Huge thank you to everyone that continues to read this story, and to those who take their time to review! I decided to update a little earlier than expected, I hope you all enjoy!

11 years ago

I found myself really enjoying being a mother, more than I originally expected to. Holden kept me busy on quiet days when I'd normally be bored. I felt like I had found happiness in my dull life at last. Almost immediately after giving birth, Mrs. Adler had set up a personal trainer and nutrition plan for me to "get back into shape." She wouldn't dream of Rafe having an out of shape wife, oh no, that would be the worst thing ever. I didn't completely mind, I knew how heavily she depended on appearance. I didn't mind though, I enjoyed exercising and the food was good.

Along with the rest of the changes going on with my body, I noticed I had gone up two cup sizes; my old bras were very snug and uncomfortable now. My breasts had swelled since pregnancy as the hormones kicked in, and now I was easily fitting into a D cup. I knew Rafe noticed, some days I could catch him subtly looking. When he realized I spotted him his face would turn beet red and he'd quickly avert his eyes. I found that pretty silly considering we were married.

I sat in our spectacular marble kitchen, sitting on one of the bar stools, breast feeding Holden while I talked on the phone. I was talking to my cousin, the one who had that run in with Shoreline. My cousin is a weapon's dealer out in the Philippines; her usual customers were aiding treasure hunters and collectors for emergences. Nadine approached her to buy weapons to supply themselves for a civil war, but my cousin denied. Ever since then Nadine has been an enemy to our family. I'm sure there was more details to it than that, but my cousin never really talked about it.

"But really, you're married to a total yuppie."

I giggled, unable to help myself. My cousin always managed to make me laugh. I didn't have many friends growing up, but I always had my cousin to talk to. She never liked Rafe or the rest of the Adler family, she let me know that very early in Rafe and I's marriage.

"It's really not that bad," I answered, adjusting Holden's head.

"Not that bad? Are we talking about the same man here?"

"Yes, yes, it's just since Holden has been born things have gotten better. Rafe has been spending more time at home, trying to be a dad in his own, strange way."

"Uh-huh." She wasn't convinced.

"No, I'm serious. Whatever he's doing in Europe that's so important to him, it's nice to know that trying to make this family work could be a priority."

"That's the key word: could."

I sighed, shaking my head slightly, now holding the phone receiver between my shoulder and head. Holden was full, releasing of my breast and already nodding off to sleep with a hiccup. I buttoned up my shirt (which was now way too tight around my chest).

"I have to put Holden down for his nap, I'll call you later, okay?"

"I'm holding you to that, Dani."

"Ciao," I said before hanging up the phone.

I left the kitchen and climbed the red-carpeted steps of our grand staircase in our mansion. I wish this house wasn't so big, I felt like I had to walk a mile to get anywhere. I entered Holden's nursery, colored with soft pastel hues of blue, placing him gently down in his crib. I smiled lovingly down at him, listening to him breathe peacefully. I checked the baby monitors to make sure everything was working properly before leaving. I made it to the master bedroom, my skin prickling in anticipation for a shower. As I started to unbutton my shirt Rafe entered the room quickly. He appeared to be amped up about something. He removed his jacket and placed it on the coatrack. I watched him for a moment, wondering what had gotten him so hyper.

"I think we found a breakthrough in Europe," he explained, walking over to me. I could see the excitement in his eyes. "I'll have to fly over to see first thing in the morning."

I still had no idea what he had been working on overseas. I thought his main focus would be his family's next big store they were trying to get built in California. I knew his family did artifact collecting on the side (that's how our families became friends, and how my family started working for his). He rambled on about it; he had so much energy I wasn't really sure how to react.

"We should celebrate!" He exclaimed, gripping my arms.

"But I don't even know what we're celebrating," I told him, laughing slightly at his odd behavior.

Before I could say more he kissed me fully on the mouth. I know this may sound strange, but Rafe and I had never kissed before. He kissed me hastily and with enough force to almost make me fall over. His hand grabbed the back of my head, gripping a fistful of my hair, pulling it slightly. Saying I felt flustered was an understatement. I had been completely caught by surprise and wasn't sure how to react. He started to push his whole body against me, now I was walking backwards unable to tell where I was going. His other hand came up and groped at my breast, squeezing tight enough to make me wince. His hand explored passionately as I fell backwards onto our enormous bed.

I gawked up at him as his body mounted over mine, my eyes wide and my breathing shallow. I could feel my cheeks burning red from Rafe's tenacity. His hands gripped the front of my shirt, still a few buttons down (showing an ample view of cleavage, which I'm sure is what Rafe was going for). He gave a hearty tug, and just like that, all the buttons on my shirt had popped off, completely exposing my breasts and my stomach. By instinct I wanted to hurry and cover up, but I didn't move a muscle. He scooted me back, removing his long-sleeved shirt as fast as he could. His lips met mine again, this time more hurried and hungry. His lips worked against mine, his tongue now feeling like it was being crammed down my throat. His mouth now moved down to my chin, and started to trail down. My heart was hammering in my chest; my body was radiating heat and an unfamiliar vibration tingling down in my lower abdomen. Was it pleasure? I wasn't sure. Part of me understood Rafe's haste. We hadn't had sex since I found out I was pregnant, but when we did it was nothing like this.

His lips caressed the beginning swell of my breasts, and I sucked in desperately for air. I admit I felt very frightened and very shocked at what was happening, but at the same time I think I enjoyed it deep down. He pulled off my jeans and my underwear effortlessly, and did the same with his. I could feel his erection pressing against my inner thigh as his fingers slipped down and into me. I arched my back as he pulled out, letting out a low moan. He pinned my wrists down and lowered himself onto me, is lips meeting mine once again, and then trailed back down in between my breasts. He entered me fast enough for my breath to hitch. I moaned loud, and he did the same. His hips moved in a quick rhythm against mine. He had my legs straddled and my hands still against the sheets. He kissed me on the neck now, resting his chest onto mine, his hips still working on top of me. He sucked hungrily on my neck and I started to feel terribly dizzy. All of this had happened in such whirlwind and I felt like I couldn't keep up. The room swelled of sweat and sex, the only sounds I could hear was our own labored breathing and our moaning. This was a side of Rafe I had never been exposed to.

I had lost track of time and didn't know how long this episode of love making lasted. My conscious was somewhere else. I wasn't dragged back into reality until I felt Rafe's hot breath against my ear as he spoke to me. He was panting, but in his tone of voice I knew he was smiling.

"I'm going to make history, Dani. Just wait and see."

He rolled off of me and got out of bed, heading for the bathroom. I only stared up at the ceiling, listening to the door close and the sound of the shower turning on.

I was winded; I can't even count how many Shoreline soldiers came rocketing through the roof. Explosions and weapons galore, blowing up this ancient place like it was World War II – I honestly don't know how the four of us survived, but we did. There was enough ammo and guns scattered around the stone floor for me to switch guns. That Para .45 hadn't been the same since it jammed.

Sam climbed on top of one of the Shoreline body's, checking him over for something.

"What are you doing?" Nate asked him.

"Just confirming a suspicion," Sam replied, "shit, look at this." He pulled out a folded piece of paper. It was an image of King's Bay with certain points circled in permanent marker.

"They figured out the towers too," Nate pointed out.

"Locations, sigils, the works," Sam sighed.

"So now what?" Sullivan asked.

"Now what? Now we're screwed."

I frowned, looking down at my phone at the unread messages.

Private number: I will give you a week to find that treasure or I am coming

Father: Simmons may be headed your way be careful

I sighed, slipping my phone back into my vest pocket. I hope we'd find this damned treasure within a week, or Simmons would give me my death sentence.

"Yes we do!"

Nate's voice broke my thoughts. I looked up to see Nate taking out the coin, holding it up toward one of the sigils.

"It's a match!"

"Are you sure, because it could be this one too," Sam pointed to another sigil. When the coin was flipped over it did look similar to that one as well.

"Crap," Nate groaned.

"Well still, two beats the hell out of twelve," Sullivan added.

"All right, I'm going to take this tower, you and Sully can take that one," Sam concluded.

"No-"

"He's right, we'll cover more ground if we split up," I interjected.

"They're right, these towers are at opposite ends of King's Bay," Sullivan agreed.

"I'll go with Sam," I volunteered.

Sam and I climbed into the jeep, adjusting the driver's side as Nate and Sullivan followed us out.

"If you two run into any trouble, call us all right?" Nate said.

"We'll keep in contact," I assured him.

Sam nodded, "see you soon." He put the jeep in gear and drove off.

I rested my arm on the jeep door, watching out on my side as Sam drove us through King's Bay. I couldn't get my mind off of Simmons and his eerie message. He was one that would say he would be coming soon but was already here, so for all I knew he could already be in Madagascar.

"Hey, you still with me?" Sam asked.

"Huh?"

Sam chuckled, "you do that a lot."

"Sorry, I've just got a lot on my mind."

The two of us were quiet for a minute; Sam watched the road while I sat awkwardly with my hands in my lap.

"So, how long have you been in the treasure hunting business?" Sam questioned, breaking the silence.

"Since birth I guess. My parents were collectors for Adler's family before I was born. We were often hired by them to help unearth artifacts. I never really wanted this life, though, but I guess I'm pretty locked down into it," I explained with a tired shrug.

"What do you want to do, then?"

"I always wanted to be an orthopedist." I admitted. I don't know why it appealed to me, I just liked bones.

"Wow, really? That's quite a different career change then what you're doing now."

I nodded, "I was never allowed to choose my own career path, hell I wasn't even allowed to attend college. My family felt indebted to the Adler's, and now we're indebted to Simmons."

More like the Adler family OWNED me…

"How did you end up not working for Rafe?" Sam asked, when I didn't answer right away he glanced back at me apologetically. "I'm sorry if I'm asking you so many questions, I'm just curious how you're not associated with him anymore."

"We just… had a falling out about ten years ago," I replied, not wanting to go into much detail. I wish I could tell Sam the truth that Rafe and I were married and about what really happened to make us sever ties, but it was still far too raw and painful to speak about.

"Oh shit," Sam came halting the car to an abrupt stop. There was a large crowd of people gathered around, all blocking us from the tower (now plainly in sight). It looked like a market day. "Damn, I guess all of King's Bay came out to shop today." He parked the jeep and climbed out, "I guess we're walking."

As we made our way through the crowd, I thought more and more of Simmons. I decided to cave in and do what I had to do to protect myself. At the market I bought myself some hair dye and a pair of scissors, along with a purse to hold it in. It was questionable to sell this outside at a market of all places, but I was desperate. Once we got back to the hotel I'd do what needed to be done, but for now I tried to focus on the tower. Sam was oblivious to me wandering off to purchase anything; he was so narrowed on reaching the tower. Eventually we reached the front, and naturally it was locked. We made our way around and climbed in through a window that happened to be left ajar.

As we dropped down we were greeted with sigils and emptiness. Sam's phone was vibrating off the hook. He kept getting messages from Nate until finally he shut his phone off.

"I need to concentrate here," he said as he slid his phone into his pocket.

"I don't see anything," I stated, running my hand along the walls. There was plenty of dust, but nothing indicating a treasure was ever hidden here.

Sam looked around, his steps hasty. He was growing antsy, but I was afraid he was getting too excited just to be let down. There wasn't much in this tower but pillars, sigils, and some vines growing from the outside.

"Avery had to leave us something," Sam mumbled to himself, dusting off the pillars and glancing around them for a switch.

I took out my phone to text Nate to tell him that I thought we were at the wrong tower, when I noticed that I had another message from Simmons. My stomach sank down to my knees as I reluctantly opened the message. It was a picture.

It was a picture of Holden…

I dropped my phone, my hand slapping over my mouth to stifle a cry. It was one of the few pictures I had of him. It was taken when he was almost one, his little faced upturned toward the lens of the camera in a smile. I felt beyond sick, but not very surprised. Simmons liked to be cruel, but this… this was worse than the lashing he gave me. There was no message attached to it, not that there really needed to be. I got what he was telling me loud and clear. I picked up my phone, checked for any scratches, and slipped it back in my pocket as I tried to calmly compose myself. Luckily Sam was too preoccupied with finding a clue to notice anything.

We needed to find something and do it fast. Simmons had already lost his patience.