Chapter 2
Natalie didn't know what to think when she was assigned to investigate a guy named "Ric Lansing." She heard that this guy has been bothering Sonny for weeks and Sonny was beginning to get suspicious. Apparently, Ric tried to push his way into the organization by blackmailing Carly and by attempting to overstep Jason. Natalie knew a "Ric Lansing" from her past, but she hoped that this manipulating mystery man wasn't the same person she was assigned to follow. To her dismay, it was the same man. And suddenly, she was forced to reevaluate any relationship she had with him. Was it his plan to get to know her because she was affiliated with Sonny? Did he decide to leave her when he found out that she wasn't a part of Sonny's close inner circle? She didn't want to believe it, but it was the only thing that made sense to her.

Four years ago.

Natalie stood in the middle of the gazebo and looked around the park. She looked at her watch and started to get worried. Ric is usually on time, if not early. Ric worked for someone in South America, but Natalie had no idea who the employer was. Ric had a business trip in London a couple of months ago, and that was how they met. Ever since then, Ric would accomplish assignments for his employer and come back to London when he had the chance to see Natalie. This particular trip to London for Ric was going to be different. He told Natalie that he was going to quit his job and permanently move to Europe to be with her. He just had to do one more thing for his employer.

Natalie was now sitting down and she looked up at the sky. The sun was beginning to set. She had been waiting for 3 hours, but she wasn't ready to accept the fact that Ric was not coming.

It was completely dark now, and Natalie started to wipe the tears from her cheeks. She looked around the park one last time. He really wasn't coming.and it won't be until four years later when she will see or hear from him to find out why.

Ric looked outside the window of his jail cell. He wondered what time it was in London. He also wondered how long Natalie waited until she realized he wasn't coming. Just thinking about how much this was going to hurt Natalie was killing him. He didn't know how long he was going to be here. He had worked for Luis Alcazar. His job for Alcazar was money laundering and he was pretty damn good at it. For the last job, Alcazar believed that Ric had completed the job lackadaisically. Therefore, Alcazar decided not to pay Ric that time. Instead, he sent Ric off to do another job and expected the job to be done right if he wanted to get paid. Ric was furious and realized that he no longer wanted to work for Alcazar. He promised Natalie that he had to do one more thing before he quit his job. He stole the money that Alcazar owed him plus more, and he was caught before he could walk away. And now, for the next couple of years, the image of Natalie's face was going to be the only thing that will get him through each day until he will be released.