"Alexander..."Nova whispers, blood dribbling down the corner of her mouth.

"Nova, you're okay. You're good, you survived a papercut, you can survive this." I chuckle out to distract her from the pain, Nova smiles gently as her hands graze onto mine.

"That's true, I survived three paper cuts." Her eyes gently begin to close.

While I lifted her, her head fell gently into my chest as I pushed pressure onto her wound. It was too simple, I knew. I knew it was too easy. "Alexander, I'm afraid."

"There's nothing to be afraid of Nova." I walk inside the mansion and hear the screams of the guests as they run past me, waving their arms in the air. My father's men were surrounding the ballroom, I notice Leo joining them too.

"Find them now!"

We had to be quick because once this place empties, they would search every room.

I grab a bottle of vodka from the waiters serving table before heading up the stairs and into one of the extra bedrooms, knowing if I called the ambulance in Russia-Nova would die. It would be too late for her.

I stand in front of my bedroom.

My old bedroom.

Before we moved to New York, my father never had the Mafia before, and he committed a serious crime causing us to move to another country. I push the door open and walk inside, I settle her down onto my old bed.

The gunshot never pierced near her heart, luckily, this was an easy fix for me to do.

I had all the supplies in the back of my old closet.

"I figured out my fear." She whispers, I take out the supplies and walk back to her.

"Heights don't count Nova," I settle down onto my knees, and take out my pocketknife to slice through her dress.

"My fear is losing you." She whispers.

I pull it down her body, revealing the wound covered in blood.

"Here, drink it will loosen the pain."

"I'm tryin-trying to stay sober on the job Alexander."

"Drink it." She rolls her eyes and takes a few gulps before squinting her eyes. "This is going to hurt, and I need you to be as silent as possible. Okay Nova." She nods her head, "I'm going to need you to bite down onto this." She opens her mouth as I tuck a piece of her clothes, she bites down onto it.

I open the Vodka bottle; she shakes her head and grabs onto my hands tightly as I pour it onto the wound. She screams into the fabric, her body raising as tears pour down her eyes. "I know. Nova, I need you to stop screaming." She shakes her head; I look back at the door; she continues to whimper in the background.

I turn back to Nova and wash my hand along with the tweezers with vodka before pressing my free hand against her mouth. She shakes, begging me to stop with her eyes as I push the tweezers in first. Looking for the bullet, Nova screams against the palm of my hands. I could not find it.

"Prover'te naverkhu!"

[Check upstairs!]

I hear one of the guards say, fuck.

My door was the last door of the hallway, I turn back to Nova and keep my ears out for his footsteps. I still could not find the bullet; Nova continues to cry into my hands from the excruciating pain and once my tweezer knocks onto something metal. I sigh in relief. I look down and detect the bullet, I slowly tense the tweezer around it before gently pulling it out of her stomach.

Then I hear footsteps, I stand up and set the tweezers to the side before grabbing my pocketknife. "Stay silent Nova." If I did not set her up in time, she would lose consciousness, blood, and pass out. I take slow steps before reaching behind the door, I watch the knob crackle and look back at Nova who stares at me.

The door is finally pushed open, he steps inside and aims his gun at Nova.

I hold my finger against my lips, "Kak tvoya familiya?" He growls at her, walking closer.

I closed the door slowly enough that he didn't notice before grabbing the back of his head and slicing his neck open with the pocketknife.

My hands are covered in blood as I slowly lower him on the floor and return to Nova, whose eyes were blinking slowly.

"Stay with me, Nova." I wash my hands with vodka and save the rest for the stitches, being sure to press the thread into the needle and keeping my ears clear for anyone else.

Nova holds onto the bedsheets and closes her eyes; I push the needle into her skin. She couldn't hold it; she releases a loud muffled scream of pain as I try my hardest to sew her wound. Tears leak down her eyes, she bangs her fist against the bed and begs me to stop.

As much as I wanted too.

I could not.

I had to keep going.

Her fingernails then dig into my biceps, I continue to make sure the sew was stable and good enough for it not to break easily. Once I finished, I bandaged her stomach up and poured vodka into her mouth to remove the pain, she swallowed every last drop of it.

I hear rushed footsteps banging onto the hard floor, coming up the stairs. Fuck.

I stand up, grab the gun from the dead guards armour and tuck it into the back of my trousers, I slide my blazer off my body and throw it onto the edge of the bed.

I remove the bullet proof vest from the guard and walks towards Nova. I gently sit her up before sliding the bullet proof vest over her body. I grab my blazer and wrap it around her naked body before buttoning it up.

Nova slowly closes her eyes; I check her pulse, but it was stronger than before.

I lift her up and hold her with one hand, her head falls onto my chest and make the bed as if someone were sleeping inside it.

I slowly make my way behind the door again after grabbing the bottle of Vodka. I wait for the right moment and slam it against the wall. I hear rushed footsteps, then Leo's voice: "Find them! Now before I kill you all!"

"I told you to keep eyes on Alex! You fucking idiots!"

I knew killing my father was too easy, the door opens in a hurry and four men step inside. I raise the gun from the back of my trousers and shoot them all, they drop to the ground one by one. I walk out of the bedroom and press myself against the wall before slowly peering out of the corner.

"Alexander! Are we going to play hide and seek? The good thing is, Nova can join us too, you're allowed to play with her now! Oh wait, I shot her and daddy's dead."

"And that's all thanks to you." He releases a loud chuckle; I glance down at Nova asleep in my arms before checking her pulse. Strong. "Father always told me how easy it was to manipulate you, god, I didn't think it was this easy."

I gently settle Nova down against the wall, before reloading the gun and peering out from behind the wall. I see Leo throwing a knife in the air before catching it.

"All I need to do now is kill you, and I will be the Don of the Mafia."

"You don't deserve to be Don." I growl out, coming out of hiding.

"Oh Alexander," he chuckles.

"Those annotations were yours, not fathers."

"Correct. I didn't even count to thirty." Leo chuckles.

"Well then, start counting."

"One-" I throw my gun to the side, and rush towards him. His eyes widen as he looks between the knife in his hand and the gun on the floor. He drops the knife and runs towards me; I slide under and grab the knife before aiming it right at the back of his neck.

He halts in his position the moment it stabbed him; I use this chance and make my way towards him. I grab the knife and slide it out of his neck before pinning him against the wall, he wraps his hands around my wrists as his eyes widen.

"Thirty. Caught you."

Blood paints the wall behind him.

"I may be easy to manipulate, but you're just stupid." I whisper. "For even aiming a gun at me. You're weak. You're slow. And to believe I classified you a brother of mine." Leo stares into my soul and as do I before pushing the knife deep into his chest.

I throw him to the side and watch him bleed out, I pick the gun up and tuck it into my back pocket before reaching for Nova.