"I'm sorry."

Everyone had left the interrogation room, leaving Mira and Adrian the only ones left. Mira spun around to look at Adrian, jaw clenched tightly. He had no obligation to protect her, to help her find a way out, but she still felt betrayed. He had convinced her that he would help her get out of this mess, yet did nothing to help her out of Elliot's sly grasp.

"Was this your plan all along? Help me so you could use me against my dad?" Her voice shook with anger. Adrian looked hurt by her words, as if he hadn't brought them onto himself.

"Please Mira, just listen to me. The only reason you're not going back with them right now is because I was able to offer an alternative. If I could just let you go, I would have, but then they would have had their way with you, and trust me Mira, you don't want that." He explained defensively. She dug her nails into her arm.

"Yeah, well you could have at least told me that instead of leading me on like there was some easy way out of this."

He didn't say anything, just staring at her with this pitiful look in his eyes that fueled her anger.

"Let's just go. Unless you're going to leave me locked in here like some prisoner," She growled. He let out a long breath, shaking his head.

"You know I wouldn't do that. Come on." He made his way to the door, opening it and motioning for her to follow. She did, quietly following him back to his car, and riding back in silence.

When they got back to his apartment, she made her way over to the couch, pulling Pickles into her lap and running her fingers through his fur.

Adrian took a seat across from her, watching her silently as if he were trying to come up with something to say.

"Tomorrow we'll go over a few things to prepare you, and then the next day, I'll take you back to your apartment, and it'll all be up to you." He said finally. She lifted her eyes up from Pickles.

"Great," she deadpanned, turning her attention back to Pickles. How was she even supposed to pull this off? One doesn't just learn how to be in the mafia after a day of 'practice'. What if she went to her dad and he wanted nothing to do with her? God, there were just so many 'what if's' that ravaged her mind.

Adrian didn't say anything as he got up and went into the kitchen. He started the stove and began cooking something, and although it smelled heavenly, her appetite was gone. It was like the nausea she'd get before a big game, but make it ten fold.

She blindly watched an episode of gossip girl, barely listening as she stared blankly at the screen.

"Here, I made you something to eat," Adrian's voice pulled her out of her daze as he placed two plates of steak, asparagus and potatoes on the counter top.

Although she would have loved to ignore him and make his sorry ass sit there and eat by himself, she felt obligated to at least go over and make an attempt at eating.

Pickles padded behind her in hopes of getting his share too although he'd already eaten plenty of his food. She slipped into the barstool next to him.

"Geez, what is this, the last supper?" She asked, eyes lingering on the extravagant spread before her.

This earned a light chuckle from Adrian, one that tempted her to smile too, but she forced herself to keep a straight face.

She picked at her food, knowing if she ate too much her stomach would reject it.

"So, what are you thinking so hard about over there?" Adrian asked, his head resting in his palm as he looked over at her. She fought the urge to roll her eyes. He knew exactly what she was thinking about.

"I'm thinking about how I'm going to pull this off. You may have grown up in a world full of drugs and crime, but I grew up like any other normal kid. God, I haven't seen my dad in months, and now I have face him, pretend like I actually want to be a part of this. For christ sake, I don't even know how to use a gun," She stabbed a piece of steak with her fork, dragging it along the edges of the glass plate.

"I'll teach you," Adrian said after a moment. "Tomorrow I'll teach you how to shoot a gun, some basic self defense techniques, if something were to happen, you'll be able to handle yourself."

She felt her lips twitch. Despite how it might've come across, Mira didn't want to know how to shoot a gun. She never wanted to have to use a gun period.

"Ok." She replied quietly. "And what am I supposed to say to him, we've barely been in contact these past three years."

"You're going to tell him exactly what he wants to hear. You'll take the file we found in his desk, and tell him you came across from them because your curiosity got the best of you. Use these past three years against him, tell him you miss him. That's all he'll really want to hear Mira, that even after finding out who he really was, you still love him." Adrian narrowed his eyes at her.

Tell him she still loved him, huh? Mira wasn't sure how exactly she felt towards her father after everything that'd she learned, but it wasn't love. Disgust? Pity? Nonetheless, she knew he was right. After losing his two past wives, maybe he would jump at the opportunity to save the last relationship he had left.

"Right, lie to him, and use him." It felt wrong as she said it out loud. No matter how horrible of a person he was, she didn't want to be like him.

"And once you do that, I'll be right there to get you out of there." Adrian reached over and gently placed his hand on her shoulder, rubbing circles with his thumb. Her skin heated up at his touch, and as much as she hated to admit it, she was grateful for the reassuring motion.

"Are you going to kill him?" She asked, her voice barely above a whisper. He didn't say anything for a moment before shaking his head.

"No, we just need him vulnerable, to strip him of his power so that whatever plan he has to go against the four families falls apart. Killing him would be a last resort, and I doubt it'll come to that." For the most part, he sounded certain in his response, but there was a tiny hint of doubt in his voice, one that wrapped its tendrils around her heart, squeezing it. Could she really play a part in assisting her own father's murder?

"I have one condition." Mira spoke up, glancing down at the pug sitting perched up at her feet. Adrian lifted a brow.

"You have to take care of Pickles. Take him for walks, play with him, and give him lots of cuddles." Adrian's lips curved upwards at her request.

"Of course."

***

Today, Adrian ran a tight schedule, waking Mira up early and having her change into a pair of workout clothes. He had said the previous night that he was going to teach her some self defense techniques, and he planned on following through on that promise.

He'd led her down to the second floor into a large, open gym with a boxing ring in the middle. There were several men and women working out before them, but once Adrian walked in, they gave him respectful nods and took their leave.

Adrian ducked under the ropes into the center of the ring, motioning for Mira to follow. She did so, stepping into the ring so that she was facing him.

"Alright, I'm going to come at you and I want you to try and break free." He commanded, barely giving her a chance to respond before he'd grabbed a hold of her and twisted her into a headlock. She clawed at his arm as he cut off her airway, failing horribly to break free. He finally let her go and she collapsed onto her knees, gasping for air.

"A warning next time?" She offered between hasty breaths.

"Oh yeah," Adrian said sarcastically. "I'm sure if you ask the person trying to hurt you to wait they'll give you as much time as you need." Cheeky asshole.

"Fine, can we skip to the part where I learn how to get out of that death hold?" She pushed herself back onto her feet. And he did, showing her how to maneuver out of tight situations, how to prevent herself from being vulnerable. By the end of his lesson, Mira had quickly gotten ahold of things, and now they circled each other, both grinning with anticipation. He was pleasantly surprised by how quickly she got the hang of things, and she was excited to show him what he'd learned. He pulled her into a headlock like her had before, and this time, Mira managed to sling him over her shoulder and pin him to the ground.

"Seems like the student just became the teacher," She teased, her hands pinning his against the floor at his sides. He laughed as he flipped them over, Mira now the one pinned to the ground.

"Don't get too cocky sweetheart, I was going easy on you." He hovered over top of her, his face just inches from hers. She couldn't help the way her eyes spared a sneaky glance at his lips, her heart skipping a beat.

"Still," he added, pushing away from her, "you're already a lot better prepared to take someone on, especially if they're bigger than you." He stood up and offered her a hand. She took it and pulled herself up, breathing heavily. Bold of her to assume she could best Adrian after merely learning the basics over the past few hours.

"Now that you know the defense," he nodded in the direction of a door. "It's time to work on offense." He lead her over to the door, pushing it open to reveal a large armory lined with guns on one side, a shooting range on the other. Mira sucked in a sharp breath, realizing that he actually planned on teaching her how to shoot.

"I don't know about this Adrian..." her voice trailed off as she took in the different models. There were so many, and to think they were there solely for training.

"Hey, just because you know how to use a gun doesn't mean you'll ever have to use it. This is just a precaution." He walked over to the shelf and grabbed a pistol.

"Come over here," he walked over towards the shooting range, standing in front of one of the targets. Mira hesitated but followed, allowing him to guide her shoulders so that she was directly in front of the target.

"The first thing you should know is where the safety button is." He held the gun out in front of her, pointing to a small button along the side of it.

"You press this to turn the safety on and off. With it on, it won't shoot if you try to pull the trigger. Next, is the magazine. This holds the bullets. When you run out of bullets, you change it by doing this." He pulled the magazine out and then pushed it back in.

He reached over and pressed the gun into her hands, guiding them into an ideal position.

"Always have a firm grip, your aim is crucial." She followed his directions, adjusting her grip around the handle. He grabbed a pair of headphones from behind him.

"I'll put these on you, then I want you to turn the safety off, aim at the target, and shoot. It's going to kick back a bit but don't let go of it."

Mira nodded in response and allowed him to place the headphones on her head, the room around her going silent. She swallowed as she pressed the safety button and aimed for the target. She pulled the trigger, the sound still vibrating through her body despite the headphones. She squeezed her eyes shut as the recoil jerked her body back. After a moment she peaked from behind her lids to see she'd managed to completely miss the target.

Adrian had a pained expression on his face. Apparently he was just as shocked as she was by how badly she'd missed.

He slid her headphones down around her neck.

"Why'd you shrink back like the bullet was gonna make a 180 and hit you instead?" He asked.

"I knew it wasn't going to hurt me-," she started but Adrian cut her off.

"Then why'd you get scared? You're the one pulling the trigger Mira, the bullets going to go where you aim it. The gun isn't going to hurt you, unless you let it." Mira felt like a five year old getting lectured, but he had a point. She had been scared when she pulled the trigger, but at nothing in particular. If anything, she might've been more scared by the fact consequences of pulling the trigger than the gun itself.

"Try again."

They repeated this process over and over, until finally Mira was able to hold a steady gaze with the target the entire way through. She held her position firmly, despite the guns nasty recoil, and was now hitting the inner rings of the target.

She released a long breath, lowering the gun and looking over at Adrian. He nodded approvingly, reaching over and pulling the headphones off her head and taking the gun. He placed the items back in their previous spots before walking back over to her.

"You did good." He praised her, taking her back into the main gym. "Is there anything else you want me to go over with you?" He asked, and when she shook her head, he lead her back to his apartment.

"Do you mind if I take a shower?" She asked after they walked in.

"Go ahead," Adrian nodded, and she went through his room, into the bathroom. She peeled her sweaty clothes off and ran the water until it was hot to the touch. She slipped into the shower, letting the hot water run down her body. It was all becoming too real. Tomorrow she would no longer be hiding in the safety of Adrian's apartment, protected by his men and his authority, instead she'd be walking into her father's territory, with no one but herself to rely on. And to think, just days before, she'd been stressed about stats and soccer, crying over her ex boyfriend. Those things seemed so small now.

Thirty minutes had passed when she finally turned the faucet off and got out of the shower, the mirror fogged up with steam. She got dressed and made her way out into the living room, Adrian pacing the length of the room as he held the phone to his ear.

"Yes father, she'll be going to meet with him tomorrow. She knows what she has to do. I know, I know, trust me, it'll work." He hung up, turning to look over at her.

"Finished using up all the hot water?" He jested.

"Yup, is everything alright?" She asked, disregarding his witty remark. He let out a long breath.

"Yeah, just my father checking in to make sure everything is in place." He responded. She wondered if his father was anything like her own.

"Gotcha," She walked over to Adrian's bookshelf, taking in the impressive array of novels.

"Which is your favorite?" She asked.

"Nine-teen Eighty Four by George Orwell," He responded, walking over and pulling it out of the book shelf. He handed it to her, the vinyl feeling like a relic in her palms.

"I'm going to go wash up, I'll be out in a bit." He said, heading into his room.

Mira took the book and went over to the couch. She needed something to take her mind off things, even if it was a book she was only mildly interested in. She flipped to the first page and began reading, part of her curious to see why Adrian held such regard for it.

When Adrian returned from his shower, she was shocked by how engrossed she'd gotten into the book, nearly fifty pages in.

"You like it?" Adrian asked, smiling pleasantly at the sight of her reading it.

"Oh, yeah its pretty interesting, the concept and all." She replied. He walked over and settled down on the couch next to her.

"So," he continued. "How are you feeling about everything?" He asked. She closed the book. What did he want her to say? Fan-fucking-tastic?

"I'm horrified." She exclaimed. "All I've been able to think about is what I'm going to see there, how bad my dad's really going to be. When my mom killed herself, I always wondered why, we weren't perfect, but we were a happy family. What if this was the reason?"

Adrian's expression softened.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know that was how she passed. I want to tell you that it'll be fine, that I'm sure he isn't that bad, but then I'd be lying." He paused. "The only thing I can say is that if you do this, you might actually get your life back, and you might keep a lot of people from dying."

She studied his expression, from his stormy eyes, to his firm pressed lips.

"Yeah, I hope so."

He lingered out in the living room with her for a little while before standing up.

"You should get some sleep, we've got a long day tomorrow."

Mira nodded, putting her book on the coffee table and turning out the lights. Adrian had disappeared into his room, leaving Mira with no one but Pickles to keep her company as she laid down on the couch, staring up at the ceiling. She tried to turn her mind off, to ignore her rampant thoughts, but after a while, she simply accepted that she wouldn't be sleeping much that night.