To say it was weird to be back home was an understatement. Alexia licked her lips as she turned the pages of her economics book thoughtfully. She had to study, but all she could think about were the Maldives.

Nothing had changed at home, but she had and suddenly everything seemed to be different. Her opinion on her marriage, her family and her fiancée all changed and she kept thinking about how Damian had acted when she first stepped into the house after her dad picked her up. She wasn't sure but... was he nicer?

"Baby! I missed you!" Damian nearly yelled as he wrapped his arms around Alexia. She tried to smile and weakly hugged him back. Her dad grinned at her before leaving the hallway.

"Hey Damian." She muttered, trying to back out of the hug. He pulled up his eyebrows in confusion but let her go, only keeping a hand on her hip. He swiftly leaned in for a kiss and Alexia merely pecked him, pulling back.

"Are you... okay? I missed you." He stated. Alexia nodded and tried to smile again. "Yes, I'm fine. Just really tired."

"Okay... You're so tan! Holy, that's really sexy." He chuckled, squeezing her hip. She shuddered at the touch and swallowed uncomfortably, trying to keep a straight face. "I'm just going to take a quick shower."

Walking away, Damian quickly caught up with her and grabbed her hand, stopping her. "Wait! Want me to join you?" he winked.

Alexia sighed and shook her head. "I'm exhausted Damian, not in the mood."

He looked at her disappointingly and she squeezed his hand, trying to show a little bit of affection. He let her hand go and crossed his arms in front of his chest. She thanked him before taking a hold of her suitcases and pulling them up the stairs, trying to leave the hallway as fast as possible.

To be honest, nice Damian freaked her out a little bit. He was barely ever like that, he always just demanded the things he wanted and she usually just did whatever he asked to avoid discussions.

Flipping another page of her book, she felt the cold surface of her necklace touch her skin and she gently held the crystal. Ever since Jason gifted it to her, she kept it on and so far she's been in love with the necklace.

Thinking about Jason hurt. Every inch of her body was attracted to him, her insides burned whenever she heard his name and her heart beat faster when someone said anything that could be related to him. She wanted to be with him more than anything else in the world and knowing that she was stuck with someone who was way lesser than Jason in everything made her tear up. She needed Jason.

He completed her. He knew what she loved, what she liked, what she disliked. He knew how to please her, how to comfort her, how to make her feel loved, he knew how to shut her up. In return she wanted to be the one who made him happy.

It was never going to happen.

Alexia sighed before closing her book and getting up. This was not going to work.

She left her room in a hurry and walked over to the staircase, heading to the living room, when she heard muffled voices coming outside of her father's office. Damian recently started to use the office as well and she silently tiptoed back to the door across from her own.

Putting her ear against the door, she knit her eyebrows together and listened.

"Make it innocent, like it could've happened to anyone." Damian's voice heralded, followed by a load groan from someone else in the room. Damian shushed him.

He seemed to be talking on the phone. But with who?

Alexia knew that she knew nothing about the business and everything they'd had to do, but she was still very curious and loved eavesdropping, especially when it was her fiancée and not her father.

"It's... exactly! I knew you'd help. I owe you."

Damian probably hung up because the person in his room started talking. "This entire thing is stupid, we better just focus on the important things, like our Sweden shipment not making it?"

Alexia didn't recognize the voice. "It's not stupid! I'm the fucking leader here, so you better do whatever I order you to do or otherwise I will kick you the fuck out of this gang!"

Her father never called whatever he was in 'a gang'. He and the rest of the family hated that terminology, so they just stuck with 'business'. But Damian? Damian was quick to throw the word around. Shivers ran up her spine whenever she heard it.

The other person in the room quickly replied, "Do you know why it didn't reach Sweden? You told us to ship too much parcels! Even when everyone advised you to not do it, you still did it. Do you know how much money we lost?"

There was no respond from Damian, so the guy continued talking. "Three and a half fucking million."

Deciding this was her cue to leave, Alexia straightened herself and took the staircase down, acting like she hadn't heard a thing. Her father and her brothers usually told them as little details as they could, so they were nescient and not able to accidentally tell someone else.

She snapped out of her thoughts when she saw a tall figure entering the hallway. A smile curled on her lips as she opened her arms. Teo smiled just as widely and pulled her into a warm embrace, kissing his sister on the cheek before letting her go so he could take a good look at her.

"Jeez, you're so tan." He shook his head, cocking it towards the front door faintly before adding, "You're the only one. The snow that fell the past two weeks was crazy."

Alexia laughed. "I guess I'm lucky."

"I guess you are." He put a hand on the small of her back and lead her to the living room. They both let themselves fall on the couch.

"Tell me everything about the Maldives." Teo predicated. She took a deep breath, starting from the moment her dad left her at the airport until he picked her up again. She noticed her brother was tense and not at ease, although he tried to hide it behind a blinding smile which would've worked if she was someone else that was not his sibling.

No matter how uncomfortable he was, Teo listened to everything she said, laughed when something was funny, asked her questions and made sure she got it all over with before he interrupted her.

"And um... how was it with Jason? Wasn't it awkward?" He carefully asked. Alexia swallowed and pursed her lips into a firm line, scratching her neck.

"It wasn't exactly awkward..."

Teo rolled his eyes and couldn't help but grin. "I'm hoping you didn't cheat on your fiancée."

"Um..."

He didn't say anything before shrugging. Alexia pulled up an eyebrow in surprise, she did not expect that. She knew Teo wasn't a big fan of Damian, but he was against cheating in any kind.

She'd planned on telling him about Jason, mainly because Teo actually liked Jason more than he liked Damian, and also because she had to tell someone, otherwise she'd go crazy. Nonetheless, this wasn't the reaction she'd expected.

"It was bound to happen." He simply said.

Alexia bit her lip. "Teo..."

"What?"

"Teo I don't want to marry Damian. I'm... I'm in love with Jason. I mean it's not a surprise, but being with him just made me realize how much difference there is between them. With Jason it's real, you know?"

Her heart beat rapidly. Hearing herself say it out loud was so much more confronting than it was thinking about it.

He sighed. "Lex... You know it's not going to happen."

"But why?" She cried, running a hand through her hair in desperation. She might have hoped Teo would tell her it would work out.

"Alex! C'mon. We've been over this. Damian is taking over the business and in order for it to still be connected to us, you're marrying him. There is no way out here."

Alexia shook her head. "There has to be. I don't love him, Teo! I love Jason. And Jason loves me, we're supposed to be together."

Teo pulled his sister into a hug and she groaned. "I will not marry him."

"Yeah? You tell dad. Or no, you tell mom. She will cut off your tongue and feed it to the dogs."

She took a deep breath, trying to stay calm as she pulled herself out of the hug. This clearly wasn't the time to expect any helpful advice. Teo was struggling with something himself and as long as he wasn't at ease he would not be able to help Alexia.

"What's up your ass?" Alexia changed the subject.

He shook his head dismissively. "Nothing."

"I'm emotional, not stupid."

Teo sighed deeply and pushed his back against the couch firmly, covering his face with his hands. "I. Can. Not. Stand. Damian."

"What'd he do?" She questioned, although his confession secretly made her feel better. Glad she wasn't the only one, somehow everyone seemed to praise him continuously.

He tugged his hair symbolically before scooting closer to Alexia, his eyes wide. "First of all –are you aware that he screws up every little business deal we have? He's only interested in physical work! He won't understand; there is no successful business without the smaller deals. Damian has the idea all we do is work as hit-men and hire hit-men. It's sickening."

Alexia laughed at how worked up her brother appeared to be. He continued. "We've lost so much money since dad put him as a trial-leader. I don't understand why dad would still let him take over when he's clearly proven he's no good to the business?"

She chuckled again, putting a hand on Teo's shoulder comfortingly. "Gee, angry much?"

Although she knew Teodoro was very passionate when it came to this, she hadn't expected him to get this upset. It was true that he'd voiced his worries and annoyance about Damian as a leader a while ago before they saw Jason in KFC, but she thought he was over it.

"Yes. Very angry. He does everything wrong and I'm left to fix it. I wouldn't mind if I got credit for it. Do I? No!"

Irritations started welling up in her abdomen, realizing how much her brother tried no matter how little recognition he got.

"He doesn't command me or Stef to do anything because we're dad's sons, but if you knew the weird shit he ordered the other men to do... He's so busy with dumb stuff but leaves us to do all the important things. And then takes credit it for it. I'm so over it."

She gently rubbed his shoulder. "How does Stefano feel about this?"

Teo shrugged. "You know how Stef is. As long as he's still having sex with every girl on the planet, he couldn't care less."

She nodded. Yeah, that sounded like her oldest brother alright.

It was sad that none of them could do anything. Her dad was still in charge and he was blinded by Damian's charisma and smooth words. All he did was talk and talk and talk. But take matters into his own hands and do something good for the business? No.

Her dad may listen to Stefano because he was the oldest brother, or Dominic because he was the most mature one –although Dominic didn't want to have anything to do with the business—even Catalina could be able to change his mind. But Emilio would never take something Alexia or Teo said into consideration. They were too young, Frederico not counted in. He was 5 after all.

"Just talk to him..." Alexia started, but she trailed off right away when Teo glanced at her.

"I just need to deal with it." He sighed, breaking their eye contact. She sighed too and let her head drop on Teo's shoulder, feeling just as done as he was. "Yeah. That's all we can do, isn't it?"

He knew they weren't talking about his situation anymore. He nodded. "That's all we can do."

Five minutes later, Frederico appeared with a new toy and both of them jumped up, wanting to show their little brother how amazed they were by the plaything, although both of them were having their own, invisible, mental breakdown.

-

Two days later, Alexia was packing her bags to go back to campus when her phone rang. She ignored it and continued stuffing clothes into the bag wearily. Her sight was a bit blurred and she felt worn out. Every limb of her body was weak and she hardly could stand.

The phone had rung again and she yelled out for her little brother, ordering him to give her her phone. Up till now Frederico had obediently been sitting on her bed, playing with some toy cars. Freddie got up and grabbed the phone of the counter, quickly handing it to Alexia.

"Thank you, Freddie," She muttered before answering the phone. Freddie smiled widely and responded, "You're welcomeeee." Dragging out the 'o'.

"Alexia? Are you there?" The voice belonged to Chloe, and Alexia instantly felt a sparkle of happiness in the pit of her stomach. She hadn't talked to any of her friends since they were back home. "Yeah, hey Chlo!"

Chloe didn't sound happy. She was breathing in and out rapidly like she'd been running and sounded like she was in a hurry. "Alexia, you need to get over here."

"Wh-what? Why? Why are you breathing like that?"

"I've been running," Chloe answered dismissively. "Listen to me. Something happened and you've got to come over here, I don't care what you're doing."

Shit. Alexia let the bags she'd been fumbling with go and immediately opened the door of her room, exiting. She heard Freddie follow her and didn't pay any attention to him as she basically flew off the stairs, worry washing over her.

"What happened?" She exclaimed, already trying to get a shoe on.

"Just get over here!" Chloe responded. Alexia swiftly put on her other shoe and stuck her arms into her coat. It was snowing.

"Where are you going?" Damian entered the hallway.

Alexia ignored him. "Where are you?" She snapped into the phone, nearing the front door. Chloe didn't waste any time. "The hospital."

"Hospital?"

"It's not me, it's Jason."

Her heart skipped a beat and she promptly stopped doing whatever she was doing. Fear consumed her body as she quickly recovered herself, trying to open the door.

Jason? What happened? For God's sake, why him?

"Is he..." Alexia couldn't finish her sentence. Chloe started protesting on the other side of the line. "No, no, he's not dead! He's very much alive."

A shiver ran up her spine. "I was going to ask if he was okay!"

Chloe "Oh.."'d and laughed in relief before she turned serious again. "He's okay, Alex. He had an accident, but he's okay. You'll see for yourself, are you on your way here?"

"Yes." Alexia firmly stated, finally opening the door and leaving the house. Cold seeped into her clothes and the hairs on her skin perked up. She ran over to her car, but someone held her back.

Turning around she met Damian's face. He looked irritated.

Well too bad for him, because she was even more irritated.

"Where are you going? I asked you a million times." He spat, squeezing her arm until she cried out that it hurt. Alexia harshly pulled her arm back. "None of your business!"

"None of my business? I am your fiancée!"

Alexia groaned and turned around, getting inside her car. He kept the door open and looked at her with piercing eyes. "You are not leaving the house before I know where the fuck you're going."

She cussed. "You're so annoying. Leave me alone." And with those words, she closed the car door, locked all four of them and sped away.

Chloe's laughter was heard through the speakers of her phone. "That was harsh."

Alexia shrugged and kept her eyes on the road, carefully driving on the icy path. "Good."

She arrived at the hospital in twenty minutes. Alexia hated driving, especially when it was slippery and dangerous outside, but in this situation she didn't care. She had to get to the hospital as fast as she could.

Alexia skidded on the ice for a second before she stood stable, locking her car and running to the entrance. To her relief, Chloe was already standing there.

"Alexia! You're fast."

"Where is he?" She muttered nervously.

Chloe grabbed Alexia's arm and walked inside.

This was the third, maybe fourth, time she'd been here. All the previous times contained Carina and her pregnancy, so basically this was the first time she'd been here for a sad reason.

"Can you just tell me what happened?" Alexia mumbled. Chloe was walking really fast and Alexia could feel her legs slip away every two seconds until she thought about Jason.

"Patience! I know as much as you do."

After a thousand stairs, corridors and rooms they finally reached their destination. Alexia peeked inside through the window and saw two figures faintly pacing around the room. Her heart nearly stopped when she saw a blob laying in the hospital bed, realizing that must be him.

Chloe burst the door open and Alexia quickly got inside as well before Chloe closed the door again.

Jason was tucked underneath the white hospital sheets. His eyes were barely open and his skin was pale. There were cords and machines attached to him everywhere and after a while it got confusing.

How he had done it was a mystery, but his face was filled with scratches. There was a bandage wrapped around his head and a dark red spot where his forehead began.

A pang shot through her heart and Alexia leaned against the wall, taking a deep breath. Seeing him like this killed her.

Jason's lips parted and she forced herself to walk over to the bed, locking eyes with him. He tried to smile but groaned loudly. "I wanna sit." He ordered.

Chaz and Ryan both grabbed him by the shoulders and tilted him up so he could sit up straight. Jason thanked them and turned his attention back to Alexia.

"Fancy seeing you here." He winked.

Fancy seeing you here? With a wink? He's laying there, scratches covering his face and probably his entire body, his forehead all bloody, in a damned hospital bed, and that's the first thing he says?

"At least your mind still works the same." Alexia mumbled, slumping down on a stool. Jason chuckled but stopped himself, his body tensing for a short moment.

"Are you okay? You look...tired."

Was he really asking her if she was okay?

"I'm not the one laying in the hospital." She replied, her eyes on Jason's hands. His knuckles were swollen and bruised.

"True." His only response was.

There was a silence in which Ryan, Chaz and Chloe left the room.

"What happened?" Alexia whispered, taking Jason's hands into her own. He tensed again but quickly calmed down. She gently caressed his knuckles with her thumb and he moaned softly before looking at her again.

"You have to promise that you don't look further into it."

"Okay...."

"Promise!"

"I promise, I promise. Now tell me." Alexia eagerly exclaimed. Jason nodded and licked his lips.

She melted from the inside.

"I was walking towards my dormitory but I had the feeling someone was following me, so I turned around and left campus. I was right, there was someone following me. Never met the guy before, I'd never even seen him, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised. People follow me all the time." He smirked. Alexia slapped his arm.

"Ow! Okay, okay! The guy tried to fight me out of nowhere. You've got to believe me, I didn't start this time. Of course I fought back. There was this hill and he literally pushed me. If it wasn't for that stupid hill I would've beaten the fuck outta him. But yeah, that was basically it. I'm raging."

Alexia furrowed her eyebrows together and pressed a kiss on his knuckles gently, not sure what to do. Why would someone try to fight him out of nowhere?

"You've got bruises from punching the guy?"

Jason shrugged. "I guess. I think he was wearing a bullet proof plate underneath his clothes because it hurt."

She kissed his knuckles again and he cupped her cheek with the hand she was going to kiss, looking at her in adoration. "You came as fast as you could when you heard, huh?"

Alexia snickered and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, almost died too."

He also laughed. "I remember how much you suck at driving."

"I don't suck! I'm just not a fan."

"Of driving?"

"Of driving."

They both laughed and Alexia blinked away some tears unnoticeably. She hated seeing Jason like this, she couldn't help but feel sick at the sight of him in a hospital bed. Also she'd been longing for him ever since she got back home and being in that atmosphere made her feel like she'd never have a fun conversation with Jason again, but here she was.

"Jase, who'd wanna hurt you like that?" Alexia wondered after a peaceful silence. Jason avoided eye contact with her and stared outside the window.

"I don't know."

"Are you going to tell the police?" Whoever the fucker was, he needed to be punished. She would personally kick him in the balls if she had to.

"Maybe." He said huskily, still not looking at her. Alexia remembered a conversation she'd had with Ryan a few months ago, in which Ryan had mentioned Jason's past encounters with the police. Perhaps he was afraid they wouldn't believe him.

But what is there not to believe? His face is all sorts of fucked up.

"If I was there I would have kicked him in the balls so hard." She snapped, eyebrows furrowing. Jason let out a laugh. "Yeah?"

"Yeah! That dick! I'd knock out all of his teeth, I swear."

Jason put a hand on his stomach and laughed soundlessly, his mouth wide open. Alexia smiled at the view and felt some of her worries disappear. He was going to be fine.

"That's my girl." He pulled her closer and planted a long kiss on her cheek. She blushed until she realized what he had said.

That's my girl.

She was not.

Jason seemed to also realize because his face grew darker and his eyes averted quickly, not looking at her anymore. A big lump formed itself in her throat and Alexia tried to swallow it away.

"So, when are you getting out?" She tried, but the damage was done.

-

"You can't just run out of here! It's irresponsible, you've got responsibilities. What are you going to do when you're married? Or when you've got children?"

Alexia groaned, trying to block out her mother's screaming. Florencia has been yelling at her for the past fifteen minutes. Damian stood behind her with a smug look on his face, his arms crossed in front of his chest.

"Alexia, are you even listening to me?"

"Yes, mother."

"Are you? Because it feels like I'm talking to a wall! You know? Ever since you've gotten back from that stupid vacation you've been disrespectful."

"And distant." Damian chimes in. Her mother glanced at Damian in surprise before she looked back at Alexia.

"Distant?"

"Don't listen to him. He's just pissed I didn't tell him where I was going two hours ago." Alexia snapped, eyeing Damian angrily. Why was he even getting involved? God she hated how Damian and her mother had each other's backs no matter what.

"And he should be! Where did you even go?" Her mother yelled.

So much for being twenty.

"The hospital."

She obviously hadn't expected that answer and looked surprised for a few moments before her face slipped back into the stare of steel. "Why?"

"Jason had gotten into an accident." Alexia spat back, putting an emphasis on Jason's name.

Her mother gasped. "How dare you even say his name in front of your fiancée! You should be ashamed, young lady."

Alexia's mouth fell open. "I should be ashamed because I'm saying his name? Are you even listening to yourself?" Her eyes travelled to Damian. "You're taking way too much advantage of the situation. I know you always kiss each other's ass but right now I am not in the damn mood."

She'd left the house while her mother was still screaming and protesting, but all she could think about was that someone tried to hurt Jason and he ended up in the hospital.