"How can you be sure?" I asked, not quite believing him. Everything had happened so fast my mind was still trying to piece everything together.

He was dressed in sweats and a shirt. It was disarming to see him like this, it made him look younger and more approachable. His hair was still wet.

"I'm sure."

"I don't trust you remember. Why would I believe you?" I crossed my arms and studied him resentfully.

He had lied about many things, was he above lying to me to stop myself from feeling responsible for the death of another, even if it had been accidental?

"Do you understand the severity of what you just tried to do?" The usual calm was gone, his voice was stern and angry. His eyes sparked with fury.

I bit my lip. "I do." I had gone there with the intention of ending the man's life. Even if he was telling the truth and my bullet hadn't killed him, I wasn't innocent. Not by a long shot.

Our eyes held. He pulled a hand through his hair. "I don't even know this side of you Kira."

Silence hung between us.

"It's the side of me that's tired of seeing the unfairness in the world where a good man died." I let out an emotional breath. "I knew exactly what I was doing Angel. This wasn't some hysterical moment I can brush off as a momentary lapse in judgement." I shrugged. "If you hadn't interrupted I would have shot him. And you know what?"

"What?"

"I wouldn't have regretted it. I remembered what he did to Bruno and that was enough for me." I held his intense gaze.

He studied me. I wouldn't allow my gaze to falter his. "That night wasn't easy for any of us. Don't think for a second that revenge isn't on our minds but we wanted the person who gave the order. Not just the person who carried it out."

I had never considered that.

I shook my head. "I wasn't going to let him get away with it." In my mind, he pulled the trigger, he was the one who had to repay the debt.

"He wasn't going to get away with it but now we have no way of figuring out who ordered it." He gave a frustrated sigh. "You should never have witnessed what happened to Bruno. I should have shielded you from that."

"You can't shield me from everything Angel." He just didn't seem to get that he couldn't protect me from everything.

His jaw twitched. "I can't seem to shield you from your own rash actions."

I frowned. "So if you deal with a problem you're considered ruthless but if I did the same I'm just some hysterical woman?"

"It's control that separates the two. Emotions control you Kira, cold hard facts control mine."

He was the most annoying man I had ever met. Would he ever see me as an equal, not something to protect but someone to standby?

"You keep a lot of things from me Angel and it makes me wonder what else you haven't told me?" I eyed him suspiciously.

"I was trying to protect you."

Like that gave him a pass to do whatever he liked. It wasn't okay, and he had to understand that.

"I knew how fond you were of him and how the events of that night affected you. Was it so wrong of me to try and keep that pain from you for a little while?"

"You lied to me Angel." I put my hand to my chest. "You wouldn't even tell me that my life was in danger before you sent me away. This can't go on. You can't keep doing this. Instead of protecting me, you're making things worse."

He studied me. Silence hung between us.

"You lied to me when you told me Bruno would be fine." Images of the chaotic scene came to mind, unsettling me.

He shook his head. "At the time, that had been the truth."

"I don't understand," I crossed my arms, resistant to any excuse he was going to come up with.

"He bled out later that night." He raked his hand through his hair. It was the first time I saw a chink in his impenetrable armor. The affect of losing someone close. It was a reminder he was human and not made of stone.

My heart ached at that revelation. He was always so together it was sometimes difficult to think he could feel like everyone else. He was human.

"You might have not actively lied, but keeping the truth from me and that's just as bad." I let out a shaky breath. Despite feeling for him, I was still angry. "Here I was wondering when he would be back at work and all that time he was..." I couldn't even finish the sentence. My chest contracted with grief and I held my breath for a moment before it passed.

I turned my back to him. My emotions were so charged I exhaled, trying to rid me of the pressure building up inside my chest.

I felt his hands rest on my shoulders. "When I keep things from you, it's not to be deceitful or done with ill intent."

I closed my eyes briefly, feeling the heat from his touch. He had a way of calming the storm inside of me and for a few moments I allowed it before I pulled away, turning back to face him.

"No. You keeping doing that and I won't allow you to continue to feel you can. No more Angel. Do you understand? No, more keeping anything from me. If this marriage has any chance I have to know that I can trust you because without it we have nothing." I expelled my emotions in my words, hoping they would reach a part of him and allow him to understand how important this was.

He pressed his lips into a tight line.

"Tell me I can trust you, tell me you won't lie or keep things from me to protect me?" I pleaded with him.

"In our world I can't share everything. You have to have deniability."

I frowned. Why did everything with him have to be so complicated?

"Tonight, I'm going to sleep in my room," I told him, daring him to argue with me. "And tomorrow I'm going to visit Bruno's grave and pay my respects like I should have been able to do at this funeral."

"I'm not going to allow you to drive a wedge between us Kira. I did what I thought was right and I'm not going to allow you to draw this out and make a bigger deal out of it than it needs to be." He gave me a determined glare.

"I don't want to be around you tonight." I wasn't going to give in.

"I don't care Kira. The only bed you are going to sleep in is mine. Do you understand?"

I glared at him and crossed my arms. "Do you want me to end up hating you? Is that your goal? Because if it is you're getting there."

Why did everything with him have to be a battle of wills?

"I'm not a total tyrant Kira. After today I don't want to leave you on your own and tomorrow Jack will take you to see Bruno." The steeliness in his voice only moments ago had softened.

"Be careful Angel, you almost sound like you care and you wouldn't want me to misconstrue that as something else and fall hopelessly in love with you." I wanted to make him uncomfortable so he would just let me get my way. The last thing he wanted was for me to develop serious feelings for him.

"I'll take that chance." He didn't react how I had expected.

Feeling tired, I turned my back to him. At least I could go and visit Bruno to bring some sort of closure to what had happened.

I didn't feel for the man James shot. He had deserved it so I would never give him a second thought. My shoulders slumped, feeling my energy drain.

I rubbed my forehead.

"I can order food for the room," Angel offered.

I shook my head. "I'm not hungry."

I walked over to the wardrobe and changed into some sleep shorts and a top. Angel watched as I climbed into the bed and lay down on my side with my back to him.

Just because I was going to stay in his room didn't mean I had to like it and I was determined to show him just home much I resented it.

My mind was cycling through earlier events and then I remembered what Angel had said when he had tried to talk me out of shooting the prisoner.

"Was what you said tonight true?"

I felt the bed dip beside me as he got in.

"About that night I tried to seduce you."

He sighed but remained silent.

"Were you just saying that to distract me?" I felt weak for asking but I had to know.

"Is it something that really matters now?"

Why was he so reluctant to answer the question?

"I need the truth Angel. I need to be able to trust you."

There were several moments of silence.

"It was the truth."