The only thing that occurred to Millie at first was the pain that struck when she tried to sit up. The second was: Where the heck am I? 

She was in a dark room, the only light was coming from the cracked door. Last thing she remembered was Asher showing up to help with Cameron's body. 

Asher....... If she was here where was he. 

Millie sat up slowly, tugging at her wrists that were chained above her head with a pair of handcuffs. Whoever had her obviously thought this through. 

Peering around, Millie spotted a napkin on the ground. The symbol on it was of a man with a top hat. 

The Madhatter from Alice and Wonderland. Millie had loved that book as a child. 

Was that where she was? Was she in the bar downtown? The bar that Ashes and Roses controlled?

Surely she wasn't I mean Lilia wouldn't do this and Asher was too nice and sweet to cuff someone to a wall. Right?

Just then the door opened and light flooded the room. "You're up good." A familiar voice said. "Now we can have some real fun."

He strutted to where she sat hunched defenseless against the wall, but it wasn't until he knelt down beside her that Millie recognized him.

Millie didn't say a word, too afraid of what he might do to her after she had trusted him. Millie had even thought he was her friend.

Her kidnapper threaded his fingers threaded through her soft, short dark curls as he forced her to look up at him. "It's a shame such a pretty girl like you is so reckless." He sneered, never breaking eye contact. "You could have been such a great addition to our team." 

She tore his eyes from his merciless dark ones to stare at a smear of crimson on the ground. The smear she had caused.

"Cat got your tongue, kitten?" Asher asked. "That's okay there'll be plenty of time for walking right now." He drew a syringe filled with some yellow liquid from his back pocket. "Now, kitten, just sleep in the morning we'll talk."

Millie fought against the handcuffs but it wasn't like she could much. She was powerless against Asher in this state. 

She had trusted him to help her with the Cameron mess. 

"Wait!" She cried out. "Why?...... Why me?"

Asher thought about it a moment then put the syringe on the table beside her. "Why you?" He sat on the ground. "I always wanted what you had. The pretty house, the rich father who loved you unconditionally-or so I thought he did. I used to live on the same street until my dad went to prison for being a criminal and I was forced to do exactly what he did to keep my family afloat."

"Why me specifically?"

"Because your father did nothing when my little brother got killed in a hit-and-run. Said there was nothing the police could do for a hit-and-run. He just didn't care." Asher tucked some of her hair back as he spoke. "After Avi's death my mother crawled into the bottle and never came out leaving me to raise London and make the money." 

"I'm sorry, but I don't know what exactly this has to do with me." Millie flinched away from him. 

Asher smirked. "You see, Millicent, my whole life I watched you grow up across the street playing with Julian like you were too good to play with me even to the point of actually turning me down several times. I wanted to make you sorry, but I also wanted David to feel the pain we had felt."

"I was a child-"

"That's no excuse for how you treated me. So when your father walked into the bar almost three years ago and told Will he wanted someone to off your sweet Madison. I sent Cameron and his boys to do the job anyway they wanted. It was a chance to hurt you finally." He continued. 

Millie shook her head, a tear sliding down her cheek. "S-so you killed who I l-loved in order to get back at me for being mean to you as a child? We were children, Asher!" She voice was stranded and broken a little. 

How could he have been so angry that he could have taken something from someone else. 

"But then in you walked into the club all bright-eyed and nervous with Lilia that night. I knew it was destiny smiling upon me." He cupped her cheek. "Fate had given me you."

"To what? Kill me?" She questioned quietly. Millie was more scared than she had ever been.

"Exactly so close your eyes and it will be over in a matter of hours." Asher picked up the syringe again. "Deep breathe and any last words?" He held it out for her to see.

Tears fell as Millie stared at what was about to be her doom. "I'm sorry for when we were younger, Ash, really I am." 

"Too late for sorries."

"What about Lilia?" Millie was stalling.

"She'll move on. She always does." He shrugged. "Now can we please just-"

"Hey, Ash, Will told  me to....."

A tall guy with chocolate brown eyes and hair stood in the doorway. He had a meeting with Asher that Asher had obviously forgotten about. 

"What the heck is happening here!" He pushed Asher off of Millie before the other guy could even react. 

"You okay?" He asked Millie.

She found herself lost in his eyes for a moment then remembered, "The syringe!" She almost screamed. 

The stranger seemed to get it and quickly snatched the syringe then plunge it into Asher's neck. "Now he can't hurt you." 

Millie smiled grateful. "Why'd you do that?" She asked, not taking her eyes off him. 

He found the key in the Asher's jacket pocket and began to unlock the cuffs. "I don't know honestly." He wiped her tears then helped her stand. 

"It felt right?" He said after a moment. 

"Did you kill him?" Millie looked down at Asher's body. 

The stranger shook his head. "That was a sedative, sweetheart," He explained, for the first time Millie noted that he had a light accent of some kind. "He'll wake up in a few hours with a headache. Possibly a little poison of some kind in it to change the color."

Millie nodded. "Thank you." 

"Don't mention it, sweetheart." He glanced toward the door. "We should get out of here." 

"Yeah we should." She started for the door.

Once outside, Millie turned to look at him more closely in the day light. Those had to be the most gorgeous eyes she had ever seen. 

"I'm Millie, by the way." She stuck out her hand. 

Millie now had a plan for the future.

"Romeo." He grinned, shaking her hand. 

"Wow really? I just got saved by someone named Romeo." Millie laughed. "Does that make me Juliet?" 

Romeo shrugged a shoulder. "Only if you want to I suppose."

ONLY ONE CHAPTER LEFT EVERYONE!!