at me. I knew what that look meant.

—Stay behind me at all the time. —he said to me very low.

He slowly came down the stairs in front of me, wielding his weapon and covering my body with his. He slowly opened the door and glanced through a crack before taking us further into the warehouse. We hid behind some boxes and Christian took a quick look at the place before he hid next to me again.

—I have already located them, but they are not alone, there are more people with them. —he said in an almost inaudible whisper.

— What are you going to do? —I asked him with fear.

—For now, I want to see what they're up to. See who they're going to sell the prototype to.

At that moment there was the sound of someone on the stairs we had just entered.

Christian took me by the hand and moved me from where we were to a small hole behind a shelf that was completely dark. He leaned me against the wall as he covered my body with his and placed a finger on my lips.

The steps felt closer and then moving away in the direction of where the group was gathered. Christian took me by the hand and very carefully and quietly led me to another hidden place a little closer to where the group was. He put a finger on my lips again and hid my body with his as we listened to the conversation.

—You' re all here now, it's a good thing you got here on such short notice.

—Why have you gathered us here, Dago?

—Well, to officially inform them that we will hold an auction tomorrow night where there will be high-value objects among them the famous prototype of artificial intelligence.

— Where will the auction be? —was the voice of a woman.

—I will send you the indications with the place and the time.

I quickly looked for Christian's phone in his jacket pocket. I was just hoping he had the program I needed. Yes, perfect. I quickly logged in and infiltrated one of the phones by copying spyware into it. So whatever they sent there, we would receive here. I put the phone back in its place.

— Can we see it?

—We're not stupid enough to bring it with us. It's kept in a safe place until the auction tomorrow, and I hope you' ll bring a lot of money because only the highest bidder will take it. You can leave, wait for directions.

At that moment I felt the sound of footsteps again where we had entered. Until a few minutes later there was no sound at all.

—I think it's time to go. —Christian whispered to me as we left our hiding place.

—Well, well. But there were several rats hidden in the closet. —said a voice from behind us.

And then it all happened quickly. The shot that passed by us, barely audible and Christian pushing me to another side to aim and shoot the one who had discovered us. The man quickly fell to the ground. And Christian came quickly in my direction.

— Are you all right? —He asked me with concern as he reached where I was on the floor and reached out to me.

—Yes, I'm fine. —I took his hand.

Christian led me to the man lying on the ground, losing blood, shot in the head. He wasn't the one who stole the prototype, he was another one I'd never seen in my life.