"These things happen." Alistair's mother said softly as she placed a hand on his arm.

Seeing her casual reaction to her son's morbid announcement stunned me, but everyone else seemed relatively calm and collected. We were all sitting around a large, ornate table in the dining room and had I not been so wrapped up in our bizarre situation I would've been floored to be in such a spectacular, historic building. But I wasn't here for some pleasurable vacation. I was here because Alistair had killed a man. And his parents only seemed moderately confused by the situation.

Alistair's father was an unnerving man. He was tall with fair skin that Alistair obviously inherited and blonde hair so light it was almost white. His blue eyes were even more piercing than his son's and when he looked at me with no emotion on his face I wanted to curl up into myself. Finally, he spoke his first words to his son, frowning slightly.

"You knew what you were signing up for, Alistair." Had it not been for the pinch of concern that coated his voice it would've come out as a scolding.

"It was another agent." Alistair finally confessed. He was staring blankly at the wooden table, unable to look at either of his parents. I couldn't tell if he looked like a school boy waiting for his punishment or a nervous prisoner.

"And your girlfriend saw it happen?" His mom asked, looking at me sympathetically.

"He was trying to take her." Alistair said with the shake of his head, bringing his eyes up to his father's. "I got her friend to hack his GPS in his car. Then, when he pulled over, I shot him. I managed to push his car into the swamp and stole his access card so we could get a plane ride out of the UK before he was discovered missing."

"Oh sweetie." Alistair's mother soothed. "You destroyed the card, right?"

Alistair just nodded bleakly.

But his father was hearing everything that Alistair wasn't saying.

"Who was is?"

Alistair returned his eyes to the table. "Agent Graham Smith."

His mother recoiled, the hands that had been trying to calm him down were now clutching at her own heart and her mouth opened and closed several times as she searched for the words to say. His father leapt to his feet like he had been scalded by the plush chair beneath him. He immediately began to pace, one hand over his mouth in horror.

Seeing the two calmest people I had ever met suddenly lose their relaxed attitude made my heart pound in my chest.

"The one who was transferred over on behalf of the American government?" His father hissed.

Alistair just nodded blankly.

"The one that Josh Greene sent over?" Alistair's father paused mid-step, suddenly turning towards me with realization. I wanted to die when those unnerving eyes landed on me. "Camila Lopez."

"Oh my God, Alistair, you've committed treason." His mother rasped out. "You killed a member of the Canadian Secret Services; do you know what that means?"

"Yes, I know what that means!" he snapped, rubbing his face with his hands. "He was going to take Camila back to Josh."

"Then you fucking let him! You don't shoot people over their cases." His dad barked. His pacing had stopped entirely and he was now gripping the back of a chair so tightly his knuckles were white.

"Smith wasn't a fucking agent. He was a glorified hit man!" Alistair claimed.

"Enough. Both of you." Alistair's mother interjected. Both men were silenced immediately. Had the situation been any less dire I would've applauded her control over such intimidating men. Her warm brown eyes turned to me, "Camila, I want you to tell me what's going on."

I glanced at Alistair as I was not sure how to respond to this demand, but he just nodded stiffly at me, his lips pressed into a tight line. So I told them how Smith had broken into my apartment. I told them how he had held a gun to my head and threatened to kill me. Then I explained the attempt to get to the airport, Smith being shot, and the fast departure from Scotland to Amsterdam. My voice shook the entire time, but no tears fell down my cheeks as I spoke.

"This is irrelevant, if Smith shot her it would be his own problem. He would have to face Green. Now you have to face Green and the Canadian Justice System." Alistair's dad growled out. "You've fucked yourself over."

"Brad." His mother chided, but the room was getting too heated for her to suppress it.

"If Smith didn't kill me then Josh would've." I blurted.

The room stilled.

Alistair's mother was the first one to recover. She had the same motherly compassion I had seen when we first came through the door.

"You were supposed to marry him. He must've loved you very much."

"No, he didn't. He loved the image I helped him create. He loved that my parents encouraged us to get engaged almost as soon as I turned eighteen so that he could control me. He loved that I was too scared to get help when he raised his hand against me. But he didn't love me. And he would kill me for tarnishing his image and stealing money from him."

Silence.

Alistair finally spoke again. "She was the first one that he was romantically involved with. And she was the first one to run away. But she is not his first victim. With the help of a tech I managed to find at least seven confirmed cases of his violent behavior."

"And that information was just floating around in the system, but was never publicized?" Brad piped in.

"No, it was buried deep. The only reason I found it was because I had one of the best techs in Canada helping me with her fuel being that her best friend's life depended on it. The American database system is such a mess that you could never find it unless you intentionally spent hours looking forward and had the patience to get through all of the security."

"Then bring forward your findings. It's the only thing that can save you now."

Alistair gave a humorless smile to his father, "I had my tech and Green has his. The second that we touched the files I'm sure someone was alerted."

"They were deleted?"

"Possibly, but I doubt it. It's nearly impossible to delete files without anyone noticing. I accidentally deleted a segment and I was reprimanded heavily. There always has to be a coherent trail of events and people, deleting one would cause gaps in the system that would be too obvious. They could be buried even more deeply, leaving the connections intact, but putting the specific files behind all kinds of security. All that we know now is that the evidence we had is gone and Sophie is working hard to find it, but there's no promise that she ever will, the American system could flag her at any time and she could be serving jail time in a heartbeat. Then we'll have no tech and no proof."

"Agent Smith is still dead."

"Agent Smith was sent here with no purpose. His transfer was sudden and without a case. To me, that's shady and that means he was doing someone else's dirty work. And some of those files contained other agents that were also hit men. They all vanished and I doubt they're on an exclusive island sipping fruity drinks. Frankly, I think that Smith's life had a pretty good ending in comparison."

The heavy quietness returned, pressing down on my shoulders. I just glanced from one of Alistair's parents to the other, trying to gauge their reactions. I was helpless. I was completely at Alistair's will, and now he had given the choice to his parents. I knew that if they told Alistair to take me back to Josh he would. He trusted their judgment completely. And I had made myself completely vulnerable by trusting him.

"You think your tech is the best?" Brad asked.

"Yes, she forged illegal documents for Camila to be a Canadian resident before she had any training with the Canadian government systems. She's beyond impressive." Alistair stated adamantly.

"What do you think, Emma?" Brad wondered, turning to his wife.

"I think that this is a terrible situation, Alistair. But I'm very glad you're both okay." She rose from her chair and moved back out into the hallway, leaving our view. We all stood up as well, too antsy to be sitting. When she returned she had a set of keys in her hand. She placed them in Alistair's hand with a strong amount of confidence, "Go to the house in the country side. From there, I want you to use as many of our vacation houses as you want. Your father and I are going to go back to Canada tomorrow morning. By the sounds of it you're going to need all the help you can get. Plus, we'll be able to notify you if we suspect someone has caught on or is coming after you."

Alistair turned his attention to his father who looked anxious, but said nothing.

"Thanks mum." He murmured, pulling her into a hug that looked a pinch too tight.

When he released her she came to me.

"I know you're afraid, but you have to trust that we will take care of this. Until we figure out what we can do to prove Josh's guilt we are going to need you to stay with Alistair. He is beyond capable of protecting you."

"So what am I supposed to do? Just wait around while everyone else takes risks?" I asked nervously, thinking of Sophie doing my work for me after she had already sacrificed so much.

"You're going to do what you have to do to keep yourself safe. Nothing is more suspicious than someone who does nothing all day so you and my son are going to pretend to be lovebirds on a romantic European getaway."

"I can't do th-"

"You have to. Your life now depends on how few red flags you raise. Behaving like a tourist allows you to slip under the radar more easily than you might think." Emma said sternly, but she took one of my hands and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"Thanks mom." Alistair said, stepping forward and kissing her forehead.

"Be safe." Brad ordered from the back of the dining room.

"We will." Alistair replied. He started to move towards the front entrance that we had come through before pausing briefly. "By the way, happy retirement, you two." Then I followed him helplessly as he walked down the long hallways and out of the front door, into my newest life.

****What do we think so far? Who is your favorite character and who is your least favorite?****