"I'll love you 'til the end."

For some reason those old words are the only words I could hear as he pulled me towards the staircase. I'm numb, I'm in shock, I'm confused. I don't know how many excuses I have but I need to find one to justify the fact that I'm letting Adrik Krupin lead me away.

For three years I loathed the man with an arm around my waist. I had dreams about murdering him and I even thought about it when I was awake as well. I fantasized about ruining him from the inside out.

But before that I was madly in love with him.

He was everything to me.

I could never put into words how much I loved him but I know that he has three freckles on his right knee, he has a scar on his right eye brow from falling off his bike in the third grade, he likes taking cold showers because he loves the way his body feels electric, and he doesn't like science because he thinks that it can't describe everything. He wishes he was born in a simpler era where there were princes and knights and castles.

He wanted to be a king.

And he was one.

As much as I despise to say it, once you give your heart to someone you can never get the whole thing back, even if he killed my brother.

I hadn't even come to my senses yet when we reached the door with the burly man standing in front of it.

He stood in front of the entrance, his full figure blocking it. The thing was that even though Adrik was as tall as him but not as big around, he still could get through the man. The man didn't know that though until it was too late.

"Where do you think ya going with the chick," the man said, growling at Adrik with glowing eyes. It was a fight between two animals in the animal kingdom. But the man thought that he was the lion when really he was the gazelle. "She's mine. I'm paying for her."

"Paying," Adrik asked, his Russian accent as strong as ever.

"Yeah paying," the man said, growing more impatient. "I've been waiting for her. Hand her over man."

One second.

Two seconds.

Three seconds.

"I'm not letting her go again," Adrik seethed.

One second.

I came back to my full senses when I heard the bang of a bullet escape a barrel. The man fell backwards like a stone through the air. His blood painted the door behind him like an artist's masterpiece.

It was Adrik's masterpiece.

I screamed through my hand that I had pressed to my lips absentmindedly and stumbled back, away from Adrik who lazily tucked his gun back into the waist band of his pants.

He didn't care about the noise, he didn't care about any witnesses. This was New York in the year 2040 where murder was as common as breathing.

And of course he was Adrik Krupin, a man who grew up with a crime family as old as America was around.

If there would be any witnesses besides me he would kill them. Perhaps he'll end up burning down this whole building instead to make sure.

Maybe he'll kill me.

"Let's go cupcake. We have much to talk about," he said easily, reaching out for me.

"Ivory," a voice called out from down the hall.

I spun around to see the dark figure of Leo Stavros emerge from the shadows. His eyes landed on me first, then Adrik behind me, and finally the dead man on the floor.

He blinked twice and between those two blinks I saw confusion, fear, and shock, not in any particular order.

Behind him came three more men, all big burly men who looked like they could crush an army together. They shared looks between the dead man then to Adrik then to Leo. I was afraid that they would do something stupid like attempt to call the cops and get themselves, including Leo killed as well.

Instead they each grabbed for Leo, his arms, neck, torso, anything they could grab they did.

One pulled out a gun, pressed it to his forehead as Leo struggled while I screamed once again.

This is not what I remember.

This is not what my old life used to be like.

It was always this way. He just kept it hidden from you.

"Don't," Adrik commanded and instantly the man pulled the gun away.

They were working for him.

My god, who has he turned into?

"I need to keep him alive," Adrik said. "Why don't we go grab some dinner? Perhaps we can then discuss how the hell he knows my Ivory."

Oh shit.

...

Adrik kept his hand on my back the entire walk to wherever we were going. I don't know if we were heading for a car, another building, or a dark alley way where he could kill me, I just didn't know.

Leo stayed on the other side of me, a burly man beside him and two behind us as we walked. We barely fit on the side walk the four of us but Leo refused to leave my side. Adrik's man had to walk in the street which he wouldn't stop grumbling about.

"Where are we going," I asked Adrik.

"Some place where we can talk."

"I don't want to talk to you," I snapped, taking the moment to get out of his hold and step away.

I needed to form a plan to get away from Adrik and take Leo with me. There was no way that this could end well but I needed to think of a way for it to end semi okay.

Leo was only a few feet away from the most dangerous man in the city, perhaps the whole east coast and he didn't even know it. Hell he didn't know that Adrik had his fate playing in his hands.

The lot of them stopped with me, Adrik's cold eyes turning on me. "Cupcake," he said tensely.

"Don't call me that," I screamed, throwing my arms down. "You lost the right to call me that!"

He cocked his head. "As I remember the only thing I lost was you." He took a threatening step towards me. All of his men stepped aside to let us have our space. Maybe he'll kill me right here, right now. He didn't care about killing that guard, he wouldn't care about killing me either.

"How much of a coward do you have to be to up and run away from me," he seethed with his face only inches from mine. "I was in love with you god dammit and you left!"

I opened my mouth to shout profanities at him, to tell him to go rot in hell but before I could he was falling to the ground in pain.

I was yanked out of the way before he could fall on my feet and before I knew what was happening Leo was dragging me down the street. The men took out their guns, ready to fire but Adrik called them off.

"Don't shoot," he yelled through his pain. "Don't shoot at her."

Leo and I ran as fast as our feet could take us through the streets of New York as two of the men raced after us. They were fast but we were faster.

It only took a couple minutes before we found refuge in a diner. The men raced right by the window not even glancing in our direction.

"A table for two," a small feminine voice asked.

We turned around to see a young girl, late teens, wearing a ridiculous outfit that resembled some type of trend that was around thirty years ago. Her eyes grew as wide as saucers when they landed on Leo beside me who's face resembled a horror character with the black paint.

I pushed him back out the door before she could take the time to recognize him as Leo Stavros.

"We need to go somewhere safe where they won't find us," I told him while hailing down a taxi.

One pulled up to the curb as Leo said, "My house. I have a good security system."

"Trust me, Adrik doesn't give a shit about a ten foot fence and a few cameras. If he figured out who you are then he'll get to you no matter the cost. He can find your house pretty easily."

I slid into the back seat followed by Leo. The computer in front of us waited as we tried to think of a safe haven.

"We can't go to mine. He can find it too easily," I pointed out.

Leo ran a hand down his face, smearing his disguise in the process.

"I know where to go," he murmured.

He typed in an address with a street name that I knew was not in Manhattan. We were off and driving away from Adrik before I could process it.

...

An hour later we pull up to a cabin in the middle of the woods. It's a pretty decent size and when I see it I figure it's made for a family. Instead only one man steps out to greet us.

I recognize his messy curls instantly.

"Hello I'm Martin," he said, reaching out a hand for me to shake. "We haven't met properly."

"Let's get inside," Leo said with authority. If I didn't know better I would say he was scared.

As he should be.

Martin ushered us inside and I was surprised to find that the inside was more decorated than my own flat. It looked like home.

"What are you doing here anyways Uncle Leo," Martin said, his eyes wide with amusement. Leo obviously didn't like the comment because he snarled and stalked off down the hall.

"Well then..." I said.

"Excuse him," Martin said, "he gets angry whenever I bring that up since we're only a couple years apart. Do you want anything to eat? Drink? I have some beers in the fridge. You look like you need one."

I smiled gratefully. "Yeah I do. That would be great, thank you."

Martin smiled at me before leaving me alone in what looked like a family room. It didn't have a tv or a computer or anything. Only two couches and table between them. Still the corners were full of colorful flowers and the walls were spotted with photographs.

I walked over to a wall of them not expecting for my eyes to instantly find Leo.

He was about five with an older woman's arm around his shoulder. He was smiling brightly, showing off a missing tooth. You could see the happiness in his eyes which I didn't know was possible.

He looked so different back then, only because of how happy he looked. He still has the same light eyes, dark hair, and same jaw line.

My eyes wandered over the rest of the photos, finding more pictures of the woman and more of Leo but none with them together again. Every picture of Leo that showed him growing up also showed off the thin line of his lips that hadn't seemed to change over the years.

What happened to that goofy smiling five year old?

I find multiple pictures of the woman from before with a man who has huge beard and muscles as wide as a tree branch. Martin is in a lot of them with them as well as a few other men who looks similar to him.

Leo came in a couple minutes later, his face now clean of all the paint.

"Who is she," I asked, pointing to the photo of Leo and the older woman. She looked to be in her twenties, maybe late twenties if I'm being accurate.

Leo came to stand beside me to look at the photo. I noticed the breath of air he lets go as he stares at it. "My sister," he says with no emotion.

"Alexandria," I said, now recognizing her. How could I not have remembered her from the photos on Mr. Stavros's desk. Perhaps because the photo's he had of her were when she was much younger and lot less happy.

"Let's go find Martin," he mutters, leaving me alone in the room. I have no choice but to follow him.

...
What do you guys think??

**next update: Wednesday hopefully. Otherwise Saturday**