Soon enough, I had escorted Piper to my hotel room next to the bar. I had decided a private conversation would be best conducted somewhere away from prying eyes should things go south. I recognised the fact Piper and I had often been better at other things couples do that don´t involve talking.

As she entered the room, Piper gave a small gasp as she took a look around the expansive room, furnished with the best things money could buy, with champagne on ice and a hooker on speed dial. She sent me a questioning glare, but I crossed my arms in front of my chest, a silent warning to refrain from any questioning on the matter.

The blonde walked up to me and placed one hand on my arm. "I want to come back."

I gave a glare like no other above the rim of my glasses. "It's not as simple as that, Pipes." At my words, she withdrew her hand as if burned.

She seemed to be waiting for further explanations, so I offered them to her. "You left because you couldn't deal with my criminal life any longer. I'm still the same person I was six months ago. Who do you think paid for this room?"

Piper's response, when it came, was hardly audible. "What if wasn't your lifestyle that drove me away?"

Without much consideration I headed for the white sofa in the sitting area and sat down, trying to absorb the information she had just imparted. Before she had left, I had not noted a lack of interest on her part, or any fights that might have been the catalyst to her leaving. It came like a storm on a sunny day, a band of thieves on the highway or an oasis in the middle of the desert. After all her promises, I had never imagined in a million years she would ever betray me in such a manner.

That was why it hurt so fucking much.

After all the walls I had erected through my life to keep people out, she had managed to break the walls of Jericho and invade the city, laying it to waist and turning resistance futile. I became the sacrificial lamb of my own love and was happy to be so. Of all people, Piper was the only one I trusted with my heart and she had thrown it down on the ground and stomped on it. The valuable diamond I had given her was in Piper's eyes no more than a worthless trinket.

Still, I had to know the answer to the mystery I had been trying to solve for the last six months.

"What was it that made you leave then?"

At my question, Piper walked over and joined me on the couch. "It was fear," she finally admitted to me as well as herself.

I turned my face to look at her. "What were you afraid of?"

"You. Me. This. Us." The explanation offered hardly seemed satisfactory. Piper went on before I could have the chance to respond. "Sometimes you and I seem so…" She left the word hanging in the air to make it more meaningful. "I could see how the rest of my life would be with you and it freaked me out."

I arose from my seat and finally the enormity of her betrayal washed over me. "You mean to say that I gave you everything and this is how you repay me? I never lied to you about my job, who I was or my past. I provided you with shelter, love and comfort. I slaved away to make sure you wanted for nothing. And this is what I get in return?!"

I was practically shouting by this point. Piper clearly decided to try and settle matters the old-fashioned way. She rose from the couch, came close and tried to kiss me but I pushed her away.

"Damn it, that isn't how this works, Piper. You can't just go back in time and rewrite the past."

Piper took a chance and closed in on me once again. "I tried to move on, Alex, but for some reason I can't forget. Everything reminds me of you."

"You expect to walk in here and I swoon at your mere say-so?" I couldn't help but snort at the suggestion. "Nothing you can say will fix what you have done."

"I love you," Piper admitted before turning away and heading for the exit. Before that could happen, I had grabbed her and pushed her up against the wall. I was kissing her like my life depended on it before I knew what I was doing.