Thomas looks at me, a blank expression on his face before turning his gaze to Luciano. He looks back at me, raising an eyebrow. "I see you brought backup." Luciano takes a seat beside me, sending a cool look to him. "You and I both know she doesn't need backup." Thomas doesn't seem to know what to say and turns back, looking at me. "Alessa, I truly am sorr-" I hold up my hand, cutting him off. "Fuck your apologies. I want to know how the fuck you missed something like that."

"Watch your tone, Alessandra.'

"Don't test me Thomas. Not today."

He glares at me but I don't lower my icy gaze.

"We had no idea it was a CIA black site. It's one of their newer sites and tech support never picked up on it." I stare at him for a few seconds before lifting my lips in a half smile. "Why didn't Victor carry out a sniper hit?" "Excuse me?" "I know all about Victor's assignment. It was a simple mission. Even a junior agent knows that breaking into a rogue CIA agent's home is dangerous. He had a clear shot from the building opposite the target's apartment. Why didn't he take it?" "How did you find out about that?" "That's all you have to say?" Thomas sighs, rubbing his chin. "Victor screwed up, I admit. I don't know why he did what he did but believe me, when he's out of the hospital I'm gonna be having a word with him." "Why'd you send me in?" "Excuse me?" "Why did you send me in?" I say slowly. Thomas blinks, before letting out a short laugh. "You're our best agent Alessa." "I know but I'm in the middle of an assignment. You could have sent another agent in to extract Victor." "It was a dangerous mission, one that needed a highly skilled operative. I sent you because you've dealt with the CIA before." I raise an eyebrow, "I though you didn't know it was a black site." Thomas pauses, and his eyes flash with uncertainty. "I didn't but the assignment did involve a CIA agent. We didn't know what was awaiting us." "Meaning you gambled with my life on purpose." Thomas remains silent, proving my point. I nod, making a move to stand up. "I'm gonna let this slide this time." "Are you threatening me Alessa?" Thomas says, his voice low and dark. I smirk but it's cynical. "Me threaten you? I would never. Think of it more as a friendly word of advice." "This is a threat. Interfere in my business again and you and I will no longer be allies." Luciano who has been silent this whole time cuts in, his voice deadly. Thomas glares at him, "With all due respect Don Moretti, this has nothing to do with you. This is between the CCC, Alessa and me."

Luciano laughs and it sends a shiver down my spine. "It became my business when you pulled Alessa out from our joint operation without consulting me. It became my business when you knowingly endangered her life." Thomas gulps a little but doesn't back down. "I knew that Alessa had become close with your family but I didn't know the both of you had a...personal connection." "It's just business Thomas. I need Alessa to take down Connor. If she dies, I can't get what I want." Great, I had now been reduced to a business deal, a mere pawn in Luciano Moretti's game.

"If the two of you would stop talking about me as if I'm not here, I'd really appreciate it," I say sarcastically but the two men ignore me, continuing their little staring contest.

Thomas nods, eyeing Luciano carefully. "I can't argue with that. I suppose I owe you an apology Don Moretti. It won't happen again." "For your sake, I sure hope not."

Thomas turns to me, forcing a smile. "I owe you an apology too Alessa. It won't happen again as well." "Like Don said, for your sake I sure hope not." I turn to leave, Luciano holding the door open for me. I'm almost out the door when Thomas calls out my name. "Alessa." I turn and he gazes at me cooly. "Friendly word of advice. It would be unwise to forget the hand that fed you." I raise an eyebrow at him, "I think it would be unwise of the hand to forget what I'm capable of." Thomas's eyes flash with anger. "You're not one of them Alessa." "Exactly. I'm not one of anyone's." With that, I walk out leaving him seething with anger. Luciano doesn't say a word as we head back to the car. The ride home is silent and I'm glad he doesn't try to strike up a conversation. I needed time to calm down and process everything.

"If it's not too much trouble, could we stop over at the subway station on 21st street?" I ask Luciano and he nods. "Sure." He pulls over at the curb and I turn to him. "I'll be back in 2 minutes." "Take your time."

I walk in, avoiding the cameras. Heading to the lockers, I find what I had hidden there a while ago and get out of there.

Getting into the car, Luciano looks over at me. "You good?" "Yeah, thanks don." He tenses slightly and I furrow my eyebrows confused. He doesn't say a word however as He sets the car in motion and we head home.

We're pulling into the driveway when he speaks again. "You don't think Thomas giving you the wrong intel was an accident." It's not a question. I stay silent. Luciano curses under his breath. "I don't understand. You're their greatest asset." I laugh humourlessly,"they're doing this because I'm their greatest asset. I know too much, I've seen too much." "Why would he want to take you out though?You're basically his daughter." I shake my head, playing with my fingers. "He may have raised me but I was always his protege. He wants me to take over his position one day, not because he cares for me but because I'm the only one he has faith in. After all, he trained me. As for why he would want to take me out, I don't think he wanted to kill me. That was a warning. A warning to remind me where my loyalties lie." Luciano stays silent for a while, deep in thought. "Would you?" "Take over his position? I don't know. after today, I-I just.." I trail off and Luciano nods. "If there's anything I can do, all you have to do is ask." I send him a small smile, "Thank you but this isn't your fight. I'll help you get Connor and then, I'll be out of your hair." Luciano sends me a slightly panicked look, "Alessandra, you don't-" I chuckle, "It's nothing personal. This is how I work. I'm here on a job. When it's done, I leave and move on to the next one." "And if Thomas doesn't let you?" "Thomas doesn't own me. I'm not an idiot, Don. I've prepared for this day a long time ago." Luciano doesn't seem to know what to say to that and I send him a nod. "Thanks for the ride." He doesn't say anything as he stares ahead deep in thought.

"Alessa." I turn around to find Emilia coming down the stairs. "How are you feeling?" "I'm good, thanks." She sends me a stern look before smiling sadly. "I'm sorry for what my brother did." Stiffening, I start to say something but she cuts me off. "Angelo won't tell me what happened but I know Luciano gave you those bruises." I look away, not being able to look her in the eyes. I didn't know what to say. "What my brother did was inexcusable, and trust me, we've all given him hell about it but this doesn't change the fact that you're my friend. So please, please stop avoiding me and for gods sake, stop being so cold and distant. I hate it, we all do." I simply nod, and she smirks playfully. "Don't stop avoiding him though. It's nice to see him suffer the consequences of his actions for once." I raise an eyebrow at her, "He's the Italian Don, Emilia. I'm just an assassin. He's not gonna lose any sleep over this." She just laughs, giving me a hug, mindful of my injuries. "For someone so smart, you're also really dumb." I just stare at her as she continues laughing and walks off. Shaking my head, I head up to my room. Locking the door, I open my laptop and plug in the USB stick I had retrieved from the subway station. I couldn't focus on Luciano right now, I had to think about how I was gonna survive. As good as I was, I was a one man army and Thomas had the power of the CCC behind him. One word, and I would be the next target. If that happened, when that happened, I needed to be underground, off the radar. And that included being as faraway as possible from Luciano and his family.

I'm cold and distant with Luciano for the rest of the week. Emilia, Sofia and the boys were trying their best to include me in everything, to make me open up more. Although I wasn't as distant with them as I was with Luciano, I was still mindful of my behaviour around them. I barely came down for dinner anymore, choosing to eat by myself early in the morning in the kitchen. I was downstairs one night after midnight, about to have my dinner when Luciano walked in to have his. We had both froze for a second before he told me to join him. I politely declined, grabbed my plate from the microwave and basically bolted back to my room. The last time the both of us were in the kitchen alone, I had let him get too close. No way was I letting that happen again, not after that night.

I had also been going out a lot more, making the necessary preparations for my contingency plan or retirement plan as I called it. I had just gotten back to the house when I noticed the familiar looking SUV outside the front door. That's when I remembered that the Russians were meeting us today. Parking my car, I walk in to Luciano's office. My gaze immediately falls upon the hulking figure sitting opposite Luciano. The figure turns when I enter, his face turning hard.

"Alessandra Morino. What are you doing here?"

"I see you're your usual charming self, Nikolai."

Nikolai Romanov, the Russian mafia boss smirks, taking a step closer to me. From the corner of my eye, I notice Luciano and his men on high alert, sensing the tension between Nikolai and me.

"And that sharp tongue is present as always. I told you to never step foot on my territory again."

"Technically, this is isn't your territory.."

He glares at me and Luciano takes a step forward, probably to diffuse the situation when Nikolai breaks character, grinning widely and opening his arms wide open.

"I swear you and Victoria are the same. I can never win with either of you."

I roll my eyes playfully, giving him a tight hug.

"When are you gonna stop greeting me like that? It's getting boring, old man."

He gasps, clutching his chest.

"I'm only 28, young lady."

I smirk,saying in a sing-song voice,"Oldddd"

He nudges me playfully and turns back around to meet the confused gazes of Luciano, Angelo and Luca. We burst out laughing and they snap out of it.

"I got you bastards there, didn't I?" Nikolai says and Luciano rolls his eyes at his friend.

"Thank god. I wasn't in the mood to clean up your dead body today, Nikolai."

"My dead body? You have that little faith in me?"

Luciano just sends him a dry look, "You really want me to answer that?"

Nikolai thinks for a second before shaking his head. "Actually, no."

We all laugh and I turn around, giving a quick hug to Nikolai's advisor.

We all take a seat, and Angelo passes me a glass of vodka.

"I didn't know you and Alessandra know each other." Luciano says casually and Nikolai answers him.

"Know each other? She's practically family, Luciano. After all, she saved my wife's life."

The boys turn to me with inquiring gazes.

"When Victoria was kidnapped, Nikolai came to me for help. I had done some work for him in the past."

"If it wasn't for her, Victoria would not be here today. When I 'gave myself up', Alessa broke into the basement where they were holding her, took down all the men and got Victoria out of there. She took a bullet to the leg, protecting her." Nikolai continues, ruffling my hair. I glare at him and he sticks his tongue out at me. Seriously, no one would ever believe that the hulking, scary Russian mob boss was a huge teddy bear. Make no mistake though, Nikolai was just as deadly as Luciano. Only difference was Nikolai was less of an asshole. He was one of the few people I actually trusted.

"Damn Alessa, you're just full of surprises." Luca says and Angelo nods. Luciano doesn't say anything but his gaze is trained on me, a thoughtful look on his face.

"How is Victoria?" I ask Nikolai and he smiles at the mention of his wife.

"She's doing good, the baby is tiring her out more these days but otherwise, both mother and baby are fine. She keeps asking for you, you know."

I smile,"I'll visit soon. She's due in 2 months right?"

Nikolai nods, his face alight with excitement and happiness.

"We can't wait to meet our son. I hope he's exactly like me."

All of us groan and Luciano says teasingly,"God bless Victoria then."

Nikolai scowls, "Shut it, you big buffoon. By the way, Alessa, what are you doing with this egghead? You could do so much better."

Luciano glares at him while Luca and Angelo burst out in laughter. I shake my head, chuckling slightly.

"We're not together, old man. I'm here strictly on business."

Nikolai seems happy with my answer,"That's great. Mikhail wanted to come today but someone needed to stay back." Mikhail was Nikolai's second in command and his younger cousin.

I raise an eyebrow at the mention of the casanova," Is he still flirting with everything that moves?"

Nikolai groans at my words, "I'm surprised the boy hasn't caught a STD yet. He still has a thing for you though."

I laugh, shaking my head. Angelo pipes up, curious. "I need to hear this story."

Nikolai chuckles at the memory,"When Alessa first arrived, Mikhail kept hitting on her but she would ignore him or shut him down. Then, one day, he placed an arm around her waist. Before any of us could blink, she had him pinned against the wall, a gun against his temple. That boy's been in love with her since."

Luca and Angelo start laughing while I shake my head in amusement. Mikhail was a playboy but he was also a sweetheart. We had become good friends during my time with them.

"Maybe I should take him up on his offer when I'm done here." I say to Nikolai and Luciano interrupts, his tone dark.

"Offer?" Nikolai glances at his friend in confusion before it morphs into a devilish grin.

"Mikhail asked her out on a date before she left. I would be happy to have her as my sister-in-law."

I roll my eyes, ready to retort when Luciano abruptly stands up.

"I don't have all day. Are we gonna discuss why we're really here or not?"

Nikolai still has that stupid grin on his face as he calmly stands up.

"Grumpy as always, I see. And she calls me the old man."

"Ucciderò questo cazzo" Luciano mutters and Nikolai just rolls his eyes,

"Yes, yes. I know you love me. Now, are we gonna talk about that asshole O'Sullivan?"

Luciano just sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose.

I connect my laptop to the projector screen so that everyone can see. Looking at Luciano who along with everyone else had turned serious, "Don?"

Luciano nods, giving me the green light to start and I begin our discussion, bringing Nikolai up to speed on Connor.