"Surprised?" He raised an eyebrow. "I hope you didn't think you wouldn't see me again."

"Rather hoped." I shrugged my shoulders. "I guess wishes don't come true in New York."

What a fool I am, huh?

"I'm extremely sorry." The sarcasm in his voice could be heard for miles.

"I bet." I snorted.

I don't like that he doesn't say anything. He just looks at me. If he wants to shoot me, he should. I have better things to do if not.

Like going to sleep.

"So?" I raised an eyebrow.

"So?" He frowned.

"Will you tell me why you're here? If you want the guns, I have to disappoint you. They're somewhere by the side of the road. If it helps, I can give you directions to where they should be. But I make no promises."

"You think I don't have enough guns?"

"Well in that case...if you wanted to see me,you just had to say. I winked at him, which pissed him off slightly. It was quite visible. I don't think he tried to hide it at all.

"You're far too calm for someone with a gun pointing at their head."

"For someone holding a gun, you're not in control of the situation."

"You think?" He snorted.

"I know it." I tilted my head slightly to the side. "You want to know why?" I didn't wait for his answer. "Because this is my territory." I took out the sharp clip I had in my hair. My hair wasn't even able to reach my shoulders, and the clip was already flying directly onto his hand, in which he was holding the gun.

The moment the clip touched him, he let go of the gun. I jumped up to him and caught the gun before he did. I took a few steps back.

His gaze returned from his hand to me. He does not look pleased.

"But the effort is appreciated." I smiled. "I'm tired of aiming at you all the time. It's the second time in the last 24 hours. Be careful, I'm starting to think you like it."

"If you're going to keep talking, just shoot me." I looked for a hint of fun on his face, but I didn't find it.

"Ouch." I frowned. "That wasn't nice."

"What wasn't nice was you shooting at my brother."

Amazing. Really amazing.

Now I'm going to have him behind my ass, because I almost shot his brother. He won't leave me alone. I know, I wouldn't.

"I didn't kill him. You should thank me."

"Go to hell."

"Please take me there. It sounds much better than the places I've been to."

"And where exactly is that?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Careful, your curiosity can kill you." I warned him.

"I'd rather say it will be the gun."

I couldn't help but smile and he obviously noticed.

I like it. He has a sense of humor. Maybe I could keep him as a pet.

"Now that I've amused you, will you answer my questions?"

"Only because I like you." I smiled.

I don't plan on having blood on my hands. At least not today. It can't hurt to answer a few questions for him.

"Who hired you?"

"For about the thirtieth time, no one hired me. I happened to be in that warehouse and those men kidnapped me to the villa where I met Finn. You know the rest." I told the truth.

"I don't believe you."

"That's not really my problem, is it? You're not my problem. So you turn around and walk away. You'll forget you ever met me and I'll forget you. Simple. I probably won't be in New York long anyway. Let's each go in our own way, what do you say?"

It's a good deal. For both of us. He would be a fool not to accept it.

"No." So he is a fool after all. "You're going to have to kill me."

"If you insist." I aimed for his shoulder, where I wouldn't hit anything important, but he would bleed like a slaughtered pig. I should have enough time to get out of here and disappear from the city.

The click of the gun was heard, but the round never flew out of the gun.

It's empty.

Before I knew it, he ran to me and grabbed me by the neck. I hit the wall with my back.

"You underestimated me." I was slowly losing the oxygen in my lungs, unable to breathe. I tried to shake him off, but it didn't help. He stood firm even though I punched him in the face.

With all his strength he lifted me off my feet and I couldn't even touch the ground with my tiptoes.

I felt like my head was going to explode. The whole room began to merge into one, including him.

With every bit of energy I had left, I tried to stay conscious. To fight, even if I had to look miserable.

"Killian, what the hell are you doing here!" I heard Luna's voice before I passed out.

Passed out or died. I don't know exactly what happened to me.



"Let her go!" Luna grabbed my shoulder and pushed me away from the woman I was strangling. She slowly started to fall to the ground, but Luna caught her. "Eris, can you hear me?" She brushed her hair from her face. "Eris!" She yelled at her.

She tried to find a pulse on her neck with her hand. A heavy breath came out of her mouth. I guess she lives.

"What the hell are you doing here Luna?"

"Me?" She turned her head to me. "I live here. What are you doing here? And why did you try to kill Eris?"

"Because she tried to kill Finn."

"Your brother? How could she even approach him..." She didn't finish the sentence. Her face screamed with realization. "It was your men who kidnapped her. Why didn't I think of that."

"And that's supposed to mean what?" I frowned.

"Help me get her on the couch."

"Of course." I snorted and crossed my arms over my chest.

"Now!" She raised her voice.

"Order your fiance around, not me." I said in a calm voice.

"You're an even bigger idiot than I remember." She turned her back on me and walked over to Eris, or whatever her name was. What kind of name is that anyway?

She slowly caught her and clumsily carried her to the couch, where she placed her carefully.

"Who's this?" I nodded at the woman lying on the couch.

"Shouldn't you know? You tried to kill her."

"Watch that tone, Luna."

"Or what?" She stood up and walked over to me. "What are you going to do, huh?"

"Do not get in my way, Luna."

"You didn't answer my question. What are you going to do? Kill me? That's what works best for you." Before I could answer her, she interrupted me. "Get out Killian. Or I swear I'll have your blood on my hands today."

"I'd like to see that."

"Stay here a little while longer and you'll see." She didn't look like she was kidding. "I know the reason why Theo broke up with me and I'm still really pissed off. You and your people keep your distance from us."

"Or what?" It's fun to test her patience.

"When she wakes up," she pointed to the woman lying on the couch, "I won't stop her, but I will help. And that's when you should run."

"Funny." I smiled. "I beat her once, I'll do it again. In fact, if it wasn't for you, she'd be dead. I think you should be careful. Get out of New York. Both of you."

I said my piece without waiting for her answer.

I don't understand why I even did it. I granted them mercy after all. What got into me?

If it wasn't Luna, it would be different. Now we don't like each other much, but it used to be different.

She and Theo, who is one of my men and also a good friend, got together about a year and a half ago. She seemed nice at first. But appearances can be deceiving.

When I started trying to find things about her, there was too little information. It was suspicious.

I told my concerns about Luna being a danger to all of us to Theo, expecting him to leave her. That's what happened. At that time, they were already engaged.

After Theo broke up with her, she left. It was as if she had evaporated. That is, until now.

I can't believe she was right next to us all this time.

But she seemed different. The words that came out of her mouth were not as kind as when we first met.

And the woman she protected so much? Eris? What kind of name is that anyway? It sounds made-up.

Apart from the strange name, everything about her was strange. The way she could defend herself was incredible. I saw her fighting techniques for the first time. Her aim is amazing.

The way she threw that hair clip at my hand? Until that moment I thought it was impossible. That it only happens in movies.

Men taller and stronger wouldn't be able to fight like she did when I held her by the neck.

It's not that easy to kill her. It's one of the things that irritates me about her. Another is also her behavior. The way she spoke annoyed me.

Basically, I can't find one thing that doesn't irritate me about her.

There will probably be something to it.



"You look terrible." Luna was leaning against the bathroom door frame.

"Really..." I cleared my throat before finishing. "Really funny." I carefully ran my hand over my neck while looking at the reflection of the bruises in the mirror.

Every time I tried to speak, I felt as if someone was cutting my throat from the inside. I had stripes of strangulation bruises on my neck.

Maybe it would be better if he pressed more, so that the strips were whole. It would look like a necklace.

A really weird necklace.

"I'll bring you some tea." She interrupted my strange train of thoughts.

"N-no." I stopped her on her way out. "You tell me who it was."

"Then I'll need something stronger for that." She started walking into the kitchen with me on her heels. I sat down at the table and waited for her to say something.

She reached for a bottle of vodka from the shelf above the kitchen counter. She poured it into the stamper and drank it immediately. She did this two more times.

"Can we talk now?" I interrupted her.

"Sure." With a glass and a bottle in hand, she sat across from me. She offered me, but I refused. "Your loss." She shrugged and started pouring again.

"No." I stopped her. I snatched the bottle from her hand and placed it in front of me. "Talk." If she continued like this, she wouldn't be able to say a normal sentence within a few minutes.

"Fine." She rolled her eyes. "That was the famous Killian Acker."

I'm guessing that's the Killian that Finn was talking about. And in that case, Finn is his brother.

I should have thought of it earlier. In my defense, when Finn was talking about him, I was expecting someone more...menacing. Maybe scars all over his face, three meters tall or whatever. But he looks ordinary. That is, if you think an attractive man with a gun is ordinary.

"He and his brothers are quite well-known here in New York, but also everywhere. They have one of the biggest mafias in the world."

Mafia? Awesome. I really missed that.

"Killian is a psychopath when it comes to his family. You're not his family? Run."

And I wanted to shoot that psychopath's brother. Luck is never really on my side, is it?

"A few years ago no one knew anything about him. He simply appeared here once and built one of the biggest mafias. He has quite a lot under his finger. I don't know if he had any help or if he got to where he is by himself, but what I do know is that he has no problem killing to get what he wants."

"Then why am I still alive?" Not that I'm complaining or anything.

"Maybe he has a conscience." She snorted. "But I highly doubt it."

"Was Killian your fian..." Before I could finish, Luna cut me off.

"Hell no!" She raised her voice. "Are you crazy?"

"I was just asking." I have to write down somewhere that I can't talk about Killian and her as a couple if I want to live to see another day.

"I saw him once with a woman, and she was also a servant who was carrying glasses from his office."

"So what are we..." I cleared my throat "what are we going to do now?"

"He ordered us to leave." She reached for a bottle of vodka and I didn't stop her this time.

"So we're leaving?"

"As if." She laughed as she poured herself another glass of vodka. "I will not run from an idiot like Killian Acker."

"Thank goodness." I smiled. "I was scared for you."

"Oh. Not to forget." She stood up quickly and walked into the living room. A few seconds later she returned with something in her hand. "The guy I was on a date with gave me this." She placed a card on the table. "There's a new club opening here in town. We might as well go check it out. It's open for the first time on Friday. What do you think?"

"It can't hurt, after all."

"Aceso? Are you okay?" I stopped at the door of my room. Aceso was sitting on the bed, looking at her hands. She still had a fresh wound on her cheek from a narrow knife.

"Fine?" She raised an eyebrow. "Are you asking if I'm okay?" She snorted. "Look at my hand! Does it look like I'm okay?"

"Stop yelling." I entered the room and closed the door behind me. "You want to get us both in trouble?"

"Oh, sorry. How selfish of me." She said sarcastically.

"Aceso..." I came a little closer to her and sat next to her on the bed. "Can I?" I nodded at her hand.

She slowly brought it closer to me. I immediately noticed red dots all over the back of her hand. She turned it over and had the same thing in her palm.

"What happened?" I returned my gaze to her face.

"Ada." She exhaled heavily. "She found a new method to bully us. She put thin needles in a box and cut a hole in it. You put your hand in the box, which shrinks over time. You move, and you will have her signature on your cheek. I don't know if my cheek hurts more or my hand. " Her head dropped.

"I'm sorry." I said honestly.

"It doesn't matter. They're going to do it again and again and again and again. I just want to get out of here."

"What?" I stood up. "You volunteered for this. You can't just walk away. The only way out of this is if you die, you know that."

"I'd rather die at this stage."

"Aceso..."

"No Eris." She stood up. "This is too much for me." She started walking towards the door while I stupidly looked at the place where she was sitting a moment ago. "I'm done. And if you have an ounce of sense, you'll come with me."

"How long have you been planning this?"

"I've been thinking about it for months."

"You have ten minutes before I report this to management." I looked at her.

"Fifteen?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Go." I smiled.

No matter how much I'll miss her, she'll be happier out there. I hope.

*****

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