In the shower, she stood underneath the showerhead with her eyes closed as warm water beaded down on her.

  Memories of all the gunfights, kidnappings, and of both Samuel Russo and the two men who put her in a cage, all ran through her mind, and she shuddered. "Ha..." I'm a cop; I should be used to all this random crap by now. I should be used to the danger and dealing with criminals.

  An image of Roger being taken away as he was passed out played through her mind, and she dropped to her knees.

  What if he doesn't survive? I was ready to leave with him to settle all this, but his family fell apart, anyway. Everything fell apart because I went there.

  Knock, knock.

  "You've been in there a while. Are you okay? I don't want you passing out in the bath again," Zain called out to her from the other side of the door.

  "I'm fine," Grace replied, not wanting him to burst in again.

  Figuring Zain would keep checking on her if she stayed any longer, Grace quickly scrubbed herself clean and hopped out of the shower. She dried herself off, wrapped a towel around herself and reached for another towel for her hair.

  Her foot slipped on the water.

  "Ah!" she yelped as she fell back, landing on the ground hard. "Ow!"

  "Grace!"

  "I'm fine! Just slipped."

  The door opened.

  Grace stared up at him and clutched her towel as his eyes trailed along her. "I'm certain I locked that door." Grace glared at him.

  "I... I made a key for it in case something happened, like last time."

  "You what?"

  "You could've died last time! Drowned in a tub... At least this way I won't have to break your door down or anything."

  "If someone is going to have that, shouldn't it be Mary? Hand it over."

  "No." He slipped the key back into his pants pocket. "I'm the one always around you; I'm the one who would need quick access in case something happened. Which it kinda did..." He held his hand out to her.

  "I slipped on some water, that's all."

  "Don't brush it off; you'll probably have a nasty bruise on your butt from this time, but what if you had hit your head?"

  "Why does it feel like you think I'm clumsy or something?"

  Zain shrugged as he fought back a smile. "Come on." He wiggled his hand.

  Grace rolled her eyes and took his hand. He pulled her up, as she kept her other hand on her towel, and her foot slipped again. This time, she face-planted into him.

  "Oof! What were you saying about not being clumsy?" Zain wrapped an arm around her and froze when he noticed he was touching skin, not a towel.

  In her surprise, she accidentally let go of the towel and it slipped down. "Don't you dare look," she growled at him.

  "But I'm afraid to let go and have you slip again. It's already happened twice."

  "Zain, let go, or I'll do something you're really not going to like."

  He stared up at the ceiling and let out a deep breath as he released her. She snatched her towel and put it back on.

  "I'm fine now, so you should go." She nudged her head towards the door.

  "What if you slip again? I can clean up the floor—" Zain said as she pushed him out the door. "Ha... Probably better I didn't stay in there," he grumbled and undid a button on his shirt as he waved himself, hoping to cool down.

  Geez, since when do I mess up this much? I must be out of it today, but I guess that makes sense.

  Grace changed and safely came out of the bathroom.

  "Leaving your hair wet? You know there's a hair dryer in there, right?" Zain pointed back at the bathroom.

  "I know, but I leave it to air dry most of the time."

  "You should at least dry it more with a towel then—"

  "Zain."

  "Yeah?"

  "Thank you for caring so much about me, but I'm going to talk to Roger now."

  "Okay."

  Grace went to leave and stopped when she noticed Zain following her. "What are you doing?"

  "Coming along with you for support."

  "I'll be fine."

  "Sorry, but I don't believe you right now, and I think it'll get worse when you see him."

  "Whatever." Grace rolled her eyes and headed downstairs to their infirmary. The hall had a bunch of people waiting outside, along with several guards by the doors. She forgot to ask Pez which room, but Zain seemed to know, as he passed by her and headed for the second room.

  "Here." Zain held the door open for her.

  "Thanks..." Grace slowly stepped into the room, and her eyes trailed along Roger. He slept with multiple devices hooked up to him, showing his stable vitals, but he looked pale. "Is he just asleep?" She sat down beside Roger and rested her hand on his.

  "For now, yes. I'll... talk to the doctor; he's in the next room right now. You can have a moment with Roger. Yell if you need anything," Zain left.

  This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  Grace sighed, her shoulders slouching. "Roger... I've seen you hurt before, but never on the brink of death like this." She gently combed his bangs back on his sweaty forehead. "I'm sorry I screwed everything up. If I didn't sneak out and come to you without you even knowing, none of this would've happened. And look, I know I was upset about the whole mafia secret, and about you coming after my grandpa, but I still want to be your friend, so please pull through." Grace wiped away a tear. "We've been through too much together for you to go out like this."

  She glanced over to make sure the door was closed.

  "And I think you deserve to be the first to know I've made my decision on the whole... next mafia leader, and who I'm choosing to date. I don't know about marriage, and quite frankly, I'd rather wait a long while on that. I know my grandpa wants a marriage, but that part will have to wait. I guess he might still call it a fiancé announcement, but that can be broken off if it doesn't work. I know I shouldn't be loading off on you while you're unconscious, but... you're my best friend, Roger, and it's hard to see you any other way. If it's too hard to see me and know we'll only be friends, then you can vanish from my life... but I really wish you wouldn't. Even going a day without talking to you feels weird."

  Grace let out a long sigh and gripped his hand tighter. I should tell him all that when he's awake... if he wakes up.

  "Ugh, you better be okay." Grace wiped away a tear, but more fell. "Please be okay... I can't lose you. Ha..." She sniffled and covered her eyes. "I'm tired of people leaving me."

  Roger's hand twitched.

  "Roger?"

  He gripped her hand. "Grace..." he mumbled her name and cringed as he opened his eyes. "What... happened?"

  "Oh, gosh." She sniffled. "Um... Should I get the doctor?" She stood and his grip on her hand tightened.

  "Don't leave, Grace... Tell me what happened." Roger struggled to keep his eyes open as he looked at her.

  "Um..." She took a deep breath and sat back down. "Do you mean you don't remember the fight your family was having? It seemed like it split into those who wanted to start fresh and those who still wanted revenge—"

  "Not that... You... You were... kidnapped."

  "Oh..." I guess he would've been worried about me; I vanished on him after all. "The men who captured me sold me off in that auction house you have underneath the factory, and Vincent bought me to save me. Chaos broke out after that, and I was removed from the premises. I know Zain ran in to help you, and my grandpa ran in after that, but I don't know who shot you."

  "Are you okay?"

  "I'm okay. Now, while I'm glad you woke up and I could talk to you a bit, I think you should rest more. You're looking quite pale, and those dark circles make you look like a zombie." Grace bit her lip.

  "I'll be... fine." He laughed and then groaned.

  "I hope so..."

  "Please don't cry. I can't wipe away your tears right now... not that I deserve them."

  "Ugh, I can't help it; seeing you like this is a lot to take in. I've lost so many people, and I don't want to lose you, too."

  "I'll do my best... to stick around. So, whom did you choose? I just know... it's not me." He cringed. "And the... next boss..."

  Wait, so he was awake? He heard my ramblings?

  "You deserve to know so..." Grace got up and whispered into his ear her answer.

  The door opened and Zain came back in with a huff. "I think that's enough alone time." He glared at Roger, who smirked at him. "What's that look for? And why are you leaning in so close to him?" He hustled over and pulled on Grace's wrist. "Come on; he needs more rest."

  Grace kissed Roger's forehead. "I'll visit you again soon. Promise."

  "You better... Although, I don't know... what they'll do with me..." Roger sighed and closed his eyes. He let his grip on her hand ease, and Zain tugged her away.

  "Please get better," Grace mumbled as she left. She let Zain drag her over to the dining room, where he pulled out a chair for her. "Did you come to make sure I didn't stay with him too long?" She thanked him as she sat down, and he sat beside her.

  "I... I wanted to be in the room with you for support, but with the way you looked at him, I knew you wanted alone time. And yes, I didn't want you staying too long, so sue me. He's this family's enemy—"

  "He's your cousin."

  "From a family that didn't want me."

  "Was everything bad with them?"

  Zain's cheek twitched. "Is anything ever one hundred percent bad? I mean... even I have good memories of the man that beat me. My mother, on the other hand, she was sweet, and I thought she loved me, but she didn't fight his choice to send me away. My own mother didn't want me."

  "Are you so sure about that?" Grace poked at the scrambled eggs on her plate. "What if she let you go in hopes you'd have a better life? What if she wanted to get you away from him?"

  "Ha... That's what the boss said, too. But there's no way to know the truth, so does it matter now?"

  "Did you lose both of them?"

  "From what I heard, at least. I didn't go to the funeral, not that they sent me an invite. No one told me what happened either; I just heard it through the grapevine that they were dead."

  "Would you want to find out what happened to them? We both know someone who can find anything."

  "Pez..." Zain shook his head. "No, I don't want to know. The boss is my family, and the Bertolottiss are my family. And hopefully, you'll be my family, too."

  "I thought I was a Bertolottis." Grace snickered and Zain ruffled her hair.

  "You know what I mean."

  "Yeah..." Grace stuffed her face with her food as she avoided looking at Zain.

  He couldn't help but chuckle. "You look so cute right now; like a chipmunk." He poked her full cheek.

  She swatted his hand away, but he just poked her again.

  "Quit that," she mumbled with her mouth full.

  "My, my, when's the last time I saw you act like this?" Mary chuckled. "Zain, the big, bad underboss of the Bertolottis family, turns into a little boy teasing the girl he likes." She shook her head and set down two plates of apple pie for them.

  "What's wrong with that?" Zain asked. "Although, I'll say you have to tweak one word there."

  "Oh?"

  "I'm in love with this strong, capable, and relentlessly stubborn woman." Zain leaned his elbow on the table as he smiled at her.

  "Oh, my." She giggled. "I never thought I'd hear you say something like that. This one here has had his fair share of arm candy, but not once has he ever muttered words of love like that. I don't think he ever even considered them girlfriends."

  "I haven't seen him with any women since I got here."

  "Of course not; you're already enough to handle without any other women here, and in case you forgot, I'm one of the marriage candidates. Not only would the boss have my hide if I were to screw around in this position, but I'm not the kind of man who would do that. Fooling around while single is one thing, but I'd never do that in a relationship. I figure it's only fair, since I know if my girl two-timed me, I'd kill the other man."

  Grace shuddered. Why is he telling me this?

  "Aren't you supposed to be trying to win her over, not scare her away?" Mary sighed, shaking her head. "Not that this nice girl would ever cheat, right?"

  "Of course not," Grace grumbled and dug into her dessert. I can barely manage to keep one man, never mind more than that. When was the last time I had a real date?

  "Good, but too bad you seem to attract so many men; your man will have to be good at staying calm and fending them off."

  "Calm?" Zain grumbled. "I'm not always good with that."

  "Learn to be," Mary said and left the dining room.

  Zain leaned in close to Grace. "You are choosing me, right? That kiss in your room must've meant something..."

  Grace kept eating as she held back a smirk.

  "Unless you did that with Vincent, too?"

  Grace finished her plate off and stood. "I'm going to relax in my room, and seeing as I'm not in danger anymore, you don't need to follow me everywhere."

  "That may be so, but I like following you around."

  "What are you, a dog?"

  "If you want me to be." He winked at her.

  Grace was silent as she stared at him for a moment. Is this supposed to be more of his 'showing me he's serious' or what?

  "Goodnight, Zain, and thank you for coming to rescue me, and Roger." Grace smiled at him and turned to leave.

  "I'll run to save you anywhere at any time."

  "I prefer to save myself, but thank you." Grace headed for her room.

  "You have it bad for her, don't you?" Mary asked as she came back for the dishes.

  "So bad... You have no idea." Zain ran his hand through his hair. "Like a switch flipped, and she was all I could think about."

  "My boy's all grown up."

  Zain frowned. "I've been a man for a long time now."

  "Maybe in age and body, but not maturity." She snickered as she picked up the empty plates. "You've matured since she got here, even though it may not seem like it with how you tease her, but I guess love did it."

  "I'll help." Zain picked up the rest of the plates.

  "See, matured." Mary smiled up at him.