Nick's POV

I exhaled as I finally got Ryan out of the house. Suddenly, I felt a punch to the arm.

"You finally got some," Ryan teased.

I chuckled.

"Seriously, I never thought it would happen. You want to know why?"

"Why?"

"Because you're a pus-SAY."

I just shook my head. I mean he is kind of right, but I would never admit that.

"By the way, she gave you tons of proof you two are doing it."

Huh? What the fuck is he talking about? Then, it hit me.

My neck...

"Lily isn't coming to visit you today, is she?" I pulled my collar up a bit and tightened my tie, "she would freak out."

Ryan laughed wholeheartedly beside me, "no, but I can't wait to see her reaction when she does find out."

We made our way into the office building and greeted the receptionist. I started to make my way to the elevator when Harry, my best researcher, stopped me.

"I put the files about what you asked me about a few weeks ago on your desk."

"Oh, thanks." I briefly replied, not showing my eagerness to read them.

After he left, Ryan and I got into the elevator and pushed 39 to go up. After the elevator doors closed, Ryan asked, "was he talking about the files about her family?"

"Yes."

"I'm guessing you're very eager to read those, so if you want I could check with everyone about the Lorenzo situation," The perks of having someone you trust understand you. I guess he knows what I'm going through right now. Lily was not exactly the type of girl he should be with because it was such a messy situation.

Ryan was making his way up the ranks in the Italian mafia after his parents moved there from America, and Lily was visiting the mob boss. He fell in love with her after helping her find her way around the city, but she was off limits to him. She was the daughter of the Irish mob boss. She was high up, and he wasn't. Nevertheless, she fell in love with him. They fought her father almost always during their relationship but never gave up.

One day, Ryan was visiting Lily at her home, and her father came home angry about something else. Unluckily, he lost it and shot Ryan. Luckily, it wasn't deadly, but it did send him to the hospital for a week. Ryan had to have surgery, and Lily followed him only to be told she had to wait in the waiting room. Her father was close behind her, even though she kept screaming at him to leave. He never saw his daughter this distraught over anything. Nothing even close.

Lily waited in the waiting room and by his bedside for almost two full days without sleep. She only left to go to the bathroom. All she did was hold Ryan's hand and cry. When her father came in to give her water and food, that's all he saw. When Ryan finally woke up, her father truly saw how happy he made her. Ryan never gave up on fighting for Lily and keeping her safe right by his side.

Now that I think about it, he was feeling the same things I was, but in different situations. I used to tease him back then, and I got frustrated that he would put in so much effort to keep her safe instead of focusing on rising through the ranks with me, but now I know I was wrong. I know exactly why he did what he did because I'm going through the same thing.

Life works in a funny way.

~*~

Even though I knew in the back of my mind that this could be a possibility, I never thought it would be real.

I sighed, running my hand through my hair out of frustration. This was not supposed to happen, but she was related to him.

She's not going to take this well.

I heard the door open, and Ryan came in. As soon as he saw me, he asked, "oh shit, how upset will she be?"

"Very," I sighed.

I slid the paper with the most important news over to him. He skimmed it quickly, his eyes widening as he did so.

"Holy shit, he's going to kill you,"

"Why?" I asked.

"Because you've been hiding his baby sister from him,"

"I found her first," I grumbled.

"He's been looking for ten years and he couldn't find her," he mumbled to himself, "ten years,"

"I might have to call her father on how to handle this,"

Ryan laughed. "He's probably going to kill you, too."