"This is the most delicious Shepard's pie I think you've ever made, mum." I stated with a full mouth, earning a disgusted look from my mum, a disappointed glare from my dad and laughter from Josh and Sean. I was already on my third plate and I planned to go for another once I finished this last bite.

"What are they feeding you at the Mancinis?" My mum asked as she helped serve me another spoon. "I don't think I've ever seen you eat this much."

"Oh you know. A balanced diet of protein shakes, junk food and Irish whiskey." I answered nonchalantly and Josh snorted.

"I can vouch for him and say he is totally accurate on that." We all had a good laugh at that and finished up dinner feeling stuffed and happy. It felt amazing to be able to actually have a genuine conversation with people. Not just constant arguing and business talk. I offered to help my mum clean up, but she shooed me away with a dish rag so I retreated to the den where my dad was. He nodded his head towards me and got up from his chair to walk over to the alcohol tray in the corner, making me a glass of scotch and handing it to me before taking a seat again.

"Where's Sean and Josh?" I asked him, taking a sip and relishing in the slow burn down my chest.

"They went for his nightly walk. It's something those two have started doing. Think it helps Sean with his anxiety." I looked at the ground after my dad said that. No doubt he was more anxious than he ever was after this whole thing happened. He was just getting better at going out in public and now he's probably terrified.

"Did Josh pop the question yet?" I asked, trying to distract my thoughts.

"Not yet. I believe he said he wanted you to be here for it so you may want to talk with him." I nodded my head and swirled the amber liquid in my glass around. You could hear the sound of water running and utensils clinking together, which meant mum was still washing up and gave dad the chance to ask what he really wanted to ask.

"So who are the fuckers that shot your brother?"

"I have a lead." I answered and he seemed pleased. "The bullet had a crest on it, so it's helped us figure out what group was targeting him. That's actually why I'm all dressed up. I had to go and have a meeting with an informant."

My dad chucked at that. "I knew when you mum told me you rang the house out of nowhere and said you were coming over that it was something else. Glad you did it though."

"What? Come over or ring the house?" I was kinda confused and not sure what he was leading to.

"Both."

"I don't think I'm following." I told him and heard a car pull up outside. Who the hell was that?

"After you hung up, Milo called and was asking where you were. Said you told Antony you were coming for a visit." Oh dear god. A car door slammed shut and I looked towards the window. "Then he asked to come over and pick you up when you were done. So here he is."

"I'll get the door!" My mum called out after someone rang the doorbell. I turned back to my dad and saw the smug look on his face.

"Wanker." I sighed and downed the glass of scotch before getting up.

"Not sure if I should be concerned at how you just drank that like water." My dad laughed and I made a mock laughing face at him before walking towards the the corner of the room, grabbing the scotch and taking a few gulps from the bottle before turning around to see the man I didn't want to see standing in the doorway. I sure as hell couldn't be sober for the fuckery that was about to take place, I'm sure.

"A little fancy for a birthday dinner." He commented on my suit and I shrugged my shoulders. "Also don't recall you telling me anyone's birthday was this month."

I scoffed at that. "Yeah, well, there's a lot of things I didn't tell you and thank god for that." I turned to my dad as he got up and gave him a quick hug before going over and hugging my mum. "I'll see you guys later, alright?"

"You take care of yourself sweetheart." My mum told me with a pat on the cheek before she looked at Milo. "You watch after my son. I don't need him in the hospital next." It was a little comical to see my 5'4 mum being so stern with a 6'1 man, but she meant well and he knew that.

I didn't wait for Milo to walk out first and headed out the door and towards the car just as Sean and Josh were arriving back.

"Leaving already?" Sean said with a pout and I gave him a sad smile before pulling him in for a hug.

"I know, I'm sorry." I told him.

"Ah, no worries. I know why you're so absent so it doesn't bother me much. Just try calling or texting more, yeah?"

"I will, I promise." I told him before giving him one more hug and the turning my attention to Josh. "We'll talk later." I told him and he gave a thumbs up, which made Sean loom between the both of us.

"I don't know how I feel about secrets." He said warily but we could tell he was only joking. I said goodbye to them one last time before finally addressing Milo.

"You know I drove here, right?" But as I was speaking I noticed the Aston Martin was nowhere to be seen. "Oh you sneaky motherfucker."

"Get in the car Alec." He sighed and I rolled my eyes before heading to the passenger side and getting in.

"Guessing you had someone come grab it while I was spending time with my family."

"I know that's not what you were really doing."

"I have no clue what you're on about but I most definitely was out today to see my family."

"Tell me the truth for once, Alec." He snapped and I was taken aback by how pissed he sounded. "You don't dress up in a suit for dinner at your parents, especially when no one else is dressed up. And you also don't take a fucking expensive car to the countryside."

We were silent because I didn't want to answer him and he was waiting on one.

"No one has any idea the things I'm fucking doing to try and keep them and their loved ones safe. The things I've done. And now clearly, no one wants to ever fucking listen to me anymore." His grip on the steering wheel was getting tight and I knew I needed to try and diffuse the situation now before it got out of hand.

"Fine. You wanna talk? Let's talk. Pull over." I wasn't expecting him to listen but he did and now we were just sitting here—me keeping my eyes on the dark fields and Milo with his eyes closed and pinching the bridge of his nose.

"I went to see Cornelius today." I finally spoke and he made no moves to change his position.

"Yeah, no shit."

"Okay, you don't have to be fucking rude about—"I was cut off when he unbuckled his seat belt and grabbed my face so he could kiss me. It was a fierce kiss, but not in a bad way. Almost like he had been wanting this for a while and now that he finally could get it, it was the best thing to him.

But I didn't want this. At least I don't think I do...

We finally pulled apart, but he kept his hands on the sides of my face and placed his forehead against mine. "Please start talking to me more. I know there's a lot we can't say to each other in private but it's killing me knowing that you're becoming more and more like someone that just works for my family and not like a friend and my love."

Ah fuck, there he went and ruined it. I gave a heavy sigh and pulled away from him. "Milo I'm not your love anymore." I told him, refusing to look at his face when I said those words.

"You've always been. And you always will be." Was his response and I clenched my teeth.

"No, I'm not." I spat. "How many fucking times do I have to tell you that I am not going to be your little side piece? It's either all of me or none, Milo!"

"I'm not marrying Fawn."

I actually laughed at that and rolled my eyes. "Oh my god, seriously?" I chuckled. "I'm sorry to be the one to say it but I really don't think you have much of a choice anymore. Your brother and I have yet to come up with any evidence on what Fawn has on you. Maybe if you gave us more clues as to what she told you the dirt was, we would have a better job at figuring this out. Right now we're grasping at straws trying to find something that's not even there, Milo! And now I've been hired to fucking assassinate the bitch by her own family!"

Wow. Saying it loud was really putting things into perspective here. This whole situation was fucked. And what was even more fucked was that Milo was holding back information we needed to figure this out.

I turned to look at him and saw his face expressionless. "What did Fawn say she has on you?"

"She didn't tell me—"

"Cut the shit Milo. You're telling me you met with her and she just said 'I have dirt on you so marry me and I won't release it' and you just accepted it without asking questions?"

"Alec—"

"No! Tell me the truth! What did she say the dirt she had on you was?"

"Okay fine! It's about Mikos ex-fiancé." Milo finally snapped. But that didn't tell me much. All I knew about her was that she was killed and it's why Miko gave up his position.

"What about his ex-fiancé? Do you know something about it? Because if you do and you haven't told your brother, you're a bigger piece of shit than I thought."

"I don't know what she has exactly but she said it had to do with that situation and that I know what she's talking about. But that's the thing—I have no idea what she's talking about. But she's so sure in what she has that she's not backing down and that's why I need help trying to figure out the dirt."

Finally I get something. It's not much, but it helps.

I wanted to ask more questions, but before I could Milo immediately slammed his hand over my mouth. I was about to smack the fuck out of him, but when I looked at him he was motioning a finger to his mouth for me to be quiet. I nodded my head and he removed his hand and then pointed at his dashboard. I stared where he was pointing and was about to ask what I was supposed to be looking at, until I saw it.

A little flat dot that was just slightly raised on the surface of the dashboard. How the fuck he saw that is beyond me but I guess you need to be vigilant when you're the boss for a powerful underground group. We were both quiet while he looked around, pulling out some random paper in his glove compartment and a pin from his suit jacket. I waited as he wrote something down and then felt my blood go cold when he held up the paper.

She heard everything we just said.