|| ✨ ||

I slammed the car door shut as we reached the manor. The front double doors opened and Harvey rushed down the steps, taking in our disheveled appearances. He reached me first, placing a comforting hand on my shoulder. "Are you okay?"

Breathing heavily, I pushed Harvey's hands off me and pointed back to the car. "Finn, help Finn," I ordered, stomping up the steps in stiletto boots.

Harvey yelled back in confusion, "Finn?"

"Anybody else's ears ringing?" Elijah asked loudly from behind me. "I can't remember the last time I burst an eardrum but I feel like it felt like this—whoa Finn, your one ear is bleeding..." his voice trailed off as I walked through the manor, heels clicking over the marble floor.

Giovanni stepped around a corner and caught sight of me. As he turned back around I called out. "Where the fuck is he?"

Just then, my father appeared from the dining room, my mother following dutifully. She held his hand in hers, her other hand held his bicep.

"Was this you?" I shouted, pointing behind me to outside where everyone was still standing around the car.

Harvey lifted Finn's head to the side as he dabbed at the blood on the side of his face. Finn kept trying to brush it off, speaking too loud but Harvey only said something back while shaking his head and Finn folded, letting him clean his face.

My father cocked an eyebrow. "Was what me? I don't have all day, Anastasia," he added, giving me less than two seconds to respond.

My hands formed fists at my side. "Did you," I began, speaking slow and loud enough for him to hear each accusation in my tone, "Did you send the people in that SUV to kill us?" I demanded.

A gasp echoed through the silence and my mother touched her fingers to her lips. "Anastasia, your father would never do something like that, how dare you—?"

I ignored her bullshit and faced him. "Answer me," I said, interrupting her defense of Satan himself.

He angled his head, giving me a condescending look. "I don't have time for your accusations—."

"Then make time because you're not taking another fucking step until you tell me the truth," I bulldozed over his own shitty defense. "Is this because of Corinne? Because I took away your little informant, you got greedy?" My mother's eyes darted to him. "Regretted giving your daughter the power and wanted it back for yourself, is that it?" I asked with an exaggerated pout, letting my emotions block out the fear of taunting a man like this. "You've already tried to knock one of your kids out of the game, why not try to seal that deal and add a bonus one, huh?" I yelled. I threw the gun I used earlier at his feet, my mother shrieked backward. "Here's your gun back, fat load of help it did with minimal bullets by the way."

"Anastasia Athena Love," my mother's voice boomed, causing me to clamp my lips shut. I stood rigid in my spot. "Your father would never do anything to harm this family, whether or not you believe it," she accused her frown a replica of mine. She brushed her curls back. "You have done nothing but paint us out as villains because you never got your way and now you're accusing my husband of attempted murder?"

My father stepped forward. "Ariadne," he murmured my mother's name, running a hand over her arms.

She ignored him and stuck her head to the side to look around his body. "Do you think he killed your uncle too then since he's trying to kill all of us?" She snapped. A choked gasp came from behind them and I saw Uncle George, his eyes shut in anguish. A stab of pain pierced my chest at the heartbroken look on his face. "Your father sacrificed everything for this family."

"He sacrificed everything for his empire, not his family, we mean nothing," I hissed. My chest heaved as I breathed in deeply. "Just be honest," I said softly, my eyes boring into his, "were you responsible for today's attack?"

His eyes roamed over my face, narrowing slightly as they flickered over my shoulder and back to me. "No," he said in a neutral tone, "I didn't have anything to do with it." He blinked.

"Thank you," I said softly, my voice sounding genuine.

Uncle George stepped forward, using his cane to hold his weight. "Is everyone okay?" He asked, eyes searching my face as he came closer. "What happened, Ana?"

He ran a hand over my cheek affectionately and I leaned into the touch, thankful for one adult that showed some form of parental affection. "We stopped at a red light and someone tried to shoot at us," I said lamely, gesturing outside, "Corinne dealt with them."

"Then thank God she was there," Uncle George said, giving me a reassuring smile. I nodded, my breath catching. Thank God she was there.

"Uncle George—" I started, trying to think of what to say.

He squeezed my shoulder. "Don't worry, Ana, Owen told me already." My eyebrows furrowed in confusion. He noted my confusion with his own. "About the list? That my name is now there too."

Oh. I didn't know that, this last week has been a nightmare worrying about Elijah and now Isla, I didn't even ask Jasper if any other names had been added beside hers. I gave him a pitying smile. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner."

"It's all right, don't you worry about me, I can handle myself," he said with a wink and a cheeky smile, waving his cane around causing a bubble of laughter to leave my lips.

I jerked a thumb over my shoulder. "I'm going to check on others now that I can calm down," I said sheepishly and he chuckled, nodding me off.

Elijah inspected his injuries, lifting his shirt to see if the bandages had any fresh blood on them.

Corinne leaned against the car, watching Harvey fuss over Finn. "Seriously, I'm willing to face her wrath if you could leave me alone, I know how to wipe up my own blood," Finn argued, trying to duck his head away from Harvey, who in turn, growled for him to stay put.

"You may be willing to face her but I sure as fuck am not," Harvey replied, pressing a tissue to the side of Finn's head.

I clamped my lips shut, trying not to smile. "Okay Harvey, you can let him go." Finn sighed in thanks and stepped away, running a hand through his hair. He frowned at me and I smiled softly, my eyelashes fluttering.

Lorenzo grabbed Harvey's arm and jerked his head. "If you're going to the crash site, then take an inconspicuous car," I said, folding my arms across my chest as I surveyed the bullet holds embedded in the SUV, "we'll need to scrap this one."

They both nodded and left swiftly, disappearing in the direction of the garage.

Elijah groaned and I whipped my head to face him, seeing a dark red splotch form on one of his bandages. "For fucks sake," he grumbled at the inconvenience.

Finn immediately walked over to him, pulling back the bandages with gentle fingers. "It's not too bad, probably from you throwing yourself over those seats," he stated, stepping away, "come on, I'll stitch you back up."

Elijah grinned and threw an arm around Finn's shoulder, making him wince at the air pressure pressing on his injured ear. "Be careful," I snapped at my idiot brother as they wandered off.

"Wow."

My head turned to Corinne, the only person left outside. "What?" I asked.

She shrugged, her lips turned down nonchalantly. "Nothing. Just never thought I'd see the day where Anastasia Love was, well, in love."

I gave her a flat look. "Come off it."

Corinne laughed, holding her hands up in surrender. "Do I ever lie to you?" She cocked her head, waiting for me to contradict her.

"What do you know about love?" I asked quietly, not in a mean or accusatory way, but genuinely for someone who didn't form romantic attachments to their lovers. And last I checked, she didn't have any family left to love. She's been a lone wolf since I've known her.

She slipped a finger through a belt loop on her black jeans and chuckled. "Nothing, but I like to think that what I see between you and Finn is what it would look like."

I wrapped my arms around myself, suddenly self-conscious. "I've known him for five months."

Her booted foot scraped along the gravel. "So? Time means nothing." She walked along the gravel until she made it to the first step and turned around to face me. "We don't live in a world where people like us can wait. We don't have that luxury." She shrugged one shoulder, her straight hair falling over her shoulder. "Embrace it while you can."

She slowly made her way up the steps. "I'll need to think about it."

Corinne paused, shooting me a smirk over her shoulder. "Thinking's overrated, you know that better than anyone." I flipped her off and she laughed before moving inside.

I swallowed the lump in my throat and ran my fingers over my face. I need a drink.

|| ✨ ||

The door to the library opened and a housekeeper walked in carrying a large tray. "Here we go, Miss Love," she chirped with a polite smile. I moved to help her drop off the tray on one of the empty desks.

"Thank you very much."

I picked up a french fry and shoved it in my mouth, practically moaning at the taste. I couldn't remember the last time I ate today, maybe this morning?

My bare feet led me over to a bookshelf. I scanned the titles, unfamiliar with most of them. During my academic years, my tutors forced me to read classic literature and books that would 'open my mind' but they never appealed to me. I wanted to be outdoors, rolling around in the grass rather than inside studying.

Jasper preferred the latter, he liked to lock himself in his room altogether until my father had knocked the door in once after Jasper refused to leave his room for ten hours. Elijah often found himself running away from schoolwork, the tutors usually found him hiding in the backyard practicing his movements from training earlier that day.

Me, however, did what I was told. I sat where I was ordered to, I kicked the crap out of whoever they told me to and I let them control every aspect of my life—when mealtimes were, when I could have my bathroom breaks of the day.

The door clicked open and Finn walked in wearing a pair of sweatpants and a plain black t-shirt. "Are we having slumber parties in the library now?" he asked with a sly smile, eyeing the blankets and pillows thrown around on the floor.

My eyebrow quirked. "I've never had a slumber party before," I mused, placing a book back on its shelf.

"Well, that's because you don't have any friends," he answered so casually that my jaw popped open in surprise.

"You fucking asshole." He gave me a sly smile and made his way over, carefully walking around the tray slightly hanging over the edge of the desk. He made a move to kiss my cheek and I turned at the last second, giving him a face full of my curls. "I don't think so."

His fingers trailed over my spine, coming to a rest on my hip as he leaned his head on my shoulder. "Hey," he whispered, his breath sending shivers down my back, "I'm your friend." He placed a kiss on my neck.

I fought a smile. "You make me sane," I murmured, "even when I want to kill you." He pressed a chaste and loud kiss to my cheek making me chuckle and roll my eyes. I twisted in his embrace and fisted his shirt in my hands. "Thank you," I said evenly, "for everything you've done for my family."

Finn's blue eyes flickered, an almost starry gleam to them. "I know how much they mean to you," he said softly, squeezing my hip, "even when you want to kill them," he said with a wink and I laughed.

We stared at each other for a few moments, his eyes kept wandering over my face, his smile widening when he caught me watching him. I felt at peace then, the two of us secluded in my family's library, no drama around us, just us, being with each other and not because of sex but because we wanted to just be together.

"Finn," my voice brought us back into reality. I stared at his lips unable to meet his gaze. "I trust you."

Silence.

A range of emotions crossed his face, the main one being disbelief. His thumb brushed over my jaw and then his eyes connected with mine and I just knew. "Ana, I—."

My fingers clamped over his lips. "Don't, don't say it."

His brows furrowed and he pried my hand away from his mouth. "You just said that you trusted me, Ana, if that's not some form of a declaration from you then I don't know what is," he reminded me, lifting his arms out in front of him in confusion.

I scrunched my nose and gripped his hands. "No, I mean yes, it was I swear, I just don't want you to use that word," I said in an amused tone, my eyes shining.

"Why not?" He asked linking our fingers together on one hand and leading me to the blankets, helping me settle down before pulling the tray onto the floor with us.

My mouth twisted to the side. "Because Love is not a meaningful word to me, it's my last name, that's all it'll ever be, so someone telling me that they love me, it doesn't sound natural," I trailed off, unable to string the words together.

Finn sat, stretching his legs out in front of him and I crawled into his lap, laying my body across his chest as I gazed up at him. "I've never cared for someone as much as I do you," I whispered honestly, "it scares me."

His arms wrapped around my torso, clutching me to him. "I've never been in a relationship itself," he said, "work was my personality and I didn't give myself a chance to change that."

I stretched out, swinging one leg over his. "Good because if there were any other girls, I'd cut a bitch." I sat up quickly, a fiendish smile on my face. "Tell me you had a fling with Lyla, just so I can cut her, please," I begged with a dramatic pout.

Finn shook his head and lay on the floor, placing his hands behind his head. I huffed loudly and threw my body onto his further, hearing him let out an 'oof ' as I made myself comfortable. We lay there together, my head resting on his chest which moved slowly after each breath he took.

My eyelids started fluttering, feeling so calm and at peace that I almost dozed off just lying in his arms. His fingers brushed through my hair, carefully maneuvering their way around the knotted curls.

"I adore you, Ana."

I squeezed my eyes shut, trying not to let the moisture show through. Holy fuck. Six months ago this man didn't even exist to me, his only job was to heal people, help their pain lessen.

He made coming home bearable, he made this life worth living within a short amount of time of knowing him. He was my first friend.

A sniffle broke the silence and I kneeled, staring down at him with bright eyes. "Who wouldn't adore me?" I cheekily asked and he rolled his eyes, using his thumb to wipe just under my eye. He grabbed my thigh and tugged it towards his stomach and I took the silent cue to straddle his waist.

"C'mere," he mumbled, sliding his hand along my jaw and pulling my face closer to his in a slow and passionate kiss.

My hair curtained our faces as we kissed, his tongue running along my bottom lip. His free hand slowly ran along my side, moving over my spine until coming to a rest on my ass. He squeezed gently and I arched my body into him, my teeth tugging on his lower lip.

His shirt bunched in my fingers as I slowly lost all sense of sanity in his arms. I slipped my hands under his shirt and ran them along his stomach and chest, sighing at the slight definition in his muscles. He was perfect.

A sudden thought struck my brain and I pulled away, moving my hands and placing them on each of his cheeks. "How's your ear?" I ask, stroking the hair that started to cover his ears.

He smiled, his fingers brushing against my thighs, along my bare skin. "Sore," he said truthfully, "but I promise I'm okay."

"Good," I murmured, leaning forward and capturing his lips again.

Without warning, he sat up. I grasped the back of his neck so I wouldn't fall back onto the carpeted floor. His lips found a spot on my neck that left me breathless. My fingernails scratched his scalp lightly before gripping his hair as I arched into his touch.

After a few beats, my eyes snapped open at the missing touch on my throat just seconds ago, and found Finn staring at me, a small smile on his face.

"What?" I asked breathlessly, then cursed myself for getting so worked up before we had even gotten to the good part.

He shook his head, his white hair falling onto his forehead. "Nothing, I'm just watching you."

My lips twisted to the side, a stupid smile forming on my face. "You're such a dork," I whispered, using my knees to push him onto the floor so I could crawl over his body, my fingers moving his shirt higher while my lips explored shortly after.

And at that moment once I had reached his face and looked down at him, I knew that I would do anything to protect this man.

Anything.

|| ✨ ||

I know I know, "We were robbed" I know, but I didn't want this to end with a written sex scene, because I didn't want to have a moment this big be overshadowed by sex. I want their relationship to be based on trust and them being the first people they can be comfortable around.

Did I mention that the 1st College Romance Book will contain one of my favorite tropes...Grumpy X Sunshine!

I kind of like giving these little teases to my next series, I'm so freaking excited to start writing it!!

Until next time,

Sammipott xx