I had been most restless and impatient ever since Marc had called and informed me of Dominic's situation. I had eventually gone back out to where the party was being held. I wanted to leave and go check up on Dominic-even though Marc tried to assure me that he was alright- but I couldn't just leave because that would've been considered rude. The party couldn't end soon enough for me.

Marc had assured me that Dominic would be fine and that he would have kept me updated, so I decided that I would hang around a little while longer until the party had finished.

"Lexi!" I heard someone called.

I turned around to saw that it was Mrs. Pratt.

"Hello Mrs. Pratt, is everything okay?" I smiled at her.

"Everything is great, dear. I just want to thank you for organizing everything and letting us have our anniversary party here." She took my hands in hers, "It's amazing."

"It's a pleasure Mrs. Pratt, and you having your party here will definitely help to promote my restaurant's publicity and business for it. So thank you." I smiled at her.

"Well, in that case, you're welcome dear." Mrs. Pratt laughed as she patted my hand which caused me to laugh along with her.

"I hope you continue to enjoy your evening, Mrs. Pratt." I smiled at her.

"Oh yes dear, I will." She laughs.

Being all smiley and chatty were the last things I wanted to be at that moment, but I had no choice but to be friendly and hospitable towards my clients or guests. I stayed at the party a bit longer as I took in the scene, occasionally walking around as I tried to relax. It was so hard to remain calm and relaxed when I knew of what had taken place.

I watched Mr. and Mrs. Pratt as they talked, laughed, and danced, and I couldn't help the smile that formed on my face. It was just so amazing seeing a couple so much in love. There were times when I thought about what happened the last time I almost fell for someone and I thought screw relationships, but moments like that with the Pratt's made me wished that one day, I would find a love like that. Watching Mr. and Mrs. Pratt was a great distraction, I hadn't even noticed just how much time had passed until everything started to wrapped up.

"Again Lexi, we want to thank you so much for arranging everything and accommodating us on such short notice." Mr. Pratt thanked me as we were at the restaurant's exit.

"Yeah, we appreciate it. And everything turned out wonderful, Mrs. Pratt said, "It was a pleasure doing business with you."

"Actually, it was a pleasure doing business with you guys." I chuckled as they laughed.

"So we're going to head home now. I mean, after all the dancing and partying tonight, I'm so exhausted." Mrs. Pratt announced.

"Yeah, we should get home," Her husband agreed. "After all, we have guests that came to celebrate with us tonight, and they're probably tired as well."

"In that case, you guys should totally head out now," I said to them, "I want to wish you a happy anniversary once again and all the best."

I went back inside and saw

"Aww, thank you. Hopefully, when you get married you'll be celebrating just like us." Mrs. Pratt said to me.

"Yeah, I hope so too."

"Anyway, we'll be heading off now." Mr. Pratt and Mrs. Pratt announced, "Goodnight."

"Goodnight, drive safe," I told them as they left.

I went back inside and spotted Derek. Derek was one of my most efficient workers. He was in his forties and was a good friend who often acted as my restaurant's second manager whenever I was unavailable.

"Derek," I motioned him over. "I need your help."

"Lexi, is everything okay?" Derek asked as he made his way over.

"Yeah, everything is fine. I was just wondering if you could lock up tonight. I have a little emergency at home..."

"Sure, no problem. I was planning to stay back and help with the cleanup," Derek informed, "It's cool, you can head out."

"Thanks, Derek, I owe you one. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" I smiled before I headed to my office to get my bag.

I retrieved my stuff from the office and headed for the restaurant's exit. I had my phone out as I was about to send a text when I almost bumped into someone.

"I'm so sorry." I excused myself only to recognize who the person was.

"Glen?"

Glen was one of the guys who worked for Dominic for quite some time. He was the type of guy who always tried to please his boss.

"Hey Lexi, am I right on time?" He greeted.

"Right on time for what? What are you doing here?" I asked confused.

"I'm supposed to escort you home," he responded, "You must've heard what happened right? With the boss?"

"Oh, yeah. I was actually about to drive over to his house now to check up on him." I told him.

"I know, but it's not safe for you to be out alone this time of the night, especially with what just happened. Can you believe it? A traitor in the family. That is something that we haven't seen in years. Who the hell could have done something like that?" He said in disgust. "We can't wait to figure out who the rat is. I still haven't gotten much information about what exactly happened, but I think he is so fortunate that whoever the shooter is, made a lame shot. I don't even want to think about what would've happened if the shot caught him good."

"Me neither," I told him as we walked to my car. "But seriously, who in the family would just turn on him all of a sudden? Dominic always spoke about all of you and how loyal you all are. So for something like this to just happened, it just seems so off."

"That's the thing, Lexi, you can never trust anyone. Not even your right-hand man, Glen said to me. "Sometimes the persons closest to you are the ones that are working against you-- the ones who will hurt you most."

"You're not insinuating that Marc has anything to do with this, are you? Because I can assure..."

"Of course not. Everyone knows that aside from me and a few others, that Marc is one of the most loyal people in the family." Glen responded, "All I am saying is that the moments like this are when you learn to watch your back with everyone. After what I heard happened tonight, I won't trust anyone else until we find out who the hell is that rat."

"Have you been by the house since?" I asked as we came to my car.

"Yeah, but they're not letting anyone else in at the moment. No one other than Marc and your parents is allowed inside, so I haven't gotten a chance to see the boss as yet. I called Marc to inquire about how bad is his condition, but he's not telling me much. Can't blame him though, in a case like this when we don't know who is responsible."

"Like you said. We can't trust anyone right now. Not until we find out the shooter was and believe me, we will. We always do, you don't go into a Mafia boss house, try to kill him, and get away." I told him.

"Definitely not," Glen agreed, "Anyway, I know you don't like the idea of being followed around and being guarded but with the reason of the incident it isn't safe for you to be out and about by yourself."

"I can handle myself, Glen, don't worry," I reassured him.

"Maybe so but still you don't know who may be out there after you too. Imagine, if there is a traitor who just tried to kill their boss and fail, do you think he's going to just give me up like that? If you can't break the strongest link at once, you weaken it, then start at the weakest link. No offense but right now if whoever that person is, is determined to destroy the Luciano family that bad then there is no telling if that person won't view you or your mom as the weakest links, Glen said to me.

"That's what most cowards do, they target the women if they couldn't break the men. We don't know how this sick shit is thinking, but we can't take any risks. Your mom is already at the house with the others, but you're out here at these hours, by yourself. That could be risky."

"I'm not weak, Glen. I am capable of taking care of myself." I said to him, "Look, I need to go now so, what is your plan?"

"I know you're not weak but if you get attacked when you least expect it then things could be terrible," he responded "When I came into the Luciano's family, I was sworn to protect the members. You may not be an official member, but you are family. Dominic may be out of it and unavailable to give me the instructions right now, but I know him and I know that he'd want me to protect you with my life."

"Alright, I know that this is how these things work." I sighed. "I'll be driving ahead of you. You can follow and watch my back."

"That was the plan." Glen held my door opened as I unlocked it. "Let's go and not take any more risk."