He had only been driving for The Boss for about a month. In that time, he had seen faces from the Most Wanted list, faces locked in grimaces of terror, faces distorted by cruelty. He figured it was some sort of test, splashing secrets in front of the new guy to check his reliability. So he kept the partition up when the car had one, kept his eyes on the road when it didn't, and stubbornly refused to remember a single thing he saw or heard. Whenever people got to talking around him, swapping stories about something that had happened, he would always shrug and say, "Huh, I must have missed that."

So it didn't surprise him when he was told The Boss' daughter was flying in and that he was being sent to the airport to pick her up. He was surprised to find she had requested to be driven instead of taking the private helicopter, but he wasn't about to object to an easy job. He parked where he had been told to park (lot C, space 42), stood by the back driver's side door (where he had been instructed to stand while waiting), and was quickly approached by two men in matching black suits. One stood staring at him, arms crossed and gun on display, while the other quickly checked the car, inside and out. He even ran a small mirror under the chassis.

A minute or two after he had muttered something into the earpiece he was wearing, the second man stepped back. The first stayed where he was, glaring at Magnum as if daring him to complain about their attitude. For the next minute or so, while a young, blonde-haired woman made her way over to the car, the three men stood in silence.

Finally, as the woman drew level with them, the man who had so far done nothing but stare at Magnum and flash his gun turned and gave a respectful nod. "Pleasure to see you again, Miss."

"I'm sure."

She didn't sound like she was particularly pleased or that she believed the man standing in front of her was pleased either. From the look on her face, a strange mixture of resignation and arrogance, she didn't think anyone cared much about her pleasure and didn't care about the pleasure of the men still standing around the car.

"Can I get in now?" She didn't wait for an answer, just strode toward the open door like she expected anything stupid enough to get in her way would melt and vanish before it could inconvenience her.

Magnum didn't react beyond giving a quick tap to the brim of the hat of his chauffeur's uniform. He counted to two in his head before pushing the door closed, making sure she had time to move any body parts or clothes away from the door. Then, without sparing the two men so much as a glance, he climbed back into the driver's seat.

There was no partition to raise, so he kept his eyes fixed on the road, apart from the few glances in the rearview mirror that he couldn't stop himself from taking. She was beautiful. Blonde hair sitting in gentle curls on her shoulders, brown eyes flashing deep amber when the sun hit the window, slim waist and long legs highlighted by the cunningly designed dress that clung and shifted as she moved.

If she noticed him stealing glances, she didn't care. Whether she was just used to men staring at her, whether she enjoyed men staring at her, or whether she was genuinely oblivious, he didn't know. He didn't care. Let her think he was looking because of her beauty. Let her think he was just another in the long line of men who had been ensnared by her. Let her think she didn't need to pay attention to him. She'd learn soon enough.

Thomas Magnum was eight years old when his father was murdered by the man he now worked for. He hadn't understood at the time what it had meant, why it had happened. As he'd gotten older and increasingly stubborn, he had dug into it. He'd found the witness statements that had been dismissed by the crooked lawyers. He'd found the list of witnesses who had been intimidated by the muscle. He'd found the name of the man's daughter. And he'd decided The Boss, as he'd eventually become, needed to suffer. Not with fines that he would never pay or court cases he would never lose. He needed to have something taken away from him.

Magnum let his eyes flicker over the face of the young woman sitting in the back seat, eyes now fixed on a tablet that her fingers were flying over. He wasn't a violent man; his stomach twisted as he contemplated his plan. But his mother's face floated before his eyes, eyes sunken and dull, skin pale, the picture of misery and exhaustion, the image of a woman who didn't have the strength to carry on without her husband, and he felt his resolve strengthen. His father had been murdered, shot down on a street corner like some rabid dog. His mother had spiralled into a depression she had never been able to get out of. He had lost his childhood trying to care for her, trying, at eight years old, to be the man of the house. He was going to get revenge for it all.

He was going to kill Juliet Higgins.

…

The argument had been raging for over half an hour. Her father was furious with her for trying to disobey him, trying to take some measure of control over her own life. But she just wasn't backing down. Magnum found himself admitting that he admired her. He'd been listening to the entire fight, The Boss having called him and told him that he was needed.

"My daughter will be going out soon," he'd said, not even looking up as Magnum had stood in front of him. "You'll drive her; wait outside."

Magnum, still eager to be seen as the dutiful employee, had done as he was told. He'd smiled at Juliet as she'd walked past and had been delighted to see her offer a shy smile in return. They had spent a dangerous amount of time together over the past two weeks, time that Magnum had convinced himself was necessary to get her to drop her guard around him so he could kill her without her putting up too much of a fight. He was afraid, given the way he was feeling anger bubbling up at what he was hearing, that he had been lying to himself.

"He's over twice my age! He's a disgusting, lecherous old man who's only interested because I'm not even twenty-five yet and will stop being interested the second I hit twenty-six!"

"That is enough!"

"Is that really how little I matter to you? You would happily see me married off to a man who will take advantage of his marital rites and then cheat on me for the rest of his miserable life?"

"How dare you talk about him like this!"

"How else am I meant to talk about him? Tell me! How else am I supposed to describe a bloated rat of a man who fawns over young girls and gropes anything with a pulse?"

Even through the tightly closed door, Magnum heard the sound of the blow, a vicious crack that had him reaching for the door handle without even thinking. The strangled cry stopped him in his tracks, his mind racing as he realised he had nearly stormed into the room after being told to wait outside, a move that would have been near-suicidal even without the brutal argument he had been listening to.

The voices had dropped now, but he was close enough to still be able to eavesdrop.

"Please," and he felt an odd twist in his stomach as he realised Juliet was crying, "please don't make me do this."

"My decision has already been made."

There was silence for a few seconds, then, as he heard Juliet dissolve into helpless tears, Magnum realised The Boss must have left through the other door. He stayed where he was, where he had been told to wait, and tried to tell himself that he really wasn't feeling like he wanted to go into the library and comfort the young woman who was sobbing just beyond the door.

As the minutes ticked by, and the sound of crying grew fainter, Magnum started to wonder if he really had the stomach to kill Juliet after all.

'Maybe there's another way,' some small voice whispered to him. He tried to ignore the fact that it sounded like his dad; he tried to reach down and grab hold of the anger that had directed every decision he had made throughout his adult life.

'Taking her away doesn't have to mean killing her,' his dad's voice told him, almost sounding smug, like it knew a secret it was finally getting ready to share.

The door clicking open shook Magnum out of his thoughts, and he lifted his gaze from the floor to find himself face to face with Juliet. Her eyes were already reddening, standing out garishly against her far too pale face. Tears were still trickling down her cheeks, highlighting the bruise that was forming on her left cheek, and she made no attempt to hide them; she obviously knew he would have heard her weeping through the door.

"I can't believe he's doing this." Her voice was hoarse, ragged from the shouting and the crying. Her hands, as she finally raised them to her wet cheeks, were trembling, barely able to swipe away the tears.

Magnum felt his stomach twist in sympathy; he knew the reputation of Henry, the 'business partner' The Boss had just told Juliet she was to marry in a month. Various brave young women, some of them little more than girls, had come forward to accuse him of sexual assault only for the cases to be dropped when the victims 'disappeared.' The idea of Juliet being tied to such a monster was sickening.

"I heard everything." His heart lurched a little as it let his brain in on its desperate plan. "Come with me."

Juliet's eyes widened, and she stared at him in horror. "Please don't," she whispered, glancing around nervously, looking to see if anyone was close enough to overhear her. "I know my father told you to take me to Henry, but please don't!"

She reached out and grabbed his hands with hers, holding him so tightly he could feel the blood pulsing through his fingers. She looked around again, saw they were alone, but still lowered her voice and leaned in closer.

"I'll run away," she breathed, hardly making a sound, "I'll run away and leave a note saying you had nothing to do with it! I won't let him blame you, I promise. Just please give me a chance to get away! Just a few minutes head start, I'm begging you!"

Magnum pulled one of his hands from hers and put a finger to her lips to stop the words from tumbling from her mouth. His heart was racing, partly from joy at the thought that she trusted him enough to ask him to betray her father and partly from fear that she would reject the plan he was about to share with her.

"Come away with me," he clarified, begging her with his eyes to agree. "I don't know where we'll go, but there has to be somewhere your father can't get to us." He watched with bated breath as her eyes filled with tears again.

"You have no idea, do you? How powerful he really is. If I run, he'll find me and kill me. I'd prefer that to marrying any of his friends. But I can't let you get killed because of me. I won't…"

"My dad was murdered by your father." He whispered the words as quickly as he could, cutting her off. Her jaw dropped, but he didn't give her any time to react, needing to assure her that he was aware of the danger, needing to convince her that he thought she was worth it.

"I took this job to get close to your father so I could get close to you. To get revenge on him." He kept talking, ignoring the way he could see the wheels in her head spinning. "I wanted him to know how it feels to lose something so precious. I was planning… I was going to…" He couldn't say it.

If he was honest with himself, he'd always known he wouldn't actually be able to murder someone. Even to get revenge for his father's death, for his mother's suffering, cold-blooded murder was The Boss' style, not his. But this crazy idea he'd had? These last two weeks had shown him that this was something he could do so easily.

"Come away with me. I don't care if we have to spend the rest of our lives on the run. I don't care if we have to keep looking over our shoulders." He put his hands on her shoulders as he spoke, seeing emotions flashing over her face but not being able to read them. "I think I love you." He spoke as sincerely as he could without raising his voice.

They stood there in silence, the seconds stretching out as she tried to make sense of everything she had just heard. He waited for her answer, desperately hoping she would be able to move past his original intentions. She swallowed hard, his eyes tracking the movement of her throat. Her hands, hanging in midair where he'd left them when he pulled his hand away, came up and gripped his upper arms so tightly he winced.

"You were planning on killing me." It wasn't a question. "And now you want to run away with me." She watched as he nodded, looking for something in his eyes. Her lips pursed a little as she scrutinised his face.

"Okay," she breathed finally. "Meet me at the car in five minutes." And she let go of his arms, turned, and ran down the hallway.

…

Magnum stretched and reached over for his drink, yawning as his fingers touched the condensation-covered glass. Juliet shifted a little; she was curled up next to him, her head on his chest, and didn't appreciate the movement making her head slip to the side.

"Sorry," Magnum whispered, ignoring his drink in favour of pressing a light kiss to her forehead. "Go back to sleep."

She shifted a little more, getting her head back into a comfortable position. A small sigh escaped her as she let herself drift back off, a look of utter contentment on her face as the sound of Magnum's heartbeat, echoed by the shushing of the ocean waves, filled her ears.

Magnum couldn't help but smile as he looked down at her, ignoring the way Rick and T.C., two old friends who'd helped him and Juliet flee from her father, rolled their eyes good-naturedly at the look on his face. He knew he looked goofily happy, staring down at the blonde curls spilling over his tan skin, and he didn't care one bit. Five years since running from The Boss, since they had shown up at Rick's door and begged him for the sort of help only his honorary father could offer, and the sight of Juliet could still make Magnum's heart race.

He let his eyes slide over to the newspaper Rick was reading and delighted in the headline all over again. 'Infamous Mafia Don In Chains,' it screamed in huge bold letters. For reasons best known to themselves and their lawyers, several of The Boss' crew had turned State's Evidence. The organization was in ruins, and the man himself was now just under twenty-four hours into multiple life sentences.

Rick caught Magnum looking and grinned, waggling the paper a little as if to emphasize the writing on the front page.

"So, T.M., what's next?" T.C. offered a grin of his own as he asked the question. "I mean, making the daughter of your nemesis fall in love with you and then making her and yourself disappear is gonna be pretty hard to beat."

"I have Robin to thank for that," Magnum answered, taking the opportunity to once again send a mental note of thanks to his father's old friend for offering him and Juliet a safe place to live on Oahu.

"Still, the whole thing was impressive. And just a little insane." And T.C. smirked at his own words.

"Yeah, Tommy." Rick jumped into the conversation. "Planning on something easy this time? Solving world hunger?"

Magnum shook his head with a grin at his friend's nonsense and looked down at his pocket where a small velvet-covered box was safely nestled. He'd been waiting for the right time to offer the ring to Juliet for over a year. The day her father finally started to pay for his crimes seemed like a perfect time to him.

"You know," he said finally, looking back up to see two very knowing looks being directed at him, "I think I'll try something a little more extreme." And, to the sound of Rick and T.C. laughing, he pulled the box out, putting it carefully on the table where Juliet would see it when she woke up.