After my run in with Angel, I kept a low profile and went for a walk around the estate. Fresh air and some time away from the suffocating dominance of Angel was what I needed most.

When I headed back to my room I found myself staring at an empty wardrobe. All my stuff was gone. He wouldn't have dared, I thought to myself before I stormed down the hallway to his room. He had. All my stuff had been neatly move into his bedroom wardrobe. How could he do that?

I stormed downstairs and into his study, catching him mid sentence talking to James. They both stood behind his desk peering over some documents.

"Why did you move all my stuff?" I put my hands on my hips and it was only to stop myself from physically expressing my anger. Like a swift slap across his disapproving features.

"It's rude to enter a room with a closed door without knocking," he said, instead of addressing my question. It only antagonized my already hot temper.

"I don't give a damn!" I was so mad, I was fearful I would do something that would tip me over the edge.

"Language Kira," he admonished me, his voice authoritative like he was talking to a child and not a grown woman which just irked me more.

"James, let me have a word with Kira alone."

James left, closing the door behind him.

I curled my hands into fists. He had this way of brushing me off like a naughty child and I wouldn't have it. No more.

"I asked you to move your stuff across and you didn't." He went back to looking over the documents. I wanted to stamp my foot in frustration that he wasn't even giving me his attention while he spoke. He treated me like an annoyance, and nothing more.

"I was going to," I said, trying to explain why I hadn't yet. The truth was, I wasn't ready. To be with him every night, to sleep beside him tied my stomach into knots. Being with with him had already made me feel different about him, reminding me of the feelings I had harbored for years for him. It was dangerous for me to spend more time with him. I was protecting myself by delaying the move into his bedroom. I couldn't delay it inevitably. What was a few days in the bigger scheme of things?

He lifted his eyes to mine as he picked up a document. "I've allowed you enough time to complete the task but you are dragging your heels and I won't allow it."

"You don't get to tell me what to do," I said, feeling indignant that he would even try.

"But I do Kira. It's my job to ensure your safety and that means you will do as I tell you."

I ground my teeth together as I glared at him. He set he paper back on his desk and finally gave me his undivided attention.

"I'm trying to do the right thing Kira. Even if you can't see it through your stubbornness." Where I was raging he seemed calm, it was annoying. He made me feel like I was being unreasonable and dramatic. I had every right to feel the way I did, even if he couldn't seem to understand that.

"I'm not stubborn. I just wasn't ready." I had let it slip, my true feelings about moving to his room. I hadn't meant to.

"The Vincents aren't going to wait for you to be ready. I've been patient but I've realized I have to be firm with you Kira. Your life depends on it."

I frowned. "If you push me too hard, you will regret it Angel."

I spun around and stormed out of his study. I wanted to get far away from him as I could without actually leaving the property.

What I really wanted to do was go back up to his room and move all my stuff back to my room but it would be pointless. He would just get someone to move everything right back. I didn't seem to have much control over my life at the point didn't sit well with me.

This time I went for a longer walk, trying to ease my simmering anger that Angel just did what he wanted irrespective of how I felt. It made me feel small and irrelevant. I wonder if this is how it started with my mother and I experienced a moment of panic, making me feel like I was about to hyperventilate.

I sucked in a breath and counted to ten before I released it slowly, trying to make a conscious effort to deal with my anger. I leaned against the trunk of a nearby oak tree and stayed there allowing the peaceful scenery to help ease my volatile mood.

After I managed to calm down I looked back to the house in the distance and decided it was probably time to make my way back. My stomach grumbled. I was hungry as well.

It was when I passed the cottage, I was reminded of the night I had gotten Bruno into trouble when I had used the secret passage. I stopped. It made me think about him and the memories of his shooting seeped back, making me feel a little unsteady. It brought back all that trauma and fear like I was leaning with my hand against the wall and watching him bleed out in front of my eyes. There only way I could pull myself out of the horrible memory was to remind myself that he survived. I should have made a plan to go see him or at least given him a call but I had been tied up in my own problems. It had been a couple of weeks since the shooting, and I wondered how he was doing.

Surely Angel would be able to give me an update. But after my last run in with him, I wasn't in a hurry to see him again so soon. Who else could I ask? I didn't see James around, so the next person on my list was Jack.

With the new mission on my mind I went back to the house. I found Jack in the garage. He stood up immediately when I entered.

"Hi Jack," I greeted.

"Miss Ward," he greeted with a nod as he rose from his seat. "Should I call the driver?"

I shook my head. "Not that's not necessary."

"Is there something else I can do for you?"

"I wanted to know find out how Bruno is doing."

He gave me a puzzled look and then straightened his features.

"When will he be returning to work?" I looked at him expectantly.

"Um," he shifted nervously while averting his gaze.

I frowned watching his strange body language.

"What Jack?" He was trying to hide something from me, I could tell.

"It's best you speak to Mr. Knox."

"Why can't you tell me?" My question was direct. I had asked a simple question, why was he acting like I had asked him to reveal a deep dark secret?

"Mr. Knox wanted all questions about Bruno directed to him."

I frowned at him. "Why?" I asked but Jack had clammed up and wasn't answering.

An anxious feeling settled in me as I left the garage determined to find out why my bodyguard couldn't answer a simple question about the recovery of someone I had nearly watch bleed to death.

I searched for Angel but he wasn't in his study and no one would tell me where he had gone. Feeling frustrated and annoyed I went to the kitchen where I found Maria making cookies.

"It smells wonderful," I said, sitting at the kitchen counter, watching her take a tray of baked cookies out of the oven.

"I made your favorite."

She set the tray down and closed the over. "What's wrong?"

Usually I loved her cookies and couldn't wait to eat one but I wasn't hungry at all. Bruno was the only thing on my mind and finding out why Jack had been told not to answer any questions about him. What was Angel hiding from me?

I shrugged. "I was just thinking of Bruno." I sighed. I don't know why I mentioned it, perhaps I was hoping she would say something Jack had been sworn to secrecy over.

Maria's features softened. "It's very sad what happened to him." Was she talking specifically about the shooting or was she referring to something else? I didn't want to ask her to clarify for fear she wouldn't.

I schooled my expression, keeping my confusion beneath the surface, hoping she would reveal more without me prompting. Sad, that wasn't good. My stomach twisted.

"It is." I sighed, pretending I knew exactly what she was talking about when I didn't.

"He was always so kind and gentle." She stopped and sighed.

"He was," I agreed, hoping as I kept the conversation going she would reveal what Jack wouldn't.

"You know that saying 'only the good die young'. In his case it was very true." She stared fondly out the kitchen window while I took in what she had just revealed.

My brain couldn't process what she was saying. Die? I didn't understand. He had been fine. Angel had told me he had pulled through.