"You look much better since the last time we saw you," Charlotte says as she walks into the kitchen to hug me. "How's it healing?"

"Yeah, I probably didn't look my best," I chuckle as I hug her back. "And it's healing pretty good. The only good thing is that whatever got stuck in my leg didn't hit my bone, otherwise I'd probably have a piece of metal here," I answer as I lift the hem of my cotton shorts so she can see the scar.

"It went through cleanly, I guess that's the only positive for you," she says looking at it. 

"Yeah, and the swelling went down so that's the other plus," I add. It's been three days since the day I woke up in the hospital, they finally discharged me last night. I had the company of Oli most of the time and an officer Jason had stationed outside of my room to keep guard.

"But shit though, you went through a lot. I thought the mafia was bad but the yakuza are brutal," she says in a sympathetic voice.

"Well, they don't play around. I know their style and they go all out until the point of brutality," I sigh as I play with the strings on Jason's hoodie. I grab the crutch that's beside me, a temporary thing I'll have to use until I can properly stand on my leg as I lead her back to where the rest are.

"Need a hand sweetheart?" Jason asks from his spot on the floor, one of Charlotte's kids in his arms.

"No, I need to build-up strength on it but I'll let you know if I'm in pain," I say compromising. Ever since we came home Jason and Oli have both been more vigilant and are usually hovering to make sure I'm not in any pain.

"Victoria, good to see you're alright," Jax says, the other twin in his arms.

"Thanks, Jax, I'm glad I'm alright too," I grin as I sit down on the sofa, a hiss of pain escaping from my lips. Jason looks as if he's going to get up and come to me but I wave him off with a hand.

"Ms. Marshall?" I look to see Wren standing in front of me, a paper in hand. "I made a get well soon card for you," he says as he hands it to me.

"Thank you so much Wren," I tell him as I take the card from his hands. I look at the colourful lettering with sketches surrounding it. He goes back to playing with Oli as I place the card beside me.

"Cleo is coming right?" Charlotte questions.

"Yeah, Jason told her to come here. It has to do with what happened last week," I answer quietly.

"Wait, are you saying you think Cleo, my sister in law is involved in all of this?" she asks incredulously.

"No, I never said that but I think she knows something," I answer calmly just as the doorbell rings. Charlotte gets up with Wren and Oli following behind her. It's noisy as Cleo's bunch comes inside.

"Oli, take the boys to the basement, you have your games set up right?" Jason asks him.

"I have them," he answers as they all go downstairs, the only people left with Cleo and her husband is their newborn and their one-year-old daughter.

"Victoria, I'm so glad to see you're okay," Cleo tells me as she walks to where I'm sitting.

"I feel the same," I chuckle.

"I still can't believe that they almost killed you and Oli. The whole thing looked like a stunt scene from a movie," she continues.

"It honestly felt like it at that moment," I tell her.

"As much as I wouldn't mind the pleasantries, you have something to tell us Victoria," Charlotte says looking at me cautiously. She doesn't look visibly angry that I'm accusing her sister in law about my problems, but she does look wary and I get it. Your family is probably caught in an illegal mess, and someone who you're still getting to know is the one sharing it, yeah, I wouldn't believe it either.

"Eiichi Yamazaki." From the corner of my eye, I see Cleo stiffen when she hears those two words. "He's the man that currently has his men hunting me down like an animal."

"Cleo, do you know something?" Jason questions. "Don't think I didn't see you're body language just moments ago." She looks at all of us before letting out a sigh.

"Cleo, what's going on?" her husband Cody asks, looking at her.

"There's something I never told you Cody, about my family," she starts off. "My aunt on my mom's side, years back she met a man when she was travelling through Japan. My mom didn't tell me so much other than them staying together for a while before marrying and having a kid; she kept me away from them. It wasn't until I was twelve she told me she married into the yakuza."

"Wait, are you saying," Cody's voice trails off as he starts piecing things together and Charlotte's mouth drops open.

"I saw you, ten years ago," I reveal to her. "When we met at Charlotte's house I felt like I saw you before and it wasn't until after we were attacked I remembered everything."

"I recognized you too, how could I forget? That day Eiichi paraded you around like a trophy," she says with a small smile. "I never thought I'd see you again but here you are."

"Cleo, why didn't you say anything?" Cody asks looking at her.

"Would you have wanted to be with me if you knew a part of my family is criminals," she asks bitterly. "I don't think so."

"Then you don't know me, Cleo. It doesn't matter that half of your family are criminals, I'd still love you," Cody says as he pulls her into a hug.

"Cody is right Cleo, you're family and we wouldn't turn our backs on you," Charlotte adds. "But now that we know Cleo has relations with them, when's the last time you saw them?"

"That party eleven years ago, I haven't seen them since. It was the last time I was back in that area," Cleo tells us. "What they're doing now I have no idea and neither does my mom. She left the country seven years ago and moved to France cutting off her sister for good."

"What if they know you're here and they come after you?" I ask. 

"I think it's highly unlikely, after all, we won't be seeing each other as often so they wouldn't know," she answers with a shrug. "So long as they don't happen to see us together, even if they saw me somewhere in the city, they wouldn't bat an eyelash. And besides, I've only met Eiichi once, he wouldn't remember me." She brings up a good point. They wouldn't dream that the two of us are all of a sudden are running in the same circle of people.

"Did you track the car? The one that was shooting at Victoria?" Charlotte questions.

"We did and fuck, what they did, they're fucking psycho's," Jax says shaking his head. "We tracked it out of the city and found it in a lake with no bodies inside, and no footprints on land; they had it planned out well if they couldn't get her." No footprints on land and no bodies in the car. 

"Do you think they escaped by boat?" I ask Jax.

"That's the idea we're currently running with," he answers. "It's the only plausible lead we have."

"But we're going to look at every possible angle sweetheart," Jason says reassuringly. I know Jason is speaking the truth when he says that, after all, two people, and one of them being his own nephew almost died last week. I see Cleo whispering to her husband before moving to stand.

"I think we should leave," she says, her voice strained. No doubt she wants to leave the place I'm currently at as soon as possible. Cody moves to the staircase to call his sons down while Cleo places her baby in his car seat and helps her daughter dress in her winter gear.

"Cleo, there's no reason for you to run," Charlotte says moving towards her.

"I want to keep my kids safe and as much as I enjoyed meeting you Victoria, I can't risk something happening to my kids like it did to Oli," she answers tersely as all the boys come back upstairs and her kids go to put on their jackets and shoes. "And frankly Charlotte and especially you Jason, maybe reconsider. Oli was lucky this time but you don't know what would happen a second time." 

Cody walks to grab his two other while his boys say goodbye to all of us. No words come out of my mouth because I hear the hidden words she was saying. Reconsider me, reconsider being in a relationship with me. I see Jason opening his mouth to say something but instead, Charlotte is the one to come to lay a hand on my shoulder. 

"I know she didn't mean it since I know she's most probably scared by all this but I will talk to her and let her know what she said wasn't right," she tells me as she walks up to say goodbye to her family. Wren and Oli come to where we're sitting and Oli makes a beeline towards me.

"Tori, why do you look so sad? Do you need a hug?" he questions, cutely tilting his head. 

"Yeah, I'll take that hug," I whisper as I hold out my arms out for him and he snuggles into my arms, my cheek resting on his curly hair. Cleo's words resonate in my head, of course, I already knew this and I even brought this up to Jason but hearing someone else say it, I don't know what to feel.

✘✘

It's almost eleven, Charlotte and her family left hours ago, Jason cooked dinner for Oli and me before putting a movie for us while he went to finish some work. The television volume is low with Oli curled up beside me, a blanket thrown over him. His breathing is even, no doubt in a deep sleep. I hear footsteps coming down the stairs and I turn to look at Jason stepping off the last step before making his way to us.

"He's out for the night?" he asks as he brushes his fingers through his hair.

"For the past two hours," I answer as he moves to sit beside me.

"How are you feeling?" he asks wrapping an arm around my shoulder and placing his other hand on my thigh.

"It doesn't hurt but it's sore an uncomfortable sore feeling," I answer as I rest my head on his shoulder.

"You're a trooper you know, I don't think I've seen you cry once since this all happened," he says as he presses a kiss to my temple. "You're a fucking badass," he says and I feel his lips curving into a smirk. I let out a small chuckle before a sigh takes over.

"You might think that but honestly, I'm just wondering when I'll break," I tell him.

"If you break I'll pick up the pieces, don't think I'd leave you if it happened," he says, his voice determined. 

"Even if you should reconsider?" I ask looking down at the child still fast asleep.

"What Cleo said is garbage," he snarls as he turns his face towards me. "There's nothing to reconsider." I look at him for a couple of seconds before surging forward and capturing his lips with mine. There's no rush as we kiss, there's still heat between us but it doesn't feel sexual, just strong emotions. My hand tightens on his shirt as he kisses me back in full force, languidly intertwining our tongues, biting on my lips softly. I pull back from him, opening my eyes as I give him a small smile.

"Thank you," I tell him as I peck his lips one more time before resting my head under his chin. His arm tightens around my shoulder in response as I relax back against him, my focus going to whatever children's movie is currently playing. The tranquillity between us is interrupted when the shrill tune of Jason's phone blares through the house. He pulls it out of his pocket and looks at the screen, cursing when he sees the name.

"Sandra, what can I do for you at this time? You do realize it's night right?" Jason asks cooly. Sandra, who's Sandra. I obviously can't hear the reply but I watch his face change from annoyance to downright pissed off.

"What the fuck?" he snarls, the anger clear on his face now. "What do you mean you're in Toronto?" As soon as he says that the doorbell chimes and at this point, I can tell he's itching not to throw his phone across the room with the way he's currently gripping. He presses the end button as he gets up walking to the entrance. 

I hear him open the door and hushed voices go back and forth, Jason's voice plus two, no I think three other voices. I hear him let out a sigh and tell whoever is there to come inside before shutting the door behind him. I turn my head and see three people walk inside, an old couple and a woman that looks to be our age. The woman takes one look at me as her lips revulsion.

"Jason, who the fuck is this?" she asks annoyed and the old couple looks miffed as they look at me.

"Watch the way you talk Cindy. You're in my fucking house and I won't let you insult the people that are here," Jason snaps as he brushes past them. I look at him before looking back at the strangers waiting for an answer. "Sweetheart, these are Oli's aunt and grandparents from his dad's side. And this here is Victoria, my girlfriend."

All three of them turn to look at me, less than pleased and just from the way they're currently looking at me, I get the feeling that this visit of theirs, well, I know a whole bunch of shit is going to go down.

✘✘

A/N So I'll be honest, I wrote about 700 words on Friday and then went on a three-day binge of an anime I hadn't watched in a while, three seasons, three movies, the special episodes; I had a pretty fulfilling weekend but now I'm back. Yesterday I sat in front of my computer watching a movie after adding 200 words and I was just planning in my head the next couple of chapters, the movie just breezed past me😂

And I know some of you are shocked, 'Our Cleo has relations with the yakuza?' Sad to say yes she does. And her attitude just did a 360. And the grandparents just stepped into the scene with their daughter? Drama, drama, drama.

Also, the cover went back to the original. I got a couple of messages from you guys and after a little bit, if tweaking with the already b&w photo, I put it back again. But anyways, tell me what you thought of the chapter, I should have another posted in the soon so be sure to keep an eye for that.

And I just remembered, 11k views! It's so freaking crazy it's gotten this far. Thank you so much for reading it and supporting it!