~...~...~...~...Two Days Later...~...~...~...~
~...Grace's Apartment...~

"Live from the Copley Plaza hotel, where we have just been informed that the largest multiple murder in Boston's history has just taken place. We have learned that there were nine victims, all deeply involved in a notoriously violent Russian crime syndicate right here in Boston..."

"I wanna move." Jade piped up from my left.

"I second that." I nodded, lightly shaking my head.

The crime in Boston had always been ridiculously high, mainly because the cops never managed to catch any of the real bad guys out there. Little robberies and teenagers smoking marijuana didn't count, I meant the big bad guys - murderers, rapists, paedophile's; Those kinds of people. If they were ever caught, then it would be a good few months after their first crime, and by that time they'd have already committed about six more. Maybe the cops were trying their best right now, but they needed to try a little harder in my opinion. Never had we had a multiple murder happen before, though. One or two, yes. Nine? Never. None that I could think of anyway. If I was back home then I wouldn't have been nervous, with my dad being a cop and having multiple firearms hidden throughout the house. But now was different. My home was in the suburbs, where there hadn't been much crime, and now I was in inner city Boston, where most of the crimes happened. I mean, for god's sake, the Plaza Hotel was only a few blocks away. And, as far as I knew, the killer - or killers - hadn't been caught, meaning they were still out there somewhere. It had to have been at least three guys, lord knows one guy wouldn't be able to take out nine Russian Mafia guys. It couldn't have been one guy.

"Wait, maybe it's okay." Jade said, suddenly changing her tune.

I stared at her in disbelief, "Okay? How is this okay?"

She rolled her eyes, "Like the woman just said, nine Russian Mafia men. This is probably just some guy who's seen too many crime movies and has way too much time on his hands going all vigilante on the City." She explained.

I nodded in understanding. It was a theory I suppose.

"Make's sense." I muttered.

"Of course it does!" She exclaimed, "This person obviously read what your twins had done and thought 'You know what? This is a good idea'. It'll probably blow over soon."

I narrowed my eyes at her and tilted my head slightly, "You don't think?..." I trailed off in thought, but thankfully Jade knew where I was going with it.

"No way." She objected, "That was self-defence, they wouldn't just start killing off random bad guys. Or would they? You know them better than me." She added.

"I honestly don't know. Yeah I know them but," I paused and sighed, "I honestly don't know, Jade."

"Speaking of which, have you seen either of them since the other day?" She asked, thankfully changing the topic slightly.

"I actually haven't, but that's good right? Last thing I need is more baggage."

I tried to sound cheerful about it, honestly. But even I knew that Jade could hear the slight disappointment in my voice. Had I wanted to see Connor again? Yes. Maybe not to go back to what we were before, just for a talk or a drink or something - anything. To be honest it got lonely sometimes. The only people I ever really talked to were Jade and Belle, or the occasional customer who walked into the deli or pet store. So having someone new to talk to was nice, it kept me occupied.

"You are so stubborn, you know that right?" She asked, smirking slightly in amusement.

"Come again?"

The blonde rolled her eyes, "You obviously like this guy, he obviously likes you, yet here you are bitching about the fact that he hasn't come to see you."

My jaw dropped in slight offence, "I have not been bitching-"

"Yes you have... sort of. You need to get a grip and go find him."

I sighed and glanced at the clock, cursing myself out as I jumped up from the couch.

"Where's the fire?!"

"I have work in, like, an hour!" I shouted back, running into my bedroom to get changed.

"You at the deli today?!" She asked, remaining in the living room.

"Yup!"

"You want me to come in and keep you company?"

I looked back to see Jade in my doorway, leaning against the frame.

"Nah." I told her, pulling on my jeans, "I'll be fine."

~...~...~...~...~...~...~

"Sorry I'm late, sorry I'm late,!" I cried as I ran into the deli, rushing behind the counter.

"It's fine Grace." My boss, Sal, reassured, cleaning down the counter.

I took in the deli's occupants as I tied the apron around my waist. A woman and a man were occupying the barstools in front of the counter, while two regulars, some Italian douchebags who's names I couldn't care less about remembering, sat further towards the back, scoffing down their food. It never was too full around here, our busiest hours were between 8:00 and 9:00 AM, when working people came in for a quick sandwich on their way to their own jobs. Jade sometimes came in to keep me occupied, but today I needed some time to myself, and the deli was the best place to go.

"You hear about that thing on the News?" I asked Sal, taking this time to clean a few glasses.

"The thing down at the Plaza?" He asked. I nodded, "Course I heard about it, everyone has." He seemed a little off about it but I shrugged it off, putting it down to him having a stressful morning or something.

"It's nuts huh?"

"Yeah."

"You think it's one guy?" I questioned, waiting patiently for his answer.

Sal paused for a moment, staring down at the counter, "I do."

I shrugged to myself and turned my back on the counter, continuing my job at hand. I didn't even look back as the bell above the door rang out, it was probably just another random customer passing through.

Five minutes hadn't even passed before a good few loud bangs rang out in the deli. I knew those sounds from my dad practicing on targets in the backyard; Gunshots. I dropped the glass I'd been holding and immediately spun around, though the sound of glass smashing at my feet was the last thing on my mind. The man and woman who'd been sitting at the counter had fled at the sound of gunshots. But me? I couldn't even move my feet. I was frozen to the spot. And I watched with wide eyes as a very familiar looking man stormed up towards the counter, his gun aimed straight at Sal. He shot the old man repeatedly until he was lying in a pool of blood on the floor - And then he turned the gun on me.

It was then that the mystery man and I realised that we knew each other.

"Oh shit." He muttered, his own eyes widening.

"Rocco." I gasped, gripping the counter behind me.

As soon as I said his name he ran straight out of the deli, leaving me alone with the three dead men. My whole body was shaking from shock and I still couldn't move, I just stared at the spot where he'd been. Rocco, a man who had made me laugh repeatedly, just came into my deli and shot down three innocent guys. Sure, the two Italians at the back were dicks, but they didn't deserve to die. And Sal? He'd been so nice to me, nice enough to give me a job anyway. And now he was lying dead near my feet.

After a few seconds I managed to move my hands, and eventually, my feet. I ran. I ran so fast out of the deli as though my life depended on it. It was only when I got to the bus stop did I slow down to catch my breath, feeling safe enough in the busy street to gather myself.

What the fuck had just happened?

~...~...~...~...~...~...~

"Roc' did anyone see ye?"

The Italian stopped and leaned against his car, pondering Connor's question. He was sure the whole street had seen him go into the diner - he was well known after all. But none of them could clearly ID him and rat him out to the cops. Plus, this was Boston, no one wanted to rat anyone out in case they were tracked down and murdered themselves. But the waitress he recognized, the one he knew used to date his best friend, she'd be able to ID him with no problems. He remembered her being more or less a good girl, so he was hopeful that she wasn't the turning-in type. But he had to be sure.

"Roc'?" Murphy repeated his brothers question, the two staring at their friend and patiently awaiting his answer.

Rocco glanced at each brother, "I might as well have gone around posting flyers." He stated, lightly banging the roof of the car.

Slightly oblivious to Rocco's hesitant reply, Murphy nodded, satisfied with the reply, and pulled on his pea-coat. Connor, however, caught on to the sheepish looks his friend kept shooting his way and knew that it wasn't the whole story.

"What aren' ye tellin' us Roc'?" He asked, resting his arms on the top of the car.

Rocco hesitated for a moment, staring at Connor, "That girl you used to see, the one that screwed you over, what's her name?"

Connor narrowed his eyes in confusion, "Grace?" Rocco nodded in confirmation, "What about 'er?"

At the mention of Grace's name, Murphy turned his full attention to Rocco. And, with both brothers staring at him so intently, Rocco suddenly felt a little on-edge. They'd been friends for so long, so he knew the boys wouldn't intentionally hurt him, but they'd both had a soft spot for the younger girl - especially Connor. So he knew he'd have to word this carefully.

"She...may have been there." He slowly dragged out.

"Tell me ye didn' shoot 'er Roc'." Murphy pleaded.

"Of course I didn't! I was so hung up on getting to those bastards that I didn't notice her! Then I shot Sal and I saw 'er. She knew me, she said my name!"

"Did ye hurt 'er Roc'?" Connor asked, seemingly calm in that moment.

Rocco shook his head, "No. I just high-tailed it out of there!" He exclaimed. The twins glanced at each other for a moment before coming back to Rocco, "She could ID me man." He added in a panicked voice.

"Con'?" Murphy questioned, turning to his brother. After all, he knew Grace better than they did.

The lighter-haired twin shook his head, "Nah, she wouldn', she's not like dat."

"How do you know?" Rocco asked.

"I jus' know Roc'!"

They were silent for a moment.

"You sure?" The Italian persisted.

"Yes I'm fuckin' sure! Ye wan' me ta go talk to 'er?!" Connor exclaimed, now sounding more agitated than anything.

"Well... that would help." Rocco shrugged.

Connor rolled his eyes at his friend, "Fine." He agreed, "I'll go fin' 'er. Ye happy now?" He snapped, climbing into the car.

Murphy held the door open for Rocco, who shrugged at the darker-haired brother.

"That makes me a little happier."

Murphy rolled his eyes and shoved Rocco into the back of the car, climbing in after him and slamming the door shut - Things for them had just become a lot more complicated.


Author's Note;

Hi readers! Sorry this chapters so short, I'm trying to level out the story so that it doesn't seem rushed. Anyway I hope you like it and remember to Review, Follow, or Favourite. Thanks!