I push open the door to my apartment complex holding it wide for Armando, Kelly, and Dorn to walk through. Right when I walk in, Queso hops up and runs over towards all of us. He shows zero interest in me coming home but practically tackles Dorn in love.

"Traitor," I say to the cat before walking further down my hallway and to the kitchen. I make Queso fresh cat food and place it down for him. He immediately attacks the food so I continued to walk further to my room.

"Wait!," Armando yells after me. He swiftly pushes me to the side and goes through every room in my apartment.

"No one is here Mando," I tell him.

"Can't be too sure!," Armando yells from the bathroom. He walks back out and towards me. "For safety measures we may have to shower together," He continues.

"Y/N you go ahead and clean up for dinner and I'll stand watch at the windows while Dorn mothers Queso," Kelly tells me while motioning over to the bathroom and then Dorn who had Queso peeking out from his shirt.

"Now that's the type of protection I need," I say out loud.

"I got other forms of protection I could supply you," Armando says swiftly with his accent coming out.

"You've been out of prison for a week, have some class," Kelly tells him as I walk over to my bedroom laughing.

I head towards my closet and pull out clothes to wear to tonight's dinner. I had no clue what to wear but soon came to a conclusion. Once I was done I set them on my bed and picked out my jewelry. I admired my work and started to head to the bathroom.

It was without a doubt that I needed a fresh new start so I begin to brush my teeth and then hop into the shower. The hot turned cold water ran down my body, trickling down my legs. I allow the water to swallow me whole while I reach for my body wash to clean myself off.

The bathroom door opens and I hear heavy footsteps weigh in. Armando's body leans against the counter as he lets his head look up to the bathroom ceiling.

"You're special to me," He says out of the blue.

"Uhm...excuse me but I'm showering right now." I tell Armando while moving the curtains slightly back to speak to him. He responds with a laugh before his face drops back to seriousness.

"I've lost a lot of people in my life Y/N," Armando starts again. "I cant afford to lose you to whoever is after you. And if you're scared-," He continues before I cut him off.

"I'm not scared," I say under my breath trying to convince both him and myself.

Truth is I am. Scared is an understatement, I'm terrified. It could be someone so close yet so far from me and that's what freaks me out. Someone I trust or someone I love.

"Your secret admirer...," I think to myself. "You look better up close than far away..," I continue letting my mind drift. Whoever he is he's been watching me.

"I know you are amor," Armando says making me snap out of my trance. I let out a deep sigh while I continue to wash off the soap and bubbles from my body. "He's still out there Y/N and I'll do whatever in my power to protect you," He continues. (love)

I stopped dead in my tracks after I applied the scrub to my body. "He's still out there." The words repeating in my head. I wash the soap off and turn the once cold water off. I open the curtains and step out, having my eyes meet Armando's.

His eyes start to travel down my body before he pinched himself back to reality.

"Don't act like you've never seen me naked before. I think Judy has too since she raided my cameras," I tell him while wrapping myself in a towel.

I soon started to dry myself off before walking towards the door. Armando grabs a hold of my arm and turns me around making our chest touch each others.

"I care for you so much Y/N," He says to me. I see a sparkle in his eyes joined with a concerned look.

"Wow, you've gone soft this week," I say jokingly to him. He just shakes his head at me before settling back against the counter. "I care for you too Mando but please don't stress yourself out. Just let me clear my mind right now," I continued while kissing him on the cheek. He nods to me before turning the water back on to hop inside.

"I'm here for you hermosa," Armando tells me. (beautiful)

"I know Mando," I say back.

"Got any clothes here?," Armando asks me.

"I'll set you some out," I answer while opening the bathroom door and walking over to my bedroom. I remove my towel after drying off and moisturize my entire body. I get dressed in my outfit that I picked out for tonight's dinner and get started on my hair. ——— After the 25 minute drive to Mike's house we finally get there. Armando was sitting up front with me while Dorn and Kelly were in the back. I fixed my hair up while looking in the mirror and stopped the car in Mike's drive way.

"We're here!!," I announce to them all. "Who's excited to hear who I think may be trying to murder me," I ask sarcastically while hopping out. Armando shoots me a "stop" look as we all head to Mike's front door.

"I truly don't think you understand how serious this situation is," Dorn tells me. I shake my head at him and ring the doorbell of Mike's house. "Someone is out to kill you," He continues before being slapped on his shoulder by Kelly.

"Dorn! We're suppose to comfort her not scare her," Kelly scolds quickly to him.

"Sorry sorry," Dorn says. The door opens revealing Mike in a satin button up shirt and black slacks. He sends us all a smile and allows us in.

"Hey guys!," Mike says happily as we follow him to the dinning table. I looked around the house noticing how welcoming and modern it was. Everything was in pristine order with slight accents of black. We made it towards the dining table where Rita and Marcus were there seated.

"Wow! This is very put together," I tell Mike.

"Thank you," Mike says to me while pouring us all wine. "Christine's work," He continues.

"We wanted to make it extra special given this may be your last dinner with us," My dad tells me straight while pocketing one of Mike's bread rolls.

"Oh please! Whoever is out to get me won't stand a chance, I watched all the Karate Kid movies so I'm practically a pro by now," I say to my dad.

"Y/N... when we were looking back at your cameras, there were multiple times when he slightly pushed you and you just fell to the ground...," Rita says to me.

"Rita... this is my day, I may be killed in the next 24 hours and you're telling everyone how I lost a fight," I say to her motioning for her to stop talking.

"With all due respect Y/N, you did have like three guns near you," Kelly adds on while we all take a seat at the dinner table.

"Okay so did everyone just see the tape?!," I ask furiously and in return everyone shook their head yes. "What happened to not toying around with evidence Rita?," I send over to her.

"Don't worry baby girl, its for police eyes only now," My dad tells me.

"Oh and to help Armando cut down his sentence, he's going to be your personal bodyguard for the time being," Mike informs me.

"What a bodyguard," I say over to Armando. He smirks back at my comment while sipping his wine.

"I knew we should've sprung for Dorn," Marcus whispers over to Mike while shaking his fist. ——— As we all continued to wait for the food I sat back just getting lost in my thoughts until I felt a dozen eyes shooting at me. The entire table was staring at me. "What?," I ask confused.

"You do realize that we're only here right now for you?," Dorn asks obviously while stuffing his face.

"Who do you think it was?," Mike asks me softly. I take a sigh before placing my fork down. I take a sip from my wine glass and look around the table.

"You're gonna call me crazy," I start.

"No we won't," Armando cuts off.

"There was this guy," I say. "We'd go on dates, have the time of our lives together, and do pretty much couple things," I continued. Everyone shook their heads at me to signal that they were still listening.

"He was this picture-perfect man. Always there for me and took away all my stress. It was amazing. He'd even write me poems or get my flowers," I explain to all of them. Armando stays quiet and keeps his focus on me intrigued by the story.

"Sounds like a great guy," My dad speaks up.

"Until he wasn't," I say directly to him. "He got closer and closer to me. More protective. He became obsessed with me," I explain.

"Obsessed how?," Kelly asks.

"Taking photos of me when I didn't know obsessed. Owning numerous phones just to get ahold of me obsessed. He was crazy guys," I say to them.

"What's the catch?," Mike asks me. "All I'm hearing is a crazy ex, I have a lot of those," He continues.

"Show off," My dad interrupts.

"Shut up Marcus," Mike banters back.

"Just recently we identified McGrath... the name sounded oh so familiar," I think out loud while pushing my chair in and ignoring Marcus and Mike. "McGrath... his name was Parker McGrath," I continue.

"Wait I thought McGrath's name was James?," Dorn says.

"And you're absolutely right, but that's not his sons name," I tell them. I hear a gasp erupt from Kelly and Marcus.

"There's a lot of McGrath's out there Y/N," Rita starts questioning me. "How are you so sure the guy who's out for you so happens to be McGraths son? We didn't even know he had one so that could just be a coincidence," She continues.

"They look just alike Rita. When the relationship with Parker was actually normal, he'd have me over. I remember he had one photo of him with his dad," I say to all of them. "The man with Parker looked just like McGrath. Lightly grey hair, hard look, the same scars," I continue.

"You're crazy," Marcus says.

"Marcus! Shut up," Mike says before looking back over to me. "Do you have any clue where this Parker guy is right now?," Mike asks me ignoring his fresh plate of food.

"No clue...," I say.

"What do you mean you have no clue?," Armando pesters.

"Armando he's crazy! I almost had to get a new identity to get away from him. Everywhere I turned, he was there," I explain to him defensively. "He's dangerous," I say.

"Why didn't you let me or your mom know?," Marcus asks me.

"It felt easier that way Dad. The plan was to go to a college that's out of town and come back when the coast was clear," I answer. "Plus he'd always threaten me if I was to tell anyone," I continue.

"So you have no idea of where Parker is now?," Kelly asks.

"No idea," I answer another question once again. "I made sure I got rid of any and all contact with him," I tell her.

"This is some Lifetime shit!," Dorn blurts out. "Y/N, you have a killer ex boyfriend after you.. that's insane!," He continues loudly before being shushed by Kelly.

"You said the guy who was after you needed glasses or something. They couldn't take a clear shot at you and were squinting," Rita questions again trying to rejog her memory from what I told her.

"Parker had awful eyesight but he almost never showed it. He never ever wore his glasses, he always had contacts on," I explain. "Plus the man who shot at me was wearing my high school's class ring. It has to be Parker. We went to the same schools up until college," I tell them convincingly.

"We believe you Y/N," Mike tells me. "It's just... McGrath's son?," He continues.

"I know, I know...," I start.

"It's a bit of a stretch babygirl," Marcus enters. I just look between Marcus and Mike, sending them a nod. I return my eyes to my plate eating the food as we all sit in silence. I knew it was crazy, I knew it was ALL the way crazy. But that was Parker. The ring, the glasses, the letter.

"She's right," Armando says out of the blue. "We're just know now identifying who McGrath was but it's a very famous name in the cartel businesses. The entire McGrath family was a force to be reckoned with back home. My mother talked about it all the time," He explains to us.

"And how are you so sure that that's the same Parker Y/N was talking about?," Marcus questions Armando with a serious face drawn on him.

"By his tattoo!," Kelly says out loud while standing up from her chair.

"A tattoo?," Marcus asks. "Is that code for something," He asks again over to Mike.

"Look, James McGrath was high up in the cartel business so he'd probably have a fair share of tattoos to help represent that," Kelly suggest. "Falcons are the most common symbols," She tell us.

"Kelly and I could go through the tape of Y/N and the man fighting to see if he had a falcon tattoo or tattoos in general," Dorn suggests to us all.

"Then let's get to work, Y/N and Armando you guys could go ahead since Y/N has school in the morning.," Rita announces with a nod of her head. ——— I dismissed myself from the dinner table after I realized that I left my phone in the car. I went to go walk outside to get it with Armando trailing behind me.

"Your dad wants me to keep an eye on you," Armando tells me.

"I figured, did they decide if you'd go to my classes with me or just stand watch outside of my school?," I question him.

"I need to stay outside so no one thinks it suspicious," Armando answers.

"Stay right here," I say to him while motioning at the porch. I continued to walk towards my car until I see a note snugged into my windshield wipers. "ARMANDO!," I yell for him.

Like clockwork, Armando is next to my side in seconds.

"What's wrong?," He asks quickly with a face of worriedness. I pass Armando the note as he opens it and begins to read it.

- "I'm missing you a lot right now, but I promise you we'll see each other soon. But from now on do what I say and no one gets hurt"

My love to yours, Your Secret Admirer -

Once Armando finished reading it out loud, he looks up at my watery eyes. He moves over to me before something drops below him. We both look down and see a Polaroid.

Armando picks it up as I move closer to his side and flips it over. A picture of us all inside having dinner (five minutes ago) was captured. Armando's face specifically was scratched out and had a giant red "X" over it.

"Get inside now," Armando says quickly to me. ——— im so sorry for how late this update was omgg. i've been watching love island (only on episode 20) and im obsessed and going to bed at like 5am😭😭😭

thank you guys so much for 14k reads and the sweetest comments that you all are leaving. it makes me feel on top of the moon. i really hope you guys like this chapter💕💕

(if there's any spelling or grammar fixes let me know!! and I can't wait for y'all to see the next chapter)