13 Chapter 12.

January 24th, 2016

Luke's POV.

Hit...Hit...Hit.

The punching bag and I were going at it one on one. My shoulder? Hurt like a bitch. Somehow the wound got reopened this morning but I wasn't going to give into the pain. I wanted it, needed it to remind me of my mistake.

Hit...Hit...Hit

I heard somebody run down the hall, from the sound of heels, I knew it was a female.

Hit...Hit...Hit.

"Luke! What the hell are you doing?!"

Ophelia.

Hit...Hit...Hit.

"Training. What does it look like?"

Hit...Hit...Hit.

"You are going back to your room right now, to have that shoulder checked! You scared the shit out of me."

I crossed my arms over my chest, wincing at the pain in my shoulder and I looked her straight in the eye. "Make me."

She looked shocked at my refusal, that was a direct order. She was used to being obeyed and I just defied her. She turned around to leave the gym.

Besides, I knew she couldn't do anything, she was underdressed for gym activities, wearing a sexy navy blue, double breasted suit jacket, a short pleated skirt and high heels.

I turned back to the punching bag, the next thing I knew, I was slammed into the ground, flat on my back, both arms above my head and Ophelia straddling my hips.

"Rule number one, never disobey a direct order."

She was officially pissed.

"Rule number two, never underestimate the enemy."

She was putting my injured shoulder under strain and she knew it, the force with which my back hit the ground forced air out of my lungs.

"Fine, fine you can let go now."

She didn't. She knew I was in pain and she wanted me to suffer.

"Fine. Don't let go, I'm enjoying this position anyway."

She looked at me confused.

I smirked then moved my hips a little causing her to automatically clench her thighs in response.

She gasped, I laughed.

"You have a dirty mind." She hit my chest, but she smiled.

I continued laughing.

She released me and stood, turning around to leave.

"Awwww come on princess, you can't possibly leave me like this. My shoulder hurts, just give me a hand up."

I wasn't joking, my shoulder was killing me. I held a hand out to her, she looked reluctant to help but helped anyway.

That's when I pulled her back and slammed her to the ground, I held her arms high above her head and clamped them together with my good hand whilst straddling her. She had the element of surprise last time but I was stronger than her.

"Rule number three, trust is not an option." I whispered in her ear.

She didn't struggle, she had learnt a long time ago that it was just a waste of energy. Based on her training, she knew she had to wait for an opportunity to strike fast and hard. Not that I was going to give her that opportunity.

My eyes roamed her adorable face, her features hadn't changed, they rested on her plum lips. I was unexplainably drawn to it, l felt myself leaning down towards it, wanting to catch it between my teeth.

Somebody cleared their throat. I turned around to see Nicholas in the door way.

"Boss wants to see you, both of you."

I nodded. I wondered what he thought of our position but we were in a gym and I'm sure it looked like we were sparring.

I helped Ophelia up and we walked hand-in-hand to her father's office behind Nicholas. We walked into the office and the boss signaled us to sit. We did but Ophelia walked up to stand behind her father's chair.

"How's the wound?" He asked.

"It's getting better."

He nodded. "The reason I called you all is because today is Sunday, the day our document goes into the wrong hands, unless we do something about it."

I totally forgot about it. I looked from Nicholas to Ophelia, they showed no sign of surprise so they knew about this or were really good at hiding their expressions

"Its good you're getting better because I would hate to put anyone else on the job, since you can easily identify Kennedy. Nicholas is going to accompany you to the event in case you need backup." He looked at the both of us.

"Any questions?"

We shook our heads.

"You're dismissed." We got up to leave.

"Can I say something?" Ophelia's voice made us to sit down.

"Of course, my love." Her father swivelled his chair to look at her.

"Isn't it going to be obvious sending two men to the occasion? I mean if the event is anything you said it would be, then surely the men we're expecting are going to the event with dates, if Luke goes with Nicholas then we're making them an easy target for whoever did this to Luke to spot."

There was a certain truth to what she was saying but it was up to her father to decide.

"What I'm saying is that you send me in place of Nicholas with Luke to blend in."

Antonio considered this for a long time.

"Alright, you can go."

She squealed, bent down to kiss her father on the cheek and missed the pointed look he was sending my way. If anything were to happen to her, like last time, he would have my head mounted on a stake.

"Now that we've settled that issue, get ready. You're leaving by 6pm the party starts by 7."

_________________

The day went by in a blur, having breakfast, getting my wound checked, lunch and then the preparations.

I was standing by the front door, wearing a black Armani suit, a white dress shirt and a sky blue tie. I was waiting for Ophelia to come down so we could leave.

The clicking sound of heels coming down the stairs notified me of her presence but nothing prepared me for what I was about to see. Ophelia was wearing a long white gown with a plunging neckline that went down to her belly button, showcasing her diamond piercing, the dress had a long slit at the side, she wore matching white high heeled sandals, her longhair was done in a milkmaid braid style with little curled strands framing her face. Her diamond neckpiece rested between her ample cleavage. Her appearance took my breath away.

"How do I look?" She twirled showing her bare back, two straps holding the dress in place above her backside. The air was perfumed with her signature fragrance of Jasmine.

I was speechless, in fact too speechless to answer her question.

"You look beautiful, amore mio." Her father spoke from behind me.

She moved towards his outstretched arms and gave him a hug. He was right, she was beautiful, devilishly angelic even. Her skin glowed and the slit accentuated her long legs. With the way things we're going I would have to carry a gun to ward off any male that set eyes on her.

"...and remember, no weapons." The boss was saying something and I missed half of it. Well, I had to use my fists to ward them off.

After the briefing and the handing out of the invitations, I held Ophelia by the hand and led her towards our ride for tonight, a BMW i8. The boss did know how to spoil his boys with toys.

"You look beautiful princess, sorry I didn't say it earlier."

She shrugged.

"When did you go shopping for the dress?"

"I called Tory over today and explained my situation, she brought the dress and did my makeup."

Tory was her personal fashion designer and one of the few people who knew what the Empire really was.

"How's the baby?" Tory was heavily pregnant and it was a surprise she rushed over under short notice.

She understood my concern. "She's six months along now. I told her to send somebody over but stubborn as she is, she came all by herself, it felt awkward when her baby bump got in the way." She laughed.

"Still everything was prepared fast, don't you think?" I opened the passenger door for her to get in.

She rolled her eyes at me. "We had more than six hours to prepare Luke and besides, I've been thinking about this for a while, I'm going to find out who did this to you."

That explains how she got prepared so fast and persuaded her father to let her take Nicholas's place. I closed her side of the door, entered the vehicle and started the engine.

As I drove, Ophelia busied herself by watching the landscape. I kept sneaking glances at her when I thought she wasn't looking.

"You know, you should keep your eyes on the road."

Caught.

"I can't help it, you look divine."

"It's better if we don't end up dead, then you can look at me as much as you like."

She was right. I tried concentrating on the road but I couldn't help looking her over again.

We got to our destination in record time. I pulled into the large driveway, I helped Ophelia out of the car and handed the keys to the valet.

We walked to the large entrance and I placed my arm around Ophelia's waist securely. I wasn't going to let any harm come to her tonight.

I handed our invitation cards to a large security man at the entrance, he looked them over and searched me. I waited for Ophelia by the door as the man proceeded to search her. I reigned in my anger as his hands travelled down her body, feeling her instead of searching. She whimpered uncomfortably when his hands moved to her exposed thigh. I definitely had had enough.

I tapped him on the shoulder. "Back off! She can't possibly hide anything under that thin material."

He grunted and let her go, she walked towards me and had to practically drag me inside because I was about to give him a piece of my fist.

"Behave, Luke!" She whisper yelled. "We don't want to attract unnecessary attention."

She grabbed two glass flutes from a passing hostess and gave me one.

"Here, you'll need the buzz."

I tipped the glass and finished the contents in a single gulp. When I dropped the glass she was looking at me, amused.

"What?"

"Nothing." She was yet to drink her champagne.

It was really a high class event, the hall, it's inhabitants all spoke of big money, right now everyone was networking and a few were moving to the slow music produced by the small orchestra on the dance floor. I was expecting to see off-duty police officers or private security scattered around the room after what happened to him but I didn't. Robinson didn't want to upset his guests, which added to my advantage.

I scanned the room and my eyes landed on Robinson in a wheelchair, his neck, arms and legs were in casts, he had a drip on a movable stand infused into his arm and a heart monitor at his side. Beside him stood an old, stern looking woman I assumed was his wife, on the right and a man, no doubt a doctor on his left. The only reason he was here was because he wanted to milk his predicament, get all the sympathy and money he could from the patrons of the event.

Somehow, his eyes caught mine and he started panicking, his heart rate hit the roof, his doctor rushed to his side immediately. His stern faced wife, noticing his distress, searched the crowd, looking for the source of his panic. In a few seconds she would know it was me because Robinson was pointing in my direction so I did the most logical thing. I twirled Ophelia around taking her position and put her in mine, so I was backing Robinson and she was facing him.

She was surprised by my action but composed herself quickly and watched the unfolding drama.

"Is that Robinson?"

"Yes."

"What happened to him?"

"I have no idea, princess. Just be my eyes and keep me informed on what's happening." I pressed her flush against my body so she could have a better viewing point. I could feel the rise and fall of her bosom against my body and it raised my temperature by ten degrees.

"More people are interested in what's going on." She raised her glass to her lips and took a sip.

"His wife is looking in our direction and is giving me the stink eye. Should I ask why, Luke?"

"Ignore her, we've got to move." I led her to the dance floor and took her glass from her. "Will you do me the honour of having this dance?" I tried imitating her adopted British accent and failed.

She laughed at my attempt. "Of course." She said in a perfect tone.

We moved to the slow tune, I had no idea what the title was but it was fitting for the occasion. She placed her right hand in mine, her left wrapped around my neck and she laid her head on my chest. I moved her slowly, gently to the sound of the strings, enjoying the feel of her bare skin under my palm, I moved my hand from the top of her back to where the straps that held her dress rested, She relaxed further. I could stay like this forever, holding her close. The moment was rudely interrupted when somebody tapped my shoulder.

"Can I cut in?"

I looked the guy over, glared at him and tightened my hold on Ophelia. "No." I replied, stiffly.

He looked shocked at my reply and started to back away before Ophelia said. "Of course, I'll dance with you."

"You'll what?" I asked in disbelief.

"I told you Luke, behave. If I dance with him I'll be able to scout the place." She whispered in my ear.

"That's not necessary!" I hissed in her ear.

"Look around Luke, does this place look like somewhere they can exchange the document for money?" She hissed back.

True. Everyone was socializing and an exchange wouldn't go unnoticed. Kennedy needed someplace where he could count his money, he was greedy.

When she saw I understood, she continued. "Our target is to look for somewhere quiet that won't be trespassed under any circumstance. What better way to do that than to move around stealthily?"

"Fine. Just be careful." I let her go before glaring at the man one more time.

"Don't mind my companion, he can become overly protective at times." I heard her tell the man as he led her away.

I heard him say something like. "I would do the same if I were him." They started dancing and I couldn't help but notice his wandering hands. Its either Ophelia didn't notice or she did but ignored it because of the task she put her mind to.

"Hey handsome, wanna take me for a spin?" A red head clung to my arm.

I groaned inwardly, this was what I was trying to avoid but I danced with her anyway if it meant not making myself visible to Kennedy and keeping an eye on Ophelia.

She was handed over to another man who twirled her around, someone picked my dance partner and handed me his. It went on like that for an hour or so.

I noticed Ophelia's discomfort with the current guy she was dancing with. He was the worst of them all, she cringed in disgust whenever he touched her or said something to her.

That's it, time out for this guy. I abandoned the lady I was dancing with and walked up to them.

"Can I cut in?" I didn't wait for his reply, I shoved him aside and grabbed Ophelia.

"Thank you." Ophelia said when we moved to the other side of the room.

She was shaking. I handed her a glass of champagne, I picked from a host and ordered her to drink, all of it.

"Any luck?" She asked.

I shook my head, mainly because instead of searching the room I had been glaring at the men dancing with her.

"I think I've found it. Look there." She pointed to the floor above us. "That's the perfect place, I haven't seen anybody go up there.

"I'll keep an eye on it."

We moved to socialize with people, most of them already acquainted with the Empire, not the mob side but the legal business side. I introduced them to Ophelia, leaving out her position as Antonio's daughter. No one needed to know that.

About 30 minutes later, I saw two men go up. Not long I recognized Kennedy go up as well. That meant only one thing, it was show time. I looked to my side and saw that Ophelia didn't notice what was going on, which meant that I could recover the document quickly.

She was already tipsy so I moved her towards a big potted plant and made her sit down.

"Listen princess, I'm going to...to...errr...use the bathroom, yes the bathroom. I need you to sit tight, okay? If anyone bothers you tell them to fuck off."

I handed her another glass. At least that would keep her in place or she would fall and still stay put.

She nodded and accepted the glass.

I moved quickly, avoiding every possible delay. I moved up the stairs fast and paused when I reached the top step. Peeped into the hallway, it was empty. Where did they go? Many doors lined both sides of the hall.

I tried the first door on my left, locked. The second, locked. This went on for the next five doors. I was losing time. Did they identify me and trick me? Or was the transaction already over? I couldn't fail this task, frustration was setting in as I neared the end of the hallway.

Voices.

I stopped and pressed my back to the wall. I noticed an open door and the two men I saw earlier.

I took in a deep breath and walked in. I clapped my hands as I entered the room and met the surprised looks on the faces of Kennedy and the two men.

"Well done, Kennedy." I applauded him. "Nice plan."

He joined his companions on the other side of the room and I faced them keeping a short distance between us.

They were still too shocked to say anything. I put my hand out. "Hand over the document."

He made no move to do anything.

"Look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way." I loosened my tie, preparing myself for battle. I quickly sized them up, I could take three of them down in a fist fight.

"Let's do it the easy way." Kennedy replied, bringing out a gun. His companions followed suit.

What the hell?! I thought they said no weapons allowed.

"You see Luke, Robinson has been keeping us up-to-date on things and when you attacked him I knew that Antonio was hot on my trail, I knew he would make an appearance so I came prepared. I'm just surprised he sent you."

I weighed my options it was a 99.9% chance of death to a 0.01% chance to come out of this alive. I narrowly escaped death a week ago only to face it again. I was thinking of a good way to tackle this situation when somebody interrupted us.

"What's going on here?" Ophelia stumbled into the room.

I quickly moved to where she was and used my body to shield her. The men followed my movement, keeping their guns trained on Ophelia and I.

"What the hell Ophelia?! I told you to stay put!"

"And miss the fun? I saw you go up, I know the bathroom isn't up here so I followed you."

"If you two are done with your lover's quarrel we'll just speed up the execution." Kennedy said. "It was nice of you to join us pretty lady, say Luke, who is she?"

I pressed myself against Ophelia protectively. "None of your business."

"Maybe we could add a little colour to the night, make it more memorable before we kill her. What do you say, gentleman?"

They nodded and undressed Ophelia with their eyes. "Hand her over Luke."

I laughed. "Over my dead body."

He shrugged. "Your death wish. Any last words?"

This was it.

"You do know they're going to kill you." Ophelia spoke up.

"What?" Kennedy and I asked in unison.

"After the deal, they're going to kill you." She motioned over the two men behind Kennedy. "Russians hate disloyalty whether its from their side or not."

She had this thing of observing people and saying what they were thinking before they mentioned it.

"Shut up! Shut the hell up!" Kennedy's sudden anger proved Ophelia was right in her observation, they were Russians and Kennedy was scared they'd kill him.

"We're done here, better start praying to God!" He shouted.

Ophelia buried her face in my neck and sobbed, then she started fumbling with her dress. We were about to die and she was more concerned about setting her dress straight. I felt something cold press on the side of my neck, she was so scared she was getting cold, I should have kept her safe. I closed my eyes.

Spit....Thud

Spit....Thud

Spit....Thud.

What the hell?

I opened my eyes and saw three bodies on the floor, bullet holes in the middle of their foreheads. I turned around to see Ophelia holding a Taurus 740fs subcompact pistol with a silencer. She blew out the smoking gun.

I turned around again to look at the bodies and cleaned my eyes, maybe I was already dead.

Somebody touched my shoulder. Ophelia was standing in front of me. "We have to go."

Oh no we don't...... I held her and slammed her against the wall. "Are you crazy, Ophelia!?"

I shook her until my anger subsided. "What were you thinking?!"

"Yeah, you're welcome Luke! That's the thank you I get for saving your life!" She struggled to free herself but I wouldn't budge.

"I-I'm sorry." I whispered and hugged her. Just thinking of losing her made me crazy.

She rubbed my back. "It's okay, I know you're angry that I didn't tell you what I was planning. I knew you would react this way."

I let her go and she returned the gun to holster on her exposed thigh. How did I miss the bulge earlier? It also explained why she whimpered when the security guard wanted to check her thigh. She was scared he would discover the gun.

I snapped out of my daze and retrieved the brown folder in Kennedy's hand. I surveyed the bodies on the floor, the blood pooling around them, the boss said to bring him home for punishment; I guess this was punishment enough for him.

"How long do you think it'll take them to discover the bodies?" Ophelia asked standing by my side.

"Two days, three days at most. My best bet is cleaning staff. No involvement of the police whatsoever, Robinson won't risk it."

"I guess I just got us in trouble with the Russians, right?"

I pulled her close. "No, we came to retrieve what's ours and they attacked us first. Besides as long as we don't touch that, we're safe." I pointed to the briefcase full of money.

She nodded.

"Come on, let's get out of here while we still can." I pulled her out of the room, locked the door and slid the key under the locked door.

We stood in the hallway staring at each other. Despite the fracas, she still looked neat, not a hair out of place.

"Before we leave here, is there any other thing I should know? Any other thing you've planned to do tonight?" I needed to ask because I couldn't take anymore surprises.

"It's Robinson, isn't it?"

I bit my lip and looked away. She must have listened to the conversation between Kennedy and I, before she could do anything stupid I grabbed her arm and dragged her downstairs.

"We have what we want, let's get out of here."

When we got downstairs, someone announced that dinner would be served in a few minutes.

We could slip out undetected when the others moved to the large dinning area. We stood by watching, sipping champagne, to see if our crime would be discovered.

A loud crash drew our attention.

A young host carrying a tray of champagne tripped and fell to the ground sending full glasses of champagne across the room, the liquid landed on a woman and she shrieked drawing the attention of the whole room to her.

"Oh my God!" Ophelia left my side to help.

Instead of helping the woman, to my surprise she bent down to help the host who had cut his gloved hands on the other glasses that crashed.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

The guy was shaking, to stunned to speak and was losing blood fast.

"Hey!" The companion of the woman approached the host. "Do you know how much that dress cost you riff raff?!" He made a move to hit the host.

Ophelia stood up to his level and put herself between the man and the host who was already up on his feet holding the worst injured arm in the other. "Can't you see he tripped?" People were snickering, others were shocked at the audacity of Ophelia.

"If you want to hit him, then you'll have to go through me first." She set herself in a battle stance, legs wide apart.

So much for not attracting attention to our ourselves.

He raised his hands to shove her out of his way, I decided to intervene.

"If you as much as lay a finger on my girl, I'll knock your teeth out of your head and shove them down your throat." I cracked my knuckles to emphasise my point.

He looked me up down and saw he would lose in a combat battle with me.

She led the injured host to the other side and took him into the restroom, I followed closely behind. Inside, she put the bleeding hand under a rush of a cold water.

"I can't find a first aid kit." She told me, wanting me to find it.

"Hey, I'm Ophelia, this is Luke. What's your name, sweetie?"

"M-Mario." He stuttered not meeting her eyes.

She lifted his chin to look him in the eyes. "Listen Mario, what ever you do, never allow anybody treat you like scum because you're not of a high social class or not as fortunate as them. You deserve more than this."

She proceeded to clean his wound, pulling out tiny glass shards she applied salve and bandaged his hands real good but couldn't find a bandage clip to hold it together. She put her hand in the dress and pulled out a scented white handkerchief, out the side of her cleavage and tried everything into a knot with it.

"There, that should stop the bleeding." She said patting his arm.

"Thank you. Please excuse me." He turned and left the restroom.

She put her hand on her chin feeling pity for the guy. I pulled her close. "You're tired. Let's go home."

When we came out of the restroom, the hall was empty the others had moved to the dinning room, I led her out, towards the parking lot and took my key from the valet. I tucked her in the passenger seat, got into the car and started the beautiful machine. It took a while for us to find our way out of the large driveway, we existed Robinson's large estate. Whilst on the road Ophelia was oddly quiet, the incidents that occurred this night weighed heavily on her mind. I offered as much comfort as I could, holding her hand in mine while driving.

"Luke, stop the car." She sat up suddenly.

I stepped on the brakes. "What's the problem, princess?"

"Isn't that Mario?" She pointed to the figure huddled on the sidewalk.

Before I knew what was happening, she exited the car and headed for the figure. "Ophelia! Be careful!" My warning went on deaf ears.

The figure was indeed Mario and from the way Ophelia was comforting him he had been crying?

Strange.

She led him to the car and I managed to catch bits of their conversation.

"We'll give you a ride home". She told him in a voice that left no room for argument.

He looked reluctant to get into the car. She sighed and got in and moved to the back leaving the passenger seat vacant.

He still didn't get in.

"Look Mario, I assure you we're not serial killers. We just want to help you." She raised her hands to emphasize her point.

Technically, we were.

This was the second time this night she guessed correctly what someone was thinking because he looked around weighing his options. The street was deadly quiet and he'd have to walk for God knows how many hours to get home or get into the car with two total strangers.

He got into the car, gave us his address and closed the door. The air was tense throughout the drive, Mario cleaned a tear or two once a while.

Ophelia put her arm around my head rest from behind, encircling her hand around my neck and put her head on my shoulder observing Mario.

"What happened?" She finally asked.

He shook his head, refusing to share.

What's the worst that could have happened? My best bet was that he lost his job.

We arrived the address he gave us pretty quick. He got out of the car, standing in front of a tenement in a slum area. Ophelia moved back to the passenger seat and waved out the open window. "Goodbye, Mario."

"Goodbye, Ophelia." He waved back and gave a small weak smile.

I stepped on the gas, we still had a long drive ahead of us.

"You know that's not his real address." I told Ophelia.

She nodded. "I know. He's a smart guy, his house might be two blocks down." She massaged her forehead, no doubt an oncoming headache. "I feel sorry for him. I wish I could help him but if I give him some money, he might consider it an insult."

I rubbed her arm. "Don't work yourself up, princess. Its been a long night, you did the best you could do for him.

She relaxed.

_______

Ophelia was already asleep when we arrived the mansion. I parked the car underground, I went to her side of the car to help her out. She stumbled in her heels, clutching the roof of the car for support; the alcohol she took this evening taking its toll.

Ophelia could never hold alcohol for long, usually getting drunk on the first three glasses of wine.

She squealed when I picked her up piggyfront with one arm. "Put me down! I can walk." She hit me with her purse.

Yeah, right. Tell that to the floor when you fall face first. Eventually she relaxed, wrapping her legs around me and placing her head on my shoulder, the good one.

The mansion was quiet, notifying us that everyone had gone to sleep apart from mob members standing guard.

I climbed the stairs, up to our living quarters and deposited Ophelia at her door.

"Get some sleep, princess, tomorrow is going to be a long day."

I was tempted to invite myself into her room but I couldn't risk getting caught.

"Goodnight, Luke." she hugged me.

"Goodnight, princess." I placed a light kiss on her forehead and left when she got into her room and locked the door.

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