"Scarlett," Declan whispered my name in my ear to wake me. I groaned and cuddled into him more, pretending to be asleep. I haven't been able to sleep since he brought me home and helped me change into pajamas. He's held me against his chest for the hours that we've been laying in my bed in silence.

"Hey, I'm sorry but I have to leave." He whispered, this time a little louder. His fingers running through my blonde hair.

Moving his arm from around me, he gently shifted me so I was now resting on my pillow instead of him. I already felt his warmth leaving me making me feel cold and alone. Begrudgingly, I opened my eyes to look at him sitting at the edge of my bed.

The only light in the room was from the warm fairy lights form my dresser but even in this dim light I could see the sadness on his face.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

He nodded his head. "I have some things I have to take care of. I need to head back to the city."

His hand reached out, pushing my bangs out of my face, tucking them behind my ears the best he could. I could tell by his tone of voice that something was eating at him. His eyes looked distant, like his mind was a hundred miles away. I grabbed his hand that was twirling my hair and sat up.

I felt something hard wrapped around his pinky and ring finger. Looking down I saw they were wrapped in a damaged splint.

"What happened?"

He ignored me, taking his hand from mine.

"Declan, what's wrong? You can talk to me." I pressed.

He let out a laugh through his nose, shaking his head. "Nothing's wrong. I've been neglecting work and now I've got a lot of things I need to take care of."

He stood up from the bed and searched the floor for his shirt. I felt stupid. Of course he wouldn't talk to me, I thought, sitting up and crossing my legs. I hated that I let myself think that he cared for me.

Tugging his hoodie over his head, he brushed it flat against his chest. He tugged the hood further over his head and then shoved his feet in his boots leaving them untied. He moved to the side of my bed and grabbed my face with both of his hands. My cheeks and Jaw felt sore under his hands.

He saw me flinch and loosened his hold on my face, studying the apparent bruises I had from last night.

"Can you please not do anything stupid today." His eyes bore into mine as if he was trying to hypnotize me into obeying him.

"I-"

"Don't argue with me, little one. Just stay here and don't do anything fucking stupid to get yourself in trouble. Please." He let go of my face and quickly left, locking the door behind him.

I scoffed. "Don't do anything stupid." I mocked, making a face at the door.

Checking the time on my phone I saw it was five in the morning. There was no way I was going to sleep, I felt strange. It was like I was wired and anxious, nauseous, all of my muscles had a dull ache and I was developing a splitting headache. I imagine these are the after effects of Z and Narcan. Ripping the covers from my body, I made my way to the kitchen to make myself breakfast.

When I heard the knock at my door hours later, I couldn't help myself. Tossing my book to the side, I bolted down my hallway, into my room and to my door. Declan was never one to ask permission, he came in whenever he wanted but maybe this was him trying to be a gentleman? I swung open my door, smiling like an idiot expecting to see his tall, broad form but instead it was a beat up Alex.

He didn't wait for me to react. He pushed his way passed me into my room and slammed the door behind him, locking it. Turning, he straightening the suit jacket he had on. Why the hell was he dressed up and what happened to his face? It was all bruised and swollen and he had cuts on his lips and nose.

My eyes searched my room for my phone so I could call for help but it was out in the living room. I bit my lip trying to decide if I should make a run for my phone or the door.

"Don't even think about trying to run." Alex snarled, reading my mind.

Adrenaline was coursing through my veins, I could hear my pulse in my ears. I hoped to God Declan was watching the cameras and would see Alex was here.

"Why are you here?" I snapped back at him. "My dad's dead, thanks to you. He was the only thing that tied us together. You're no longer welcome in my house."

Fixing the tie he wore around his neck, he chuckled. "You really think that was us? God, your pathetic."

His insult stung.

"While you were out whoring around with that Mick, his boss and his dipshit nephew tried to strong arm Patrick into working for them. They're trying to take over our business."

"That's a lie! You are the ones who are distributing that shit. You're killing people! Not to mention all of the other despicable things." I shuddered, "I can't even look at you, you make me sick!"

Alex's brows arched, his bruised and scabbed lips slowly spreading into a smile before he burst out laughing. "Y-you," he tried but could barely speak between his laughs. "You think they're trying to stop us to save the city?"

I stayed silent while he grabbed his stomach in hysterics.

"You think they're some benevolent force trying to clean up the city? Oh god, you really are fucking stupid, Scarlett!" He finally calmed down. "They wanted to take over your dad's business and all of the deals he has with the shipping ports. They're trying to take over the distribution of Z. And don't even think for a minute that they aren't involved with trafficking."

I went to open my mouth to argue back but quickly closed it. I had nothing to say, I didn't know anything about them, all I had were feelings for some guy I barely knew.

"They're criminals, just like us. They want to own the city." He closed the distance between us, pushing me up against the wall.

"W-why are you here?" I was starting to lose my resolve. Alex was glowering down at me, making me feel small. His aftershave smelled vile and was starting to trigger my headache I'd just calmed.

"I'm here with a proposition for you." He finally answered after a minute of silence between us. He backed away, taking two steps back and crossed his arms.

"Your dad never signed over the business to us. It's all still under your name, even though he was supposed to put it in my mothers' name. If you sign the company over to us, we'll spare your life. If not, well then, let's just say you'd be very valuable on the market." He winked.

My stomach churned when I realized what he was talking about. I felt myself pale and go clammy. He was going to sell me? We grew up together, for years I confided in him, cried to him when people in school would make fun of me and he was acting like it all never happened. How could he be like this, so cold and uncaring?

"You're criminals, remember? Why does it matter if I sign it over to you, you could just take it."

He ignored my question. "You have until after Patrick's funeral to decide. Aside from bringing the Mick to the Galla tomorrow night, stay the fuck away from him."

He straightened out his jacket again and cleared his throat. "Now, I'll be on my way to dear old dad's funeral."

Alex was half way out the door when he stopped and turned to me. "Dad never mentioned anything to you about where he keeps his ledgers?"

"I stopped talking to him when I moved out. How am I supposed to know?" I spat.

Slamming the door closed behind him, he left me in silence.

My eyes welled up with tears, spilling down my cheeks while I gasped for air. My dad's funeral is today. All of the feelings I had pushed into the furthest corner of my mind came crashing down on me. I felt my knees buckling from the weight making me crumble.

My dad's dead. He may not have done it personally, but the boy I thought was my step brother was responsible. He wants to take my fathers legacy and use it for evil, malevolent things and threatened to force me into sexual slavery if I didn't.

I laid on the floor in a fetal position long after the tears stopped. My fingers mindlessly played with the fibers of my rug. I felt so numb. My whole life has been a lie. Regardless of if he wanted to or not, my father was working with evil people. He should have gone to the police or the feds, instead he was helping destroy lives. It feels like everyone I've ever known in my life are now complete strangers. Everything has been one big lie.

Alex's threats replay in my head, then something clicked.

"Where did dad keep his ledgers?"

"Your dad, the brave fool, told them he had years of documentation against them. If they would do anything to harm you he would go straight to the police." Declan's voice echoed after Alex's.

Dad has documentation against them. He could possibly have everything needed to bring down their empire. They know this and they have to be scared. Why else would Alex ask if I knew where he kept his ledgers?

An idea was formulating. Alex said he was going to the funeral, Isabella has to be going too. That would leave the house empty. Hypothetically, I could go there and look for it.

I didn't waste any time. Scrambling to my feet I grabbed some clean clothes; jeans, a tank top and a zip up hoodie and tied my converse. I ran to get my keys, phone and bag from the living room and then rushed to the door, barely remembering to grab my coat.

The development I grew up in was sprawling, to say the least. Hundreds of 70's model houses that all looked almost identical, except for the exterior paint colors and the few houses that had additions. The only things that changed since my childhood were the few houses I passed that had new landscaping, half hidden under the snow.

The viewing was supposed to start at 12, it was 10:45. Surely Isabella was already out of the house and on her way to the city but to err on side of caution, I parked a block away and in the opposite direction she would be driving in.

Trudging though the snow I tried to be as quiet as possible while I snuck through the backyards. I made it my old house and instantly felt a ping of sadness. Dad never got rid of our old swing set that Alex and I used to play on when we were kids. It used to be our pirate ship or our spaceship and Dad would have to drag us inside during the summer because we never wanted to stop playing.

No. I shook my head. Now is not the time to go down memory lane.

I reached the back covered patio and kicked the toes of my soaked shoes on the brick half wall, trying to get all of the snow off. All of the lights were off inside and I didn't hear anything indicating that someone was inside.

My dad was notorious for losing his keys so we always hid spare house keys all over the place. I went over to the brick built in planter on the other side of the patio and peered in, looking for a rock or something that looked off.

I picked up a not very convincing looking rock and gave it a shake. Gotcha.

I smacked it against the concrete and with ease it broke apart into four large pieces revealing the house key. Looking in through the massive sliding glass doors, I saw no sign of anyone there so I worked quickly to unlock it. It was going to snow again soon so my footprints would hopefully all be covered by the time she gets back this afternoon.

Wiping my feet on the door mat, I walked inside.

"Hello?" I called before smacking my palm to my face. What the hell was I going to do if she was still here?

When there was no answer, I let out a sigh. "You really are an idiot, Scars." I muttered.

The place was a mess. My dad was always a neat freak, everything had it's place and that's where it belonged. Isabella was a lazy slob, always leaving her dishes and mugs laying around the house. Dad was gone for four days now and the place looked like a dump.

Turning my nose up at the mess, I made my way to the spare room on the first floor that was my dad's home office. The door was left open from whoever else was here last. The entire place was ransacked. The filing cabinets that lined one of the walls were all opened with papers and files strewn all over the floor. The framed pictures on the walls were all hanging from weird angles, like whoever did this thought there would be something hidden behind them. I could barely see his desk under all of the files and junk that was piled up on it.

I couldn't waste any more time. What if they send someone else to do another check. I went right for his desk. An obvious place to hide a file containing intimate details to bring down a crime family but still, it was worth a try.

I was at it for almost an hour now and still nothing. Nothing except shipping logs for importing different goods. It ranged from fancy foods from Italy and France that were for the restaurants in the city to inventory for clothing stores.

Leaning back in his computer chair, I sighed. Where else would he hide it? Did he have it at his office in Portland? Did he always keep it on him at all times? If he had it with him when he went to meet with Mikhail and the head guy, the Pakhan, was it in his car that was totaled? It could have been tossed out at this rate.

I put my elbow on the armrest and put my head in my hand. I needed to leave. I was here for long enough, I couldn't risk being here when Isabella came back.

As I went to get up, I saw something on his desk, half hidden under a bunch of papers. Dad loved cigars, he had a bunch of small box humidors lying around the house. When I was eight, for fathers day, I stole his favorite one and decorated it. At first he was kind of mad that I had chosen that one to paint and bejewel but he quickly changed his mind when he saw how proud I was that I had made it. I brushed off the papers, letting them fall to the floor and opened the humidor. I remembered for Christmas that same year I saved up my money and got him a fake cigar thumb drive, thinking it would go along perfectly with the humidor I decorated.

Inside was a bunch of wrapped cigars. Sure enough, underneath them was the hilariously fake looking cigar thumb drive that said "World's best dad" on the fake crest.

I turned on the computer, thankful there was no password and quickly popped the front half off of the cigar and plugged in the drive. This, however, was password protected.

"Damn it, dad." I huffed.

Wracking my brain, I tried every nickname he had ever used for me growing up. To no ones surprise, none of them worked. I started in on all of the names I could remember Declan using like Pakhan, Mikhail and Anatoly. I tried Mafia, Russia, Russian Mafia. Hell, I even Tried Alex and Isabella and still nothing.

Looking down at the cover for the thumb drive, I smiled. I typed in "Word's Best Dad" and laughed when it opened, revealing hundreds of labeled files with names and dates.

"Holy shit," I whispered disbelievingly. "I did it."

I ejected the drive and clicked the cap back into place before shutting down the computer. I really couldn't risk staying any longer. Shoving my arms through the sleeves of my coat, I put the thumb drive in my purse and then shouldered it.

I tried to put everything back in place as best as I could so my presence here went unnoticed. I made sure my soaked shoes didn't leave any footprints while I walked back through the hallway, into the kitchen and to the sliding doors.

My fingers just brushed against the metal handle when I heard my name behind me.

"Scarlett?" It was Alex. "What are you doing here?"

I turned on my heal, my heart pounding inside my chest.

"I um, I..." think you idiot! "I haven't been home in years. I missed this place, I just wanted to see it."

Alex knew me too well. He knew I was lying. "You never were a good liar, even when we were kids."

"I thought you were at the funeral?" I shot back, trying to distract him.

"I was going to go, but then I was asked to double check Patrick's office." I hated hearing my dad's name on his tongue. "Funny, I asked you earlier about the ledger and now I find you here, coming from his office. I guess you do have the ability to lie after all."

"I'm not lying, I had no idea about a ledger."

Alex took a step towards me and instinctively I clutched my bag, giving myself away. He held out his hand. "Give it to me, Scars."

"Don't call me that and I don't have anything."

He took another step closer. My back hit against the glass door. I could hear my heart beat hammering away in my ears now, I was shaking, preparing to make a run for it.

"Don't make this hard on yourself. Listen to what we are telling you. Give me the ledger, stay away from him and you'll be free. If you keep this up, the Pakhan has already agreed to letting the boys have a go with you before he sells you off to his friend."

"You sick pig," I sneered. "We grew up together. You called me your sister and now you're willing to let some piece of shit sell me so I can be raped for the rest of my life? What the fuck is wrong with you?"

Alex's features turned into a scowl. He flexed his fingers on his outstretched hand. "Give me the goddamn file."

I spun on my heal, using both hands I swung the door open and bolted out of the house. I ran as fast as I could through the backyards, slipping and sliding in the snow.

"Get back here!" Alex yelled.

He wasn't far behind me, he was fast. I could never keep up with him when we were kids but I pushed on, making my legs move as fast as they could. The adrenaline pumping thorough me made me feel shaky and sluggish but I pushed on, forcing myself to go faster. I had to get away, I had to get this to the police.

I made it onto the sidewalk and started to sprint up the block to my car. Thankfully I had the foresight to put my keys in my back pocket. I grabbed for them and unlocked my car. I could hear Alex's feet hitting off of the pavement behind me. My lungs felt like I was breathing in fire, my blood like battery acid.

There was a patch of ice I saw earlier that almost made me fall, I jumped over it just in time but Alex wasn't so lucky. I heard him hit the ground hard, chocking as the breath was knocked out of his lungs the moment he hit the ground.

I opened the door to my car and dove inside, falling over the center console, not caring that I got snow and mud all over my seat and quickly closed and locked the door behind me.

I put my foot on the breaks and hit the ignition button. Alex's body crashed into my door making me flinch and scream. He had a gun in his hand now and was using the butt of the handle to hit my window to try and break it. I paused, my jaw slacked as I watch him acting like a rabid animal trying to get to its prey.

It cracked under the continuous force, splitting into a star pattern. Blinking out of my trance, I shifted the car into drive and sped off down the street. Alex's body hit off of the side of my car with an audible thud. I looked in my rearview mirror to see him rolling over on the ground before he sat up. Two loud blasts made the back windshield erupt behind me, spraying glass all over the back seat of my car. I screamed and ducked down, trying to cover my head. Involuntarily, I jerked the car to the left, almost running over the curb and into a fire hydrant but quickly corrected it.

Another loud bang sounded, this time it hit the drivers side wheel well. He was trying to shoot out my tires. Two more shots were fired off, one hitting the side of my car and the other breaking through the already cracked window of my door. The round grazed my arm, leaving a trail of burning fire on my skin under my coat.

Screaming, I grabbing my arm. "Fuck!"

The last shot was fired, leaving his magazine empty; this round missed completely.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!" I yelled, hitting my palm against the wheel of my car. I just declared war with the Russian mafia. Alex told me twice now that if I obey and hand over the information and stay away from Declan that I would be free and what did I do? I spit in his face.

I was just shot at, my car is riddled with bullet holes, and my arm was hit. Jesus Christ, what the hell am I going to do? My panic attack was starting to take hold of me. It felt like I was hit in the chest with a baseball bat. All of the breath was taken from my lungs and I was struggling to breathe.

Taking one hand from the wheel I blindly searched my bag for my phone. Finding it, I unlocked it with the pad of my finger and dialed his number.

The first two times it went right to his voicemail. The third and fourth time he just let it ring. By the sixth time he finally answered.

"I'm a little busy," he snapped. I could tell his teeth were clenched just by the slight difference in his speech.

"Declan, please," I begged between choked sobs.

"I told you, I'm busy right now." He repeated, his tone even more threatening. "We'll talk later."

I yelled before he could hang up. "He shot me!"

There was a pause on the other line. "Excuse me?"

"I, I went to my dad's place." I said, trying to catch my breath. I wiped the tears from my cheeks with the back of my trembling hand. "I was searching through my dad's office. Alex showed up, I made a run for it and he shot at me."

"Christ, are you hurt?!" Declan's tone changed completely. "Where are you?"

"Driving." I replied. I had no idea where I was going but I knew I couldn't stop in fear that Alex would find me.

"I'm going to send you a location, go there. Don't fucking stop for anything, stop signs, red lights, nothing. Do you understand me?" He demanded.

"Yea, okay." I answered, pulling up his text and tapping on the address.

I pulled up to an old abandon warehouse on the outskirts of Portland. There were half a dozen bays with the garage doors closed along the outside wall. Declan had said to pull around the back of the building and wait for him. Turning the corner, I saw his Jag was already there waiting. He rushed out of the car when he saw me pulling up.

"Park in there," he pointed to the one open garage bay.

I drove into the building and was shocked to see how clean the inside was. The overhead lights were all on above the massive open space that was divided into different sections. Two of the sections had tables in them, with men all dressed in black working around them.

I put the car in park and slowly got out.

Declan wrapped his arms around me in a tight hug before he pushed me arms length away and looked me over. He tugged off my coat and my hoodie to examine my arm.

"Well, you won't need stitches." He said in a hushed tone and then handed me my hoodie to put back on. "We'll clean it when we get to where we're going. Were you followed?"

I shook my head no. I kept looking in the rear view to see if Alex was going to his car but he never did. He just slumped against the curb and stayed there. The whole drive here I was constantly checking behind me that I was barely watching where I was going.

He reached in and grabbed my bag and closed the door. "Come on," he put his arm around my waist but before we made it to the door someone called his name.

"Declan, who is this lovely little thing?"

My head snapped back to see who was speaking which only made him dig his fingers further into my side.

"None of your business, Rory." Declan answered, forcing me to walk forward.

"Come on, sharing is caring." The boy named Rory said, jogging in front of us. He was shorter than Declan but still a few inches taller than me. He had a slim frame with sandy blonde hair that was cut short at the sides and longer up top. His eye looked like it was healing from having been hit and there was a fading scab across the bridge of his nose.

"Hey baby, you should ditch this stiff and come play with me." He winked.

Declan forced me behind him with such force it made me yelp. "Desmond isn't here to save you this time. If you so much as look at her I'll gouge your eyes out with my thumbs."

A threatening smile spread on Rory's face. "Is this the bitch who's got your balls in a vice?"

Declan reached behind him and pulled a gun from a holster that was tucked into his jeans. With a few paces, he closed the distance between him and Rory, kicking out his legs so he fell to the ground and pushed the barrel against his temple.

Rory started to laugh, locking eyes with me. "The old man told you to stay away from her. I think he'll be interested to know she's here. Though I understand why you can't stay away."

Declan pulled back the slide of his gun, cocking it. His jaw was clenched so tight I could see his muscles flexing under his skin as he spoke through gritted teeth. "Pick a fucking god and pray."

"Declan, stop!" I begged.

Declan's shoulders visibly tensed. Rory's eyes went wide and then looked up at Declan as he slowly pulled the barrel from his head. Rory burst out into disbelieving laughter.

"Oh man, Deco, she doesn't just have your balls in a vice, she fucking owns them." Rory wiped the tears from his eyes while he laughed. He climbed to his feet and squared off with Declan, trying to get him to react.

"Let's go." Declan growled at me, turning away from the boy.

I ran to his side and followed him as he stalked out of the building. He was seething. Unlocking the door of his Jag, he pushing me in to the passenger seat and shut the door. Opening the drivers side, I heard Rory yell out to him.

"Desmond is gonna be pissed your leaving to fuck your little whore!"

Declan ignored him, slamming his door shut and starting the engine. He grabbed for the pack of cigarets in the cup holder and pulled one out, lighting it. He flicked the wipers on to clear the light layer of snow on the windshield and then ground the gear shift into drive. He floored it, causing the rear of the car to swing around in the snow, spinning so close in front of Rory that he had to jump back out of the way then corrected the steering and sped off.

I turned to him, completely freaked out at how aggressive he was being. "I'm sorry, I-"

"I told you to stay out of trouble. I fucking begged you. You didn't even last five hours." He said, his voice oddly quiet. "God, your worse than a fucking child!" His hands gripped the steering wheel so tight I could hear the leather creaking under his fists.

"I found the files!" I blurted out. His words hurt but he also didn't know I got all of the information he could ever need. Declan looked at me out of the corner of his eye, his brow raised.

"You said my dad had a file on them, that he threatened to go to the police with it. Well Alex came to my apartment today and asked me if I knew where my dad kept his business ledgers. I went to his house and I found it."

Declan pulled up to a red light and practically stood on the breaks, making me fall forward into the dashboard. He leaned over, grabbed my bruised face and brought me into a harsh kiss. I was so taken aback that my body went ramrod, I didn't know what to do. His lips stayed on me a moment longer before he pulled away and rested his forehead against mine.

"You're so stupid for doing that, Scars. So fucking stupid but holy shit." He said, rubbing his thumbs against my cheeks. His anger starting to quell.

I couldn't hide my smile as I bit my lip. "Yea, but now they're really going to be after me. Alex threatened me, he said if I give him the thumb drive and stay away from you I would be safe, if not then they would be after me and they have plans to... to sell," I shook my head, not able to finish my sentence.

He took his hands from my face, replacing the cig between his lips before putting them both back on the wheel when the light turned. "Well that's going to be pretty hard when they're all locked up in a federal prison."

"Oh god, I can't go back home. Declan what am I going to do?" The realization hit me making me sink back into the seat.

"They all know where I live, they know where I work. They know everything about me. What am I going to do?" My mind was starting to spiral. There was no place I could go that I would be safe at this point unless I leave the state. Hell, I'm not even sure that would be enough.

"Relax," Declan put his hand on my thigh. "I'm not taking you back home. I'll go back and grab some of your stuff later, okay?"

"Where are you taking me then?"

Declan was quiet for a while, rubbing his fingers against the stubble on his chin until he finally answered. "To my mother's."

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