"Buste-d." I heard his familiar manly voice that caused everyone's face in the room drain of color. I stood up, wobbling as my head turned to the door but I felt like my brain drained out for a second before it bounced back into my head. He was standing there with a smug look on his face in his sexy black suit with a charcoal grey tie and spiffy grey pocket square. His eyes were on me and everyone was probably thinking about running for cover. I heard shrill terrified squeals in the hallway as they spotted him and ran the other way.

"I volunteer as tribute!" I announced, making him laugh while everyone else was serious as the grave. I had held up the bottle as if toasting.

"Tribute?" He repeated, shaking his head. "Are you drinking straight vodka?" He had amusement in his voice.

"Well, you can't uh-arrest us all!" I challenged with my voice going high. "And... I'm the boss." I slurred proudly. "Let these lily-livered sheep go!" I slurred as I sauntered up to him after tripping over a shoe and pretending it didn't happen with look of concentration on my face while I tried to seem a little sober. "Take me and let the rest go." I joked in a half-assed whisper bringing my wrists together like he was going to handcuff me. Oh, I wish he'd handcuff me! I pushed him out of the doorway and he stepped back before I could make contact, making me stumble as he caught me. I straightened up stiffly. "Nobody saw that." I announced stubbornly, turning back to the eyes still watching me with a pointed finger at all their shocked faces. I flipped my hair and tried to look poised. Alexi was still fighting a smile and shaking his head. "You gonna punish me, Mr. Montgomery?" I said in the most seductive voice as he led me down the hallway. I slipped my arm in the crook of his elbow.

"You're wasted, Chernoff." He insisted before the elevator opened and we stepped in. Well, I guess I didn't step so much as stumble.

"You gonna punish me, Alexi?" I asked, pressing against him in the privacy of the elevator. His arms came around me after he snatched the bottle from my hand and took a gulp.

"Maybe I will." He answered sneakily as he slapped my butt making me laugh out as I clutched onto his lapel.

"I-I wannid dance with you in yourn nice-suit." I pouted, letting my head fall to his warm chest. I breathed in his smell like I had been craving it all night.

"Maybe next time. Do I have to take you somewhere so you don't die of alcohol poisoning?" He sounded sincerely worried, but I just laughed. "Hey." He said, picking up my face in his hands. Where the hell is my bottle of vodka? Was the thought that crossed through my mind and the reason for the confusion on my face. "What's your name?" he asked in a silky persuasive voice. He thought he had me.

"Nice try, Morozov!" I crowed as the elevator came to the bottom floor and he pushed the button to stop the doors from opening. For some reason, I felt like we were still...moving.

"It was worth a try. Do I have to carry you to the car, or can you walk?" he asked.

"What? I can't leeeeave. Can I?" I had been trying to ask if he thought we'd get caught, but I knew I just sounded completely confused.

"I don't feel comfortable leaving you this drunk. I just can't." He breathed, hugging me and making me forget all about hiding our relationship. I pulled him into a kiss that I had been yearning for for hours and he kissed me back, making any rational thought leave me completely at the feel of his addictive lips. I pressed needily against him and his hands were on either side of my neck before moving down my body.

"I think I'm getting drunk off your breath." He deadpanned.

"Where's my vodka?!" I asked loudly, looking around the elevator and spotting the wide flat bottle in between the rail and the side of the elevator. "Ah!" I said in victory, before he grabbed both my arms and trapped me so I couldn't get it.

"You've had enough. I'll get you something better. Let's just try to make it to the car, okay?" he promised, but I knew he was lying.

"Yra liar!" I bumbled.

"So are you." He told me with a kiss on my neck that made me close my eyes at how relaxing his lips were and tickle of his breath sent shivers through my body.

"Unh-huh." I sighed with a funny moaning sound. Closing my eyes turned out to be a bad thing to do, because I almost lost my balance and dropped to the floor. My legs felt like they were made of jell-o. He caught me and for a moment I thought he had drugged me, but he had worry in his eyes when I looked up to his face. Instead of taking the front door, he carried me out and did a right instead of left out the elevator.

*

Sight came to my eyes when my butt hit the cold concrete and my head lolled to the side as I blinked in confusion. It was dim and he was standing in front of me. Then I heard a door unlock and open and I stood up slowly, feeling like I was moving toward the railing. He caught me before I could come in contact with the iron railing and he lifted me through the door. The sight of the flat red door brought my brain back on and I knew we were at his apartment even if I didn't remember how we got there.

"Oh, I can't be here!" I complained as I regained my footing and tried to turn back to the door. "Alexi, they'll find me here!" I cried as panic came through me about the Russians kidnapping me. He had me again and kicked the door closed as he guided me to the couch.

"Who's going to find you here?" he questioned me as I plopped on the couch and he went immediately into the small adjoined kitchen. He sounded like he didn't believe me that anybody was looking for me.

"Your people could shoot me. I don't want to be shoot- shot." I tried to tell him.

"I don't have any people here. I live alone." He argued sounding unconvinced. He handed me a glass of water and I drank it obediently.

"Do-d'you have anything stronger?" I asked handing him the half-empty glass back. He just pushed my own hand with the glass back at me and I felt my stomach complain as I tried to drink and it just felt full and awful with water. "Can I hava cig-rette?" I hiccupped.

"I'm afraid you'll burn the place down." He said hesitantly.

"Oh-uh I did that once..." I sighed remembering Lena and me almost burning a club down when somebody roofied our drinks after we were already drunk. Bad experience to say the least...

"Kate, who's after you?" he tried as he sat down next to me with another tumbler full of clear liquid. I put my glass down with my suspicious eyes on the other glass and then I grabbed it and he laughed at my expression when I figured out it was water too. "Kate. Just tell me who you are. Why are they after you?" he pressed, sounding more concerned about me than fishing for information.

"Sm people." I shrugged.

"Russians? Are the Belov's after you?" he asked.

"Well..." I almost told him they could be, but instead I felt like I was sobering up a little bit. "I don't know." I answered lamely.

"I've never met a drunk girl who didn't spill all her secrets." He sighed as he sat back with his arms both resting on the back of the couch. I sat back too, letting my head dip on his shoulder until I noticed the glass still in my weak grip. I leaned to put the glass down on the coffee table and it hit the side before I clumsily dropped the glass and spilled the remaining liquid on the floor. The glass didn't shatter thankfully, but it got my foot all wet and bounced with a clunk and a loud ringing. I turned to Alexi with an apologetic cringe, but he just let out a breath like a laugh and pulled me over to him so I could rest my head on his shoulder.

"Kate Chernoff doesn't have any secrets." I mumbled, closing my eyes.

*

"Cazzo." 'Fuck' I hissed when I woke up and had no idea where I was and the worst hangover ever. The shades were drawn over the window and the room was dark. It was the smell of him that told me where I was. I pulled my hair back with a hair elastic that was on my wrist and sat hunched as I breathed deeply as if that would prevent the nausea. I swallowed when I saw that he had put a bucket by the bed just in case. I turned my pounding head slowly to see that he wasn't in bed. By the light that framed the curtains, it was definitely daytime. I trotted to the bathroom in defeat to be sick. Pungent, alcoholic sweat coated my forehead and I brushed back my bangs as I clutched my forehead where I crouched in front of the toilet.

"Oh good, you didn't vomit in bed." His cool voice greeted me. I answered him with a groan as my body shivered and burned as I flushed the toilet after wiping my mouth with toilet paper.

"Honestly, shoot me if I ever do that. I'd rather be dead than wake up to that." I insisted, looking up to him from where I crouched by the toilet in my expensive violet dress. I must've taken off my necklace at some point... How much did I say to him? Did I speak Italian yet by accident? I analyzed his sympathetic expression and he came in to hand me a glass of water as I stood up to lean on the counter. He was still wearing his black button-down shirt, but had removed his tie and he was barefoot in his black slacks. At least I didn't have sex with him and not remember...

"Did I say anything stupid?" I asked before taking a gulp of water. He handed me an aspirin bottle.

"You're as tight-lipped as a dead man." He joked, making me laugh dryly.

"I'd prefer to be dead..." I grumbled, taking an aspirin with another gulp of water.

"You should take a shower." He insisted. "I'm guessing you don't want food, huh?" he probed, making me wrinkle my nose.

"Nope, no, I don't want food." I answered, looking in the mirror even though I dreaded what I was going to see. My make-up was smudged and my hair was like a witch's. My complexion was about as dusty and pale as I expected and I scowled at myself about it.

"Do you want to borrow some clothes?" he asked softly, making me turn to him.

"Yeah, do you have a sweatshirt or something?" I asked.

"Yeah, sure." He answered, before disappearing from the door frame. I felt much better after I was sick, but my head was still just as bad and my body was shivering like I was still kind of sick. There was a hollow full feeling in my stomach and my throat was burning from the acid. I took some toothpaste from one of the drawers and put it on my finger to run over my teeth and then gulped water to spit before taking the last gulp out of the glass and refilling it with the tap. He returned with a black sweatshirt, a t-shirt, and some sweatpants with a drawstring.

The shower did help, but having my tattoos uncovered under the warm water was unnerving. Fortunately, the sweatshirt would cover it up. I yanked on the drawstring as tight as it would go and cuffed the bottoms of his long pants and the arms of the sweatshirt before I stepped out while I toweled my hair.

"Are you feeling better?" he asked from where he stood leaning on the kitchen counter with a mug of coffee in his hand.

"Yeah, thanks." I murmured, wandering over to him. He had changed into a casual outfit and I put my head on his chest as my arms wound around him. He rubbed my back comfortingly and I wanted stay with him there forever. I could barely recall that it was Saturday and that the Formal had been last night. My mind went over where my phone was and I realized I hadn't taken a phone or a purse or any kind of weapon. I vaguely remembered him putting his coat on me in the passenger seat of his car.

"Do you want some coffee?" His chest rumbled with his words against my ear and I pulled away before giving him a fervent nod.

*

I was laying on Alexi watching a movie when his phone rang and he shifted slightly to pull it out of his pocket and check the number. It was blocked, which made anxiety wash over me. His eyebrows furrowed for a moment before he answered hesitantly.

"Hello?" He answered, as I started to sit up, but he was still laying beneath me. He looked confused. "Girl?" he asked, making my heart drop. He hesitantly handed me the phone and I swallowed before putting it to my ear.

"Hello?" It was Papi, and I huffed out a sigh of relief.

"God, you scared me! Why are you calling his phone?!" I demanded, seeing Alexi's wide eyes staring at me as his breathing quickened.

"I called your phone and your friend said you weren't at the school. Where are you?"

"Ugh, clearly you found me." I said with exasperation. "I'm not talking about this right now. I'm fine." I hissed, before he could start telling me about how being with Alexi was dangerous and stupid.

"What are you doing with him?" he demanded in a dark voice.

"What do you think?" I sighed in defeat, before getting up to peer out the window. I couldn't see much of the parking lot from this view and I looked out the peep hole in the door to see no one there.

"You can't be telling me what I think you're telling me, Cortana." He groaned. Alexi had pulled a gun out from under the couch and then sat up looking tense.

"Call them off. I'm so not in the mood. I'm hungover and I'd like to just have a minute of peace." I told him quietly. "Call them off!" I growled when I heard the knock. I stopped Alexi from going to the door with a silent hand gesture. He looked tense from head to toe as he stood with his gun at the ready.

"I'm so mad right now, I can't even!" He exclaimed in Italian. I knocked back on the door, telling them it was me on the other side so they shouldn't kick it down. I knew it would stay their hand at least while I negotiated with Papi.

"I know, but you could just trust me for a second. This is worse. If you could've just left me alone..." I couldn't finish my sentence. I was still trying not to tell Alexi who I was or accidentally speak Italian. I could hear Papi's tense breathing as he resisted yelling at me. Then I heard him say 'Rosso' to someone, telling them to abort. "Thank you..." I sighed, running my hand over my forehead.

"You will call me in one hour from your phone." He demanded, making me growl under my breath.

"Fine!" I hissed in annoyance. We hung up and I felt my face turn to a pout as I faced Alexi.

"I shouldn't have answered that call, huh?" he asked sounding shaken.

"If you didn't it would've been worse." I frowned, moving towards him to hug him.

"Those were your people?" he asked darkly.

"My... father..." I answered against my better judgment. I could feel his heart still pounding with adrenaline. "I need to be back at school in forty-five minutes or they'll be back."

"How did they get my number? They know where I live..." His voice sounded unnerved.

"Yeah... I don't know if it's worse that I was here or if it'd be worse if I wasn't..." I told him, thinking about the awful conversation I was likely going to have with Papi. "I'm going to get you killed." I said, feeling tears bite at my eyes. He pulled away to look down at me in sympathy.

"My job will get me killed." He argued.

"You don't know the danger I put you in." I squeaked, wiping a tear that escaped my eye.

"I'm always in danger. I can handle it." He sounded way less concerned than he would be if he understood.

"Alexi..." I said his name softly as I decided that it might be safer for him if he knew who I was. Could I trust him?

"What?" he murmured, his eyes burning into mine as I bit my lip with my eyebrows pulled up. I slowly pulled up my sleeve, revealing my tattoo and his eyes showed his shock as he stared in disbelief. "Valenti?" He breathed.

"Now you know..." I said through a shaky breath. I left him standing there and went back to the bathroom to pull my dress back on so I wouldn't show up in his clothes. I had no coat, but I guessed Niko would be waiting in parking lot to either drive me back or follow Alexi if he drove me.

"Who's looking for you? The Belov's?" he asked, when he found his voice as I went to hand his sweatshirt back in defeat.

"Them and the Lucianos." I answered. "You know my people will kill you if you sell the information..." I muttered, looking down.

"I'm not going to do that." He insisted, sounding offended. I looked up and he pressed his lips to mine with the same amount of desire as before. I kissed him for a fleeting moment. I pulled away, trying not to feel the pain of leaving him, which seemed tripled since I guessed I wouldn't get to be with him again. I put his sweatshirt in his hand. "No, keep it. You have no coat, you'll freeze." He said stubbornly. I pulled it on and still felt tears biting at my eyes.

"I have to get back..." I said, with my voice wavering as sobs crawled up my throat. He pulled me into a hug before I got to the door.

"Be careful." He muttered, before opening the door for me. He watched me descend the stairs and just like I thought, Niko was waiting with two other cars in the parking lot. I got into the passenger seat without saying anything and Niko couldn't seem to say anything back.

I tried not to let my tears fall, but it was harder than I thought. It was worse knowing I had to be seen by all the students who saw me leave with him last night. What would they think? Where should I lie and say I was?

"Good luck..." Niko finally murmured, when I got out and went to the door just to realize I didn't have my ID to open it. I grimaced and turned back to the car as the damn skies mocked me by spitting out snowflakes and blowing a frigid wind against me.

"I can't get in. I don't have my ID and I don't know anyone's number. Maybe I could call my own phone from yours?" My voice was emotionless, but my face probably looked miserable. Niko took out his phone quickly and I found my number and pressed the contact.

It rung a few times before Shane answered.

"Hey, where are you?" she asked in concern.

"I'm outside. Can you open the door for me? I need to call my... dad..." I said. The word felt unfamiliar in my mouth.

"Sure. I'll be right down." She answered, sounding nervous like she heard the grim tone to my voice. She appeared in the doorway a minute later and I got out of the car after giving Niko his phone back. "Are you okay? Where did you go last night?" she asked as I stepped into the warm lobby and the heavy door swung shut behind me blocking out the howling wind and cold.

"I'm in trouble." I grumbled as I got in the elevator with her. She was wearing sweatpants and a sweatshirt and her hair looked like she had been asleep or in bed since the morning.

"For drinking? I heard Montgomery caught you guys, but you convinced him to take just you." She divulged.

"My dad is pissed so I have to call him right now. I'll tell you after. I'm so upset, I can't even speak." I said, feeling my tears drip and leave warm tracks down my face.

Melissa was in the bathroom when I got to the room and I snagged my phone before throwing on my coat over the sweatshirt. I knew where I could talk to him in peace if there wasn't anyone out there already. Shane looked like she was brimming with questions, but she let me go and I strode down the hall having switched out my heels for knee-length winter boots. The balcony was empty to my relief and I hoped the glass of the sliding door was thick enough that no one could hear me yelling in Italian. I guessed I would end up slipping up during the call.

"Papi." I greeted him as I crouched against the building and the horizontal wind whistled against the corner of the brick.

"Cortana." He answered, sounding dark, but not seething with anger yet. "Are you somewhere private?" he questioned.

"I am. It's as private as possible..." I told him.

"I'm trusting your judgment." He said sternly.

"I'll speak quietly." I enunciated.

"What does Morozov know about you?"

"He didn't know anything until you just called him!" I hissed, trying to keep my voice low and already failing.

"What does he know, Cortana?" he demanded in his deep voice.

"Now, thanks to you he knows I'm a Valenti. He's smart enough to be scared. He won't talk. They don't like the Lucianos anyway." I grumbled.

"Great! Just great!" he said sarcastically. "What were you doing with him? Why were you with him when you're supposed to be at school?"

"You already know." I answered darkly. "I don't want you to hurt him." My voice was like a whisper as my tears spilled over and he was quiet as if he had figured out the problem and didn't even know how to react.

"Our sources say he's at the school to make sure the Morozov's have someone to take Amelia when the Belov's complete the deal they're working on. It's not clear about whether they're going to terminate or just ransom. I didn't want to get involved and I really didn't want you getting involved."

"I'm already involved. Even without Alexi, I ended up involved." I sobbed in frustration, knowing I'd already killed one of the Belov's men, though it was hopeful since he was just a hired assassin and not directly a Belov.

"There's a chance they've already pinned it on Morozov. The hired man had him on his list. He was likely making moves against him and just failed." Papi explained as I tried to stifle my sobs. I felt weak, like I couldn't deal with anything- I couldn't deal with having him taken away from me...

"What am I supposed to do? I can't just sit back..." I asked hopelessly.

"You were supposed to focus on your school work." He growled.

"I am." I argued.

"I'm hesitant to pull you out of school. The Lucianos are all in Italy and back home looking for you. It's still safer where you are if you maintain your cover." He said, making me feel a tinge of hope.

"Okay." I mumbled, trying to decide what to say to that. I knew I wouldn't be able to let Alexi get killed if he was surrounded by Belov's but knowing he'd avoided their guy already told me he wasn't easy to kill.

"I would tell you to stay away from Morozov, but I know you won't listen. At least give me your word you'll stay out of their affairs. No one can know you're there. The Morozov's will not hesitate to use you to get to us. They aren't likely to try to kill you, but it's not guaranteed."

"I'll stay out of it." I answered as the wind howled and the snow accumulated. I felt like I was in Russia.

"I have to go. I will talk to you soon."

"Bye, Papi." I sighed before we hung up. I put my head in my arms. My hands were red from the cold as I clutched my phone and my legs were folded under me as I sat back against the brick in a crouch that had become painful. I stiffly got up, struggling when my legs were numb other than shooting pain as they tried to wake up again. I slid the door open with numb hands and the tears had practically frozen and dried on my face. As I walked to the room, a cover story fell right into place in my mind.