"A p-picture of me?" I stammered.

There was another short pause.

"Yes, turns out he's an assassin."

A lump immediately formed in my throat. An assassin? "And he wanted to kill me?"

"He was hired but we don't know by who yet. It's a one way database. It doesn't show who sent in the requests."

My heart thudded louder.

"You appeared last on the list but this database dates back as far as fifteen years and we found something else in the archives. Another picture of you, but from about seven years ago."

His words entirely stilled me.

"From seven years ago?" I repeated slowly.

"I think it's from the same source. All the requests have certain formats and the format of the two requests are similar."

I could barely wrap my head round all he was saying. Someone wanted me dead? Seven years ago and now, why?

"This may all be very confusing at the moment and I don't want to lay it all down yet,"

"There's more?"

"Can you think of anyone who might have a grudge against you?"

"Not enough to want to kill me." My voice was fray.

"If you think of something or if anything rings a bell, please call me immediately."

"I will."

"Also, if you notice any tails, shadows, anything, don't hesitate to call either. But don't worry too much, this will all be over soon."

I really hope so.

"Thank you Detective."

"One more thing, have you heard of FMG?" He suddenly asked and I heard some movement in the background.

"Um, I don't know... should I have?"

"I'm kinda hoping you haven't."

"What are they?" I sat a bit straighter.

"Florentino Machineries and Gadgets. It was the company Elise Lynette worked at until January this year."

When the call finally ended after some more assurance from the Detective, the entire conversation replayed in my head like a broken record. Someone was trying to kill me? Why? My chest ached with trepidation and the thought of being murdered made me sick to my stomach. The memory of Elise Lynette who lived below me, in my former apartment made me even more queasy. They'd said it was gruesome.

"We are back," the sudden opening of the door startled me and a scream, lodged in my throat nearly escaped.

My sister furrowed a brow, "it's just us. What's wrong with you? Were you throwing up again?" Her eyes turned worried then.

"No. I was just," I shrugged.

"Well, guess who we saw at the mall?"

"Who?" I asked half heartedly.

"William's little sister."

"Erin?"

Cece nodded then smiled, "she recognized us and came over, I don't think we've ever met though."

"She's a darling." Mom inputed.

"Yeah, she–" I paused. And like a light bulb turning on in my head, it came. "Erin." I repeated. Erin had asked me about it, FMG. But she'd quickly shrugged it off after. William. William had to be the focal point in all this madness.

Cece stared at me carefully, "yes? Why are you repeating it?"

"I need to go see William." I abruptly rose.

"Right now?" Mom queried and I nodded. "Are you sure you're okay P? You look like you've just seen a ghost honey."

"I just remembered something really important and I need to go see William now."

"Okay," mom said slowly. "But be careful alright? Because you aren't showing yet doesn't mean you aren't delicate still."

Cecile stared at me questioningly and I mouthed 'later' before rushing out the door, purse in hand, to the elevator. Out on the streets, the prickly feeling of being watched ran over my skin.

I shook it off and successfully hailed a taxi. I'd never been so anxious or scared before. It was a wonder the driver didn't throw me out with all my fidgeting. The moment the ride ended, I paid and practically bolted all the way up into William's penthouse apartment. I must have looked crazy and paranoid. I felt crazy and paranoid.

The lounge and kitchen were empty when I walked in but the TV was playing. He was home then. I headed upstairs, stopping at the master bedroom first, but no William either. I looked at the room expecting to be assailed only by the warm memories of us in here. In the two weeks we snuck around, we'd spent hours from the weekends cooped up in here, kissing, touching and—the memories lingered. I was getting something else. And that was what made me stay. My eyes searched around. What was it?

Brown file.

Top shelve.

The scattered words slithered in.

The night I spent here, drunk as a skunk, after leaving Bella's cousin's club at the persistence of Will. The next morning, a file had fallen on my head as I tried to get my top off a shelve. On the file were the damned letters, FMG.

Forgetting the fact I could literally be breaking and entering now, I rushed into the closet barely noticing as a box fell while I searched for the file from that morning. It didn't take long to find it. It was still in the same spot. I held it up and stared at it ominously, wondering what lay inside.

Why did it seem so familiar still?

I think I knew the company. Florentino Machineries and Gadgets. Even before that morning, before Erin, before the detective. I would have juggled my memory bank some more and maybe remembered exactly how I knew the company, if a gun wasn't being pointed at me the next moment.

The bearer was William.

"Jesus Christ Ophelia! I could have shot you!"

"We thought you were a burglar."

Mark stood by the door, behind William. I couldn't make anything of his presence because my heart was still in my mouth. I could have been shot.

"What are you doing here?" Will asked stepping closer to me. He'd tucked the gun away but I still instinctively shifted back. His eyes fell to the file I was holding and he stiffened. Mark also seemed to have a reaction. Oh God.

"What the hell is going on?" I sounded terrified even to my own ears.

"I'll be downstairs." Mark said and quietly left.

"And what's the deal with this company?" I lifted the file higher.

He zoned in on it, an expression I couldn't decipher entering his eyes. A few beats passed.

"It's the company I worked at after graduation."

After his graduation, I'd found an online ad for an IT position and showed him. He was interviewed and accepted almost immediately. We'd celebrated the win; wine, a date and sex. His first official job as a tech guy and graduate. The job he'd been working at when he suddenly ended things saying I couldn't keep up with the new phase of his life.

I froze.

"Are they the ones trying to kill me?" I voiced out the hunch as soon as it came.

"Did something happen?" He held my shoulders and pressed me against his chest telling me the answer without actually saying anything.

"Are they?" I pressed.

He ran a hand down his face, "yes."

"I'm going to need more than that Will, all of it infact."

"We should sit," he said and led the way out of the closet. He sat on the edge of the bed and I silently sat beside him.

"It's a mob company, FMG."

"Like a mafia?" My eyes widened and he nodded.

"I didn't know until about two months in."

"You never said anything." My tone was both wistful and accusatory.

"It was an entirely different territory." He looked pitiful.

"How different?"

"I witnessed a murder."

My eyes sharply turned to find his but they were closed. When he opened them again, all I saw was pain, pain that made me look away.

"It happened in the basement of the building. I still remember how Runo laughed and told me it was all part of the job."

"Runo?"

"He's the CEO, the mafia boss and he threatened to kill me if I ever told the cops or anyone else but I didn't care. It was a fucking murder. I wanted to tell you Ophelia, I wanted to report it. And I was so close to, but he realized he had to go deeper than just threatening me." He looked down now, "you, Erin, uncle Mike, your family, our friends, everyone. He threatened me with everyone's life and then, I didn't know what to do."

He looked so distraught now and I could only begin to imagine how much worst it must have been for him then.

"If anything had happened to you, our families, anyone," he sighed looking ten years older, "so I took a gamble."

"You left." I whispered.

"That's what the bastard wanted, me alone and isolated. My uncle thought I'd receded back to my teenage coping mechanism. I almost did." His gaze was pensive. "I figured I was the problem and had to remove myself without anyone ever coming to search for me again."

"William," I started, my tone a little desperate.

"Just for a while, not forever. I planned for just a while, long enough for Runo to forget me and move on. Because it was torture walking away like that. From you, from everything. But I didn't want you involved in the mess I found myself in, yet somehow," he sighed again, "you still appeared in that fucked up database."

I got the worst feeling of forebearance.

"The bastard wasn't done with me. When I understood what the picture meant, I reacted badly. Turns out they were testing me and I failed. I fucked up."

"What happened?"

"I went to the cops. Finally told them everything, about the murder, the picture, all of it but it ended up being a total waste of time, they couldn't do anything. Runo had always known that, it was all part of his sick game. But I didn't know that then. And, the bastard finally struck of course."

"What did he do?" I was staring at the rug now. My fingers wouldn't leave each other.

"Erin's accident."

"H-he, they were behind Erin's accident?" I gasped.

His eyes took on a hard glint. "Yes and barely a day after the accident, his cronies kidnapped me. They kept me in a warehouse for days, no light, no food or water just beatings and endless threats."

I tried to imagine how everything played out. It was too much to imagine and my eyes opened again, lifting to Will. His image both clothed and nude was fully ingrained in my mind yet now I wondered, did he carry scars I hadn't noticed? If not physically, certainly mentally.

"Runo's plan wasn't to kill me though. He just wanted to scare me off for good. At that point though, I wasn't scared, I was angry. Erin was in the hospital, uncle Mike was alone with her wondering where the hell I was, I didn't know if you were alright either. It all made me angry. So angry, all I could think of was revenge." he had a distant look in his eyes.

It all sounded like scenes from a box office action movie, but it was his story. He'd gone through it all and I didn't doubt it for a moment. His emotions leaked off him in waves, encompassing the entire room and me with it. It was a lot more than I expected to uncover. Yet he'd experienced it all first hand. I wanted to hug him or hold his hand or anything but I couldn't move. I was rooted to my spot, simply feeling the vibrations of his emotions.

"How did you escape?" I asked instead.

"Threw me out of a van days later. Runo was probably satisfied he'd broken me enough. He'd definitely broken me alright, but all those new pieces wanted revenge. In the warehouse they kept me, I heard a lot of things, incriminating things I could use against them. But I had next to nothing. I realized if I wanted to pull down Runo's empire, I had to work extra hard. That's how Mark and I met. The person I saw them kill? That was his brother."

My hand went to my mouth.

"I couldn't bring myself to come back to you, not with the burden and danger of what I was about to start. You probably wouldn't have accepted me anyway, not after how I treated you. I'm sorry Ophelia, for leaving like that, for saying all those things I never meant, for everything. Not for a second did I mean any of it. I don't think I can ever apologise enough." He pinned me with his stare and the waves of his sincerity surrounded me like a glove.

He broke contact but I could still feel the emotions radiating through the room. It was daunting. I wasn't sure where we'd go from here. If we could go anywhere from here. It wasn't a necessity afterall. There was still a lot I didn't understand and had to. I needed to understand all of it. Before then though, I had to improvise. Fast too.

"So you aren't a mafia boss, you're fighting against one? I think being a mafia boss would've been better. Haven't you watched The Godfather? You're on the losing side." I shook my head in false exasperation. His eyes met mine and he smiled.

***