The next day, Grace was allowed to join the main area again.

The journey to the main hub was uneventful. The men they met in corridor quickly side-stepped the pair and averted their gaze. Grace frowned at their actions, but knew better than to ask Barsad about their behaviour.

When they arrived she was allowed to speak with Patrick for a few moments before he was told to get back to work and she was brought to her desk.

Thankfully, this time Barsad gave her a book to read so she wouldn't get bored like last time. She was very grateful to the stoic man.

The pair had been cordial ever since she sang in the shower.

It was nice not to be at each other's throats at every waking moment.

She looked up from the old book to see her brother working away.

While she hated the idea of him helping bad people, she couldn't deny that he was good at what he did.

He probably never would have gone to prison if someone hadn't given a tip in exchange for a shorter sentence. Patrick did the very same thing to someone else.

She watched him lean over to help another man. After a few seconds, she could see the penny drop in the man's eyes. They both laughed quietly at whatever was on the screen, then got back to work immediately after.

"Are you enjoying the book?" Barsad was always close when she was out of her room.

He claimed it was to make sure she didn't bother anyone, but Patrick had let her know that he actually didn't trust the other men around her. Barsad was meant to be a deterrent. It wasn't a comforting thought.

"It's grand. A bit short though."

"I didn't think you'd appreciate War and Peace." He smirked.

"Good instincts." She laughed.

Her eyes left the pages and landed on Bane. He was sitting facing away from the activity.

Her eyes travelled down the plane of his back. He was sitting in the shadows, but she could see a ragged scar standing out among the muscles.

Grace hadn't lived a sheltered life in Gotham. She saw many gruesome stories covered on the news. She could only imagine what he went through to receive that.

When he stood, she could see the power in his body.

She remembered his followers scamping out of the way when he ordered them out of the showers.

They were afraid of him.

She couldn't tell if she was too.

So far, he hadn't laid a hand on her. But that didn't mean he wouldn't.

She wouldn't hold her breath to find out.

Xxx

Grace rolled the dice, playing a quick game of 'get the highest number'.

So far, she had yet to get a double 6.

The days slowly turned into weeks. And in the back of her mind, she prayed for the police to be searching for her.

Patrick, while missing for much longer than she, probably wouldn't be noticed until his rent was due.

Which was in two weeks. She had to help him last month.

Her body still ran on school time. Right now, she should have been supervising homeroom.

She wondered what supply teacher they roped in.

Maybe that Mrs Backshaw. Or was she finally retired?

Another roll and finally she got a double 6.

She sagged with a sigh.

What to do now?

A brisk knock on the door gave her some hope to break up the monotony.

The door opened.

She assumed it was going to be Barsad.

Grace wasn't expecting him.

"Hi…" She watched Bane stand in the doorway. "Is everything alright?"

"I am here to ask a favour." He got straight to the point.

"Okay."

"I will need you to follow me."

"Um..." She began to back away slowly.

"We will not be gone long."

She hesitated, but nodded in the end. Who was she to refuse? It's not like she's going to be missing out on anything.

Besides, Patrick's bargain with Bane meant she couldn't be harmed.

That thought gave Grace some comfort.

He walked by her side. Barsad did too whenever they walked around the sewers.

Maybe they didn't trust her to follow them.

They walked down another corridor. They passed the showers on the way.

He took out a key and opened the door at the end of the hall.

"Where are we?"

"My room."

She froze at his admission.

Her mind concocted thousands of scenarios that might be beyond the threshold.

Her mind first went through every warning her mother gave her before she went to college.

Some men are monsters. You need to be on guard.

"Um… I don't know if I feel that comfortable…." She let the sentence hang in the air.

"It is not for what you are imagining, my dear."

Her eyes left the doorway and shifted back to his.

"Why am I here then?"

"I wish to hear you sing." He explained.

She blinked slowly processing the words.

"You just want me... to sing?"

"Indeed."

"Oh...kay." She let out a sigh of relief.

"You assumed I brought you here to violate you?" He raised a brow at her.

"Oh- god, no. I'm sorry. I-I didn't mean to imply that you wanted me to- to-" She felt like a right idiot stammering before him.

"No matter." He cut off her stuttering. "Shall we?" He gestured to the room.

"Um… yeah sure." She walked in.

He locked the door behind them.

The room was more or less the same size as hers.

Slightly bigger army cot and bedding. There were several chests around the room, including one refrigerated container.

Another small detail that caught her eye was a tattered teddy bear that sat on a crate.

He looked old and well-worn and had one eye dangling from a loose thread.

She went to reach for it, but Bane picked it up before she could.

"You should not touch other people's things, my dear." He placed the bear on a high shelf. Her small stature wouldn't be able to reach it without a step ladder.

"I'm sorry, that was rude of me." Grace tried to hide her mortification by looking for somewhere to sit. There was only the bed and the trunks.

He slid a folding chair out from under his cot and set it up for her.

"Have a seat."

She sat down and watched him remove the Kevlar vest. She averted her eyes out of politeness.

But she felt her eyes drifting over his muscular back when he placed the items in the crate beside the door.

"I will return you in an hour."

"That's fine." And then because she couldn't help herself. "Why do you need me to sing?" She asked.

He turned to look at her, and for a moment she thought he wasn't going to answer.

"I wish to sleep."

"Oh." Whatever she'd been expecting, it wasn't that. "And my singing…?"

"It is soothing." And almost as an afterthought he added. "You have a beautiful voice." She almost smiled at the compliment.

"Alright. That's… nice of you to say."

"I need to be back to work by half 7. There is a clock on the wall. You will wake me at quarter past."

"And do I come back or…?"

"You will wait here."

He wanted her to remain while he slept?

"I don't feel comfortable watching you sleep."

"I do not mind."

"Well, if I were you, I wouldn't want me to be here for that." She joked.

He gave her a pensive look as she spoke. She grew twitchy again.

"Fortunately, you are you, and I am me. And I know you are not foolish enough to attempt anything while here." His tone left no room for dispute.

"What song would you like?" She asked as he laid down.

He grumbled as he tried to get comfortable.

"That song you sang yesterday. The one in Irish."

She frowned as she tried to remember singing around him yesterday.

"I don't remember singing around you in Irish. The only time I did was in the showe-" Her mind raced again with all sorts of scenarios. How did he hear her?

"I heard you through the pipes." He pointed to the open pipe in the corner of the ceiling.

They did pass the showers on the way here. Maybe the pipes were connected.

"Sorry. I can't help it sometimes."

"Understandable, my dear."

"It's called Eleanór na Rún." She informed him.

She began quietly, starting softly and trying not to get too loud.

Once she noticed he was drifting off, she kept the volume down.

She sang a variety of songs, some in English, most in Irish. The Irish ones were longer.

She kept an eye on the clock. Time flew by. She almost wished he wanted to sleep for longer.

She finished with the Green Fields of France. The song herself and Patrick sang together.

"…And did the pipes play the flowers of the forest?"

The note hung in the air.

She looked at the clock, she had five minutes before he had to wake up. She took this time to look around the room properly.

Humming a soothing tune, she stood and curiously peaked inside what she assumed to be his bathroom.

She tried to not be bitter when she spotted the shower. Of course, the boss would have a private shower.

But… What exactly was he boss of?

She wasn't privy to any information. Barsad didn't let anything out of the bag around and Patrick was gagged as far as she was concerned.

She didn't miss the looks the others gave him whenever he 'almost' said something to her.

They all looked like soldiers, but not American soldiers.

No uniform or emblem to be seen.

There were a variety of nationalities at the base. Some didn't even speak to one another. She watched them exchange nods or looks and have an entire conversation that way.

She felt like an animal at the zoo sometimes. Kept in a small room, occasional contacts with those in charge and no real knowledge of what's going on around her.

Maybe there's an answer in this room?

Keeping an eye on the sleeping man, she crept over to the trunk he opened earlier.

She tried to ease open the lid but found it locked.

"What are you doing?"

She gasped and looked up to see Bane staring at her through narrowed eyes.

"I-I wasn't doing anything." She knew right away that was a ridiculous answer.

"Barsad said you were occasionally insolent. Did you seek to exploit this opportunity? To try and get the answers you so desperately want?"

"I-I don't know." She gulped in fear. "I'm sorry."

Bane stood from the cot. She feared for a moment that he was going to hurt her.

She shrank back as he bent down before her.

"You are in my way."

It took her a moment to move. She held her breath as she shifted back to her chair.

He deftly opened the trunk. She didn't see the combination. When he was redressed in his Kevlar vest, he turned and gave her an appraising look.

"Thank you, my dear. I will forgive your brief lack of judgement for attempting to open my truck as I rarely sleep that deeply. We should return." He moved to the door and before she could stop herself, she asked him a favour.

"Can I ask you for one thing?"

"You may. However, I may decline your request, so ask wisely."

"It's nothing too grand. I just would like to have my fiddle." He raised a brow at her. "It's like a violin. It's at my apartment."

"And why do you ask for this?"

"It gets very quiet when I'm stuck in that room. The music helps."

"That is all you want?"

"I don't think you could fit my piano down the manhole." She laughed.

"You could have asked for freedom."

She took a moment to respond to that statement.

"I can't keep asking the same question and expect to get a different answer." She smiled sadly. "Eventually, the question will become redundant."

He gave her another evaluating look.

"You believe we mean to keep you here indefinitely?"

"I don't know what to believe anymore." She whispered sadly.

"Let us go, my dear."

Before he could open the door, she couldn't help but query.

"My fiddle?"

"I will consider your request."

Once the pair exited and Bane locked the door, they walked along the corridor. They passed a lot of other men, all of whom dutifully stepped aside to let Bane pass.

"Would you like to head back to your room, or have Barsad supervise you in the main area?"

She debated her options. Singing for an hour had given her a sore throat. And she didn't have any water with her in Bane's room.

"I think I'll turn in early. If that's okay?" She added the last part quickly.

"Up to you, my dear."

He escorted her to her room.

They rounded the corner and found a distressed Patrick and a concerned Barsad arguing outside her rooms.

"You fucking dirty scumbags! Where did you take her? Is this because of the fucking satellite? I told you I would sort it. I don't speak fucking Russian, mate. You try working with Bartov!"

"I didn't steal your baby sister. I'm sure she's around here somewhere." Barsad looked unfazed, but he was just as curious.

"I swear to god, you don't want to know what I'll do to you, to all of you, if she's not found."

Grace had never heard her brother sound so vicious. He used to be so happy and cheerful. Maybe Blackgate changed him more than she knew.

Both men stared down each other. Neither willing to back down.

Barsad broke first.

Once his eyes found her startled ones, he forcefully turned her brother to face them.

"Grace! Where the fuck were you?"

He made his way over to her. Giving her a quick once over before giving Bane a death glare. One that was returned with venom.

"I'm fine. There's no need to have a meltdown." She didn't feel safe standing between both men.

"Meltdown? I have been up to my eyes with worry. I thought they took you away again to punish me." He blinked back tears of anger. "Where were you?"

"I was…" She looked back at Bane. His narrowed eyes stopped her from revealing the nature of her absence. What if he didn't want her to tell others what he asked her to do? She didn't feel comfortable revealing his business.

I rarely sleep that deeply.

What if he couldn't sleep without help. Maybe he was ashamed somehow. She wouldn't break his trust. She didn't want to.

"I was going for a walk."

"A walk?" She nodded. "Around the sewers?" Her brother's voice was laced with disbelief.

"I escorted Miss Fitzgerald myself." Bane went along with the lie.

She watched Barsad frown behind her brother. Like he didn't believe the lie. But alas, he didn't voice his thoughts on the matter.

"Alright, let's go to dinner then, I'm starving." Patrick took her hand and began to lead her down past her room.

"Actually Patrick, I'm exhausted and just want to head to bed."

"Are you sure?" He didn't look pleased, but after giving her another once over he could see the exhaustion in her face.

"Okay, get some sleep and I'll see you tomorrow." Patrick pulled her into a hug, and she waited until she was safely behind the door to release a sigh of relief.

She hated lying to her brother.

It's not like anything happened.

But then why was she having such a hard time catching her breath.

Xxx

Patrick waited until she was safely behind the door to drop the smile from his face.

He wasn't stupid. But he wasn't a pushover either.

If there was one thing that he hated about being at the mercy of these mercenaries, it was that he couldn't be the protective big brother that his father taught him to be.

He couldn't threaten Bane like he did with Grace's other boyfriends. She always cried when they left her, seemingly without reason. But he and his friends would pay the prick a visit and make sure he never contacted Grace again.

It was a bonus of working with the mob. Family was important above all else.

He always picked up the broken pieces.

His sister couldn't fool him. She was a rubbish liar and a bad actress.

He turned and left before he did something that would get him killed. Or worse; if they did something to Grace.

Storming down the hall towards his workstation, trying to stuff down the anger he felt was difficult. It was comical that men, who had beat him to a pulp last week, were swiftly moving out of his way.

He must have looked livid.

Getting back to the main area, he ignored everyone in his path. Opening the laptop, he hacked into the cameras to follow up on his sister's story. And of course, he had been right.

He saw her enter and exit what he assumed to be Bane's room. Keeping an eye on Barsad who seemed pissed that he was missing his dinner. He sped up the footage until they left the room an hour later.

What could they have done in the room that made her feel like she had to lie? Was she protecting Bane?

If that bastard did anything to her, he would pay.

With that thought, he brought up the file he'd been working on in secret.

If he wanted to get Grace out of here in one piece, this might be the key.

He didn't care what chaos it would unlock.