Angel stilled. Our eyes held. For that moment there was only us, no one else.

Memories came in flashes. The ones when we were smaller, where I followed him around to the one when he stood beside me at my mother's funeral. My heart filled with emotion. To every moment that had led us to this point.

He leaned in and kissed me. I clasped his face savoring it.

Kaiden cleared his throat. "Someone's coming."

It broke our moment and brought us back to reality.

There was an unmistakable sound of foot steps. James and Angel moved to shield me. I felt vulnerable still only dressed in a night shirt, in no way prepared for what was about to unfold. They were putting themselves between myself and any danger that was about to walk through that door. For a moment the importance of that hit me leaving me with no doubt what that meant.

Angel was not with me for revenge. If he was there was no way he would lay down his life for mine. I felt an intense guilt for having doubted him even for a second.

I held my breath as the footsteps stopped outside the door.

My heart was beating so loudly, it echoed in my ears. I tried my best to keep the panic at bay.

The door splintered open with such force I took a shaky step back.

A bald man dressed in a trench coat entered with a gun in his hand. "Well what do we have here?" he sneered as his partner, who was overweight with a beard, followed him inside.

They both looked like the type of guys that would sell their souls for the highest price. Maybe they had already if this was their line of work.

There was that part of me that wanted to be brave and face whatever was going to happen head on but I had to fight the instinctual part of me that wanted to survive by running as far as I could get. It was the irrational fear that I fought to stand with men who were willing to lay their lives down to protect me.

The bald guy eyed me out and he smiled. "You're a difficult woman to get close to. We've been on you since you came back to town and this is the closest we have got."

Angel moved to shield me. "What's your price?"

The bearded man gave a hollowed laugh and shared a look with his partner. "We aren't for sale."

"Everyone has a price, name it." Angel continued to try and negotiate for our lives.

I didn't believe for a second that any amount of money would get us out of this. Guys who wanted money didn't shoot first.

"You can't put a price on power," the bald guy scoffed.

Angel studied them. "You want power, I can give you that."

"You are in no position to negotiate with us. Right now you have no power." The bearded guy shook his head and moved closer.

James and Angel moved closer together to shield me.

"You're making a big mistake," Angel warned calmly.

I didn't know how he held his cool in the situation. I was a mess, my hands were sweaty and my heart beat was all over the place. Every breath shaky.

Angel shrugged. "What did they promise you?"

It was the first time I saw a moment of hesitation in the two men. Did Angel really have any chance getting us out of here? I held a tiny bit of hope that somehow he would be able to save us.

The men remained silent, reluctant to reveal what they were going to get in return.

"How many guys are in on this?" Angel asked.

"There were fifteen," James answered. He had kept count during the shootout.

The bald guy glared opening at James' assessment. "Now there are only six of us."

They had managed to take a lot of them out. But not enough to swing things into our favor. We were in the most precarious situation with little to no hope of survival. Even with odds like that I didn't see any of them waver.

"They offer you positions in the family?" Angel asked.

When neither of them answer Angel nodded. "Then you're dumber than you look."

The bearded one lifted his gun to aim it straight at Angel. I reached for him to stop him from being so provocative with men who here their to end our lives.

"I would be careful if I was you," the bearded one said.

"Name one man in the organization high up enough to give you any sort of power whose surname isn't Vincent."

The bearded guy's arm lowered slight as he looked back to the other guy.

Angel was reaching them and I held my breath.

Could he really pull this off? Give them enough doubt to be able to negotiate our way out of this mess?

"They are playing you guys. They have no intention of giving you anything. Only outsiders would believe that bullshit. If you go through with this you won't live to see another sunset, that I guarantee. Power doesn't mean much to dead men."

This time the look shared between the two guys was one of nervousness and fear.

I couldn't believe it was working. My hand tightened on Angel's jacket.

"It's just a matter of who finds you first, the Vincents or my men."

"Um...what are you offering?" The bald guy asked, shaking his gun at Angel.

They were ready to negotiate. I was floored and trying not to allow myself to feel relief until Angel had them tied up in a nice neat bow with no loose ends.

Desperate men resorted to desperate measures. The most important thing was to keep everyone calm.

"Enough money for you to disappear."

I watched the men mull over his offer.

"The Vincents will send more men for her," the bald guy said.

I stepped between James and Angel. "Soon I'll be taking over and that won't be problem."

"Taking over?" They looked between themselves.

"My father is Andrew Vincent," I revealed seeing the fear in their eyes at the mention of my father.

Angel nodded. "They didn't tell you that you were going to kill the heir to the Vincent family fortune and business."

They both shook their heads.

"You have five minutes," Angel said, with all the confidence of knowing he had scared them enough for them to question their actions.

They lowered their guns. "We'll take it."

"James will be in contact with you later today to pay the money. I have to warn you. If I ever see any of you again I will hunt you and your families. There will be no place on earth you can hide."

Slowly, they nodded before they backed up leaving the way they had entered.

Only when I could hear the retreat of men outside did I allow myself to feel relieved that we had survived an impossible situation. I leaned my head against Angel's back and took a breath trying to fight the adrenaline off.

Angel turned to take me into his arms and James sheathed his knife. I fought the urge to cry. I had never been so scared in my life and I had believed without a doubt that had been it for all of us. It was too overwhelming to think about right now. I took a shuddering breath and Angel pressed a kiss to my forehead.

"It's over," he murmured.

It would linger in my mind what could have happened. It made me want to hold Angel a little tighter and tell my brother I loved him. Even James, I wanted him to know that he meant something to me and I would always remember how he had stepped up with Angel to protect me.

James left to check outside to make sure the shooters had left like they had said they would. He returned moments later. "The coast is clear."

Kaiden left the wounded driver to search through the kitchen cupboards until he found a bottle of vodka before returning to crouch down beside him.

"It's going to hurt but it will stop it from getting infected until we can get it stitched up."

The guy nodded.

Kaiden poured some over the wound and the guy hissed, scrunching his face in pain.

"The sooner we get out of here the better," James said.

He was right.

James went to help Kaiden get the driver on his feet who winced slightly.

"We'll get him sorted out when we get back. If we take him to hospital, they will ask questions we can't answer."

There would be no way to cover up what had happened here.

"We need to take care of the scene," Angel said to James who nodded before disappearing through the door to the garage.

He returned with what looked like a canister of gas. James went down to the bedroom I had slept in and began to pour the gas there.

My heart was still racing as we got out of the house and James finished pouring the bas over the kitchen before following us. He stood just outside the doorway. He pulled out matches before lighting one and throwing it inside.

It only took minutes for the fire to race through the house as we stood watching.

The efficiency they dealt with the situation was something to take in and admire. Was this from years of being a step ahead of the law? I wouldn't have the first clue what to do to keep the cops from figuring out what happened. I had never even thought about that. Our fingerprints were all over the place and would have led them straight to us.