Chapter 6 – Going Down

Deep sea blue eyes blinked. She had been awake for a few hours now staring at the ceiling. Yup it was the same color it was a couple of hours ago…same color it was last night when she went to bed. Her dreams had been plagued with Roman all night.

Mackenzie sighed softly as she got out of bed. It had been 3 months since Roman had come to her apartment and they hashed stuff out. Honestly they didn't really hash anything out; Roman growled and ignored everything she basically said. She tried to explain everything to him, but he wasn't having it. Sometimes he could be slightly stubborn…not that she could blame him at that point.

She saw where Roman had been suspended for 30 days for failing the WWE's Wellness Program in June. She could ONLY imagine how he'd done that; it also caused him to lose his WWE Championship title…clearly punishment from Vince was being dished out. But on an upside she was happy to see Dean holding the prestigious belt.

Around the same time Vince had decided it was time to split the roster up again and have separate superstars for Raw and Smackdown. Dean went to Smackdown with the title and Roman stayed on Raw.

In September, he won the Unite States Championship and now in mid-October he was still carrying it around on his shoulder. She really wanted to send him a congratulation text…card…something, but thought better of it. She wasn't trying to piss off his Samoan side.

October brought rainy and cold ass weather to Chicago. She hated the winter but she loved the fall. The snow and icy roads were going to be hell on her, but she could live anywhere but the damn desert again. It wasn't quite Halloween yet, but she was excited about that; she loved Halloween it was her favorite holiday.

She shimmied into some skinny jeans before she slipped into a grey wrap around sweater and slipped on some knee high grey suede boots. She went into the bathroom and brushed her teeth and pulled her hair up into a ponytail. She needed a Halloween costume. Vince in all his celebrating glory invited the entire law firm to the annual WWE Halloween party. She and Robert had already decided to go as a famous couple and Robert had already gotten his costume now she just had to find hers.

Mackenzie ate a quick breakfast and put her coffee in a travel mug as she headed to the front door; she opened the door and her deep sea blue eyes widened as she stopped in her tracks.

"Roman…"

She couldn't believe her eyes. She chewed her bottom lip as she moved aside and allowed him to enter her apartment. "What - what can I do for you?" She didn't know what else to ask him.

Roman turned around to face her. God why did she have to be so beautiful still? Why couldn't the two years she'd been missing from his life made her older with more wrinkles and terrible gravity given her kankles? Why couldn't she be hideously ugly with a third eye in the middle of her forehead? "I need you to explain it to me. I need you to tell me the whole story from the beginning."

"What's there to really explain? I told you everything the last time you were here. Did you seem to think the story would change somehow?" Mackenzie asked.

Roman sighed through his nose. "Just humor me Mackenzie." He stated in a demanding tone.

Kenzie was slightly taken back; he never really called her by her full name. His voice had a tone of finality in it. "Fine, I'll go over it once more, do you want to sit or just stand here?"

She watched as Roman took up space on her black microfiber couch. She walked over and sat in the chair in the corner as she looked at Roman. Damn those eyes of his. Whether they were grey from his contacts or chocolate brown with his clear contacts they always looked so expressive and gave away his moods.

She was going to sit but stood from the chair as she began to pace in front of Roman. "After I was taken to the emergency room…some…asshole from the Marshall's service came into my pre-op room and watched as the nurse gave me pain medicine and proceeded to talk faster than I could keep up with." She sighed heavily as she rubbed her forehead. "I was becoming anemic from the loss of blood and he kept fighting me on signing the papers."

Roman's eyebrows dropped to the bridge of his nose indicating he was getting pissed off. "Where the fuck was Dain?" He asked roughly.

Mackenzie rolled her lips. "Apparently they were only letting one person into see me in pre-op and this jack wagon from the Marshall's service decided it was going to be him." She licked her dry lips as she continued pacing again. "He also took it upon himself to lie his ass off and tell me you'd been attacked as well. He told me you were barely hanging on by a thread and if I didn't want anyone else to be caught in the destruction path, I would sign over my life to the Marshall's."

She stopped and looked at Roman; her hand flung out in the air before slapping down against her jean covered thigh. "The son of a bitch even went as far as to tell me Jeff was seen going to the West Coast towards Alice and the twins and McKenna."

Mackenzie shook her head negatively. "I didn't know what else to do Roman. My head was foggy from the blood loss so I signed my life over to witness protection."

Roman growled slightly. "But why witness protection?" He questioned.

"I didn't have a lot of options; no one else was standing in line to help. I didn't see any other protection agency coercing me into giving up my life to protect my boyfriend, my boyfriend's family and my friends…our friends. Sorry I had to go with whoever was first in line." Mackenzie smarted off.

Roman stood up with another growl. "I was there I had been standing at front of the line the whole time we were together."

"You weren't there Roman. You might have been at the head of the line but you were not there. According to Marshall Asshole you were in a separate room barely hanging on for your life…so no you weren't there and at the end of the day you might think I made the wrong choice, but I'm not sorry I made the decision I made. I did what I thought would help keep you alive and at the end of the day that is all I ever wanted was you still alive; alive to breathe air and spend time with your family and party with your friends and stay alive to entertain your fans and travel the world and eventually grow old."

Mackenzie walked into the kitchen as she rinsed out her coffee travel mug before putting it in the dishwasher. "You know I'm sorry you got hurt and I wounded your pride by choosing someone else to protect me and you, but I'm not sorry for making that decision. We're both still alive and at the end of the day isn't that what we both really want?" She turned as she walked over and grabbed her backpack purse before slinging it over her shoulder and snatching her keys off the table by the front door.

Mackenzie turned and faced Roman. "I still love you Roman and I'm probably stupid for that, but I never stopped loving you. And you can hate me the rest of your life, but you tell me what was I supposed to do? If the roles were reversed and your wounds were puking blood and you had some asshole Marshall in your face lying about everything around you; you tell me what you would've done. Because if you would've done anything less than what I did then you are lying to no one but yourself."

Roman shoved his hands in the front pockets of his jeans. "I wouldn't have done that. I wouldn't have signed my life away. I wouldn't have walked away and FAKED my own death and put my friends and boyfriend through months and months of pain. I wouldn't have been a selfish bitch and thought of no one but myself." Roman stated honestly.

"I'm a selfish bitch?" Mackenzie questioned as she pointed to herself. "I signed the papers to have all of you watched because Jeff Walker did not die that day. He disappeared off the face of the earth; he secretly stalked all of you and paid off hitmen that the Marshall's service intercepted to keep all of you alive. I lived in solitude in New Mexico for 2 years. And I'm the selfish bitch." She shook her head negatively. "I'm sorry you feel that way Roman."

"You know I was on my way out before you go here. I have something I have to go do. You can stay if you want or you can leave either way I don't care. If you leave lock the door behind you please; I don't want to come home with half my stuff missing." Mackenzie turned and left her apartment. She couldn't stand there any longer looking at the man she was still in love with calling her a selfish bitch. She could feel the tears pricking the back of her eyes as she got on the elevator. As she waited for the doors to close she looked up and saw Roman standing in the middle of the hallway staring back at her from in front of her apartment door.

She couldn't help as she blinked and a few tears escaped her eyes as the doors closed; finally ending the horrible conversation. She didn't know what else to say or do. She didn't know how else to explain it.

Maybe she was a selfish bitch and she just didn't know it.

Roman couldn't believe he'd verbally attacked her again. What the actual fuck was wrong with him? Yes his pride was hurt because she hadn't picked him to protect her, but after she'd explained everything to him for a second time in black and white right in front of his face and he still attacked her.

He had diarrhea of the mouth he literally opened his gob and shit poured out on the woman he was still in love with. He had tried desperately to connect with a few different women but nothing ever came of it. Either they really didn't understand what it meant to be in a Dom/cub relationship or they were into kinkier fetishes that had NOTHING to do with the way he was.

He looked at his watch; he still had time to catch his flight to Sacramento. If anyone could give him real answers it would be Dain. Ever since he'd found out Mackenzie was still alive from Dain and Alice and then once he found out she was out of witness protection he knew going to Dain and Alice for some answers would be ok now; and now was the right time to go before he really ended up losing Mackenzie because of his Samoan temper and big fat mouth.

Midnight blue eyes crinkled in the corners as she swung the front door open and saw the 6'3" Samoan standing on her welcome mat. "Roman! What on earth are you doing here?" Alice greeted as she pushed up on her tip toes to hug the hulking man.

Roman smiled softly as he nodded and returned her hug gently. "I came to talk with Dain if it's possible."

Alice nodded. "He's out in the garage working on the new Call of Duty. His stress level is at an all time high right now, but I think if you give him a run for his money on that damn game he just might calm down enough to help you with whatever you need. I'm making steak and pasta and you are staying for dinner. I won't take no for an answer."

Roman chuckled. Alice never once let him ever leave without having a home cooked meal. "Yes ma'am." Roman made his way through the house and out to the garage where he could hear Dain cussing up a storm. "Damn bro, you sound like me with that game."

Dain jumped slightly before he stood up. "Jesus Christ! Roman wear a bell man! It's good to see you. God Damn every time I see you - you seem to get bigger; you're a big sucker now." Dain shook Roman's hand as he slapped his shoulder. Roman sat in the huge leather chair next to Dain's. "So is this like the talk bro?" He asked Roman with a knowing look.

Roman nodded. "I…damn it. I just left Mackenzie in Chicago and I'm not going to lie I'm an asshole. Two times I've gone to visit her now since she came out of witness protection and she has explained it to me numerous times and each time I've verbally attacked her and made her feel like a piece of shit. I don't know if I can't wrap my head around all of it or what but I need your help man."

Dain nodded as he stood up and walked over to the corner of the garage where there were some white boxes stacked up. He pulled a huge sealed manila envelope out and walked back over. "What I'm about to show you stays between us. It doesn't leave the house…hell it doesn't leave the garage and you tell Alice nothing." He watched as Roman nodded before he tossed the envelope on the coffee table in front of the big Samoan. "That is the entire file on Mackenzie. No one at the Marshall's service knows I got it except my boss."

Roman opened the envelope and carefully dumped the contents out on the coffee table. He slowly started sifting through it and the first thing he came to was her original contract that she had signed. The signature honestly - looked as if a 3 year old had scribbled on a wall with an ink pen. "The Marshall's service really accepted this signature as hers?" Roman questioned.

Dain growled slightly. "The dickhead who basically forced her into signing it said she was under heavy sedation; which we later found out it wasn't sedation it was blood loss she was so anemic from blood loss she couldn't even form words to protest and one of the ER nurses swears up and down he basically put the pen in her hand and his hand over hers and faked the signature."

"So why even accept it; especially if a nurse is claiming something different." Roman asked as his eyebrows went straight to the bridge of his nose.

"I started doing some research on the Marshall." Dain said through clenched teeth. "We think he is a dirty Marshall and we think he's been in contact with Jeff Walker from the day he disappeared. We haven't been able to prove anything yet, but my boss gave me the file and told me to start digging. Keep looking through the file you will find some interesting shit in there." Dain advised.

And dig Roman did.

He found not one or two or ten hitmen; he found fifty that the Marshall's service stopped from killing not only various family members and friends of his and Mackenzie but stopped them from killing him and Mackenzie as well. There were pictures of each one and the prisons they were located at not to mention files on each one pertaining to where they were found, how they were stopped and even how much they had been paid for the hit.

Roman blanched at all the information lying in front of him. "How in the fuck would they know where Mackenzie was if she was under your protection under an assumed name in a foreign city and state under lock and key?" He asked softly.

"Dirty Marshall." Dain scoffed. "Like I said I haven't been able to prove any of it yet. But I'm building a hell of a finger pointing case right now. I'm just waiting for that one specific detail to pop up out of thin air and then I'm nailing the mother fucker to the wall. He's supposed to be a seasoned Marshall, but so far he seems to be the master mind behind keeping Walker alive and well hidden until his body washed up on the beach all those months ago. Walker had to of pissed someone off down the line. I don't give a shit of Jeff Walker is dead or not, I'm going to nail that Marshall for everything I can throw at him."

Dain looked over at Roman. "Because in the end…one of us is going down and it won't be me."