I pushed Alena against her apartment door, kissing her deeply.

God, I had missed this so much—her slender arms around my neck, her nimble fingers in my hair, her body pressed against mine, her soft lips on mine. I missed her so much it was crazy.

What the hell was I thinking about so much? I loved her more than anyone else. I wanted to be with her. There should have never been any questions or rejections.

I had a talk with my brothers who made me understand that there would always be negatives in life and I shouldn't let that fear of something going wrong to dominate me. Meanwhile, I had let the fear of losing her again take control and pushed her away. All of that was stupid and cowardly.

But I just didn't want to go through that pain again. I never ever wanted to see Alena covered in blood, bruises, and lacerations again. I would literally die if I ever hear her say, "I don't know you! Get the hell away from me!"

I was being selfish. Love in my life meant risk; I always knew that. Yet, I fell in love with her anyway and let her get involved with me.

At least, back then, she didn't know what she was getting into, and now, she did, and yet she wanted to be with me.

Did this woman not care about her own life? Was she crazy?

Then again, maybe I loved her because she was crazy.

"Why are you smiling?" she breathed out in between our kisses.

"Just thinking about how much I love you," I replied and went to kiss the side of her neck.

"I love you too, but we need to stop," she mumbled, her chest heaving for oxygen.

"Stop what?" I asked, too engrossed in feeling her soft skin through my lips.

"As much as I love what we are doing right now, I don't let myself get laid with a man on the first date."

"I'm not planning to come inside, I promise," I said, now kissing her collarbone. I knew what she meant. Anything more than kissing would be too much for her tonight, and I completely understand that. But God, it's so hard to resist her.

"Seriously, how far are you from taking my dress off right here in the public corridor?" she pointed out. She poked her index finger on my chest to get me to move back from her and said, "You, Mr. Storm, need to learn self-control."

"I can control myself very well, okay?" I protested. "It's just been too long, so I just..." I felt my cheeks heat up in embarrassment but also felt like I had to correct myself, "Anyway, you know, I would never force you into anything—"

She stood on her tiptoes to peck my lips and said, "Trust me, I know."

I was nodding when she took out her apartment keys. "Hey, I didn't notice in the morning, but where's your keychain?" As far as I remembered, she had a customized keychain with her name attached to her apartment keys.

"Oh, this one's my spare one. The one that's always hidden under the neighbor's flowerpot, you know?"

"Why are you using your spare?"

"I probably lost the original one somewhere. I can't find it since Friday," she said and started unlocking the door. I didn't know why, but I didn't get a good feeling about this. "Anyway, goodnight. I will see you tomorrow, then?"

I nodded and kissed her forehead. "See you tomorrow."

"I love you," she murmured.

"Love you too." With that, I finally pulled myself away from her and started making my way toward the elevator while she entered her apartment.

Once I got into the elevator, I received a call from Jace.

"Hey, Jace."

"Hey, Elian. I have two bad news and a piece of good news," Jace started, sounding as calm as ever.

"Start with the good."

"We found the hospital Anya Aled's mother is admitted into."

"Great."

"Now, the first bad news is, her mother died this morning."

"Oh," I let out and got off the elevator to make my way towards my car. I didn't know what else to say, except to be disappointed that I couldn't use her as blackmailing bait.

"And the second bad news is, Anya Aled's mother, Sapphire Aled was the driver of the van Alena was kidnapped into three years ago. So it's likely Anya blames Alena for her mother's condition and is on a rampage now that she's dead."

The missing keys... from Alena's cabin.

Fuck.

"I gotta go, Jace. Send a unit to Alena's apartment right away." I hung up the call and ran back to the elevator, but it was now going up, so I didn't waste a moment taking the stairs.

I tried calling Alena on her phone, but she didn't pick up.

When I reached Alena's floor, I quickly rushed to her apartment door and rang the bell. I wished so badly that she would come open the door with a smiling face, but I knew that wasn't what I would get.

My heart was thumping so loud in fear that I almost failed to hear the heavy rustling and crashing noises from the inside.

"Alena, are you okay? Open the door!" I hollered, but that was, of course, in vain.

I took out one of my guns and shot the lock simultaneously until it broke and the door opened.

I rushed in, ready to kill that psychopath Anya if she had even touched a single hair of Alena, only to find the said psychopath under gunpoint, that too by Alena. Wait, did I just enter a reverse world?

"Geez, you have no patience, Elian," Alena let out.

I gaped at the sight in front of me. Anya was on the floor, and Alena was sitting on top of her, pointing a gun under Anya's chin. Anya was full of bruises, and the messy living room was proof that she was the one who got thrashed because Alena only had a small cut on her lips.

"What the hell are you doing?" I asked.

"Protecting myself," Alena simply answered, shooting me a cocky smile. "Pass me that handcuff, will you?" She pointed at the set of handcuffs near my feet.

I picked it up and asked, "Where did you get this? Who are you? And where's my Alena?"

She laughed in response.

Alena has never been violent—though that statement definitely couldn't be justified by the pitiful sight of the girl beneath her right now.

Alena handcuffed Anya's hands with a leg on the coffee table and got up to come to me.

"I'm your Alena, but who can protect herself," she said proudly. "I have been secretly training since last week so that I can learn to protect myself in these sorts of situations. Turns out just knowing self-defense isn't enough when you are the mafia leader's girlfriend. So someone had the brilliant idea: why not learn everything and become my own protector, instead of relying on my savior to always come on time?"

God, this woman... I didn't know it was possible to feel so much love for someone.

I pulled her into a tight hug.

The Alena from three years ago was amazing: she was different than others, funny, and impulsive. The Alena who was my employee was even more amazing; she was more mature, smarter, and more experienced with life. The Alena in front of me right now was something else, though; she was badass and stronger. But I loved all the versions of hers.

"Aren't you happy that the only thing that was making you uneasy until now is better?" Alena asked.

"Yeah, I am." Her getting trained didn't guarantee that she could win against ten men, but it was better than nothing. At least, she would never have to be my weakness. Because she has always been my strength first and foremost.

Alena pulled herself apart from the hug and gave me an assuring look before walking up to Anya and asking, "Anya, I have always trusted you. Why do you hate me so much?"

I hadn't realized it until now, but Anya was shooting murderous daggers at us through her eyes. She looked nothing like the naive, goofy girl who came to my cabin to deliver files on Alena's behalf. She looked like an assassin, and I was pretty sure I was right.

"Three years ago, you caused the car crash which my mom was driving. She told me you took over her steering wheel and drove the car into a huge truck, which is the reason she was comatose. She was just an innocent van driver!" Anya spat out venomously. "Since I had no one to pay for me, I had to drop out of university and start gathering money for her. It was so hard! It was all because of you! My life became hell because you didn't want to go down alone that day!"

"If you are forgetting, Alena was kidnapped and your mother was driving the van. She wasn't any more innocent than the kidnappers," I spat back.

"I don't know how much of what you are telling is true, but I don't remember anything like that—" Alena was harshly cut off by Anya.

"Stop pretending, you bitch." I almost blew her head off, but one look from Alena made me hold back. "You have been acting all happy and normal, as if that accident never even happened. Nothing changed for you, but my and my mom's life was wrecked because of you. Once I even asked you if you were in an accident and you lied that you didn't. Don't you feel even a little bit guilty for the other people who were in that van?"

"Anya, I honestly don't remember anything. I have amnesia. I lost my memories of a few years prior to that accident. I wasn't living without consequences, okay? And I'm sorry about your mother. But I must have been really desperate to take over the steering wheel and get out of that van. You see, I had someone important I had to get back to," Alena said, glancing at me softly and my heart fluttered because I knew she had to be actually thinking about it. After all, that day, she finally wanted me to meet her parents.

Despite everything, I was glad that Alena wasn't blaming herself. Because she did what she had to back then.

"I don't understand why you felt taking revenge on me would help, but you have taken it too far. I wanted to save you, but after how you assaulted me today, I'm afraid I can't convince Elian to let you go anymore."

Alena was right. As if I would let this little psychopath go after she tried to kill my girl.

Just then, the unit of men I had ordered came in, and they dragged Anya away.

Alena let out a sigh and plopped down on the couch. I sat beside her and looked around the trashed living room and took her bruised knuckle in my hand.

"You want to stay over at my place tonight? This," I pointed at the scattered and broken furniture with knives stuck into the wooden ones, "isn't a sight you want to see after waking up, and I'm sorry, but I broke your main door."

Alena slapped her palm on her face and chuckled. "You know where my things are, right?" I nodded. "Go pack some of my clothes."

I kissed her cheek and got up to head to her room. Her bedroom was a mess as well. It seemed like Anya was hiding under her bed.

I smiled at the thought of Alena protecting herself. Most men might feel incompetent after this, but not me. I was proud of her. One less incident to be afraid of now.

I had been scared shitless until three years ago, afraid that one day Alena would find out my truth and leave me. But I should have known. She would always embrace all of my sides, even the ugliest ones. She was even training herself to stay by my side without me panicking about her safety.

I really was too damn lucky to have someone amazing like her love me.

However, as soon as I opened her closet, I smirked.