We ran through her neighbours' backyards. We passed house after house, avoiding eyes that peeked out from closed curtains. For this neighbourhood, nothing new.

My gun was pointed in front of us. The other holding Vanessa's smaller one that clutched mine like her life depended on it.

She did rest her baseball bat on her shoulder, ready to hit the shadows if they made a wrong move.

"Where are you going?" She asked.

I hushed her.

She glared up at me. "Don't shush me."

I groaned shaking my head. "I parked a few blocks over."

"Then what do we do?"

"We will figure that out once we are safe," I told her, watched our surroundings for anybody coming.

"So much for parting ways and never seeing each other again." She grumbled to herself. 

"That was before they hired more than one assassin to kill you." I gritted, annoyed at our luck.

"Is that because you're a bad assassin? They even had to hire someone else to do the job?"

I let out a deep breath. "It means they don't want you dead. The Descãlu's need you dead."

She took her eyes off the shadows to look at me with a furrowed brow. "The what now?"

I let out a breath, thinking about the people that hired me to kill her. "Andreea Dascālu. She is the godmother of the Mafia Romaneasca."

She knit her brows together, scrunching up her nose. "Did you just sneeze?"

I shot her a confused look. "The Romanian Mafia?"

"Wait, hold your horses," she put her feet in the ground, stopping me from moving as she looked at me with her jaw dropped. "It's a bunch of Romanians that are trying to kill me?"

"Did you think someone else wanted you dead?"

"Of course not." She snapped her mouth shut quickly and pursed her lips. Her eyes wandering the shadows around us in thought.

I narrowed my eyes in suspicion. "What is it?"

"I just thought, that, umm."

"Spit it out."

She glared at me, speaking quickly, her eyes clearer. "I've never even heard of a Romanian mafia. I've heard of Russian and Italian mafias, but never Romanian."

Vanessa Fleming was good, but I was better.

These people didn't put a price on random strangers heads. There was always a reason. And Vanessa Fleming had a hefty price.

"You're saying, you have no ties to them?"

"No. I'm not even Romanian. I'm Irish." She told me.

I rolled my eyes, continuing to drag her behind me. "That doesn't mean you didn't do anything to get mixed up with them."

She shook her head, not believing me. "But I didn't do anything. I don't even know them."

"You did something to piss them off. And because you didn't let me kill the bartender they will know you're still alive. And they won't stop until you're dead."

"Maybe they made a mistake. They're after the wrong girl."

I shook my head, holding back my shutter. "Andreea Dascālu doesn't make mistakes."

"I am running through the backyards of my neighbours with a pink baseball bat and an assassin. Clearly, there is a first for everything."

"Think hard. I know it's difficult for you but you have to try-"

"I know it's impossible, but you could try and be less of a dick."

"Do you have any connection to the Romanian Mafia or any other mafia?"

"No Dexter Smith, I don't know any mafias."

"You're a photographer, you're broke, have you made any money deals recently?"

"No." She cried. "And I'm not broke. This might surprise you but I make a decent amount of money as a photographer."

"I'm sure you do," I muttered. "Have you taken any pictures for high-end clients recently?"

"No, I specialize in travel and lifestyle, photojournalism. I generally don't work here. Or the country."

"Have you been to Romania recently?"

"I had a layover three years ago."

"Have you been talking to any sketchy people recently?"

"I'm going to be honest, I talk to a lot of sketchy people. Yourself included. But no one that would get me in trouble with a mafia."

"What about your grandmother? Did she have any enemies that would want to hurt you?"

"Oh yeah, all her Irish knitting friends are all up in the Romanian Mafia." She said sarcastically.

"Irish criminals. Could she have a connection to them?"

"My grandma's been dead for three years. If she did, why would they want to kill me now?"

"What about your parents? Where are they?"

"I doubt they have anything to do with this."

"Think. The only way to get you out of this is if I know why they are after you."

She stopped in the middle of someone's backyard. "So you are going to help me?"

I gripped her hand and pulled her into the shadows. "I can't do anything if I don't know why they are trying to kill you."

"I already told you, I don't know why. I haven't done anything."

"I don't have time for your lies, prom queen. You have to know something."

"Prom Queen?"

"Blond hair, nice ass, volunteers for charities. Probably had perfect grades all your life. You were Prom Queen." I told her.

She laughed out loud. "Jokes on you, I didn't even go to Prom."

"Isn't Prom every girl's biggest dream in life?"

"Maybe in an 80's movie." She drawled. "I couldn't even afford to go if I wanted to. Do you know how much it costs to go to prom?"

"There," I looked pointedly at her. "You're broke. Made a deal with the Romanian Mafia."

"Let me rephrase that. I could have spent my entire life savings on a dress but I chose to buy a plane ticket and camera instead."

"You're still broke."

"I was broke."

"Because you made a deal some Romanians that went wrong." I finished.

"No asshole, because I worked hard for the money I have."

"By making a deal-"

"I will take your gun and shoot you with it." She warned.

"If you don't tell me, you will die. Do you understand? Andreea Descãlu has sent three assassins after you-"

"Three? Two."

"Three."

"Two."

"Three," I emphasized. "That guy from the bar you were flirting with? An assassin."

"Brodie?" Her eyes bugged. "No way, he was so sweet. Drunk but sweet."

"Yeah, really sweet when I found him following you home with a gun in his hand too."

I hadn't realized he was an assassin until I saw the bartender. He was a rookie, trying to convince the girl to bring him home and kill her there.

I should have killed him.

She blinked. "And what were you doing to find him following me home?"

"That's not important," I muttered.

"And I wasn't flirting with him, I was trying to cheer him up. I understand that you don't know what being a nice person is, but others strive for it."

"You're too nice."

"I am not."

"You told a creep, who was an assassin, your address."

"I said the general direction of where I live. How was I supposed to know he was going to start following me home?" She defended.

"You lack common sense and don't care about personal safety."

"I have been to all seven continents multiple times and never had a problem until you showed up." She cursed. "Besides, the only creep I'm seeing is you."

"Until I showed up? You mean until you had the entire Romanian Mafia sent out to kill you?"

She pursed her lips.  "Not the entire mafia. Only three assassins."

I would have been an idiot to believe she hadn't done anything. The price they were willing to kill her for meant she had done something. Something big.

I took a breath. "If you want out of this, you have to tell me what you have done. I am an assassin, I do not care what kind of deal, secrets, or whatever you have with the Romanian Mafia. I've probably done worse."

"You excepted a job to kill me without even knowing what I did to deserve it?"

"Money is money, Sweetheart." I shrugged. I ignored the small amount of shame.

Her medusa eyes bored into me. She opened her mouth to probably yell at me.

I saw movement behind her.

Before she made a noise, I put my hand over her mouth. I pulled her against my chest as we fell into the shrubbery.

Away from the barrel of a shotgun pointed at our chests.

****
NOW YOU KNOW WHOS TRYING TO KILL HER (sort of ;)

So by now, you have probably realized there is going to be a lot of dialogue. This story is a bit of an experiment so I hope you'll stick around with me for it and see where it goes