AN: This story will not be linked to The Styles Effect series in anyway aside from it being Assassin's story. This is his own story and what I would have written if I didn't write the Styles Effect.

My partner was a young brooding man with a 24/7 stone cold expression on his masculine face, paired with two heavy menacing jade green eyes, a jawline sharper than the pocket knives tucked in his shoes and sleeves and a quick tongue that could only speak the Italian language.

Being an assassin, you were either assigned two types of jobs, protecting an important client or killing a specific, dangerous target- which I personally think is kind of a little too intense so I usually stick to the previous option.

"I'm going to be taking a shower." Katia informed me in a smooth sultry voice, her sun kissed skin hidden under the white soft fabric of her bath robe that was slowly sliding down her slender shoulders in a suggestive manner as I looked up from my paper to smile at her, only to find her brown eyes trained on my partner across the room who was seated on the couch.

Harry sharpened the considerably large pocket knife in his hand, running the blade against the steel rod in his grasp quietly before he paused, broad shoulders tense as he turned his head up to look at us when he felt our stares, his face etched with slight irritation.

I turned my attention back to our client Katia who dared to lock her eyes with his, a silent message being sent between the two with me stuck in the middle quickly looking back and forth from him and him as she bit her bottom lip, scrunching her shoulders up a bit causing her robe to reveal even more of her flawless skin while she moved her blonde hair to the side.

Was she implying that someone needed to watch her? I could do it.

It was possible the showerhead could fall and hit her skull.

Or she could easily slip on the wet floor and snap her neck.

Harry watched Katia with a calculating gaze, his eyes flickering to her somewhat revealed chest before going back up to her face and without another word, he turned his attention back to sharpening his knife, actually yawning into the back of his hand as he did so in an uninterested gesture.

Katia looked more than disappointed and offended, her confidence crumbling on the spot as she inhaled sharply at the obvious rejection.

Oh no.

"Uh, here," I quickly said, snapping her glare away from Harry as I handed her one of the mini hotel shampoos I had taken from the bathroom this morning, retrieving the small bottle from my bag of weapons.

"It has the best scent and I just really love the little bottles this hotel carries -I mean gosh they're just so cute I took everything. Don't worry, I'm leaving 'thank you' lime green sticky notes everywhere." I explained when she sent me a look, holding the shampoo while I showed her my stack of notes with cute 'thank you' messages written on them by yours truly.

She didn't say anything, just stared at me for a moment before letting out an annoyed scoff, turning on her heel and walking into the bathroom before slamming it shut with a loud bang that echoed throughout the suite, leaving Harry and I alone.

"Okay, hope you enjoy it!" I called out with a small smile, going back to sticking all my little notes onto every flat surface of the hotel room, especially over the pillows because wow were those mints amazing.

I ate Harry's pillow mint.

And Katia's.

I don't really think they minded though... well I hope not.

Harry was still sharpening his weapon when I approached him, joining him on the couch with a flop, the cushions bouncing underneath us causing him to stop his movements for a moment, glaring in front of him as he closed his eyes and took in a slow controlled breath at my proximity.

"Hey partner," I greeted, leaning forward so he could see the warm smile on his face as he opened his eyes, his jaw tightening in obvious annoyance.

"I know you only speak Italian but can you believe it, our first mission together and we delivered our client safely to her destination. Amazing right, I mean it seems just like yesterday we first met and you cracked your knuckles, looking like you wanted to punch me." I laughed, bringing my legs up and folding them on the couch before my grin broadened.

"Yeah, just like that!" I pointed out when he placed the steel rod down on the table in front of us to flex his long masculine ring clad fingers, his knuckles cracking with him just stretching and balling his tattooed hand open and closed as he glared at me.

"Anyways, I know you probably don't understand me and I definitely don't understand you but look, this is for you." I said, placing one sticky note on the table in front of him, my hand retracting back only a split second before Harry spun the knife in his hand and brought it down adruptly onto the note, puncturing both the paper and table in the process as the metal rang through the air.

I blinked in surprise, my hand held close to my chest before he brought the weapon up, the small paper pierced and stuck to the tip of the knife as he read it with an uninterested expression.

I had written 'grazie compagno' in Italian, which meant 'thank you partner' as he flickered his gaze to me, making me send him a small smile as he stared at me with a completely blank expression.

"Non siamo compagnos." Harry finally spoke in a deep gruff tone that caught me off guard as I blinked at him in surprise.

I just stared at him, taking in this moment, breathing it in.

"Oh wow, wow sorry you just- you usually never say anything in response or talk to me at all I'm just- I'm just a little shocked here but hey, this is definitely progress." I celebrated, nodding with a smile and raising my hand for his for a high five, watching with built up excitement as he glanced at my oustretched hand before looking over at me.

Harry then stood up without another word, ignoring my raised hand as my smile dimmed when he walked out of the room, my hand still high up in the air.

Do not, I repeat, do not cringe and curl up into a ball of rejection like last time when he ignored your fist bump Malu, you're A-okay.

"Okay, not in the mood, totally get it, we'll try again some other time!" I said once I realized he wasn't coming back before giving myself a high five and slapping my two hands together.

Whoo!

"Progress." I silently smiled to myself, nodding my head before I blinked in realization, turning and retrieving the pocket sized Italian dictionary from the back of my jeans that I had gotten during this mission to communicate with my partner a little better.

I cuddled further into the cushions, rapidly flipping through the thin inky pages in determination.

"Non siamo compagnos, non siamo compagnos." I recited under my breath, repeating what Harry had said to me as I looked up the first two words.

I frowned at the definitions, a crease forming between my brows when I translated it.

We're not partners.

"Why of course we're partners." I protested to no one in particular, placing the book down and staring off with a slight pout.

A sudden thud emanated from the bathroom, the water of the shower shutting off as I heard a small "ouch" through the closed door making me shoot up from the couch in alarm.

"Katia, Katia are you okay?" I asked in concern, knocking lightly and waiting a few moments with no response before I opened it to find Katia leaning against the wall, clinging a towel around her wet body as she leg.

"I'm fine, just bumped my leg is all." She said with a slight wince as I went over to her.

Well the wife of the west mafia's boss can't arrive to safety all bruised.

"Do you need anything?" I asked, helping her to her room next door as she limped to her bed.

"No, no I'll be- I'll be fine." She let out a dramatic sigh, laying down across the soft mattress only in her towel as I nodded and headed for the door.

"Well," Katia began, making me retract back into the room.

"Yes?" I asked with a polite smile.

"Oh, no, no it's nothing." She quickly dismissed, laying her head down, her wet blonde hair sprawled underneath her head like a halo as I hesitated, looking between her and the door before deciding to exit again.

"I mean..." I heard her trail off making me turn back to her.

"Please, if there's anything you need I'll get it." I reassured her as she crossed one long tan leg over the other and sighed in thought before she propped herself up with her elbows.

"Could you get Harry for me? I want him to check my bruise."

"Don't be silly I can check it for you-"
I said, stepping forward only for her to stop me.

"No!" She snapped, her voice coming out harsher than expected as I froze in place and blinked at her.

"I mean, I'd be more comfortable if Harry looked at it." Katia requested with a clear of her throat, flashing me a sheepish smile as I slowly nodded my head, backing out of the door.

"Sure, of course." I told her, exiting and quickly going over to the bedroom Harry was in as I called for him.

"Katia wants you-" I began when I entered the room, the rest of my sentence stuck in my throat when I saw Harry shirtless at a table near the window, restitching the wound he had gotten during the mission on his bicep, sewing the open flesh closed with one hand as his chest rose and fell heavily.

That must've been why he left me so quickly back there in the living room.

That and I no doubt probably annoyed him but I'll just believe the first theory was the main reason why.

"Why didn't you tell me," I said in a soft voice, quickly going over to our opened bag of necessities on the nearest bed before grabbing a pair of disinfected gloves from the pack we had, putting them on with a snap before going over and kneeling by his side.

Harry followed my movements with his eyes, as if trying to scare me off with his glare before I took the needle from his hand, careful not to pull too hard at the skin he had already stitched up.

"Now don't give me that scowl grumpy pants. I know we can't really communicate that well in our situation but I wish you would've showed me this or let me know you were in pain." I sighed, finishing his work on his open cut, closing the wound as I felt his scortching eyes on my face, keeping silent as always as he let me stitch him up.

"Thanks for taking that bullet for me... I've never had anyone.. you know, do that." I said under my breath, sewing the gash that he had gotten from trying to protect me.

He didn't respond as I gently tied the stitch.

"You know it's funny, you probably have no idea what I'm saying right now." I told him with a light laugh, taking an alcohol pad from the table and wiping away the excess blood on his tatted arm as he watched me.

"I could tell you about my big secret infatuation with young Johnny Depp and scrapbooking his face with mine in wedding pictures after I polish my guns- which I love showing to the old ladies in the corner of this cafe around the street who actually believe it's real." I rambled on with a snort, looking up to find Harry blinking at me with parted lips and judgemental eyes.

"Oh or how I'm allergic to almost all animals but I still risk my health just to pet them because bunnies." I continued, deep in thought as Harry let out a small breath, looking away with a bored expression while I cleaned up his arm as he took a drink of his bottle of water on the table.

"Funny thing is I can say really anything to you and you wouldn't even know what I was saying. Hey, did you know I'm wearing a black thong which I really don't usually wear at home but I always wear them during missions to feel more empowered." I breathed, raising my fist high in the air before retracting back in surprise when Harry suddenly began to choke on his water, lowering his head and coughing, spilling some liquid in the process as he wiped at his pierced lips, turning to look at me with a hint of amusement in his slightly widened green eyes.

I blinked at him in realization.

"Can you... can you understand me-"

"Malu! What's taking so long? I need Harry here, my leg is hurting." Katia's shrill cry of my name interrupted my sentence, catching both of our attention as we turned our heads to the sound of her voice from the hallway.

"Oh right, Katia needs you." I exclaimed, feeling like such a lump head for forgetting as I fumbled with my gloves, taking them off before grabbing my mini Italian dictionary again when I felt Harry's gaze on me.

"Uh, help, Katia needs- needs help, aiuto, help. She needs-" I started, frantically skimming through the pages before Harry suddenly grabbed the book out of my hand, making me look up at him in surprise when he observed it in his grasp.

There was a slight smirk to his lips as he flipped through the pages himself before glancing up to look at me.

He then raised his pointer finger, pointing at me then at the book.

"Manichina." Harry said in his low voice as my eyes widened.

"Yes, yes you're trying to communicate okay, okay!" I breathed with excitement, a smile growing on my face as he pointed at me again.

"Manichina." He repeated.

"Me, me I'm manichina." I reiterated with an uncertain tone, pointing at myself as he nodded.

"Sí, buona manichina." He rasped with a look of approval, making me beam up at him before I glanced down at the page he had the book opened to, finding the definition of manichina on the paper.

"I'm not a dummy." I defended, my smile falling at the realization of what Harry was calling me before he smirked, closing the dictionary with one hand and lightly smacking it on my forehead, making me let out a small "ow," momentarily distracted until he rose to his feet, leaving the book to me as he went out into the hall to Katia's room.

I gazed out the room, rubbing my forehead.

I am not a dummy.

My laptop on the table suddenly buzzed, an alert flashing on the screen making me stand up from my kneeling position on the carpet as I leaned forward and peered at the footage on display, the hack I had put on the security cameras around the whole hotel giving me access to every corner before I spotted three hit men in black suits tredding through the hall, heading directly to this room.

"I got this." I said to myself, humming as I casually grabbed Harry's gun since it was the closest one near me, putting on the silencer so the shots wouldn't be so loud, sticking a few more thank you sticky notes on the furnitures that I passed on the way.

I loaded the weapon, walking over to the front door before I heard Harry's voice in Katia's closed room where the two were in making me completely stop in my steps at what he was saying.

He was speaking fluent English.

My mouth was left hanging as I lingered outside the door, pressing my ear against the barrier completely shocked before the hotel entrance to our suite opened, making me frown when the three hit men flooded inside with raised guns, not yet seeing me.

Talk about terrible terrible timing.

I kept my attention on the door of Katia's room, raising my own gun and shooting one man down from the side causing them to all turn to me in surprise before I raised my pointer finger to my lips in a 'shh' gesture.

Before the other two could even shoot I quickly fired at both of their hands, making them drop their weapons with gritted teeth before I advanced forward, dodging their punches and grabbing one of the men's head to my knee, a sick crack sounding through the air before I turned my attention to the last one who reached out for his discarded gun in the ground.

I instantly stomped on his hand when it was only a few centimeters away from the weapon, making him let out a scream at the puncture my high heels had made on his skin before I quickly clamped his mouth shut with my palm, bringing the barrel of my gun to his head silencing him.

"Sorry about that but shh... I'm trying to listen." I whispered, looking around at his two dead allies on the ground before I moved the both of us back in front of Katia's door, my gun still held to his skull and my hand still over his lips.

"My job as your protector is to deliver you safely back home without any harm. Your job as a client, is to not make feeble attempts at getting me to fuck you just because your culo of a husband can't do it right." Harry's firm raspy voice spoke through the door as my eyes widened, his voice just as slow, sensuous, and authorative when he spoke in English as he did in Italian.

"He speaks English, did you know he speaks English?" I gaped, blinking down at the trapped man besides me who shook his head slowly.

I heard another alert suddenly sound from my laptop in the other room, knowing that only meant one thing as I glanced back down at the struggling man in my grasp.

"Seriously, there's more of you." I sighed, wanting to listen in on Harry more than this before another group of men barged into the suite, making me raise my gun and shield myself with my captive's body as the others shot at us.

The man's body I used shook as bullets penetrated his chest before I continued to shoot, throwing him at the men that were zoning in on me as I took them all at once, my main goal to disarm all of them before they could shoot me.

My forearms hit theirs, twisting their arms at unhealthy angles and bringing my leg up to nail one in the chest while I blocked another's fist from making contact with my face, ducking and maneuvering my way through the four men that were attacking me.

I finally shot the last one standing in the head, blood spurting onto the wall and floor as his body went limp before I heard the sound of another gun load behind me.

I slowly raised my head, panting heavily and turning to be met with a barrel of a gun, one of the men I had slammed down first shakily standing to his feet as he held the gun to me.

"See you in hell bitch." He sneered, about to pull the trigger before a shot rang in the air, one that didn't come out from my weapon or the man's as I blinked at the red hole that suddenly appeared in the middle of his forehead, his expression going blank before he fell to the ground, revealing Harry behind him who lowered his smoking gun.

I stared at him in shock, this being the second time he's saved me as he screwed the silencer on his gun, reloading his weapon before turning his attention back to me.

"Anyone ever teach you that eavesdropping is rude bambina." He mused in a gravelly tone as I stood there.

"I know, I'm sorry," I began, suddenly feeling ashamed before I blinked in realization and shook my head at him.

"Wait a darn second no, no I am not so-"

I felt a sudden presence behind me and by the slight nod Harry sent me I whipped around, immediatly bringing my leg up in a round house kick and nailing another hitman in the face as more of them seemed to enter the suite.

"I am not sorry." I repeated with more determination, watching Harry take out another gun, spinning both guns in his hand while he carelessly chewed the gum in his mouth with a bored expression, accentuating his sharp jawlines.

He then raised the weapons and fired at the men who were coming in, hitting each and everyone of them as I stepped to the side to get out of his way.

I then spotted one of the goons try and shoot him from behind, making me run and tackle the man to the ground as Harry and I stood in the middle of the living room, taking on each and every person that came at us.

"You, deliberately pretended that you didn't know a word of English." I panted, holding a guy with my arms slung underneath his pits as Harry knocked him out with the butt of his gun to the man's face, making me let him go before we turned to the next target.

"It's going to take a lot for you to regain my trust and talk to you again." I scolded, attempting to give him my best scowl as I bashed a man's head into the nearest wall.

"Fine by me." Harry simply grunted out, throwing his guns in the air to snap a man's neck with his free hands, the guy falling to the ground before Harry effortlessly caught his guns in his grasp when they descended down again, immediatly using them to shoot the nearest person without so much as a glance.

"Okay I forgive you." I breathed, realizing I wanted to ask more questions and not being able to talk to him would be a problem as every man near us dropped like flies under our bullets and attacks.

Harry and I's chest heaved up and down as we looked around the now damaged and empty room, corpses and pools of blood littering the carpeted floor making us lower our weapons before the realization dawned upon me.

"Why did you pretend like you didn't speak English?" I finally asked in a breathless tone, turning to look at Harry and his taut muscles, a thin layer of sweat and the blood from the hitmen stained on his toned, inked skin.

"I thought you wouldn't talk to me if you believed I didn't speak the same language as you." He explained, releasing the empty stocks of his guns as the metals fell to the ground.

"I was obviously wrong." He continued, sending me a slightly irritated look as he raised his brow at me.

I opened my mouth, ready to give him a piece of my mind before he tucked his guns back into the holsters of his pants and passed by me.

"Venire, come. We need to pack and leave as soon as possible." Harry instructed, not even looking back as he brought his hand up and jerked his fingers, gesturing me to follow him.

"I am not leaving." Katia spoke up, coming out of her room now fully dressed, her hair still a bit damp as she paused and gaped at the dead bloodied bodies on the ground in horror, blinking away tears before going over to the table where Harry was already packing and sitting herself down.

"That wasn't a request." He simply told her, not even looking at her as he zipped the large black duffel bag closed while I joined them.

"I am not leaving with a man like you-"

"Sí, a man like me. As in a man who's willing to risk his own life to save yours. Is that what you're getting at here?" Harry cut her off in a cold voice, tilting his head and glowering down at her as she crossed her arms over her chest and frowned.

"Apologize to me, you spoke to me in the most demeaning way with no respect at all." She haughtily said with a raise of her chin as I looked between her and Harry.

He paused, looking at her for a moment before he leaned over the table to her, their faces inches away and I saw a slight panic flash in her expression when she gazed down at his lips with wide, distracted, brown eyes.

"The second you find your self respect, you let me know and that's when I'll find mine for you donna." He told her in an even tone, retracting back as she flushed in her chair before I finally spoke up.

"Come on hun, we need to get moving. Everything we do is for your best interest." I timidly urged Katia, sending her a weak smile only for her to ignore me, staying put in her seat.

I turned back to Harry, ready to ask if he wanted to play a little good cop bad cop to get her to follow us only to freeze when I found his eyes on my ass.

He bit his lip ring, his smoldering gaze flickering up to my face before a slow, miniscule hint of a smirk spread across his face, the closest thing to a smile that I'd seen on him since we met as he crossed his toned arms over his broad chest.

"So, black thongs..." Harry commented in a throaty drawl, bringing his hand up to pinch his bottom lip between his fingers in thought, gazing up and down my body as I inhaled sharply at his words.

"Pinned you as more of a strawberry pink kind of girl." He added.

"No, those are my weekend underwear silly." I dismissed him with a wave of my hand, making him raise his brow at me before turning back to Katia.

"They are like the softest cottons." I informed her as she gave me an overly enthusiastic nod, before looking away with a slightly irritated expression as Harry moved around the table to her side.

"We need to get going. Now." He ordered, his voice sending chills down my spine at how stern he was before I suddenly saw a red light on Katia's forehead in the form of a dot.

Harry and I both saw it in an instant, the two of us springing into action.

I went forward in front of Katia, shielding her while Harry grabbed her, yanking her from her chair and down to the floor with his arm around her before the shot was fired and I felt a strong pang of pain spread across my stomach, sending me back as if in slow motion before I fell to the floor, hearing Katia's screams fade along with my vision until everything went black.

AN: Malu is latina by the way which will be said later on and although she may be somewhat similar to Nat and Liza I am determined to make her character different from them and you will notice that as the story further progesses.

I picture her as Malu but you can imagine her anyway you want.