I own no right to the characters that are in this Fanfiction. If I come up with a character I will tell you at the beginning of the chapter. All other characters, settings, and some plot points are not mine. They belong to Ally Carter and her team.

I'll be responding to some of your comments.

Guest: I put the M rating because they are older than what they are in the books. I was thinking of doing little moments of M rated activity. It will NOT be super explicit. So if the rating is a little offsetting I'm sorry about that.

Smartiegirl800: Thanks for the great support. 3

Guest: Sorry about the non update when I had said it was going to be. Even with this virus, I still work a demanding part time job and I still have school work to worry about. So these updates will be all over the place at first.

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Who are You?

Grace POV

"Well if it isn't Grace the Ace, when did you get in?"

I stood there shocked and slightly scared. The boy that is standing in front of me wasn't supposed to be here. Well it has been 5 years since I've seen him, so technically you can say he isn't a boy, but a man. If I remember correctly his birthday is coming up so he would be turning 20? Still he's not supposed to be here. His accent can tell you that he should be on the other side of the wall.

" That's what your brother always called you, how have you been?" His icy blue eyes were staring into my brown eyes, like he was trying to search for something. This made me feel so so weak and vulnerable, the two things I don't like feeling. So I take it into my own hands by stepping closer, just one step. That one step doesn't sound like much, but he was already super close. The one step made it to where we were basically chest to chest. Alexei's stare felt so weighted that I felt like I was under investigation.

" Good." That's all I said. Just one word and it still came out a little wobbly. He noticed and smiled. The type of smile that almost looked like he enjoyed knowing he had that affect on me.

"Well, Gracie maybe we should go into the dinning room before both of our parties start to wonder." Alexei opens the door and motions me to go first. When I go through my hand slightly grazes his hand just for a second. Still that second caused some electricity that I didn't expect to be there. The dinning room was how I remember it when I use to come here every summer. When Alexei closes the door we are greeted with familiar and not so familiar eyes. My grandpa has taken his spot at the head of the table, with Ms. Chancellor on his right. The people on his left were some of the strangers. The person directly on his left was the Russian Ambassador then what appeared to be Alexei's father. His gaze was pinned on me like he was trying to pick me apart. The other man I didn't recognize but still looked like he was a little conformable around here.

" Ohh Grace, you look so pretty in that dress, and it's very unusual of you." Ms. Chancellor smiled as she said that.

" I agree what stray part of you took over and decided to wrestle the other you into that." Grandpa said with a slight laugh. Because he is right this is not what I would usually wear. I'm more of a pants and maybe a skirt person.

" I just picked the first thing that I saw and just through it now, I didn't put anything thought into it."

" Well still you very nice, since this is kind of a business dinner we thought that you and Alexei can eat on the other end of table, if that is okay with you and both Mr. Volkovs'. I was about to object when Alexei's father said " I have no problem with it, as long as there is no problem brought up by it." That answer shocked me and and by the look on Alexei's face he was shocked too.

Time Skip 30 minutes

I have been sitting across from Alexei on the other end of the table which is pretty far from the other end. Like I can barely heard the conversation that Grandpa and the Russian Ambassador are having at this moment. I'm picking at the food that was placed in front of me about 10 minutes ago. For one they forgot that I was allergic to asparagus apparently, because there were five big ones on my plate. While Alexei was enjoying his food directly across from me. He noticed me picking at my food and stopped eating. He picked the napkin up and wiped his mouth before speaking to me.

" If you want to put the asparagus on my plate you can, I know your allergic to it."

That made me look up from my plate. I was shocked not going to lie, because one he is volunteering to eat something that I won't eat. Jamie doesn't even do that. Secondly, I was surprised that he remembered that I was allergic to it. He then proceeded to push his plate across to me. I quickly put the asparagus on his plate and pushed it back to him. I looked down to the other end of the table to see Ms. Chancellor smiling and I knew that she saw the transaction. After 10 minutes of me forcing down the rest of my dinner. We came to dessert time of the evening. We had two desserts to pick from one was an American, the other Russian. Not going to lie dessert is the better part of dinner, in my opinion. The plates came out if the kitchen with two small pieces of different cakes. I look up at Alexei, who after all the plates were distributed, instantly started digging into the cake I was the least familiar with. The other cake was a plain cheesecake with caramel sauce making a plain pattern on it.

" What's this one, Alexei?" He looked up from his plate to see me, pointing at the one he has almost finished already.

" It's called Medovik, it's basically like a honey cake with a flavored cream inside. The flavor that this one has is raspberry."

" So I am guessing that this is a favorite dessert of yours?" I take a bite of the cake, and it was good, it was more sweet than I would have preferred. It was kinda funny to see a Russian guy fanboy over a sweet dessert like it was the best thing he has ate, hands down. I slightly smiled at the thought.

" It is my favorite dessert actually, and what are you smiling about Gracie?"

"Nothing, it's just good that is all." I continued eating the rest of the desserts, I take the last bite of the cheesecake when I hear chairs being scooted back.

My eyes go to the other end of the table, as the Russian ambassador and grandpa shake hands. I feel my chair being pulled back a little, looking up I see Alexei was the one who has pulled my chair out. I look straight into his blue eyes that seem like they can read your deepest thoughts. In that moment I notice how much he has grown in those 5 years. His features became more defined, and somehow his eyes became even more blue. His hand on my arm pulled me out of the thought. I look around to everyone else and thankfully they didn't see that.

" Well Ambassador Blakley I enjoyed the dinner, and I hope you enjoyed the dessert that we brought with us." The Russian Ambassador said while walking toward Alexei and I, with my grandpa beside him. Alexei and what looks to be the driver behind them. Ms. Chancellor goes on the other side, almost she was trying to separate herself from the group.

" It was very delicious and I am not lying when I say it might be one of the best cakes I have been."

"Well look at the time, it looks like we got a little carried away with the discussions." Ms. Chancellor quickly said, her tone made it feel like she wanted them out of the embassy. Alexei's father stepped up and whispered something in the Ambassador's ear. Apparently he didn't pay attention to that either because it wasn't until Alexei spoke that he listened.

" Ambassador I do believe it is time for us to get back to the embassy, you do have paperwork you need to get done I am sure." At that the Ambassador shakes my grandpa's hand and gives with I would guess a formal goodbye, I guess because I don't understand Russian. Each of the older men are escorted to the door by my grandpa and Ms. Chancellor, which left Alexei and I still in the dinning room. as they left something caught my eye just above their collar line is part of a tattoo, that looked familiar. Wait the letter with the rules. It showed the tattoo, and their tattoo's match the image directly. No wonder Ms. Chancellor wanted them out as quick as possible. She is afraid that they would do something, wait what about Alexei. His father is in it, is he? Alexei would never be in anything like that. Believe me I know him enough to say that he wouldn't condone any of this. Also you haven't seen him in 5 years Grace, people change.

" I had i great time talking with you Gracie, I hope you did too." He was so close that I had to take a step back.

" Not going to lie, it was a better time than I had recently, in the last few years." I wasn't lying since my mom died I haven't technically felt some what happy like tonight.

" Well that is great to hear, goodnight and be safe Gracie." He turned his head to the side, to start walking towards the door. At that moment I saw what I was not wanting to see on him. The tattoo, but it was fainter than the others have been, like on his father.

I was laying in my bed it has been about 2 and a half hours since the dinner. I couldn't get the thought of Alexei being apart of something like, what was described in the rules. It just didn't fit right. I start to feel a little sleepy, so I close my eyes to try to get this night over with. You know that feeling when you know you aren't alone, yeah I'm feeling that now. The feeling of the bed sinking under someone's weight is what gets me to roll over. As I roll over I grab the intruder by the hand and maneuver it so I could easy break it, if I need to.

" Who are you, also how and why are you here?"

The boy that was laying on the ground had dark hair and dark eyes, and I big smile on his face.

" My name is Noah Estaban and on the how I got here, I have my ways that I can't give details. The why is because I heard you were new and I wanted to say hi so...hi."

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So that is the end of this chapter, super sorry for the super freaking late update. I am not going to set a schedule for the updates yet.When I technically don't have schoolwork then I will have more time to work on this. I'll try doing a schedule during the summer, but when classes are present I put them first.

So if you have comments feel free to leave them. I read them, so tell me what do you think of Alexei. Also if no one has noticed I try to add some of the book elements in to the story.