The Professional

AvalonReeseFanFics

A/N: Happy Friday my wonderful readers! Look at this an on time update! Are you guys ready to see what actually happened that night? For those of you who have read Rewrite, yes this is mirroring the other story. New universe, same actions. Wo Fat does like faking Ro's death, it's a common theme among all the universes actually. We also get a flashback to one of the very first times he's faked her death. And you guys get to meet a familiar face. As always, don't forget to leave a review, or drop a fav or follow and I'll see you guys next week, where we will be moving onto season 2! Exciting right?!

Chapter 10

What Actually Happened

The second she heard gunshots Ro was on the phone. It only had to ring once for Wo to pick up.

"I know. We're en route."

She let out a sigh of relief, because that meant she was going to be saved from this. Wo knew all too well how much she hated bullets, and her hatred for blood was even worse.

"Okay good cause bullets are flying and I'm freaking out."

"It's going to be okay," he said automatically. Something she had trained him to do. "Are you in a safe location?"

"Yeah, Steve put me somewhere safe."

"Well good then. Just stay there, I'll be there shortly."

And then he hung up the phone.

But Ro didn't feel better. Something was coming over her, something staticky. She hated it when this feeling took over, because it either came all at once and knocked her out or came out in waves that made her feel nauseous for hours.

But this one came all at once.

A terrible vision of Steve getting shot in the face by some guy she didn't recognize but had to be the villain of the piece.

And everything in her was telling her that she could not let that happen.

"Kay, stay here," Ro hissed to the people in the cupboard with her. "Seriously, stay here. And no one tells Steve I made a call or who I really am, you got me?"

They all nodded before Ro left the cupboard, shutting it behind her. She went sprinting towards the back, rushing past the other people to get to the door.

It was happening, she could see it going down right then and there. Normally her visions weren't that late, usually she got them well in advance, or at the very least five minutes. This one only gave her two.

She watched Steve get clotheslined by the guy he was fighting and she knew she didn't have much time left so she just hurtled herself at the bad guy.

With a roar she jumped onto his back and just held on for dear life, though she mostly dug her nails in where she could.

Oh, if she had a knife she could have stabbed him, but Wo was very clear about her not having weapons, on account of how clumsy she was and how… spacey… she got when she had a gun. And accidentally stab yourself once and suddenly you're not allowed to handle any sharp objects at all.

But this guy wasn't like her brothers. He didn't go easy on her like Wo did, not even medium like Con did. He went straight up hard.

He reached behind her, grabbed a hold of her shoulders with all he had and flipped her over his shoulders.

She landed in the sand before him and all she knew was pain. When she managed to prop herself up he was standing above her, looking confused as all hell, gun in hand and pointed at her.

Guns being pointed at her used to freak her out and sometimes they still did if she didn't know where her brothers were. But the atmosphere was vibrating with an intense sort of electricity that she knew was Wo Fat's signature.

So the gun in his hand did nothing but make her laugh which just made the look of confusion on his deepen.

"You're not very good at this are you?" Ro asked from her place in the sand.

"I've got you dead to rights," the man snarled but Ro just continued to smile.

"Okay, well, firstly, no one works on this island without my brother's expressed approval. And Two, it's never smart to turn your back on your opponent."

The man's eyes narrowed. "My back isn't to…" he started. "Who are you?"

"She's mine," a voice growled behind him, and that same voice then shot him four times before he managed to even turn around.

He was dead before he hit the sand.

And then Wo Fat was standing over her, glaring down at her. Oh he was not happy.

"Seriously? Do you have to engage in them? Why are you even out here? Huh? You knew I was coming, you know I'd kill them, why did you bother to engage when you knew I was coming hmm?"

He offered her a hand to help her up which she took right away. "Cause you didn't get here fast enough."

Wo Fat recoiled clearly not expecting sass so soon after he saved her life. He dropped his hold on her and she tumbled back into the sand.

"I cannot believe you had the nerve to say that to me, I just saved your life, bitch."

Ro rubbed her butt. "Jeeze, Wo, that really hurt," she said and right away the anger melted off of him. Gun holstered he moved to help her up with two hands that time and then he looked her over and helped to dust her off.

"There, you look okay," he said. "No worse for wear."

There came this terrible guttural scream from somewhere on the other side of the house and both Ro and Wo turned to it. She opened up that special sense of her and a secondary energy print radiated through her. Right, so she knew who that was too.

"Con's having fun huh?" she asked and he nodded.

"Yeah, but it's time to go," he said, pulling her towards the back door. "We need to make a quick exit…"

"Rory…" came a groan from behind them and they both turned to where Steve was struggling to get up. Wo Fat grabbed her right away, his gun coming up and pressing to her temple.

Right so that was what they were doing.

Ro put on her most fearful, tearful face and called his name. Steve's eyes swung in her direction, cloudy and squinting through the fog of pain he was lost in. But the second he recognized who had her those eyes were open in nothing but fear.

"No," came out of Steven so low it almost made her feel bad. Oh, who was she kidding, she felt bad. "No, don't… wait…"

Wo Fat's gun left her head and now pointed at Steve.

"You've had her long enough, don't you think?" Wo asked him, almost tauntingly.

"Wait… don't…" Steve said coming to his feet. "She's not… just don't hurt her, please."

Steve was usually more in command of himself and the situation. He could talk his way out of anything with that authoritative tone in his voice, he was fearless and unafraid, but now, now he wasn't any of those things.

Was he really that afraid for her?

"I'm not going to hurt her," he told him. "I'm going to hurt you."

Then before she could stop him he fired. She found herself squeaking in surprise because she hadn't actually wanted Steven to get hurt. Maybe that made her selfish, for wanting the man that was after Wo to remain unharmed but she couldn't help it. She liked Steven… maybe a little too romantically… he had been good to her when he really didn't have to be, when she hadn't deserved it, and now she had gotten him shot.

Steve went down and Wo Fat had to hold her back from running to him.

"Portal. Door. Now," he ordered as he dragged her away. She glanced back to see that Steve was struggling to get to his feet, and for some reason when she got to the door the portal wouldn't open right away.

"No!" howled after them and Wo clearly got worried.

"Ro! Open the damn portal!" he snapped and just like that she got the portal popped in the door way and he was dragging her through.

She was finally safe. She was finally home.

So why did she already miss Steve?

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

Once they were safely in the safe house, Ro put a hand out, and just tugged. There was a static pop and then Con was in the room with them.

Well at least he didn't have to tell her to grab Con out of that situation, but he didn't seem as happy to be pulled as Wo was to have him back with them.

"Aww!" he whined, ripping his rabbit mask off. "But I wasn't done killing people!"

"Hey!" Ro said going to hug him and the assassin immediately holstered all weapons to do just that. "I missed you. Did you miss me?"

She smiled up at him and he smiled back down, but Wo Fat was hardly in the mood for emotional reunion.

He wondered if she saw it? How much Steven McGarrett seemed invested in her. Granted he didn't have regular people emotions so he wasn't sure if that level was normal, but he seemed to have gotten awfully attached in the time he had her, no matter how brief it was.

Then again, his Ro had managed to attach herself to him in less than a week, so maybe it was just another one of her special powers.

But he sure as hell could see that she seemed attached to Steven too.

"Of course I missed you mami," Con said and then both of them turned to Wo.

Wo was not good at emotions. Sociopaths really weren't, but he knew was she was angling for. And yes, he had missed her, he just wasn't going to admit it.

"No, I didn't. I had a vacation and it was great," he lied and already he could see the amusement on Con's face, because the man knew he was lying. Wo Fat had barely slept with Ro at the McGarrett's he was so fucking worried. He had been twitchy and snippy and extra violent the whole month she was gone.

Ro on the other hand didn't know that. So her smile faded right off of her face and disappointment took its place.

"Wait are you mad at me?"

"Yes!" Wo Fat snapped and Ro immediately frowned. "Ro, I wanted to get you out of there, but no! You wanted to stay in the house and play girlfriend!"

"Wait a second… are you seriously jealous of Steven? Cause he thinks that's why you keep derailing my dates. He's not right, is he?"

"EW! Ro!" he grimaced at her because it wasn't even close to be true.

"Don't give me that! You're the one who told him we were dating!"

"I did not!" he cried. "He misunderstood what he said and we went with it, simple as that. Now, what did you get out of this whole exercise? Huh? You were in that house for a month. Did you get anything that you wanted?"

"No," Ro said with a pout. "I know there's something in that house, something connected to Shelburne, but I couldn't find it. I thought being there would give me more of a chance to find it, or get some sort of flash of anything but it was like I was blocked the whole time I was there."

"Sure it wasn't because you were busy with McGarrett?"

"Okay, seriously," Ro cried. "Why are you so hung up about him?"

"Because I hate him. The whole family. Everything they stand for. And you're supposed to have my back!"

"Well, she wanted to be on her back with Steven and that was apparently more important." Wo turned a dark glare onto Con, but the assassin loved to rub Wo the wrong way so he was just grinning at him. "Also he lied, he missed you, like a lot. He was up all hours, twitching, and snapping at everyone. Oh and smoking like a chimney!"

Ro gasped. "Wo!" she cried and he turned a scowl to Con. How fucking dare he? "You were supposed to quit!"

"Okay it wasn't only me. He was smoking with me!" he cried and then all of a sudden she was hugging him. "I missed you too Wo."

Though he wasn't very good at it, he hugged his little Ro closely, his nose in her hair, which was how he realized she had sand in her hair.

She smiled up to him like he was used to and already that anxiousness, the desire to smoke and twitch all but leaving him. It was always like this after he rescued her.

It wasn't the first time that he had kicked down a door guns blazing to save his Ro. It wasn't the first time he saved her from herself either and it probably wouldn't be the last.

He was just glad that this time it hadn't ended in having to take her to the hospital.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

3 years ago.

Daiyu Mei had come far in a short amount of time.

She was the head of a very lucrative and violent smuggling line. She was feared and respected and making money to cover all of her lavish desires.

And best yet, she had a found a husband who was her equal in every way.

He was just as successful as she was. He was in the same line of business, had originally been her competitor, but they had decided to marry their business… and one another.

He was handsome, he was good in bed, and he was just as emotionally stunted as she was.

They were both sociopaths. So, they understood one another and how the other thought.

She hadn't seen him in almost a year but that was okay because they were used to having to give people space. And besides, he hadn't left in anger. He had gone for work.

He had gone to British Colombia to expand his routes. She had stayed back to maintain their existing routes. He dutifully called every week, or answered when ever she called.

They talked about work and basically nothing else. He was fine, that never changed from week to week. And then all of a sudden, he called to tell her that he was flying home.

Some sort of exchange of gun fire, some sort of power play that went wrong, some sort of arrest attempt, and now he was cutting his losses and coming home to her. She looked forward to a lot of things, but first she was going to get the whole story of what happened to him, and not just the pieces he had offered up.

She didn't meet him at the airport, but instead waited in their home for him to arrive. Then, as soon as she saw the car pull up onto their estate she left her room, and got herself ready to greet him.

She made sure that not a single piece of hair was out of place, she had chosen to wear a dress as it was more feminine and she knew he liked his women to be feminine. Not that he ever complained when she was in her serious pant suits for business, or her tactical wear when she was knowingly heading into a gun fight or up to some sort of legal mischief.

She poured them both drinks, as her man loved his whiskey, and then she was waiting by the door for him. The plan was to hand him the drink she had in her hand and entice him up to their bedroom so she could show him how much she had missed him.

Except he didn't come into the house alone.

He opened the door, nodded to her and then ushered someone else into the house.

A girl.

A very pretty, very feminine, very young, very white girl.

Her hair was red with blonde ends. She was thin, Daiyu's height, subtle breasts, tacky way of dressing. She was in black leggings and a graphic tee-shirt. Her red hair was braided to the side.

She didn't look a day over 18.

She was looking around at the foyer clearly impressed by their house and then she spotted Daiyu and her smile faded from one of excitement into a nervous sort of smile.

Daiyu found herself shocked breathless by her eyes. These inhumanely blue eyes. Eyes that turned right away to Wo Fat, her husband, clearly silently asking for some sort of explanation. And Daiyu did the same.

Wo Fat looked different too. For starters, the suits that made up his wardrobe was not what he was wearing. He was in blue jeans and a long sleeved loose cotton shirt. And though in casual wear he still managed to look dapper. It was all the in the way he held himself, and those rolled up sleeves of his.

However, he was completely oblivious to the situation. He took the drink out of her hand, took in her accusing glare and got the wrong idea.

"Oh sorry, hello," he said pressing a chaste kiss to her cheek. Her angry eyes turned back to the girl who was starting to get nervous. She could tell by the way she was glancing for him and wringing her fingers. He followed her gaze and finally understood what had upset her. "Ah. Daiyu, this is Ro. Until further notice she's my responsibility. Ro this is my wife. Daiyu."

"I didn't know you have a wife," Ro said softly and Daiyu turned to him. Really? He hadn't told this girl he was married.

"No? Would have thought you knew that."

"No, I don't remember that in the show. Are you sure you're married?"

Daiyu was glaring at her now, mainly because she didn't understand what she was talking about. What show? What was happening right now.

"Huh," Wo Fat said as if that was an interesting statement to make. "I'm positive I'm married Ro. They must have got it wrong?"

"The show was still filming when I fell, it's entirely possible I didn't get to see that plot twist."

He nodded smiling at her in a way that Daiyu had never seen before. He definitely had never looked at her like that before.

And also, what the fuck was this girl talking about? Show? Fell? Plot twist? And why was he patronizing her?

Then Ro was looking at her, a happy smile on her face. "Well, it's very nice to meet you Mrs. Mei," she said and then offered her a hand to shake.

Daiyu stared at that hand and then turned a cold glare back onto this stupid, grinning girl. She watched the smile fade, and the hand retreat and then, as if to add insult to injury, she actually took a step closer to Wo Fat, who put a hand to her back lower back.

He had never been overly physical with Daiyu. Oh they had sex, but that was primal. Wo Fat had never been affectionate. But there he was, offering comfort by way of a simple motion. He would have never done that for Daiyu.

He seemed to stare at Daiyu, as if finally sensing that she was angry.

"Ro," he said after a while, turning that smile to her. "Why don't you go upstairs and pick a room, hmm?"

"Pick a room?" she echoed taking her eyes off of Daiyu. Yes, what did he mean by that. He didn't actually expect this strange looking child to stay there with them, did he?

"Yes. I have to put you somewhere…"

"I could stay in a hotel…"

"Why so you could rack up more bills for me to pay?" he asked and Daiyu's mouth dropped. He had been paying for her too? "Or so you can get in more trouble I have to rescue you from."

Ro blinked her eyes. "Paris wasn't my fault."

They had been in Paris?! He was supposed to be in Canada.

"Really… and Toronto? Was that my fault too?"

Ro blinked her eyes. "Uh… yeah… yes it was. Cause you just pulled a gun out of nowhere and demanded we leave…"

Wo huffed. "Just go. Take your stuff. Go upstairs. I'll be up to help you. Take one of the guest rooms. That can be yours."

"Alright," she said. "Are you gonna uhm…"

She then glanced to Diayu, bit her lip and turned wide eyes back to Wo Fat who simply nodded. "Yep, don't worry, just go."

They had their own silent language. This child could communicate with him with just her eyes. Ro simply said okay and then took her giant Louis Vuitton suitcase and headed for the stairs to the second floor.

His eyes watched her get all the way to the top and then head down the hallway before he finally turned to Daiyu. He took a sip from the glass in his hand and then said: "Right. So. You're mad."

No fucking shit. "Who is that girl?" she hissed.

"Really Daiyu, I just said her name. She's Ro. I kind of… found her. She dropped in on me. Doesn't have a home… I said I'd help her out, so she's my responsibility."

"Dropped in on you?"

"Literally," he said with a sigh.

"And then… what? You went… went travelling with her?"

"Well I tried to get her home," he said with a shrug. "Started in Toronto, but her family sucks. So… you know I had to get her out of a shit situation. Then she was upset so… we went travelling."

"What… when? When exactly did you leave British Colombia?"

"Uh… about six months ago," he said and she almost reeled away from the shock. He had just been lying to her for half a year. "Uh… We were in Toronto for a month or two. I stopped off in some other places to check on my routes and she came with me. And we eventually made our way to Paris for a bit of a vacation. We were there for just a little under a month before I had a problem with Ares."

Yes she had mentioned that. Ares was an art thief, she still wasn't certain how he made a power play on Wo, or why he'd do that, but now she was thinking it had something to do with the girl.

"So… let's see if I understand this…" she said. "You found a child, and took her travelling with you? To Paris? The most romantic destination in the world?"

"I… why are you saying it like that?" he asked and when she continued to glare at him, he huffed. "She wanted to go… and Ro's not a child."

"No?" "… No." "Wo, look at her she's clearly underage." "No she's not…" "Then how old is she?"

Wo paused and she realized that he had no idea how old that child was. He then turned towards the stairs.

"Uh Ro," he called up and the girl called back a what? from some distant place in their house. "How old are you?"

"Twenty-one!" she called back and then Wo turned back to her.

"She's twenty-one."

How did that make it better?

"You brought home a barely legal girl?"

Wo blinked his eyes. "Well, she has no where else to go Daiyu, and as I said I'm kind of responsible for her right now…"

"You've been travelling around with a barely legal girl… for almost six months? And now you've brought her home?"

"I'm very confused as to what seems to be tripping you up? What don't you understand?"

"I don't understand how you could have thought it was okay to bring home your mistress."

"Uh… firstly. No. Ew. She's twenty-one, for starters, I don't want to date a child. Don't know where you got that from. And secondly, I think you're greatly over estimating how real this marriage is."

"Real…. You signed a marriage licence."

"Yeah, to shut you up," Wo snapped. "This is a marriage of convenience. You got access to my merch, I got access to your routes, and we get some good sex out of it. But none of that means I have feelings for you, nor do I feel the need to be loyal to you in anything other than in business sense. This is a business deal, Daiyu. That is all."

She glared at him and he rolled his shoulders, a motion he made when he was on guard and setting up his emotion walls. "And none of this, pertains to her. All you need to know is that until further notice she is my responsibility. And I expect her to be treated courteously."

And as if his word was law, the man whirled around and headed right up those stairs. Taking his own bag with him, which was clearly part of a matching set with Ro's luggage, no doubt to see the girl.

Well, this may not have been how she thought this would go, but she did know one thing.

She wasn't letting go of her husband without a fight.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

Still three years ago, but just a little over a month later

This bitch was wily.

She had molded Daiyu's husband into an affectionate, smiling, considerate husband. For herself.

That man ate breakfast with her, hugged her, danced with her, he put her thoughts and feelings before his, and all she ever did was smile and giggle and sass him. And he didn't even hit her when she got sassy.

Daiyu was at a loss as how to fix this, how to fight back.

They had six months of inside jokes and learned habits. Ro was a cuddler, she was touchy feely and always seemed to be holding onto him in one way or another. Whether it be holding onto his arm, or his hand or just hanging off of him like a pelt.

And he pandered to her.

He took her to dinner, bought her fancy clothes or anything else she desired, showed her around all the hot tourist spots, had movie nights with her, where he would sit there, pay attention and she would snuggle into his side. The amount of times he left their bed because Ro had a nightmare and needed him to spend the night with her, was in double digits, and she had only been there for a month.

He seriously spent more time in her bed then theirs.

That just wasn't normal.

He wanted to play family with her. He wanted to pretend that he was the protective older brother and that Daiyu was going to be the doting sister-in-law. He wanted her to do girly things with her, he wanted her to take Ro shopping and have girls' nights with her.

Daiyu didn't want to play into the fantasy. She wanted the girl to leave and to have the attention back on her.

She had tried to talk to Wo about how she felt but he only cared about Ro and her feelings. He'd get angry when Daiyu would tell him that she didn't want his girlfriend in their house, didn't want to spend time with her, wanted Wo Fat to herself.

He kept saying that she was not his girlfriend. That his attachment was not romantic, but he met the girl six months ago. There was no way that in six months he had just decided that this girl was his little sister. It was much more plausible that he was thinking with his dick because he didn't have a heart.

So after a month of dealing with Ro in the house. Of having the girl trying to include her in their childish activities and antics, Daiyu had had enough.

She clearly wasn't going to be able to get Wo Fat to send her away, she'd have to get the girl to leave. And since the child was purposely oblivious, she would have to be very, very direct.

But she needed Wo Fat to be away from her in order to have that conversation and he so rarely left that girl unattended. So she called the man in charge of the incoming shipment and had him demand Wo Fat's presence at the newest drop. He had gotten the call that morning that they wanted him there when the buyer showed up, and he went.

Not after waking Ro up to tell her where he was going, and making sure that she knew that he would be coming back and they'd go for lunch or dinner to make up for him missing the day with her. Not like they had plans but whatever.

Then he gave Daiyu a kiss on the cheek and that was it. Seriously. Ro got hugs and his fingers smoothing her hair back, a kiss to her forehead and all Daiyu got was one kiss to the cheek and then he was leaving.

Honestly. This was fucking bullshit.

She had to wait an hour or so for Ro to wake up, but once she had, Daiyu got ready to confront the little bitch who had stolen her husband from her.

When she approached Ro, she was in the kitchen making breakfast and as always the girl smiled when she noticed her.

"Good morning," she said cheerfully. The girl was always perky, it was annoying. "I'm making pancakes, do you want one?"

She usually made enough breakfast for the house for all three meals and Wo Fat would always eat with her.

Who the hell liked breakfast that much?

"Wo's not here," Daiyu told her and Ro nodded.

"I know," she said. "Besides he doesn't really like sweet things. Do you want one?"

"No."

"Oh, okay," she said her smile fading right away.

"I'd like to talk to you," she said and Ro looked up to her. She turned off the oven, took the pan off of the burner and gave Daiyu her undivided attention.

"Sure, what's up?"

"I need you to leave," she said figuring it was better to just come out and say it.

"OH? Uh… I guess you want some private time with Wo…"

"Yes, I do. But I mean I want you to leave permanently," she clarified and Ro's fake smile disappeared entirely. "You have to realize that I'm not just going to let you steal my husband…"

"I'm not trying to…"

"Oh, don't give me that, we both know what you're doing," Daiyu snaped. "I have been rather patient with you two, but no more. Wo Fat is my husband and you will give him up."

Ro blinked her eyes at her and said softly: "I'm not… I don't have anywhere else to go…"

"I don't care," Daiyu growled. "Either you leave or I'll make your life miserable. Now I'm going to go meet Wo, and if you're not gone by the time we're back, I'll make you wish you were never born."

"I already do wish that!" Ro cried, as Daiyu was moving to walk away. "And I'm not leaving."

Daiyu turned back to her to find that the girl had drawn up what was probably an angry look about her. Except she didn't look intimidating, she looked like an adorable red-faced chipmunk with her cheeks puffed out like that. Or maybe a hamster.

"What did you just say?"

"I said I'm not going anywhere!" she snapped, clearly trying to seem more like an authoritarian. "Wo wants me here, and I think we both know if I tell him about this little conversation, he's not gonna be happy, now is he?"

Oh, what a low blow. She was really showing her true colors here.

"I see," she whispered coming to stand in front of her. Ro held her gaze which was exactly what she wanted, because she wouldn't notice when she pulled the knife.

Before Ro could notice she plunged it right into her stomach and then held her gaze.

Daiyu continued to stare at her. She watched the surprise don her face, watched her eyes glance down to where the knife was imbedded in her and the betrayal that shined in her eyes when they turned back up to Daiyu.

She pulled the knife from Ro's stomach and let her collapse to the floor. She stepped over her, taking a hold of the kitchen towel to wipe her knife off before throwing it at Ro.

The curl was curling around the wound but Jian knew, in a few short minutes she'd bleed to death and she would no longer

So, she left her there to die alone in their kitchen and went to join her husband.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

Still three years ago, about 4 ½ hours later

Wo Fat came back from the meeting he hadn't want to go to but was apparently expected at. It was a simply trade off, not sure why Daiyu needed him, or why she came to join him, especially since he had asked her to spend some time with Ro.

Six months had taught him that a Ro that was a left alone was a Ro that got into trouble, so when Daiyu showed up at the exchange he knew that there was a possibility that they'd get back to the house and find it up in flames. Or Ro would have gotten hurt. But when he got back into the house it was just silent.

There was no sign of a hostile take over, she hadn't set the place on fire, so that should have been a good thing. But silent wasn't good either.

Ro was not a quiet person. He should have heard her somewhere… unless she was sleeping, but it was too early in the night for her to be sleeping.

Well… unless she wasn't feeling well.

"Ro?" he called into the silent house but she didn't call back for him.

Oh, she better be sleeping.

"I'm sure she's just in her room," Daiyu said coming in behind him. "Why don't you go check?"

He almost went towards the stairs but something stopped him. Something was pulling him towards the kitchen.

He had felt something like that before. When Ares had taken her, he had felt this insistent tug from his chest pulling him where she needed him to go to find her.

Something wanted him in the kitchen.

Changing directions he moved towards where the pulse was taking him. "Where are you going?" Daiyu called after him but he didn't listen.

With each step his heart beat grew quicker and the feeling of dread settled into stomach. Something was wrong, it was becoming more and more apparent.

And as he got into that quiet, darkened kitchen, saw the beginning of something pooling out from behind that kitchen island. Right away he knew what it most likely was, he just didn't want to admit it.

He walked around that kitchen island and he was right. It was Ro,

Ro lying in a puddle of her own blood. There was so much there was no way she was alive.

"No."

He scrambled to get to her side, slipping in her blood to drop to his knees beside her. He checked her pulse, praying that there was something there.

And there was. This weak fluttering against his finger tips.

He ripped a towel off the counter and pressed it to the source of her bleeding. A puncture wound in her side.

She had been stabbed.

"Oh dear," he heard Daiyu intone though she didn't sound worried at all.

Wo Fat was already gathering Ro up in his arms. HE didn't have long left, and this wasn't a call a mob doctor situation either.

"She's alive," he told her, "We need to take her to the hospital."

"What?" Daiyu cried and when he looked up he found that she was adjusting the shocked look on her face to be a concerned one. "Just… with all that blood…"

"Door, now!" he snapped walking past her with the limp body of his sister. Daiyu rushed to the front door, but he would have been stupid if he hadn't noticed the darkness that was on her face when she thought he couldn't see her.

She wasn't happy that Ro was alive, that he was going to get her help but he couldn't digest that right now. What he needed was to get his sister to the hospital.

And he took comfort in the fact that, even in her unconscious state her fingers were gripping her the lapel of his jacket.

It was just like when he found her again, except this time she could die. And he wasn't quite ready for that yet.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

Still three years ago

Forty-eight hours later and Wo Fat was a changed man.

Again.

He didn't think he could have another fundamentally terrifying situation irrevocably change him. But, apparently, he was wrong.

Daiyu had not been helpful throughout this whole situation. Firstly, she didn't want to drive but she also didn't want to hold her or put pressure on her wound. When he got her to drive, she wouldn't speed up. Then she apparently got lost on her way to the hospital. Then when they got there, she just wanted to dump Ro and run.

Wo Fat had to take her into the hospital himself, covered in her own blood and hand her off. He had to shell out hundreds of thousands of Yuan to make sure that they didn't call to the cops and that she got the best treatment.

Daiyu complained about waiting in the hospital for Ro to get out of surgery but he wouldn't leave. So, he sent her away.

He stayed alone, in that waiting room, stained in his sister's blood, waiting for someone to tell him if she was going to live or not.

And he was lucky.

Four hours later he was told that they had managed to stop the moderate internal bleeding and they had fixed up her punctured Kidney. Depending on how she did in recovery she may need dialysis to help the kidney return to function.

Then he was told that she had been put in a private room and Wo Fat could go wait with her.

They expected her to a make a full recovery. Though she had lost a lot of blood she was strong and she would survive this. They just didn't know when she'd wake up.

And Ro liked to sleep so this could take hours.

He called Daiyu with the update once he was in her room. She was not impressed at all. He wasn't liking this. He knew his wife didn't like Ro, he knew he kind of surprised her with a younger girl he was clearly closer to but he didn't think that mattered.

There was a difference between Daiyu and Ro. It was a completely different kind of relationship. But it was clear that he preferred Ro over Daiyu and he was probably going to have to end things with her.

Unless he talked her into being nicer to Ro, but to be honest that was a lot of work and he didn't want to do that.

She was nice enough to bring him coffee and something to eat. And then she didn't leave, despite wanting her to leave. She sat beside him, trying to press into his side, trying to hold his hand, but he didn't want any of that.

He didn't like physical contact like that, this was something that she knew about prior to agreeing to get married, but Ro was different. She annoyed him into getting used to it, but it still bothered him when other people did to him.

But he let her get away with it because he was worried, and it was kind of nice to have her support as he waited for his sister to wake up.

And the first thing he was going to ask her was how the fuck this happened.

Cause he was going to kill whoever did this to his sister.

So, when Rowan started making the faces and noises that told him that she was about to wake up he eager to wake her up quicker. He moved away from Daiyu right away, pulling his chair up to her beside and leaning in.

He knew how to speed this along, not sure how it would go with her coming off of sedation drugs, but he took his finger and slowly stroked it down the bridge of her nose to the tip. And while that made her eyes brows furrow, it didn't wake her up so he didn't stop.

He got to the tip of his nose and kept brushing his fingertip against, over and over until her eyes opened.

Ha! She never should have told him how to annoy her awake!

The problem was her eyes opened, and instead of being relived to see him like she always was she was scared. Literally terrified.

He had to put her hands to her shoulder to keep her from squirming right off her bed.

"It's me, Ro, it's me," he whispered and she really looked at him. She blinked her eyes at him and he waited for that relief to come over her but it didn't. "It's okay, you're safe, I'm here, I got you."

But Ro wouldn't calm down. He was a little worried that she was stuck in the moment, but he didn't know how to fix it.

He grabbed her chin and forced her to look at him.

And that would be exactly when he saw it.

Those eyes, her blue eyes, they were filled with fear.

Except she wasn't looking at him in fear, her eyes were darting to something just behind him.

He glanced back to Daiyu who stood behind him and then back to Ro who would no longer look up or at him, wouldn't hold his hand, and looked utterly terrified and he realized right away what had happened.

"Give me a second," he said to her, standing quickly. He reached out for Daiyu, taking a hold of her arm and pulling her out of the room. He took her down the hall to an empty room, shoved her in it and then slammed the door behind him.

"Wo! My god! What is wrong?"

"You stabbed my sister?" he hissed and Daiyu had the nerve to look surprised. "Don't you dare lie to me! She's terrified of you! So, either you did it yourself or you sent people to do it. Either way you're the reason she's in the hospital…"

"Well let's start with that child is not your sister…"

"Yes, well biologically no, no she's not but I've decided…"

"She is clearly your mistress…"

"I am not fucking Ro! How many times do I have to tell you…"

"You're always all over her! You're always cuddling, and sleeping in her bed, and holding her hand and taking her place and you never do that with me…"

"Because I love her not you!" he shouted and then he took a step back. "Right… I mean in a non romantical way. Which I can see now you're not ever going to believe…"

"Of course, I'm not, you just told me you love you…"

"You are clearly going to be a threat from here on in, so I will obviously have to deal with it."

Daiyu's eyes narrowed in surprise. Clearly not sure what this meant. What he was going to do. So for a while they just stood there staring at each other.

And then he charged her.

He swung first. She blocked the first but not the second. He managed to clip her jaw, but she also managed to kick his legs out from under him. When he got up, she was ready to hit him, except she had the knife. Probably the same one that she had stabbed Ro with.

He blocked the stab, kicked her down to his level, grabbed the knife hand and then twisted until it fell out of her grasp.

She slapped him and he twisted harder. So she slapped him again, except this time she used her nails, cutting into his check and neck. So he punched her.

The hit knocked her back, and as he was getting up, she kicked him again.

They sprawled away from one another and when they stood up once more they both had guns pointed at one another.

"You really going to shoot me?" she asked.

"Hell yes. I like Ro more than I ever liked you, and you're a threat."

"You shoot me in this hospital before she's ready to be released you're going to get arrested. Who will protect her then?"

Oh she had a point. A real point. And she knew it because she smiled. This giant grin.

"That's right. You said you liked her more. Well, how you gonna protect her if you're arrested huh? And what do you think will happen if I don't get to her huh? Just the fact of who you are, you being tied to her, every law enforcement agency on this planet will want her."

Oh he didn't like this. But she was right. Protecting Ro was what was important now, no matter how much he wanted to kill Daiyu at that moment.

"Get out," he hissed. "Get out of this hospital, get out of this city, no the country, and pray to whatever gods you worship that I don't find you. Because I will be looking. And you will pay."

Daiyu's nostrils flared. She didn't like that threat, and to be fair, he so rarely gave them. But she was right. Shooting her right now would put Ro in danger, and she was his priority now. Which meant protecting her like he said he would.

And luckily Daiyu didn't argue, though he could tell she wanted to. Instead she rushed out of that room and Wo Fat hid his gun again. He went back into Ro's room as if he hadn't just gotten into a fight with his now ex-wife, and took a hold of her clipboard to look over her chart.

"Where's Daiyu?"

"Gone," he said. "Dead, actually, when I find her that is. She'll be smart though, It'll take me a while to find her…."

"What… why…"

"'She fucking stabbed you, you think I wouldn't have figured it out?" he asked. He glanced up to find that she was staring at him, mouth open in shock like she hadn't expected him to say that.

"How did you figure it out?"

Wo Fat looked up to her a glare crossing his face. "Seriously? You were clearly afraid of Daiyu, I obviously would have realized why. And what exactly was the plan? How were you going to keep that from me?"

"Oh my god you're face!" she cried. "What happened?"

"We got in the fight. Now answer the question," he growled.

Ro just stared at him. That fear and horror still on her face. She tried to stutter through an explanation but all she really kept saying, I, I, I, over and over again.

"You what? How were you going to stop her from trying again?"

"She wanted me to leave…"

"And you were going to?" he thundered. "Really?"

She blinked her eyes and then suddenly she was crying. But Wo Fat didn't have time for that. He put the clipboard back and crossed to her, pulling her to him and holding her close.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry…"

"Oh shut up, it wasn't your fault," he said. "Now, you dry those ridiculous tears, and wait here. I'm going to go steal you some morphine and then we're getting out of here."

His little Ro smiled up to him for the first time since waking up and he smiled too. He was going to find them somewhere, somewhere they could keep her safe. Just them from now on. He clearly couldn't trust anyone else, so it would just have to be them. Him and his Ro.

And the easiest way to protect her was to take her off the radar is the most permanent way possible.

He faked her death.