A/N: Hello lovelies! I'm back with another update! Hope you guys are enjoying the story so far! I would like to thank you all for reading this story of mine and I hope you are all enjoying it as much as I am!

Ailee walked into her home, hearing the ruckus Vince and Angel were making in the living room. She could have sworn she left the two playing video games and now she's back from the grocery store and they were still playing video games. It's not like she was gone very long, but she thought they would be headed over

But it was a welcoming site to her.

It was the summer before Vince leaves again for his sophomore year and she wanted to cherish whatever time she had left with him. Even if it means she had to spend time with Angel, it was a sacrifice she was willing to make.

Her relationship with Angel has been up and down ever since she turned 13 years old. She wasn't sure what changed. Maybe it was puberty, maybe it was Angel's new found cool status or whatever the fuck it was. Either way, she no longer dotted over Angel as she did when she was younger. She figured it was for the best since she had the most embarrassing crush on him. Her mother knew, of course she did, but no one else did. Though, Evangelina may know, but Ailee never tried to confirm it, she was too embarrassed to do so.

It was so typical of her to have a crush on her brother's best friend. It was too typical and as much as she tried to avoid it, she couldn't. She expected to see him as a brother, that's how it was supposed to work, but instead she developed a crush on him.

Now at 16, her relationship with Angel became even worst since she hated just how much attention the eldest Reyes received from the ladies. EZ was attached to Emily, no other woman in their high school, their town can touch that. But Angel was single and ready to mingle. She hated it. At times she wished that Angel saw her more than Vince's sister. Or as EZ says, 'the sister they never had'. She was basically stuck in the friend zone, actually it was worst, she was in the family zone.

"Lee," she heard Vince call out to her. "Did you buy pizza?"

"No, mom ordered it for us." She replied, placing the grocery bags on the counter. She pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose, making a mental note to have John fix her glasses for her later.

"Need some help?"

Ailee jumped at the sound of the voice behind her. Placing a hand on her chest, she sighed in relief when she found Angel. Her glasses fell out of place due to his sudden appearance. She fixed it once more before turning back around to take out the items from the grocery bag. He chuckled at her reaction and proceeded to help her with the groceries without really hearing an approval from her.

"Look at you, driving around by yourself. Pretty sure you need a chaperone or something," Angel teased her once he put the last of the fruits in the refrigerator.

"Why? Are you offering?" Ailee retorted, walking over to the cabinet on the other side of the kitchen to place the canned goods.

"Sure, why not, seems like you're too cool to hang out with me now." Angel loved teasing Ailee. He loved being around Ailee. It was the best part of his day. The way her nose would scrunch up and how she would blush every time he suggested they should hang out more. The way her glasses would slide down the bridge of her nose when she was reading one of the books from her ongoing list of books she must read before she died. She was growing up before her eyes and he wasn't sure how to handle it, besides tease her, of course.

Ailee didn't reply, focusing on placing the cans in the cupboard. She looked up, knowing she was going to have to use the stool to put the rest since she wasn't as tall as she would like. 5'8 wasn't so bad, but Evangelina was 5'10. She was the shortest in her family. Before she could even look for the stool, she felt Angel behind her, pressing up against her as he placed the cans on the shelf. Ailee felt herself become flush; it was the closest Angel has been to her since she was 10. She felt her heartbeat quicken as Angel put the last of the cans up.

"You okay?" Angel questioned, concern filling his brown eyes.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she moved away from him. "See you later." Quickly, she made a dash to her room up the stairs and locked the door behind her.

Angel Reyes was becoming the subject of her affections and as much as she has been trying to move on, it was difficult when he was at their home almost every day. Maybe she should just avoid him. She was good at that.

She can just hang out with Vince when he was alone, whenever that was.

Ailee softly closed the door, looking at her watch. She had a ten-minute window to get this kill done. Xander disabled the security system and all the lights were out. This should be an easy kill. Currently, she was in Argentina, taking care of a thorn on the American Ambassador's side. It was a government assignment that she honestly didn't want to do. Some of these ambassadors basically used them as a tactic to flex their muscle.

"Alright, Jennifer has the guards distracted out front, Michael took care of the ones on the first floor. Second floor is clear." Xander informed her as she took her gun out of her holster. She took out the silencer that was in her pocket and screwed it at the end of the gun. "Quick kill and leave, reinforcements will come."

"Got it," she made her way towards the master bedroom. Looking around, assessing all possible exits and entrances, she had her gun ready to shoot in case someone decided to come to the second floor.

Safely making it to the room, she opened the door, but before she can walk inside, someone shot at the door. Quickly looking behind her, she realized it was her target that was shooting at her. Moving to the side, she cussed under her breath. Thankfully she had night vision goggles on.

She heard two shots go off, it was a handgun, a .45 to be exact. Looking at the door, she realized that he already fired two shots before the last two shots. He had four more bullets left.

He fired once more. "Three." She made sure her gun was loaded and ready to go.

And another. "Two." She stood up and slipped on her facemask that aided on covering the rest of her face that was not covered by the goggles.

"Are you okay?" Xander questioned.

"Yes," she mumbled.

He fired one last shot. "One."

Ailee walked in the room and found him standing in front of his bed, his hands shaking as he tried to reload his gun. He was obviously inexperienced and judging by the way he shot at her, his minions obviously did all the work. Her finger was already at the trigger and without hesitation she pressed down and shot the man right on the head. He fell back, the gun and the magazine he was holding fell to the floor.

"Job done."

Ailee, Michael, and Jennifer walked inside the house the government provided for them. They all sat down around the dining table, taking a deep breath. Another mission done. It was easy of course, but it wasn't always like this.

"Did he get you?" Xander questioned.

"No," Ailee shook her head. "Moved just in time."

"We leave tomorrow?" Michael questioned as he stood up.

"In two hours."

"Thank god, I'm gonna shower." Michael left the three alone.

"I have some news for you." Xander sat beside Jennifer. "There's another contract on Angel."

"From the same contractor?" Ailee gave him a confused look. Contractors rarely put out a contract twice for the same guy. If they did, there would be just revisions of what they wanted the assassin to do or the time frame.

"No, there's another hit out on Angel. Arthur informed me that another contract for Angel was placed on the market and someone took it already." Xander explained, biting his bottom lip as he relayed the information to Ailee. "I would have taken it, but I was too late."

Ailee sighed, cussing under her breath. "That's breaking the rules."

"What rules, Ailee?"

"Okay fine, it's not a written code, but other assassin's know not to take someone else's job." Ailee fumed. The disrespect. Angel Reyes was her target. There was no way in hell she was going to let someone else take him out.

"You know that usually just applies for people in the same agency." Jennifer reminded her. "Does Arthur know who took the contract?"

"No he doesn't."

"We'll find out," Ailee stood up, taking off the sweater she was wearing. "There's no way in hell I'm going to let someone else kill Angel." Ailee fumed. "I'm going to kill whoever took the contract and then deal with Angel."

"Ailee, maybe we should regroup, take some time." Xander suggested.

"No, just been busy with other things. But Angel is back as the top priority. As soon as we land in California, we're going to deal with this." Ailee informed her team.

"What are you planning?" Jennifer questioned.

"Not sure yet, we'll brainstorm in the plane." Ailee replied. "Is it Theo?"

"I don't think so," Xander shook his head, turning his computer on to assess the situation. "I doubt it, Theo hasn't made any noise since he was barred from entering the United States as part of that deal."

"Yeah, but you can't count him out." Ailee's been keeping up with Angel. She had too. He was still her target so she had to make sure he stayed alive till she was ready to deal with him.

Truthfully, she wasn't ready to open that bag of problems, but it seems that someone was forcing her hand and she hated that. Whoever decided to cross her was going to die a slow and painful death.

"Bish, can I talk to you?" Angel questioned as he entered the Templo finding Bishop and Taza having a couple of beers and a smoke.

"What's on your mind?" Bishop watched as Angel sat down at his usual spot.

"Just in case things go south, I just wanted to let you know something," Angel sighed. Bishop and Taza watched the young member, fearing that he was going to tell them something that would not only get him in trouble with the club, but with Galindo as well. "Evangelina came to me for a favor and I stupidly agreed, so Ailee is in our backyard."

"Ailee? Vince's little sister?" Taza questioned. Everyone knew who Ailee was, they met Ailee a handful of times whenever she was in Santo Padre. Then next thing they knew, she never came around. Whenever they asked Angel, he would just walk away, pretending he never heard them.

"The one who works for some underground government agency?" Bishop knew about Maquina, it was hard not to since he was well acquainted with Ailee's parents and her uncle, Jin.

"Yeah, that one, just in case she goes through with her mission, I just want to let you guys know what's going on,"

Taza raised an eyebrow at his statement. "Let us know what's going on? What you do? Put a contract on your head?" Bishop and Taza began to laugh, giving Angel the benefit of the doubt that he wouldn't make such an idiotic decision. Regardless of their relationship, they're almost certain that the Ailee they once knew was long gone.

When they noticed that Angel wasn't laughing, their laughter faded.

"Shit, Angel, don't tell me you did," Bishop shook his head, cursing Angel under his breath. "What favor did Evangelina ask for?"

"She told me that Ailee went off to the deep end and they were hoping that if there was a contract for my head, it would reel her back in and she wouldn't take it." Angel knew it was an idiotic idea. But it was the only one he could come up with.

"Let me guess, she took it and that new coffee shop in town isn't a coincidence?" Taza smirked. "Love makes you do stupid things."

"Definitely does," Bishop took a swig out of his beer. "Thank you for letting us know, if there was one government agency we're not worried about, it's hers."

"Why not?" Angel questioned. He was relieved. It was one secret out of the bag that he didn't have to worry about the club finding out.

"Can't fear something that doesn't exist." Bishop took a puff of his cigarette. "Our organization is not their concern, otherwise, they would be sniffing around already."

"If there was anyone they would be concerned about, it was the Galindo Cartel," Taza rasped out. "So what are you going to do? From the last time we saw her uncle, he says that she's off the rails."

"You meet with her uncle?" This was brand new information for Angel. Regardless of their opinions of Maquina, they were still a government agency.

"Again, if you don't exist, you're not a worry." Bishop smirked. "So what's the plan Angel?"

"She won't kill me, I have full confidence in that."

"Well, you have to look at the scenarios here. If she does decide to kill you, what are you going to do?" Bishop asked.

Angel never thought of that scenario. He always had strong faith that Ailee would never hurt him, and he still was confident she wouldn't.

"I know what you're thinking Angel, she'll never hurt you, but in the off chance she does, you ready to kill her?"

"Well, like you said, if you don't exist, you're not a worry."

"But she does exist,"

"She was supposed to stay out of Santo Padre, to make a better life."

"And you thought she did when she up and left that one time?" Taza questioned.

"I never believed she could kill another human being."

"But she can't and from what I heard, she's the best at it from her side of the tracks." Bishop drank the last of his beer, sliding the empty bottle towards Angel. "With a trained mercenary, you don't come in with faith, you have to come in just as they would. An empty and soulless killer."

Ailee was sitting on her bed, looking down at the diploma on her bed. She did it, she finished high school and was off to college. She wasn't going to leave the state, she was accepted to UC San Diego and would be starting in September. A few months off was definitely not going to be too terrible since Vince was going to be back in town in two weeks. She missed her brother terribly, but at least she still had John to bother. Evangelina was with Oliver in DC. She was a bit disappointed that her two eldest siblings couldn't be there for her graduation, but she understood why they couldn't be there.

"Ailee, you got a visitor!" She heard John call out.

"Who is it?!" She yelled out.

"It's me," Angel came into view at her doorway. "Sorry I couldn't make it to your graduation, I got in late from visiting EZ."

"No worries, how's he doing?" Ailee questioned as Angel closed the door.

He sat beside her on her bed, leaning against the headboard, stretching his legs out in front of him. "As good as he can be," Angel sighed.

"It's difficult seeing him in there." She stated for him. "You feel like you had a hand in it?"

"I gave him the fucking gun, Lee." Angel knew better, he should have known better. EZ wasn't going to do it for protection, it was for revenge. But he gave him the benefit of the doubt, cause it was EZ, the golden boy. The less problematic one, he was wrong.

"And it was his choice to make," Ailee reasoned.

Her crush on Angel was still ever present and it just grew due to Angel basically attaching himself to her when her brother left. She was certain Vince asked Angel to be her shadow, but it just made things harder for her. It was hard to date anyone in Santo Padre since everyone knew she hung around Angel and Coco. They were like her fucking chastity belt.

"How was your graduation?" He picked up the diploma that was already placed in a frame. "The youngest Cruz, finally on her way to be something."

"If life gets too hard, at least I can get a decent sugar daddy in San Diego."

Angel laughed at that, placing her diploma on the table beside her bed. "That's fucking disgusting."

"Hey, I'll share the wealth with you and Coco." Ailee playfully smacked his arm. "I'm nice."

"You definitely are," Angel lied down, putting his hands behind his head. "Come here."

Ailee hated it when they laid down on the same bed. She really wished she wasn't family zoned and actually had a chance with Angel. It was a love-hate relationship really. On one hand, she loves lying down next to Angel, he usually would wrap his arms around her as she would tell him about her day. He would listen and eventually, she would hear his soft snores, it was the best part of her day. On the other hand, it was making everything so difficult for her. She wanted to move on, but it was a moot point. She figured she could do it when she was in college. He would be an hour and a half away and with him prospecting for the Mayans, he would be far too busy to visit her.

That was her plan, to forget Angel by moving on in college. She wasn't sure how it was going to work, but she had to try. She had a great relationship with Angel and she would hate to lose that due to her crush on him.

So, she lied down beside him, letting him wrap an arm around her. She knew he needed this, with the whole thing with his mom, EZ and Felipe, he needed to know that there was someone there for him. And that person was Ailee. No matter what stupid shit he got into, Ailee always showed him how much she cared about him. It was the little things that mattered to Angel and she meant the world to him.

"You won't forget me right?" She heard Angel question, her head lying on his chest.

She moved so that her chin rested on her hand that was now on his chest.

"Couldn't forget you even if I tried."

Angel smirked at that. He hated this relationship he had with Ailee because he knew it can only stay here. Vince would kill him if he found out how he developed feelings for Ailee. It was why he stayed away when she turned 13 and he became more aware that his fondness of her wasn't due to him seeing her as a younger sister. He was slowly falling for the youngest Cruz and the best he could do was keep her as a little sister. It was a sick thing, but Angel had to have her somehow. If it were to play a big brother role, even though she already had two, he would take it.

Ailee was too good for him. He couldn't tie her down to him, she was bigger than Santo Padre, just like EZ.

But unlike EZ, he wouldn't help her fuck up her life. No, he was going to make sure she got out of Santo Padre and never look back.