He closed the door behind him and I swallowed the thick saliva down my dry throat.

It was late evening, and the sunlight was nearly fading away, creating more shadows than there was light. He stood silently in the shadows, looking at her. He had never imagined that he would ever live to see the day that he was so confused, so frustrated and so conflicted, that he actually had the strongest urge to curl up and cry.

At first, he did not believe any of the staff's claims of her having taken the file willingly. They were all wrong. She would never do such a thing to him.

He had only asked her one thing the day he had shown the file to her: to not break his trust. She would never do that. She was his most loyal...what was she to him? An employee? A...friend? He had only trusted Karim even close to how much he had trusted her. And Karim was like his own brother.

But she wasn't his sister. Oh, no. Far from that. The passionate kisses they had shared proved that their relation was anything but platonic. He had, admittedly, only wanted to remove the fake label on their relationship in Egypt. He actually wanted her as his wife. He had loved her. No, he still loved her. She would never betray him. Ever.

But then where was she? Was she alright? These thoughts had plagued him since yesterday. His men kept on reporting evidence that proved that she had been planning to take the file and run away, while all he wanted to do was kill each and every one of them who suggested that she could have been a traitor. She would never do that! Why were they bringing evidences that said the opposite! She had been loyal to him since the start, even to the point of sheer risk of death, then why would she give away his secret to his enemy? Why would she ever betray him?

He had joined them, desperately trying to find anything which would prove that she was innocent. Because he wanted her to be innocent. Because if it was proved that she was a traitor, then...then it would mean that she did not care for him, love him even a bit. That she would have betrayed him, and since she was the closest to someone who he thought had cared, it hurt all the more. Even worse than the time when he had left his home, because this had been his second, and last chance at love. And if she had not loved him, then....he didn't want to actually think about it.

He had searched all of London, all throughout the night, wanting to find her, yet wishing to not really do so. Usually, he made decisions in under thirty seconds, the average time being twenty two point four seconds, but it had been twenty two hours and he still was unable to make a decision. To decide whether she was guilty or not.

When his men reported that someone similar to her had been seen boarding a ship to India, he didn't know what he wanted to do. Let her go and never hear that she had betrayed him from her lips, or stop her and hope that she would protest furiously that she was innocent.

Like she had when he had accused her of taking the file for the Suez Canal. He actually had the stupid urge to curse loudly at the files. Another thing she always did. Even when she was working in the office, she cursed in Portuguese and Arabic at him, or the files, and even the boxes when he required them occasionally. He had once or twice even corrected her pronunciations, too, and she would always reply with another curse.

He had got so lost in his thoughts that Warren had to repeat his question. Whether to catch her or not. He simply nodded and Warren left.

He had to push himself to get up from his desk and reach the docks, where she would be waiting for him. Putting on his cold facade, behind which only she had bothered to look, he joined his men.

Now that he finally saw her, he didn't knew what to do. One part of him wanted to open her restraints and kiss her and let her convince him that she had not betrayed him, but his rational part told him that this way it was better, he would not be carried away by her words.

But she wasn't able to breathe properly, he observed; the cloth was quite thick and was obstructing her mouth and nose, and he had to fight his instinct to rip it off her face. He clenched his fist and took one step towards her, not daring to look into her eyes.

She took him in carefully, his disheveled clothes and the lack of his top hat, the shadows covering him mostly and, more importantly his face. She tried to take deep breaths and hyperventilate, but the cloth made her feel like she was almost suffocating. She wanted to pull him closer, feel his arms around her, his voice in her ear, telling that he still trusted her, that he did not think that she had betrayed him.

"Mthambrz?" Her voice came out muffled and hardly audible, but he heard her clearly.

His finger twitched violently and hands itched to wrap themselves around her, to pull her close and never let her go, but he spoke in the coldest voice he could muster, hiding everything behind it.

"Did you take the file?"

She shook her head vigorously, "Nmmlsteumi,etvasdlgis-"

"Don't lie to me." His cold voice threatened to crack. "Everyone saw you took it. Willingly."

"Yunmgtiz!" She looked at him frantically, frustrated that he wasn't even looking her in the eye. How was she supposed to prove her innocence if he even refused to look at her!

"Ymg!" He looked at her in surprise at her muffled shout. Her soft brown eyes were ablaze with anger, determination and...fear, her intense gaze pinning him in his place. And he didn't want to move from there. Her eyes clearly spoke what her lips couldn't and not for the first time, he only wanted to listen.

If she could still look at him like that, she had not taken the file, no matter what everyone had seen or said. He was not going to believe them over his ifrit.

She pointedly looked at him, then at the cloth covering her mouth and again at him, and he took two swift steps towards her, giving in to his urge to rip the cloth away. With the thick barrier gone, she finally took in deep breaths and immediately coughed, her dry throat feeling too sore to even whisper. Her eyes closed as she leant forward, swallowing some saliva in an attempt to control the burning in her throat.

"Water." Her voice was so small, it seemed like she had only moved her lips, yet a hip flask touched her lips in a few moments and the cool liquid dribbled over her lips as she drank it all greedily. Only when there was no more water, she lifted her eyes and met his intense gaze taking in her form silently, and spoke in a low voice.

"You think I betrayed you?" Badly disguised hurt and fear laced her words as she looked at him, but he looked away.

"Evidence was found that you had been planning to take the file." His voice was very low and she had to nearly strain her ears.

"And you believed it?"

Silence. Before he could even look at her, the door burst open and the tall figure of Karim dragged in a familiar man and her eyes widened. Relaxing his grip on the gun he had taken out at Karim's arrival, he glared at him.

"It was all a plan, Sahib. It was Dalgliesh." He stiffened at Karim's words, boiling anger threatening to overcome his senses and his hands curling into tight fists.

Indeed. He should have realised it all earlier. All those easily found evidences. The biased statements of his men. No, not his. Dalgliesh's men. And he had nearly fallen into his trap. And if Dalgliesh would have succeeded....There was protocol, discipline to keep the men in check, better than capital did. Fear.

Death for traitors. If he had believed Dalgliesh's plan...His mouth went dry.

Silence. Absolute silence.

"Karim, that blasted flapdoodle might have the keys." She shifted her numb hands behind her back, the metal handcuffs clinking together."And, um, thanks."

Karim gave her a small nod, and getting no response from him, pulled up the man by his hair and his cry rang out in the silence. A few moments later, he was fumbling with the key as he opened the lock, unable to see with his one eye swollen shut. The moment the metal restraints slipped off her hands, she twisted her wrists warily, wincing at the sharp throbbing as blood rushed into them and stood up, balacing herself with the help of the chair.

He looked at her silently, unable to comprehend the tornado of emotions wrecking him from inside. Rage, pure, blind rage and pain, at the sight of the blood on her hands, the urge to lash out at someone, something, but at the same time, the need to make sure she was all right. To make sure she was still real. In front of him.

And regret. Plenty of it. Rikkard Ambrose never regretted something. He always only made sure that his opponent did so once he was done with him. He had forgotten how it felt to regret something with all his heart, since more than a decade.

But in the last twenty three hours, fourteen minutes and thirty six seconds, he regretted every moment he had ever doubted her. She was the only one who had stuck with him, through thick and thin, in the face of danger and in the moments when he had been at his best and worst. She had stuck with him, stayed at his side despite his efforts to make her resign, to strain her to such limits that no ordinary man could have survived it sane, yet she never gave up on him. And now, he had actually doubted her loyalty, the evidences be damned, and he couldn't have regretted it anymore.

The storm of emotions, which he had vowed to never feel again twelve years ago, consumed him, leaving only destruction in its wake, so much so that he was actually startled to hear the click of taking off the safety of a gun and his hand instinctively moved to his own gun. His eyes searched for her, to pull her to safety. Close to him.

But when he saw Lillian Linton standing a few feet in front of him, aiming a gun at him, saying that he was surprised, would be the understatement of the year. He stood there silently, silent not because it would be a waste of time and energy to speak, but because he was lost for words. What-?

She looked at him square in the eye, her intense brown eyes drilling into his sea green ones even in the near darkness and he clearly saw her finger inch towards the trigger. "You, Mr. Ambrose, better believe it. I did not betray you and I never will. Get that through your thick head before a bullet does it."

She was actually threatening him to believe her. At gunpoint.

Silence.

Until Karim cursed out loud behind her before putting back his sabre into his sheath, muttering something along the lines of, "Ifrit...unbelievable...how can Sahib love-"

She turned the gun on Karim, gesturing to put back his sabre which he had taken out again. "Did you say something, Karim?"

Karim put his hands up, letting go of the semi-conscious man, who stumbled into the barrels behind him. "No."

"Better not." Turning back to him, she narrowed her eyes at his still figure. "Mr. Ambrose, y-"

He smoothly tackled the gun out of her hands in two simple moves, gently taking both her wrists in one hand, careful not to touch her wounds and held the gun in the other. Pulling her close with his arm, he took a breath deeper than the last and pressed his lips against her hair. Putting on the safety lever of the gun, he tossed it to Karim, who caught it effortlessly and tightened his grip on her with both his hands. "Indeed, I believe it."

She smiled into his tailcoat as she relaxed into his familiar touch, finally, and leaned on him, his arms keeping her balanced. The strange feeling in her hands and legs was fading away, yet she felt lightheaded. He believed her. He knew she hadn't betrayed her and she felt like she could finally breath again without her worst fear threatening to suffocate her. The cold dread in her stomch was gone like it was never there.

His hand tugged her chin towards him and her lips met his in the most gentle, softest kiss ever. Hesitatingly at first, but making sure to clear all doubts between them, and making a warm bliss spread out throughout her, the relief rushing through her like her own blood. He cupped her face with one hand, the other pulling her to him. Their lips molded together as she pressed herself into him, not wanting to ever let go.

An awkward cough interrupted them and she groaned in annoyance, taking a step back from his arms. Ignoring the man whose eyes, well, not the eye which was swollen shut, was bulging out of his head, she turned to Karim and held out her hand. "The gun."

"No." Before Karim could even react, he had pulled her hand back, keeping a firm grip on it, just in case. She turned to glare at him, a stubborn determination clearly visible in her fiery brown eyes.

"Fine, then. You ask him where Dalgliesh is."

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  The man stood silently on the deck of his ship, his blond hair ruffled slightly by the sea wind as the Nemesis stood at the docks, ready to set sail the moment he gave the order. His eyes were set on the entrance, as if waiting for someone. Or rather something.

  In a few moments, a tall, gangly looking man nearly ran to the lone figure, panting hard as he spoke. "My...my Lord?"

  The figure did not move a muscle as he watched the bustle of the docks and the markets below him. There was enough crowd for his men to complete the task without much difficulty or the risk of being caught easily. His steel blue eyes darkened at the thought of his victory. He had ensured it this time.

  "The plan..plan A didn't work." The man's voice trembled with fear at being the bearer of this bad news. He had seen plenty of other bearers of bad news in their graves. And this being the most important mission, he didn't want to imagine the consequences if he failed. Sending up a quick prayer in his head, he continued. "The targets are currently moving in our direction."

  The blond man turned, a vicious smile on his face. "Then, my dear man, you know what to do. And kindly refrain from bringing similar news for the second time. Bullets do cost a lot nowadays. Wouldn't want to  waste them, would we?"

  The man shook his vigorously, his knees shaking in fear at the not-so-subtle threat. "No, my Lord. I shall do my best." Scrambling away as soon as he saw the blond haired man nod imperceptibly, he sighed in relief. He had survived. For now. And to ensure it continued, Rikkard Ambrose and his secretary were going to have to die.

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Dear ladies and gentlemen,

Sorry for the slight, um, delay in the update; I had been very confused with Lilly's reaction, but now I think its all settled! Do tell me your feedback! Eagerly waiting for all your votes and comments,

Yours truly,
Ifrit5789.

Edit: This chapter has got another added part from '---' onwards, please read it before you move on the third part.