I close my eyes rubbing my temples, my arms on the kitchen island. Yesterday afternoon was chaos, utter chaos and not sleeping last night, the exhaustion is etched deep into my bones right now. After yesterday Jason suggested we skip school to rest considering this is the last week before March break starts. 

I glance over at the sofa to where Oli is still passed out after we had lunch. A sigh escapes my lips as I go upstairs searching through Jason's medicine cabinet for painkillers because my head is in desperate need of some. 

"Tori, where are you?" I hear Oli's voice call out.

"I'm upstairs and I'm coming right back down," I tell him as I turn off the lights, the bottle of pills in my hands as I go back downstairs. "Give me one second to drink some water and then I'll come back and sit with you," I say to him as he watches me go back to the kitchen. I quickly take the medication with a mouthful of water before going back to where he's sitting wrapped in a blanket.

"How are you feeling?" I ask sitting beside him, my hand reaching out to brush his hair. He shrugs his shoulders before moving to rest against my side, arms wrapping around my mid-waist. I wrap an arm around his shoulder, my cheek resting on his head, silence in the house. My eyes close, thoughts flashing back to yesterday.

《 Flashback

"Hey, you fuckers. What's taking so long? Don't tell me, that girl is here ain't she? Her and the brat? Tell her Eiichi is coming and he won't be letting her get away a second time." I can't even breathe when those words pass my ear. I slowly lift my head looking up at the screen, my heart pounding as I see both men facing the camera with taunting smiles as if they know we're still watching. My airways are getting tight and I feel dizzy, everything is spinning around me. 

"Sweetheart, sweetheart, I can't have you passing out on me. Breathe with me." I feel hands on my face and I focus on Jason's. I take a gulp of air, one, two, three; I feel myself calming down a bit. His arms wrap around me and I wrap one arm around him, my other still holding onto Oli. "Is this your first panic attack?"

My mouth is dry so all I can do is nod. Even when I was still with my dad, when I left him to stay with Eiichi, when I got arrested and everything leading up to now I've never had a panic attack before. My hands are holding tightly onto Jason's uniform when I feel a shaking body against mine.  I move back from Jason to look down at Oli who looks up at me, fear on his face.

"Tori, what is he saying?" he questions, his hands tighten on my clothes. My hands drop from Jason's and I go back to holding the small kid that should have never been caught in this. I hear the voices going around us, Jason barking orders at the other officers but the only thing I'm focused on is the child currently in my arms. 

"Jason, I'm going to take us home," I tell him in a quiet voice and he hears me through all the chaos.

"Let me take you two home," he says placing a hand on my arm. I shake my head in disagreement.

"You need to be here, I'll drive the two of us home," I tell him. He looks like he wants to argue but he can see from my face I don't want him leaving here. He can hear directly from their mouths what's going on and pass it on to me later.

"Fine, but I'll have an unmarked cruiser follow behind you to make sure you get home safe," he says with a final tone.

"Alright. Oli, sweetie, we're going home okay," I say rubbing his back. He nods his head silently and I stand back up again and he holds onto my hands tightly. "See you at home later?"

"Yeah, I'll see you both," he says kissing my cheek and bending down to hug and whisper something to his nephew before also kissing his cheek. An officer leads the two of us back out to the front of the police station and I thank him before opening the door and stepping outside. 

It's not as bright outside as when we got here, a sign we were at the percent for a while. I unlock the car for Oli and myself before starting it and driving away from the place that almost caused the two of us to have a breakdown. It doesn't' take long for us to reach the neighbourhood and I keep an eye on the car that's currently tailing us, the one Jason instructed to follow my car. 

As soon as I turn into the driveway it drives past the house, most likely making a lap around the neighbourhood before going back. I unlock the car for the two of us, holding onto Oli's bag in one and hand and his in my other. I'll be honest, unlocking the door to Jason's house gives me some kind of relief, some comfort that this place here can be a safe haven still.

"Oli, do you want to have something to eat?" I ask as I lock the door and take off my shoes. He shakes his head in silence and I frown since usually he'd be gung-ho about having a snack when we get home but this really pulled him down. 

"I want to take a nap," he whispers. My face softens when I hear that. Maybe that would be best, some rest for his mind.

"Okay, but only for a little while since you still have to eat dinner later, deal?" I question and he nods in agreement. "Alright, why don't you go change into your pyjama's and you can have a quick nap. I'll come up and check on you in a bit." He drops my hand and quickly going upstairs while I go throw myself on the sofa.

Right now whatever Eiichi is doing he's still the predator and I'm the prey. It's as if he's slowly closing in on me. First at my house, then the bank and car crash and now two of his goons are arrested. I can't say for sure if Eiichi abandoned them for screwing up the job or they're still in contact with him. Wait. No. I know that if they went back to him, well, I wouldn't have seen them today.

"Tori?" I open my eyes to see Oli standing in front of me, pyjamas on and a blanket in hand. "Can I sleep beside you?" 

"Come lie down beside me," I tell him, patting the space beside me. He quickly moves to lie down, his head on my lap while the rest of him is stretched out on the rest of the space. I take the blanket from him throwing it over him, my arms wrapping around him.

"Promise you won't go?"  he questions and I hear the anxiousness in his voice.

"I promise I'll be here when you wake up," I say leaning down to kiss his head before my other hand slowly moves through his curls. Not even ten minutes pass when I hear his even breathing, a peaceful look on his face. I take my phone from my jacket, powering it on and going through the news of what happened today, trying to push the last hour to the farthest part of my mind, at least for now.

End of Flashback 》

A small sigh escapes my lips as I try to shake the thoughts from my head. I look back at Oli, his eyes still closed tightly but I know he's not going back to sleep. I don't want either of us to stay in this depressing funk so I rack my brain thinking what we can do to keep busy. 

"Oli, do you want to go shopping with me? We need some things for dinner later tonight, we can go to the store together," I suggest. It might not be the most fun thing in the world but at least we'd be out for a bit, get some fresh air.

"Okay," he replies.

"Go wash up and change and then we'll get going?" I tell him softly, nudging him to stand. He quietly stretches before moving sluggishly towards the stairs. I reach over to the coffee table for my phone, turning it on and pressing number one before putting it against my ear.

"Sweetheart, everything going okay?" Jason's voice comes through the phone.

"Yeah, everything is okay. Oli and I were going to do some shopping. You said last night if we're going out to tell you," my voice trailing off. When Jason came home yesterday and found the two of us passed out on the sofa after dinner he told me that if the two of us were going out he'd have something ready but didn't dive into it that much.

"I'm going to have two officers trailing behind you. After yesterday's declaration from those prisoners, it's out in the open that Eiichi wants to kidnap you, for what we're still trying to figure out," he tells me.

"They're going incognito I'm guessing?" I ask brushing my hair back from my face.

"Yeah, and they'll also be keeping an eye on the house for the next while too," he continues. 

"Alright, we'll be careful. See you," I tell him as I hear footsteps come down the stairs. "Or wait, I'll let you talk to Oli for a bit while I go freshen up. Oli, Come and talk to your uncle." He rushes to me, an excited look on his face. I pass the phone to him and quickly go upstairs to brush my hair and tie it back and throw on a hoodie before going back downstairs.

"Tori is back uncle," I hear Oli tell Jason. He silent for a couple of seconds, nodding his head to whatever Jason is telling him before handing the phone back to me.

"Thank you, go put your shoes on and then we'll leave," I tell him prodding him to the doorway. "Hey, we're going to get going," I say to Jason.

"Alright, I'll see you later sweetheart, stay safe," he tells me.

"We will," I tell him cutting the line. "You ready to go Oli?" I ask walking over to him, grabbing my jacket and putting on my shoes. "We're going to have so much fun and I think you said you wanted to have some pie right?" 

"I do," he says in excitement, his eyes sparkling. 

"Perfect, we'll get that and some ice cream to go with it," I chuckle. "Now let's go," I say opening the door. 

✘✘

"What do you want for dinner tonight Oli?" I ask pushing the grocery cart of the store with him standing at the back of the cart holding onto the handle. He just reaches below my chin so I can still see over his head clearly. 

"Pie! Lot's of pie!" he exclaims.

"That's dessert, not food. Your uncle will scold us," I chuckle.

"I want pizza," he says after a moment. It's only two right now so making the dough and then pizza itself later, it shouldn't be so late into the night. 

"Okay but you have to be my assistant, I don't think I can do it by myself," I tell him stopping at the back of the car. 

"I can help!" he says jumping off the cart as I open the trunk to start putting our groceries away. Before I can reply I hear mocking laughter behind me, and I have to hold myself back from cursing. Life, are you listening to me? I need a fucking break already. 

"Is there something you need Cora?" I question as I put the bags down with Oli trying to straighten them out, his own way of helping.

"Look at you, you've really weaselled yourself into that cop's life haven't you," she says with a mocking smile looking down at an oblivious Oli. 

"I didn't weasel my way into anything Cora," I sigh. More like these two weaselled their way into my life. "What do you want? Don't tell me you're here to make a fool of yourself like you did at the hospital during the weekend. Don't think I didn't hear about the shit you pulled," I chuckle as I close the trunk and we move to put our carts with the others.

"It's all your fault Haruto left me," her voice rising in pitch. The small number of people that are shopping at this time stop to see what the fuck is going on. 

"You're the one that revealed it, don't put me as the other woman in your problems," I say in a calm voice, pushing my cart with the others and then taking Oli's hand in mine. "If you don't mind we're going to get going now. I don't need him to be around someone like you," I say turning my back to her.

"Victoria just you wait. I'm going to drag you down, you think you're living your best life right now? I'm going to make it a living hell," she snarls grabbing onto my arm. From the corner of my eye, I see two people moving towards us, both focused on Cora. Most likely their the police Jason said would be tailing us. Just as they're closing in on us I hear someone coughing from behind Cora. She shifts slightly and my eyes widen when I see Cleo looking at the both of us.

"Victoria, it's been such a long time, is everything okay?" she questions, a fake smile directed to Cora. 

"Who the fuck do you think you are?" Cora sneers dropping her hand from my arm to face Cleo.

"I'm the woman that's just been watching everything unfold like everyone else here though the difference is I was recording everything," she says holding up her phone. "Victoria, I'll send this to you, you can show it to Jason later." Cora looks at her like a deer caught in the headlights, her hands clenched into fists but she knows that she can't win this. With a scoff, she stomps past Cleo and I wouldn't be surprised if she approached me again.

"Thanks for the help Cleo," I tell her.

"I wasn't doing this for you, I was doing this for him," she says in a dismissive voice. "How are you Oli?" 

"I'm doing good Aunt Cleo," he replies moving to hug her. 

"It seems I was right saying you weren't any good for Jason, look at the trouble you were in with his nephew," she scoffs. "It's one thing with Eiichi but you have other problems on the side? I still think it would be best that you got help with your situation but not include my family and friends." Alright, I'll be honest, I'm fucking pissed now. Ever since she found out I have a history with the criminal side of her family, she's been such a fucking harpy and now it's just gotten onto my last nerves. I place my hands over Oli's ears so he doesn't have to hear what I have to say to his aunt. 

"Cleo, for the sake of Jason, Oli, and Charlotte, I've been nothing but polite to you but you're just such a bitch. In the case of Charlotte, I told her I didn't want to get between the two of you because you are family and I don't want to break that. She decided that even if I have problem,  if I'm in danger, she doesn't want to drop our building friendship and that's a fact you're just going to have to accept or you deal with her, not me."

"As for Jason, he's a grown adult to decide what he wants and doesn't and he's made it very clear he wants me. When this is over and if I'm still with Jason I can say right now the biggest mistake I'd be making is having ay friendship with you," I say all in one go, the anger clear in my voice and her face getting redder by the second, most probably holding back from screaming. "If you don't mind we're going to get going now," I say dropping my hands from Oli's ears and taking his hand in mine again.

"Bye Aunt Cleo," he says waving goodbye to her. All the frustration and anger I've been suppressing the last couple of days, only a small smidge of it just got released. Jason and Charlotte are two adults that can clearly decide for themselves if they want to associate themselves with me, and both of them have. For her, well, she simply has to suck it and deal with it.

✘✘

A/N Hey everyone! It's Friday which means a new chapter!! I was laughing so hard earlier at the fact I'm finishing this chapter hours early and no there's nothing wrong with me since I'm updating early, it's such a miracle. Anyways, a lot has happened in the chapter and this has turned out longer than I planned but oh well. 

I'll let you all digest the chapter while I go through the story so far and do some very minor edits, or should I even say that because I'm thinking of making those pretty significant later on; we'll just have to see. Anyways,be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments!