A/N: I'm sorry that I've been away and it took so long to get this out! Summer has gotten away from me and has been quite busy. I hope you all enjoy this!

The rest of the afternoon was spent forgetting about our families and the guys' less than reputable side business. I quickly found out that Elliot is a huge goof, and he quickly made me feel at ease.

"…Christian took off his pants and underwear and started yelling 'I need pee-pee!'" Elliot hoots as he tells me story after story of embarrassing stories about Christian. The only person who didn't enjoy it was the man sitting on the other end of the couch with his arms crossed, pretty freaking adorable.

"Don't worry, it's sweet," I tried reassuring him. "It shows me a different side of you."

Christian huffs, but I could see his body start to loosen. "Should we get back to business?" he asks.

Great. The one thing I didn't want to revisit today. The last couple of hours I was happily pretending we were friends hanging out.

"Okay," I concede. We all make our way to Christian's office; Elliot and I take the seats in front of Christian's large oak desk.

"Welch is getting you a new identity; it'll be ready within the week but until then we can't move you," he explains to me. I felt a small pit in my stomach grow when he said I'll be leaving within the week.

My head was still jumbled up with our conversation from last night and I've had no chance to sort any of it out, but the only thing I was sure of was that I'm starting to develop an undeniable connection to Christian. I couldn't explain nor understand how I could feel this way about someone I barely knew. I wasn't even afraid of his feelings towards me when I normally would be running from any emotional connection. I'm still kind of scared of opening up and Christian getting to know the real me. Knowing that he's been attracted to me this entire time makes me worried that he has a romanticized image of me. Especially since he doesn't know me, which means that he's confusing his physical attraction for deeper feelings, right? But still, that stubborn side of me wants to stick around so I get to know him better.

Then there's also that other side of me that's terrified. Yes, these guys are all nice now, but they're in the fucking mafia. They've more than likely killed more people than I could fathom. If I stay this world will chew me up and spit me out… if I were lucky to survive it that is.

" – We'll also scrub everything about you online from your name to your pictures."

"Wait, so it'll be like I never existed?" I ask, absolutely stunned.

"It's how it's got to be, short of going under the knife, it's the best that we can do," he shrugs. "They'll always be after you."

It'll be like I never existed and I'll probably never see these people again.

"Ana?" I hear Christian speak breaking my train of thought.

"Sorry guys just got lost in thought. This is a lot to take in," I reply.

"What were you thinking about?" Christian asks, curiously.

"All of this," I said dryly.

"I know it's a lot, but soon we'll get you out of the country and you'll be able to live a semi-normal life," he assures me.

I gave him a weak smile. "What are your next moves? What's happening in the city?"

"It's a shit storm," Elliot laughs sarcastically.

"Do you know anything about what's happening with my family?" I ask.

Christian groans, "Danny and Roberto set up a meeting with my father-"

"Is your dad okay?" I interject, worriedly.

"He was, don't worry," Christian chuckles, "They can't just shoot a high ranked family member if they didn't intend to start a war and with the current climate they can't afford that."

"That's good," I sat back down relieved.

"What happened during the meeting?"

"Danny was adamant I kidnapped you, but Roberto wasn't as easily persuaded."

"Do you think my uncle is innocent?" I asked, then backtracked quickly, "I mean as innocent as he could be…"

"You mean compared to Danny? Yeah, I think he is," Christian answers.

"Why?"

"Because he's a good man despite his occupation."

I laugh softly; it was all so ironic. Everyone involved could all technically be labelled as evil criminals yet here we were discussing the variation of their innocence, so many shades of gray.

After a few moments of quiet murmuring between the two of them, I finally interject that I wanted to help… At least just to get my uncle out of there.

"What do you mean?" Elliot asks excitedly.

"Help end this spat between our two families, and get my uncle out," I answer.

"NO!" Christian growls.

"Relax brother," Elliot replies.

"No, you are not getting in between this, Ana," he closes his eyes, probably trying to calm down. "No matter what I feel you have to get out of the country. It's what's best for you."

I eye him carefully, he looked torn: pain, sadness, and anger? I shook away the feelings and sighed.

"I don't want to risk dying, but I'm not going to let more people die on my account and I don't want either of our families to start killing each other off. What if I could somehow get them to change their minds?"

Christian laughs, "Beautiful, I don't question your power of persuasion, but I am sure there is no way your family will listen to you. Like I told you, Danny is behind all of this. It's no longer your family, but his, and he's only keeping your uncle alive as a way of keeping it PC," he laughs darkly.

I cross my arms, "I still want to help."

"Not possible-" Christian interjects.

"Listen, maybe she has a point?" Elliot interrupts.

"No, Elliot, don't be fucking stupid. It will go one way or another, and neither ends well. Let's say that Ana goes to talk to them, which results in her getting taken against her will, and then sold. Or she goes there, gets taken, and then murdered for 'betraying' the family. No option results in Ana walking away unscathed."

"She never took the oath," Elliot says dismissively, then turns to me, "you didn't, right?"

"No-" I began.

"Doesn't matter, don't be a dumbass Elliot, you'll get her killed," Christian stands up and paces behind his desk.

"Fine, but know with every passing hour her presence is missed," Elliot says hotly.

"Fuck if I care," Christian spat out.

"Well I fucking care, Kate is working for Ana's uncle and every day that she's gone she's in deeper trouble. No one out of their family knew, except for her."

"Is that true Christian?" I asked.

"Yes, but I told her to take a leave of absence."

"Right, like that wouldn't be suspicious at all," Elliot scoffs. "Bro, I know you never really liked her, but she's my girl. You get her killed, I will shoot you myself." The two of them look at each other intensely, shooting daggers in the other's direction.

"Okay, okay you two, relax," I interrupt their death stares.

"Ana, you're not leaving here and that's that. I'm not risking your life," he looks at me pleadingly. Then turns to Elliot, "For anything."

"What the fuck Christian?" Elliot bellows, standing up abruptly. "You are not risking Kate's life if we have someone willing to help us end all of this carnage." He quickly turns around and starts walking away.

"Christian, what the hell?" I look at him disapprovingly.

"You're more important," he states simply.

"No, I'm not, you are not to judge whose life is worth more," I huff and ran to grab Elliot.

When I finally reached him, he was already at the door, "Hey!"

"What?" he yells.

"Listen, he doesn't mean it… I mean I don't think."

"Oh, he fucking does," he laughs humourlessly.

"I mean I don't know Christian very well, but I doubt he'd let Katherine die."

"To save you? Yeah, he will."

"Well we won't let him," I smile at him, "we'll figure something out okay?"

He shakes his head at me, "We can't, and he's made up his mind."

"We'll keep trying," I rub his shoulder.

"I'm going to marry her, she's it for me."

"Then I'm happy for you," I hugged him.

"Christian is an asshole, but you seem to be his only sweet spot."

I shrug, "Then, maybe I can persuade him."

"I'd like to see you try," he says as his mood dials down a bit.

"I got your back," I tell him playfully as we enter the office again.

"Ah, you didn't run off like a pussy?" Christian laughs as he sits in his chair.

"Nah, I'm too good for that," Elliot quips. "Get this straight, Kate is not going to fucking die for some stupid shit-"

"Oh, and Ana should?" Christian says angrily.

"Did I fucking say that?" Elliot yells.

"Why is it one or the other?" I interject, "why does it have to be Katherine or me?"

"Exactly," Elliot agrees.

"It doesn't, but if I had to risk a life-"

"You'd risk Kate's," Elliot finishes and quickly whips out his gun at Christian. My eyes go wide in disbelief, while Christian remains completely calm.

"What are you going to do, shoot?" Christian laughs.

"Elliot… please put the gun down," I ask nervously, but he ignores me and walks a step closer to him.

"Don't worry, Ana, he's chicken shit," Christian laughs.

"Don't berate him," I reprimand Christian. "Elliot, please put the gun down," I grab his arm to lower it, but instead he cocks it. A shiver runs down my spine and without even thinking, I step in front of the barrel. What the fuck Ana? Where's your self-preservation? Not here it seems.

"Put your fucking gun down," Christian says icily, and within moments Christian has pulled me behind him. His tone makes my blood run cold. Is this his mafia boss persona?

"Ana!" Elliot finally recognizes me.

Christian is still shielding me with his body, but within a couple of seconds, Christian has Elliot's gun in his right hand.

"Get the fuck out," Christian says in the same frightening voice.

"Christian, it was just a misunderstanding," I quickly try to divert the conversation. "Everything just got heated," I grab Christian's left arm which was tensed around Elliot's dress shirt. "Let's all talk calmly... Please."

Christian exhales exasperatedly, "Alright." He turns to me and wraps his arm around my waist, and then lowers his head into my hair breathing in deeply, "I'm sorry for my outburst."

I sigh relieved, but still in disbelief how quickly everything escalated. I knew that Christian has this other side that somehow didn't frighten me. Christian has this authoritative demeanour and confidence that I would usually find cocky, but it didn't bother me at all. Everything about Christian confounds me. The things I use to find so utterly unattractive about other men were all attributes that attract me to Christian, and that scared the shit out of me.

If I get more attached, I'm going to have a difficult time leaving this world. This whole situation should make me feel alone and frightened, but with Christian, it seemed like everything would be all right.

"Thank you," I lift my head to meet his and our eyes connected. At that moment we were just two people connecting. "Can we take this in the living room? So we can be a bit more comfortable."

"Anything," he says finally breaking our gaze. How does he do this to me?

I nod as he leads us to the living room; Christian and I take the loveseat as Elliot takes the recliner.

"Don't freak out Christian, but I want to help in any way that I can," I look at him when the three of us get settled.

Christian runs his hand through his unruly hair, "We'll talk about this later."

"Christian for us to bury this you need to swear that Kate will make it out unscathed," Elliot says in a severe tone.

I pat Christian's arm, "Don't do this to them."

Christian exhales, "Alright, but we do this on my terms."

"Like you would let us do it any other way," Elliot rolls his eyes and immediately the mood lifts.

"Set up a meeting for me with Roberto and Daniel-" Christian begins, but Elliot quickly interrupts.

"Do you think that's the best idea?"

"Yes, because all eyes are on us, we're going to offer our help to find Ana," he explains. "So that will hopefully buy us some time until we can get Ana out. Let bygones be bygones."

"I…" I start but get ignored by the two.

"That will work… since it's clear that you've had your sights on her. We should set it up next week when she's fully out of the country," Elliot agrees. "But Christian, you know that this plan is on shaky ground and there is a good chance it'll backfire,"

"Doesn't matter, as long as Ana's safe, we'll deal with the consequences," Christian simply states.

"I want to stay," I say interject. They both gave me a confused look but continued to talk about me like I wasn't there.

"If you can get Kate out of the city for a week or so, say that she needs to go home to take care of a family emergency…."

"That'll work," Elliot says as he clicks through his phone.

"Then, when she arrives at her destination, she will stay there until it is safe for her to return to New York. This way she'll be out of harm's way if anything starts," Christian continues.

"Hey, you two, I'm still here!" I wave my hands in the air annoyed. "Didn't you hear what I had to say?"

"The answer is no, Ana," Christian dismisses me.

"Thanks, dad, but I think I can make my own decisions," I say, sarcastically.

"Anastasia, you are not going to stay here, you need to get as far away from this as you possibly can," Christian pinches the bridge of his nose.

"Listen, I get it, I do," I stand up to face the window overlooking the large driveway, "but I want to stay here." I look around the other area and see none of Christian's men outside, I was about to turn and inform Christian when a loud bang shook the entire house.

Within seconds Christian was at my side and pulling me away from the window, and mere moments away from my head colliding with a brick that was thrown through the window. As my body hit the ground a rain of gunshots went through the house, we quickly crawled over behind couch and bee-lined to his office, Elliot was ahead of me while Christian rounded the back. He was urging me to continue moving while the gun smoke filled the air making it hard to breathe, my body stood stalk still when another large hit shook the house.

"Ana, keep going," Christian rasps. Once the noise stopped for a moment, I hear muffled voices and then the large front door felt like it was sucked out and was followed by a slew of loud gunshots aimed at our heads. I turn to look, but Christian stands me up quickly and runs us to his office.

Once we made it in, I looked over at him to assess any damages; Elliot has me at his side, gun cocked to the door as Christian quickly gathers his things on his desk.

"Do you know how to use this?" Elliot asks as he hands over another piece.

I nod at him, there was no time to be scared, because the only thoughts running through my head was to get out there. Christian motions for Elliot and I to come to him when another loud bang came from the door and followed quickly by gunshots. The two of us bolted to Christian who had his external hard-drive in hand, he grabs me as we enter a secret passageway behind his wall of books.

The rumbling began as we made our way through the dark hallway, I didn't know where we were headed only that we needed to get there fast. We broke it into a run as the ground shook from beneath and above us, it was like the house was collapsing in on itself.

We finally saw a clearing, a small underground garage that housed one car, a Mercedes-Benz Guardian. Christian and Elliot made quick work of loading up the vehicle with all of the necessities, automatics, and a slew of other gadgets.

"Get in the front," Christian motions to me as Elliot opens the back door and gets in. I give him a quick nod and follow him, and within moments the car roars to life and the metal gate opens up.

Christian drove like a maniac and quickly reached 110 just as we made it out. The exit was at the left side of the property hidden behind the trees, I look behind us and see the top of the house missing. My mouth was agape; I couldn't believe that this was happening.

The ride was silent for a few minutes as we quickly made our way out of the property. Inside the car, we all felt the heaviness and intensity of the past ten minutes.

"You're bleeding bro," Elliot mumbles. My eyes quickly dart to my left and see that Christian's shoulder was bleeding, I hadn't noticed due to all the commotion and his breathing sounding completely normal.

"Are you okay?" I asked worried, "Obviously not, shit, we have to fix you up."

"No, it's okay we'll drive back to the city," he says looking at me with apologetic eyes, which I didn't understand why.

"That's two and a half hours from now, you'll bleed out," I looked at him frantically. "Please, let's clean you up."

"No, it's not safe, we need to put as much distance between us."

"Fuck that, Christian, you are not dying in this car."

"You're being a bit melodramatic," he shakes his head at me. I look at Elliot pleading him to back me up.

"She's right, you'll bleed out and you know how mom gets…" Elliot begins.

"Pull the car over, Christian, I'll fix you up. It will only take two minutes, I promise. Please let me help you," I beg of him, touching his arm.

He looks at me, "Let me pull over behind these trees, then you can fix me up."

"Thank you!" I exclaim in relief.

Once we were safely hidden, I quickly applied pressure to his shoulder with his belt. I was glad that the shot was clean, and it went through his shoulder.

"Sorry about your house bro," Elliot said after a few minutes.

"Nah, shitty neighbourhood," Christian says nonchalantly.

What the hell? "How can you two act so casually about this?" I asked a bit more accusatory than I had meant it to.

"It's the job," Christian shrugs but quickly winces from the movement.

"Do you want me to drive?" I asked.

"I'll be okay, we'll drive to my parents' house, they're only an hour away," he explains.

"Then your mom will fix you?" I asked earnestly.

"Yes, she will," he gives me a small smile and then grabs my hand. "I'm sorry about back there."

"Don't be, it wasn't your fault, it was them," I shrug, giving him a tight squeeze. "Wait, who were they?"

"I assume it's your family, but I can't be certain until we see the CCTV footage," Christian explains. I

"Then, I'm sorry," I say quietly, looking up at him.

"Don't be," he returns my words to me, "it was my fault"

"It wasn't," I laugh humourlessly.

"Yes, it was, I started this when I rescued you."

"Oh my prince," I tease.

"Baby, I'm the King," he smirks.

Baby, huh? Usually, I cringe whenever I hear those annoying generic nicknames, but somehow with Christian, it was different. It made me feel warm and giddy, almost happy? Holy shit, Ana, get a hold of yourself.

I shake my head at him and rest it on the window.

"Tell Welch to clean that up, the news and the police will be there soon," Christian says to Elliot successfully interrupting my thoughts.

"On it, Boss," he replies, then I hear quick taps on the phone. How are these two so unfazed? Here I am silently freaking out in my head, while they act like it's any other day of the week.

But the worst realization was that I would do this all over again just to stay near Christian. I had this strange feeling of protectiveness running through me, I wanted to be there for him when he needed someone. I want to be the one to clean up his cuts and his wounds, to watch them heal. What is happening to me?