Hey guys, long time no see! I hope everyone has been doing well. I'm finally back with Take the Key and Lock Her Up in Alexei's POV, which has been a long time coming. From when I posted the last chapter of On the Run in January, I've spent the majority of that time finishing up my year of core clinical rotations. Now, I'm on electives (which means I get to work where I want in the hospital with no board exams to study for or overnight call) and have finished my final clinical skills exam so I get a decent amount of chill time (until residency applications roll around in January). Thus, I figured this would be a good time to start posting Take the Key and Lock Her Up in Alexei's POV (even though I'm nowhere near finished writing, with 10 or so chapters left to write and haven't done a lot of editing yet), before I got super busy during residency next year.

So without further ado, here's the first chapter of Unlocking the Key! Enjoy :)

Disclaimer: I do not own the Embassy Row series and all the characters (except for Tanner and Jordan and Alexei's Moscow friends, who are my own creations). They belong to Ally Carter. I am merely using her characters and plotline to create this fanfiction. I have no intention of profiting off the Embassy Row series in any way. This fanfiction is purely for entertainment purposes and would not exist without Ally Carter's wonderful works.

The events that happen in this fanfiction are not meant to be representative of real life. Any similarities to any real-life events or fictional works is purely coincidental and not intentional (with the exception of the original Embassy Row books by Ally Carter since this fanfiction is literally Take the Key and Lock Her Up but from Alexei's, not Grace's, perspective). The character's actions may not always reflect my own opinions or views. Based on what happens in this chapter (spoiler alert), I do not condone unethical anesthesia.

Content warning: mild to moderate
This fanfiction is rated T, for suggestive themes, language, and violence. This chapter contains mild to moderate language, mild physical violence, and mentions of drugging, physical assault, blood, and death. Please read at your own discretion.

Chapter One: Don't Make Me Hurt You

"What do you say, another lap?" Dominic asked me, as we passed by the cabin.

"You bet," I replied gamely, picking up the pace to sprint past Dominic. He quickly caught up to me and we continued around the island, through the heavy, thick fog casting a chill in the air.

Life on the island was pretty simple. Wake up at the crack of dawn with the sun. Collect any urgent supplies. Go for a run around the island. Eat breakfast. This was usually when Grace would wake up and join us. Collect firewood and food for the day. Eat lunch. Do fight training and work out. Eat dinner. Go to bed early and repeat the whole thing. The internet here was spotty at best and only Dominic used it to communicate with those back in Adria as needed. But that didn't bother me, since it was refreshing to be living a very outdoorsy life, without having to worry about social media and other modern-day issues.

After getting used to the routine, I found myself enjoying it. It was very physical and I was in the best shape of my life, not to say that I wasn't fit before. Additionally, I was gaining great life experience, all thanks to Dominic's amazing teaching. He was very tough but also super patient and gave praise and encouragement when it was appropriate. I was used to tough from my father but the praise was welcome, especially when it was clear that I had met and exceeded Dominic's expectations.

Together, we ended up running another two laps around the island. By the end of it, we had both broken a sweat.

"Good job, you kept up a good pace," Dominic said, once we arrived back at the cabin.

"Thanks," I replied, with a nod. "I can go grab firewood or food."

"Don't worry about it, I'll take care of it today," Dominic said, dismissively waving his hand. "Why don't you grab something to eat then do some fight training with Jamie?" I nodded, heading into the cabin. There was no way I'd go against Dominic's wishes. He was the one in charge here and the last thing I needed was to create tension between the four of us. As far as I knew, we were to be here indefinitely. We could solely rely on each other and unnecessary drama would only complicate things.

I had a quick breakfast of home-grown oats and berries with Jamie. He looked visibly better this morning after a good night's sleep.

"You ready?" I asked, after we finished eating.

"Ready as I'll ever be," Jamie replied, his game face on. We headed out to the large grassy patch in front of the cabin.

"Do you want to practice punches and initiating the fight, like yesterday?" I asked. Jamie nodded. We stood face-to-face a few feet apart, getting into fight stances. At my nod cue, Jamie bounded towards me, going in for a punch to my arm. I easily dodged and swung back. Jamie dodged but barely. He aimed at me again, which I sidestepped. We started moving in a circle of slow hits and dodges. I let Jamie get in a few hits on me, none of which were very hard.

"Is that all you've got?" I taunted. One thing about the Blakely siblings was that they did not respond well to coddling and liked to prove people wrong. There was no way Jamie would stop if I had asked if he was okay; he'd just push on and pretend he was fine, something Grace had also done many times.

"I'm gaining on you, buddy," Jamie yelled.

"Yeah, let's see you do it again." I circled Jamie, eyeing him closely. He stayed in place for a moment, catching his breath. Then he started towards me with slow, unsteady steps, visibly sweating as his entire body shook. I almost wanted to tell him to stop and rest for the remainder of the day. Nonetheless, he got close enough to aim at me. Unlike earlier, his arm was super unsteady. I ducked and gently punched him back, barely grazing his arm. Jamie and I never would have fought this gently before. We always roughed it up, hitting each other almost as hard as my father would hit me in sparring. That was, until Jamie was stabbed and his health and physical prowess deteriorated. He had made a good recovery so far but I feared that if we consistently pushed him past his limits, all the progress we had made would be undone.

Jamie attempted to hit me again but he could barely get his arm up. I gently pushed his fist out of the way.

"Again," I said. We resumed our fight stances. I wasn't sure how much more Jamie could take but I would let him decide that. We started circling each other again, getting in gentle hits, until a movement out of the corner of my eye caught my attention. I stopped, turning around.

"Well, I guess the princess decided to join us," I said. I couldn't stop the smile that crept onto my face as I took in Grace, with no makeup and bedhead, wearing nothing but one of Jamie's old t-shirts. Her appearance was as far from princess-like as one could be but to me, she still looked absolutely regal.

"Some of us need our beauty sleep," Grace retorted.

"I'll say," Jamie commented. Without thinking, I immediately smacked him on the shoulder, much like how I'd punch Tanner for making yet another joke about me. Instantly, Jamie's facial expression changed. I feared that I had hit him too hard, cursing my occasional impulsive actions. However, my worries were allayed as he looked me in the eye.

"Don't make me hurt you," Jamie said.

"My friend, there is absolutely nothing I would welcome more," I replied, smiling. Clearly, Jamie wasn't bothered by it at all, obviously wanting to get back to how we used to be, fighting until we were both covered in bruises and scrapes. Proving his point, Jamie aimed another punch at me. It was slow but his arm stayed steady the whole time, from initiation to contact. Although it was still weak, it packed more power than any of his previous hits. I nodded in approval. Maybe this was a sign that Jamie wasn't feeling as bad as he appeared.

However, that was clearly wishful thinking as Jamie stumbled. I immediately held my hand out. Luckily, Jamie caught himself before he could fall but it still took him a while to regain his balance.

"Jamie, why don't you rest for a little bit?" Grace suggested.

"I just woke up," Jamie replied, as he slapped my shoulders, in an attempt to push me

over.

"Good," I said, feeling a bit of power in Jamie's shove. Hopefully, he'd be able to keep

this up. "Again."

"Jamie," Grace said, "you don't want to push it."

"No, Gracie." Jamie stopped, spinning to face Grace. "That's exactly what I have to do."

Part of me agreed with him but I was still concerned about his well-being. Until he was completely recovered, I wasn't going to stop worrying about him.

"We're running low on kindling, so I'm going to go…" Grace's voice rang throughout the air, slowly trailing off. I thought Dominic was going to take care of that, unless he sent Grace to grab more.

"Don't go far, Gracie!" I yelled, turning just in time to see her moving towards the trees. Once she was out of sight, I turned back towards Jamie.

"What do you say? Another round or two?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You bet." Jamie suddenly launched himself towards me, hitting me with quite a bit of force, although it was no where near the strength he used to hit me with. We fought for a while, forgetting about everything around us. For a second, it was easy to forget that Jamie had been injured, as he almost fought like he had before. Unfortunately, that took a bad turn when I got him with a hard kick to his injured side.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry," I said, mentally kicking myself as Jamie doubled over in pain, clutching his side. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Jamie got out, his breathing laboured.

"I shouldn't have done that. I got too caught up in the fight."

"It's fine, bro. So did I." Jamie looked down at his side.

"Are you bleeding?"

"Nah, I think I'm good," Jamie replied, taking his hands away from his side. They came away clean. As far as I could tell, his shirt was still unstained with blood.

"I'm sorry, bro. I'll be more careful next time," I said. "What do you say, shall we call it a day?" Jamie nodded in agreement. We walked back into the cabin in a comfortable silence. However, we soon realized something was very amiss, as Dominic was frantically scurrying around, throwing things into bags, pulling the blinds shut, making phone calls. Jamie and I stopped in our tracks, looking at each other. What was going on?

Dominic finally noticed our presence, briefly looking up from the bag he was packing. He looked at the two of us then around us.

"Where's Grace?" Dominic asked. Jamie and I looked at each other, neither of us wanting to respond. Dominic glared at us expectantly.

"She mentioned something about being out of kindling so she said she was going to get more," I said meekly.

Dominic immediately cursed. "So she's not anywhere near the cabin."

"I'm assuming not." I anxiously looked between Jamie and Dominic.

"My tracking app was picking up strange activity this morning. It turns out it was a plane from Adria and it's circling the island." Dominic showed us the screen on his phone, depicting a visual of the island. There was a red dot slowly moving, following the island's perimeter. Almost as if on cue, a very manmade hum passed by the cabin for a split second. Jamie bristled next to me, sending a shiver down my spine.

"That can't be anything good, right?" Jamie asked.

"I'm afraid not. That means they're onto us and they want answers. We're no longer safe here. The only good thing about the plane is that gives us an opportunity to escape. We can gain a few hours lead before their system back in Adria notices it's missing. I've arranged to meet with one of my contacts in Mexico who has an in on the health care system and can get you what you need, James," Dominic said.

"Mexico's kind of far, isn't it?" Jamie asked, lost in thought, like he was calculating the distance and travel time between here and Mexico.

"By car, yes. But we can't take the plane there, not without the risk of being tracked. As long as we can make it to the mainland within a few hours, we can get a car and be on our way. In the meantime, we need to pack our bags and find Grace before she finds the plane or draw attention to herself."

"I'll go," I volunteered.

"I'll pack your bag," Jamie said. We hadn't brought many belongings with us from Adria or Germany and we didn't have much here anyways. It wouldn't take long for all my stuff to get packed.

"Much appreciated, man," I said, nodding at him before running out the door. With a gentle jog, I headed towards the trees she disappeared through this morning. I tried to find any signs of her footsteps but came up empty-handed. What if I was too late and the people in the plane had already captured her, taking her back to Adria? If that was the case, then I would have failed her. I couldn't let her go off alone, potentially to her death, while the three of us remained trapped on this island. It would eat me up every day, not knowing where she was or if she was safe.

I forced myself to take a deep breath. This island was relatively small. I could easily run a lap of it in no time. I would make it to Grace before the plane did. I had to. I just needed a strategy. I decided to start by going around the perimeter of the island and working my way in.

I kept running through the trees, until I reached the clearing that opened up to the Atlantic Ocean and its grey, choppy waves. Today, they were a sign of the impending doom to come. I shivered, even though it wasn't that cold.

A faint hum sounded through the air for a second. Was that the plane? I didn't know what else it could be.

I continued along the shoreline, into the forest on the far side, where the hum appeared to be coming from. I noticed a few of Jamie's traps along the way, looking like they had recently been picked at. Was that Grace? Or someone on the plane who had come to investigate our way of life here? Either way, I didn't have time to ponder that. I kept running through the trees, looping around to the far side of the island.

As I got closer to the shoreline, I heard it loud and clear. That dreaded humming drone of a plane. My stomach dropped. Was I already too late? Screaming voices, one of them Grace's, spurred me to run faster. I had to get to her before someone threw her in the plane and took off without another trace.

"Gracie!" I ran out of the trees, finding myself on the clearing over the steepest drop-off into the Atlantic. I spotted Grace, some of my fear dissipating. Her hair was wet and she was holding a chunk of wood like a baseball bat but she was alive.

"Grace! A plane is circling. We've got to –" She turned, glancing at me before looking away. I followed her gaze, making eye contact with none other than the new Adrian prime minister.

"Alexei," she greeted me, like she was here to have a friendly diplomatic chat. Although others easily could have been fooled, I wasn't. Despite the all-white outfit giving off a picture of innocence and purity, she was far from that if she came all the way here to find us. I gave her a death glare, willing her to break down and reveal her true colours.

"Gracie, come over here and get behind me. Now." There was no way she was going to get anything out of Grace, not without getting through me first. I mentally started calculating how much force it would take to pin her down and break her neck. Hell, maybe I could even choke her with that ridiculous furry monstrosity around her neck. I wondered what poor animal had sacrificed its life so she could walk around looking like a pompous, arrogant bastard.

"Don't be silly, young man. I've come a long way to see Grace. Now, who is going to take me to Jamie?" She still looked cordial, her face relaxed, a polite smile playing across her lips, but her eyes were another story. She was the prime minister and she had a power she was going to yield. She would get whatever she wanted and she was not going to stop until she got it. Even if I could take her out, she probably had a button she could press which would instantly bring swarms of troops in, who would easily outnumber us and take us down. Although our odds were good in the short-term, it likely wouldn't last long. Besides, it would be better to have Dominic here, who would know what to do. He always did.

Reluctantly, I led the way back to the cabin, keeping my head down. So much for trying to put up a fight and defend Grace's honour. I couldn't imagine how much more danger I had put her in, by not trying harder to knock out the prime minister. I had no idea what the prime minister wanted or what she was doing here but it couldn't be anything good. Thousands of possibilities ran through my mind. I tried not to think about any of them as I walked on, cursing myself for being a coward.

As we approached the cabin, I heard the cocking of the gun. Jamie stood surprisingly steady and tall on the porch, his eyes narrowed, his jaw set, the gun in hand trained on the prime minister.

"What are you doing here?" Jamie growled. He seemed just as willing, if not more than me, to take her down.

"Hello, James," the prime minister said, looking from Jamie to Grace "My, what a family resemblance."

"Stop!" I yelled, spinning to face her. I honestly didn't know how much more of her diplomatic bullshit I could take before I'd actually punch her. "Stop your lying. Stop … Go away. Go back."

"Alexei," she started, turning towards me. Her facial expression changed, as she took me in anew. Had she realized that I wasn't going to take any more of her shit? That certainly didn't take long. Nonetheless, that didn't seem to be enough to deter her, as she spoke again, clearly still intent to move on with her agenda. "Gentlemen, I need a word with Grace. Alone."

Jamie immediately glared at her, not willing to back down, not without a fight. "I don't know how you found us, but we're not—"

"It's okay," Grace said, cutting Jamie off. None of us knew exactly why the prime minister was here. Hell, Dominic probably didn't even know. So, of course, we were going to be a bit wary and protective of Grace. She would not be safe until I knew exactly what was going on and what the prime minister's real motives were.

"I'm fine," Grace reiterated, looking at me and Jamie, her gaze lingering on each of us for a few moments. I tried to look in her eyes, to see if she was lying. Either she really was fine, at least in this moment, or she had gotten even better at lying. Jamie and I looked at each other. At this point, we knew there was no stopping Grace, no matter how hard we tried. We both watched as Grace led the prime minister into the cabin.

As soon as they were out of sight, Jamie raised an eyebrow at me. I just shrugged my shoulders, not sure myself, as I hoped Grace wasn't walking into a death sentence.

Jamie started pacing, wringing his hands every so often as he cast glances into the kitchen through the open door. I joined too, not having anything better to do with all the nervous energy pent up inside me. We couldn't find Dominic just yet, not without tipping off the prime minister that we were onto her. So far, we hadn't seen any signs of him. I had no idea if he was still in the cabin or if he was hiding out somewhere on the island.

After a while, the prime minister and Grace walked out, teacups in hand. Jamie and I turned to glare at the prime minister, wondering why the hell she had agreed to tea and more diplomatic conversation. Surely, she'd want to get in, do her business, and leave. I suppose she still had to keep up appearances, even thousands of kilometres away from Adria. I stared after them as they walked towards the trees in silence.

Once they were out of sight, and presumably out of earshot, Jamie turned towards me.

"The nerve of that woman, I swear to God," Jamie said, shaking his head.

"Where's Dominic?" I asked.

"Off to find the plane and take out the pilot so we can fly it back to the mainland. He's more or less got the cabin packed up and he's been in touch with his contacts. We're tasked with packing up the remaining little bits, making sure the cabin is secure, and taking the bags over to the plane." I nodded. That sounded pretty reasonable. There was no way we could stay here, now that we had been discovered.

"Of course, there's still the issue of the prime minister to deal with. Do you think Dominic could take care of her?" Jamie continued, as we walked into the cabin. My eyes immediately snapped to a bottle on the kitchen counter that wasn't there earlier this morning.

"Don't worry, I think Grace has already taken care of that."

"Whoa, what is this and where did Grace get it?" Jamie picked up the bottle, looking at it with fascination.

"I wouldn't be surprised if she was digging around in Dominic's medicine cabinet. That's how she drugged me and prevented me from getting blown up in a rigged car." Jamie looked at me like I was crazy, which I didn't blame him for. "Bro, that's a story for another time."

"Wow, barely a month in Adria and my little sister has turned into a druggie. Who would have thought?" Jamie mused, setting the bottle down.

"I'd like to clarify that she's not taking the drugs, rather, administering them to others," I said pointedly.

"So, a drug dealer. Either way, I never thought I'd hear Gracie and drugs in the same sentence." I had thought the same thing, until I had been a victim of Grace's drugs. To this day, I still didn't know how she had procured that in the first place. However, after seeing this bottle, I suspected she had gotten that from Dominic, although how she managed to talk him into it was beyond me.

Jamie and I set about cleaning up the rest of the cabin, closing blinds, cleaning out drawers, packing up last-minute things. It was strange to see the place we had called home for the last six weeks stripped clean, as if we had never stayed here. But if we left even the slightest trace behind, we would be found. And that was something none of us wanted to happen.

"Looks like that's a wrap," Jamie said, taking one last look around the empty cabin. "Dominic said we can find him and the plane once we're good to go. Do you know where the plane is?"

"I had the misfortune of finding the prime minister there with Grace."

"Where do you think they are now?" I shrugged. They had been heading towards the trees but I wasn't sure if they were on a leisurely walk or if that was just a decoy and now, the prime minister had taken out Grace and was waiting to ambush us on our way out of the cabin.

"Regardless of what they're doing, we should go around to the back of the cabin and make our way to the plane using the far side of the island," I reasoned, not wanting to run into the prime minister and alert her to our escape plans.

"Sounds good. You lead the way," Jamie said, gesturing for me to walk first. I walked out of the cabin for the last time, closing the door behind us. I took us on a circuitous route to the plane, making sure to check up on Jamie every so often. He still wasn't back to normal and I had made sure to carry the heavier bags, despite his protests. So far, he seemed to be holding up fine, even though he had been really worn out with the fight training.

Eventually, we reached the beach where the plane had landed. A figure was crouched on the rocks, near the plane. The figure turned, revealing Dominic's telltale scar. That was when I realized he was holding a syringe in his hand and he wasn't alone.

"I see you've made it," Dominic said.

"Please don't tell me that's from the same bottle we saw in the kitchen," Jamie said, warily looking at the syringe.

"IV Ketamine. Commonly used anesthetic that can also be administered orally. Does a fantastic job of knocking people unconsciousness and keeping them that way for a good period of time," Dominic said matter-of-factly. Without hesitation, he injected the contents of the syringe into the pilot's hand vein in one smooth motion. "Tell me, is that bottle now empty?" Jamie and I looked at each other, not wanting to say anything. Dominic just gave us a pointed look, his eyebrows raised.

"Well, all we know is that Grace made tea for her and the prime minister and we walked into the kitchen to find that empty bottle," I said. Dominic nodded in understanding.

"It looks like I won't be needing those extra syringes I filled up. But we'll give our friend here another one for good measure," Dominic said, injecting the contents of a second syringe into the same vein before adjusting the pilot's sleeve.

"Were you also going to give the prime minister those drugs?" I asked, not wanting to know the answer.

"If she was going to cause problems, yes. But it looks like Grace beat me to it. Unfortunately, ketamine isn't nearly as effective with oral administration, compared to IV. However, it should still be enough to knock her out until we can make our getaway."

"Should we find Grace?" Jamie asked, the protective big brother as always.

"We'll give her a few moments," Dominic said, looking down at his watch. "If she thinks the way I suspect she will, then she should make her way over here once the ketamine kicks in for the prime minister." It was honestly scary how well Dominic knew Grace and how similar the two of them were. I thought I could read Grace's emotions really well but when it came to predicting her thoughts and behaviours, Dominic seemed to know her better than anyone. Maybe Grace was similar to her mother in that regard, so it wouldn't have been a stretch for him.

A thud resonated from the forest, followed by the squawk of birds and rustling in the trees. Sticking out like a sore thumb on the forest floor was the prime minster, still and unmoving. Grace stood by her side, looking down on her.

"Looks like the ketamine has kicked in. Let's go," Dominic said, getting into action. "James, load the bags into the plane then get in. Alexei, get Grace." We both nodded, not wanting to waste any precious seconds. Jamie ran towards the plane, carrying his bags, Dominic following close behind with the remaining bags. I ran closer to the tree line.

"Gracie!" I yelled. She instantly perked up, running towards us. Once she caught up, I ran behind her, helping her inside the plane. Dominic was already working the controls, bringing the plane to life.

"Grace Olivia, hurry!" Dominic shouted. I quickly climbed in after Grace, slamming the door shut behind me. The two of us squished into the back compartment, behind Dominic and Jamie. I immediately put my arm around Grace and pulled her towards me. If the plane were to suddenly crash, then I didn't want to lose her in the process. I had already come close to that many times.

Our small plane slowly teetered its way into the sky, swaying back and forth against the strong winds and the turbulent water. Luckily, Dominic quickly got us stabilized and we steadily rose higher, leaving the island further behind. Once again, I found myself feeling like I was leaving another part of me behind, to pursue another unknown adventure.

"What are we going to do?" I asked.

"I don't know," Grace said quietly. Even though our future still remained unknown, I knew that no matter what, Grace was going to be by my side and I wouldn't leave hers, no matter what situations we found ourselves in. After all that we had been through, there was no way I was leaving her alone again or letting her out of my sight, no matter how hard she tried. She was the one constant that had remained by my side through all this and for that, I was never going to give her up.

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Next chapter will be up between Oct. 16 to Oct. 26.

What did you all think of the first chapter? Just a heads up that Unlocking the Key is going to be darker than Falling for You and On the Run, in terms of mental health and violence. It will also have more swearing (ie. more F-bombs). Let me know how you'd feel about those changes and I'll see you guys relatively soon with the next chapter!