AN: I am extremely sorry this has taken so long to come out. To all my loyal readers out there thanks for hanging in there. I had the worse case of writer's block and could not get through it. I received a message this morning from msFlaneur, I don't know what it was about the message but it helped me clear my head and the words literally just started flowing and I was able to write this whole chapter today and did not want to make you guys wait any longer. Thank you so much msFlaneur.

Lorenzo pulled back from the kiss and smiled down at Elena. The tears had stopped, she did not exactly look happy, but he could work with that. He felt like they were finally getting to the point they should have been three years ago. Lorenzo was not delusional he knew it was his fault; his fault alone that it took this long. All that mattered to him was that they were finally getting there.

"I should be home at a decent time tonight." Lorenzo still smiled down at her.

"Ok." Elena looked up at him with the forced smile that Lorenzo knew all too well, he raised his eyebrow at her. "I'll see you tonight." She pulled back then walked around him to the door.

Lorenzo's eyes followed her body as he turned his own to face the way she had been walking. The sway of her hips had drove him nuts no matter how many times he saw it, but he had to stay in control. This was definitely not the time or place to let his hormones take over. Something told him she was still mad and he was confused. Had they not just resolved everything between them.

"Elena." Lorenzo's voice was low and soft, she stopped walking and slowly looked over her shoulder at him. "Are you still mad at me?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" Elena turned to fully face him as she crossed her arms over her chest. "What was just said between us right now does not change the fact that you hid something I should have been told about. You have allowed my sister to live on your compound..."

"Our compound." Lorenzo said in a tired voice, correcting her words.

"Whatever, you have allowed my sister to live at the compound and date one of your men, all while feeling that it wasn't a big deal that I didn't know any of this." She said sounding mad again. "I'm your wife, something you have reminded me on more than one occasion, you should have said something to me two weeks ago."

"Elena, I explained this already." Lorenzo said shaking his head.

"I heard your explanation and it doesn't change the fact that you should have said something to me or made them do it much sooner." She turned and walked out the door before he could respond to her.

Lorenzo was irritated that he got himself stuck in the middle of this shit with Elena. He knew Elena should have been told about this a while ago but things kept getting in the way. Lorenzo quickly called Tony letting him know that things with Elena and Gino were not any better yet and it would not be smart to let them leave together. Tony agreed, deciding to leave Gino with Lorenzo and he would go with her. They had just been going through books and settling issues that he was not really needed for anyways.

Elena did not want to be mad at Lorenzo, but she also did not want to let him off easy, things would never change if she did. If things were going to work between them then they needed to trust each other and that was the hardest thing for her to do. Trust didn't come easy for Elena when it came to Lorenzo, he had done so much in the last three and half years and that made it too hard for her to truly trust him yet. When she got out to the restaurant area again she glanced around for her escort home, more like her entourage. Tony was walking towards her as he hung up his phone, a smile plastered across his face.

"Where are we headed?" he asked coming to a stop in front of her.

"Why are you coming with me and not Gino?" she asked raising an eyebrow at him. "You're supposed to be with Lorenzo."

"He's a big boy and knows how to protect himself." Tony said with a laugh. "Plus, I think for Gino's safety its best I go with you, one bullet from the boss' wife is enough."

"I'm not going to shoot him." Elena shook her head and he just stood smiling at her. "Whatever, if that's how you feel." Elena shrugged her shoulders. "I just want to go to the house."

"Alright, home it is." Tony said with the smile still plastered across his face.

Rather than the four men like she had arrived with Elena left with only three. Two of the men sat in the front and Tony sat in the back with Elena. She stood staring out the window watching as the buildings went by. Elena heard the ping of a message come from her phone and when she looked down to see who it was, she saw Angel's name. Instead of opening it Elena opened her clutch and tossed her phone in it, ignoring the several pings that followed the first one. Now that Cora had spoken out about what was going on everyone suddenly had the time to talk to her.

The sudden acceleration of the engine had snapped Elena from her thoughts. She looked up towards Benny, the driver wondering what the hell was going on. He kept glancing up at the rearview mirror, so she glanced back behind them also but did not notice anything out of the ordinary. She looked over at the guy next to Benny and he was pulling a gun out. Tony pulled his phone out and scrolled through it as he looked over at Elena.

"Nothing to worry about." He said with a forced smile when he noticed the concern on her face. "I have this under control."

"Exactly what do you have under control." Elena asked as she glanced behind them again when Benny made a sudden turn and she saw another car doing the same. "Is that car with us or following us?"

"Following." Tony said as he glanced back then spoke into the phone. "Gino, we got a tail following behind us. Black sedan, not sure of make or body count inside of it."

"Tony?" Elena's voice was scared and Tony looked over at her as he gave her knee a gently squeeze.

Elena was scared and stood quiet watching Tony as he kept glancing being them as he barked orders at Benny about where to turn at. Just as she went to look at the car behind them Tony quickly yanked her down and the back window of their SUV was blown out. Elena's arm quickly went up and over her head as she began to have the feeling of Déjà vu. Holding her eyes closed tightly she heard someone in the SUV return fire. Several gunshots rang out before they stopped.

Tony's voice caught her attention again as he started screaming into the phone. "Get Lorenzo out of there." Tony's voice was loud and laced with anger. "It's a goddamn ambush, Gino. FUCK!" Tony let out a loud scream as he punched the seat in front of him. "Go towards the other house we have two cars sitting there ready for us."

"What happened to Lorenzo?" Elena asked looking up at the fear in Tony's face.

"I need to just keep you safe, do not worry about that." Tony said shaking his head as he watched his guy fire another shot at the car behind them and Elena's body jumped at the sound. "Whatever you do stay down until I say otherwise."

"Please tell me Lorenzo is ok." Elena begged him.

Tony did not even look back down at her or answer her question. He did not have an answer for her, the last thing he heard through Gino's phone were gunshots before it went dead. Just as they drove pass the other house another SUV came barreling out the driveway crushing the tailing car. Their own SUV never slowed it kept going the few miles down to the compound. The gates were already open and waiting as they drove through. The SUV came to a screeching stop in front the mansion causing Elena's body to lurch forward, but Tony caught her before she hit the seat in front of her.

The perimeter around the house was far enough that Tony knew Elena was now safe. He quickly got her out of the SUV and into the house. Just as he told the two men standing there to keep eyes on her at all times, Sal and Vinny came running out jumping into another SUV that was pulling up. Tony kissed her forehead before running out and following them.

Elena never left the foyer, she paced back and forth waiting on some kind of news. The first twenty minutes she paced in her heels, but the last forty minutes had been done barefooted. The sound of cars pulling up quickly caught Elena's attention. She moved fast towards the door as it opened and Lorenzo came through. When their eyes met, she ran towards him slamming her body into his as he caught her in a tight hug. Lorenzo squeezed her to him, he lifted her from her feet while burying his face into her neck.

"Tony told me you weren't hurt but I had to see it for myself." Lorenzo said as he placed her back on her feet. "I have to end this war."

"Are you ok?" Elena asked not wanting to let him go.

"I'm fine." Lorenzo sucked in a deep breath.

Lorenzo pulled Elena into the living room, letting her hand go long enough to remove his coat and drop it on the chair. He then moved to the sofa sitting down and pulled her onto his lap. His mind had gone crazy during the ambush. Had Elena been there ten minutes longer should have been hurt or worse. It did not help any when he heard she had been in a car chase shoot out either.

Lorenzo looked up towards the ceiling, letting his mind wander even further into his thoughts. She deserved better than this and he knew it. She deserved a man that could give her a normal life away from the hell he lived in. Dragging her down the path he was going was not fair to her and he knew what he had to do. Lorenzo was not sure if he could and when he felt her body stir, he closed his eyes searing this moment into his mind. Ripping his own heart out was going to hurt but ripping hers out was going to kill him.

He felt her petite finger slide along his jaw causing him to close his eyes tighter. "What are you thinking about?" Elena asked softly and Lorenzo jerked his head away from her finger. "Lorenzo, what's wrong?"

Lorenzo opened his eyes but did not looked down at her. "I need to get my phone." He said nudging her body with his.

"Ok." Elena said as she stood up and watched in surprise as he quickly moved from the sofa they had been resting on and over to his phone that was in his coat pocket. When he looked back up Elena knew something was different about him. "Is everything alright?"

"You need to leave." Lorenzo said in a voice that felt cold to her.

"Alright." Elena said softly as she began walk. "I'll just go up to our room?"

"No Elena." Lorenzo shook his head, hating himself for this. "You need to leave me."

"I don't understand." Elena said feeling the tears that started to pool in her eyes.

"Let me make this clear." Lorenzo growled at her and she jumped from his tone. "Go to the damn room pack your shit and leave."

"No!" Elena yelled at him. "Where the hell is this coming from? A couple of hours ago you were holding me and telling me you love me... now you want me out!"

"Open your fucking eyes and look around you!" he snapped at her. "Is this the kind of life you really want; you don't even want your sister in this damn life!"

"I am not letting you do this!" Elena yelled at him. "Do you honestly think if I left right now I would be safe out there? Everyone in your world knows my face now!"

"Is that why you're staying with me?"

"Of course not, that is why you're making me leave." She yelled at him.

"Elena look what I'm doing to you, you're going to end up dead if you stay with me." Lorenzo sighed in defeat as he dropped himself down in the chair next to him.

Elena decided to go with a different approach, fighting while both of there emotions were high was not what they needed. She walked over to him and he watched her slow movement. Elena gently placed her hand on his jaw and leaned down placing a kiss to his temple. Lorenzo closed his eyes for moment then looked away from her.

"I'm going to our room." She stood up straight, but he still did not look over at her. "You want me leave, that is fine, but you have will have to physically put me out yourself." His eyes snapped up to her and she glared down at him. "If you send any one of these guys to do your dirty work, I will shoot everyone of them as they walk through my door."

Elena did not wait for an answer from him as he stood there stunned by her words. She walked away and Lorenzo sat there watching the sway of her hips as she went up to their room, slamming the door behind herself. This was not how Lorenzo though their talk was going to go.

After sitting there for a few more minutes getting his thoughts together Lorenzo pulled his self up to his feet. Shaking his head, he went up the stairs to their room. Lorenzo took a few deep breaths before opening the door and walking in. When he looked over towards the bed Elena was sitting on the edge of it with a 9mm sitting next her.

As his eyes left the gun and went back to her face he could see that she was beyond mad. When he started to walk towards her she moved her hand to the gun and he moved faster covering her hand with his own. She glared at him as he removed her hand. Lorenzo released the clip letting it fall to the floor then he cleared the chamber, smiling at the fact that she had one chambered. He dropped the gun to the floor then stepped back from her.

"Where did you get the gun?"

"You have plenty hidden throughout this mansion." Elena said shrugging her shoulders. "I spend enough time in here to know where every one of them is hidden."

"Smart."

"Are you here to throw me out?"

"No, I want to, Elena. I really do." Lorenzo shook his head knowing she was just going to get even more mad at his words. "I'm letting you leave, I'm letting you have the life you wanted, the life you want for your sisters."

"Tell me that you don't love me and I'll leave."

"You know I cannot do that; I'm doing this because I love you."

"Kiss me Lorenzo." Lorenzo shook his head no as his closed his eyes. "Goddamn it, be a man and kiss your wife."

Lorenzo's eyes snapped open and glared at her. He roughly grabbed her face and pulled her from the bed, crashing his lips into hers. Kissing her like his life had depended on it. Elena placed her hands on his chest and slowly slid them up to wrap around his neck, pulling herself closer to his body. Lorenzo released her face and slid his hands down her body.

Once he felt her ass he squeezed hard as he lifted her from her feet and she wrapped her legs around his waist, grinding herself into him. An animalistic growl rumbled through his chest and she moaned into the kiss. One thing led to another and before either knew what was happening they were both ripping each other's clothes off.

Their love making was not slow, sweet and romantic. It was rushed, aggressive and angered filled. She knew there would be bruises on her body from where he held her so tightly and he would have scratches and bite marks that she left on him. They laid stomach to stomach, her on top breathing heavily. His hands slowly traced up and down her bare sweaty back until she sat up then they moved to her hips keeping her from moving any further.

"Do you still want me to leave?" his eyes trailed down her naked body then back up to her eyes as he slowly shook his head no. "Twice today you have told me to leave, don't do it again because next time I will leave and I will fuck the first person I come across."

Instantly Lorenzo flipped them over and she was suddenly under him as he glared down at her. "No one will ever touch what belongs to me, I will fucking kill him and everyone that knows him."

"Then stop telling me to leave!" she snapped back at him.

In the matter of seconds they were kissing and once again making love this time it had been slow and sweet, savoring every touch and kiss with their movements. It was neither of them could get enough of the other. He wanted to be a close to her as his body would allow him and she wanted the same. When they both climaxed they once again laid there breathing heavily but this time he had smile on his face as he looked down at her.

"Elena things have to change for a while." He said looking down at her.

"What do you mean?" she asked reaching up and traced her finger along his jaw.

"I can't let you leave here unless it's with me." Elena opened her mouth to say something, but he silenced her with a kiss then spoke again. "Don't argue with me, until this war ends, I can't risk something happening to you."

"You can't keep me locked up all the time like a porcelain doll." Elena adjusted her body under him and he growled reaching down to still her body. She looked up smiling at him when she realized why he stopped her movements. "Are you not tired already?"

"Sweetheart, I could never be tired of your body." He smirked back down at her. "So if you have no intentions of doing more with me right now I suggest you stop moving."

Elena pulled her head from the pillow placing a soft kiss under his chin.