Francis and I are walking down the hallway and I'm slowly walking behind him.

I keep quiet as I take in all of the halls we walk down. This was most likely one of his hideouts, it was furnished well and there were suited men and skirted women walking up and down the corridors but bow once Francis came into their presence.

Passing by various rooms, there were floor-to-roof windows that showcased the outside which was covered in green trees and tall grass. I couldn't see past the trees, but we were somewhere remote.

Looking away from the windows, I focus my attention before me and see Francis has stopped and past him, there are two strongly armed bodyguards standing at the door. But as soon as they see Francis they seem to cower back since he was the strongest one here.

Without hesitation they let him pass the door and the boss burst through the door with a strict look on his face. He looked back at me, the madness in his eyes disappearing when we make eye contact and his eyes brighten, making me break the stare.

That look he gave me gives me a shock and make my whole face heat up, but my heart drop to my stomach. I know it's wrong. The anxiety was getting to me, and I hadn't taken my pills.

I peeked past Francis's tall structure to see that we had entered a meeting room, a long table with three seats, one on each side of the table and one at the top. There were pairs across from each other, occupying two seats and both of their heads were turned to us seriously, their gazes covering me.

My stance stiffens and I shift closer to Francis, trying to make it unnoticeable but I see the sides of his mouth tilt upwards.

Looking to one of them, she had deep brown eyes and was dressed in a dress shirt and leather skirt. She looks serious and looked at me as if looks could kill and across her, there was a familiar man. He was dressed in all black- black shirt, black pants, and emerald eyes?

My eyes widened and my eyebrows furrowed as I stared longer, I realised that it was the rat. The one that stabbed Alex too.

My lips tighten as I stare at him and the longer I did, he realised and looked at me back.

As I snapped back into reality, I could feel Francis's arm snake around my waist and instead of being behind him, I was now by his side being showcased to the pair in front of us. They both seemed to be studying my face and structure which just made me want the floor to swallow me whole.

Francis leaned over to my side and I could feel his hot breath pushing onto my face as he whispered to me. "The girl with the red hair's name is Quinn," she looked up at the mention of her name and smiled at me, a gesture I didn't return "She's the one who helped me escape, same with Xavier over there, but I'm sure that you already knew that," he snickered at the last part and I felt as if I could slap him, though it would do no good.

That's when there was a loud buzzing around the room. Francis sighed, so I turned to him and saw that he now had a phone in his hand. Francis started talking on the phone and let go of my waist, making my body go tense again. Being in his arms made me feel some sort of protection in this unusual place, but now the two people in the room were standing up and heading toward me.

They snatched me from Francis's side making him grunt and his face turns sour but didn't say anything hence the call. The pair smiled and laughed at each other as they pushed me by the shoulders to keep moving until we were out of the room. They defiantly were the opposites of Francis. Both of them looked at each other with wide grins, leaving me confused as I stood in the hallway.

The red-haired one, 'Quinn' saw my confused expression and came up to me putting one of her hands on my shoulder.

"So, how do you like the place?" she said with a genuine smile. "Pretty, isn't it?"

"No," I shot back, making her smile fault for a second before she restructured it and tried to keep going, but I shut her down as quick as I could. "Leave me alone." I spat out of my tightened jaw.

I started walking down the long hallway quickly, surprising the pair as they stopped with their giddy smiles and started to follow me. I grunted and I realised that they were doing that and just sped up.

It was like that for a few moments as I tried to get them off my tail, but they followed me and I could hear them whispering something from behind me, making me even more pissed.

Turning down the hallway I saw the door that seemed to be my new room and ran into there, ahead of the criminals and slammed the door behind me. Quickly turning around, I kept it shut with my hands. There were shouts and banging on the door and I knew I couldn't keep it shut for long.

I franticly looked around until I saw a chair and grabbed it to jar the door handle shut.

"Stay out!" I yell before turning away and pacing into the rest of the bedroom.

I got to admire it as the sun started to set. The orange and vibrant pink shone their shades across the room from the window. It lit up the whole room and glistens against the gold on the walls. As I walked to the wardrobe, I continued to hear some yells and bangs outside the door now and then, but I ignored them.

As I went into the luxurious bathroom, I ran a warm bath before stripping off my clothes and dipping in.

I let out a cooling breath and sunk deeper into the water, my breath bubbling under the water. The stress slipped from me for a while as the heat swarmed me and my eyes drifted closed.

It was an amazing bath, and it must've been at least an hour I had spent in there since the banging outside had quietened down, so I assumed that they had given up.

When I woke up and looked outside the window, I saw the moon shining down on me, so I dried myself off and I slipped into the sleeping dress I had laid out.

I sneaked out of the bathroom through the wooden door and quietly closed it but stopped instantly as I heard a low growl from across.

Letting out a shivered sigh, I slowly lifted my head to see a pissed-off Francis. There was a slit of moonlight over his face, making his eyes shine and piece through me. And as I tried to find something inside me to try and hide the anxiety, I realised that it was too big. I could feel fear welling up in my eyes, so I looked away and slightly up to stop them from falling.

"Why.. did you do that." He demanded and gestured to the wide open door and a broken chair, spreading splinters of its broken parts across the floor; as if a representation of how my life felt right now. I could tell he was trying to suppress his anger, unsuccessfully.

I couldn't speak. I bit my lip down to stop myself from letting out a breath of fear.

"Valentina," he growled, now closer, making me flinch back, his saying my name made my mind go blank.

From my bowed head, I saw his closed fist unclench and I knew I couldn't hold it anymore. The air was cold and still, and my whimper was woven through the air. I sounded pathetic.

"I'm sorry" I whispered. But I knew I was in deep shit as he didn't answer and kept quiet, but I could feel his eyes trained on my bent head.

"I'm really sorry-" I stopped as I looked up at him to see the guilt in his eyes instead of anything else.

He sighed half-heartedly rubbing the bridge of his nose and bent down on his knees so he was lower than me and could reach my face, cupping one of my cheeks. His hands we soft and his nails brush against my skin, sending a shiver down my spine, but this time, it wasn't filled with fear.

"I said it before," he muttered "I won't hurt you."

As he stood up and took me by the hand, he dragged me to my bed, and I willingly got into it, anything to be away from him. I sighed as I pushed myself into the warm pillow and wiped away the rest of the gloss over my eyes.

I faced to the window and saw the deep blue sky, dotted with stars surrounding the white moon that created light in the room. I smiled to myself as I closed my eyes.

But they quickly fluttered open as I saw that there weren't any sounds in the room. Surely he couldn't have left already but he couldn't be this quiet, but there was nothing, not even the sound of his breath.

I turned around from my side and laid on my back, sliding my eyes across the room.

Just to come into contact with Francis who was leaning on the wall that my bed was against. I groaned and turned my head but stayed on my back. I heard another one of his signature chuckles before he spoke up and broke the silence barrier.

"You didn't think I would leave you alone in the dead of night after what just happened? Right?"

I scoffed and glared at him before completely turning over, not wanting to have to stare into his piercing eyes again.

"I just didn't want to be followed around by a bunch of strangers in a mysterious home," I stated in a mumble just hoping that he might not hear.

"Then get to know them," he reasoned calmly, but my stress was getting all over me, letting words come out of my mouth before I could even think.

"But why bring me here in the first place! I don't even know you, and you don't even know me," I said, as I lost my patience. Why didn't he let me die in there for god's sake?

Challenging him, I looked back at him, wanting answers but his head was turned so that I couldn't give his face a second look.

"Then how about we get to know each other?" he asked, turning back to me with a smile on his face. He looked so.. peaceful as he did.

I didn't know what to do. I don't think I was ready, or ever will be ready, to open up to someone like him.

So, I just simply shook my head with my head down. I looked up at him and saw a glint of hurt in his eyes.

"Maybe another time." I ended up mumbling and he looked hopeful making me hopeful too.

Hopeful that for the time that I was here, I could change the type of person he is.

Allowing me to be set free.