As I walked through the open door, the first thing my eyes lay upon were the figures seated tensely on the couches by the unlit fireplace. They instantly got up to their feet. Ariel and Bella rushed over to where I stood, their arms coming to wrap around me in a desperate hug. Freaked out by their response, I instantly backed away to inspect them.

"God, I'm so glad you're okay!" Ariel exclaimed, her arms coming up to wrap around me once more.

"Me?" I asked in confusion. "Of course I'm okay." I slowly pulled away from her embrace. "Why are you guys here? Where's Seth?" I looked around the room, and within the same moment Seth came strolling in from a doorway which I guessed led to the kitchen, because he had a small bowl in his hand and was munching away on its contents. His eyes found mine and they widened in relief, and he walked over to us.

"Hey! I didn't know you were coming over," He managed to mumble through a mouthful. I nodded my head, still frowning.

"Would someone please tell me what the heck is going on?" I huffed. Elliot nodded and motioned towards the couches in the living-room space. We walked over and each took a seat, only Xavier and Seth remained standing beside the fireplace. Noah crossed his arms, not speaking a word, and when our eyes met and I silently demanded he'd say something, his only response was a shrug. I huffed and looked over at Elliot, who was rubbing his hands together in preparation to speak.

"Last night, we were faced with a bit of an inconvenience."

I frowned. "What kind of inconvenience?"

He sighed. "Hours after you'd left with Xavier, a couple of men tried to break into the house." I gasped, my hand coming up to cover my mouth in shock. Ariel's leg was bouncing again. "Noah and I were able to stall them while Seth took the girls to a hidden spot and contacted Xavier. His men showed up in no time and helped in taking down the intruders."

My heart was beating loudly in my chest. "Are you guys alright? Did anyone get hurt?" I inspected them for any injuries, and my eyes fell on Elliot and Noah's bruised knuckles. My throat constricted imagining the fight they must have had to put up against those dangerously experienced men.

"We're all right, no one got hurt." Elliot reassured me.

"Well, except for those two bastards," Noah muttered under his breath.

"Who where they?" I asked, before realizing how dumb that question was. My eyes found Xavier's cool ones, "they were sent by your rivals, weren't they?" Xavier hesitated for a second, before nodding reluctantly. "I thought you said they couldn't get to us here!" I exclaimed in frustration.

Xavier's eyes fell to the ground in what looked like shame, before they were suddenly clouded by rage. His jaws clenched tightly as he stood straighter. "They weren't supposed to."

I frowned. "So then how did they? And in Seth's house too!" I gasped, my head snapping to Seth where he stood still munching on his cereal. "What about your parents? When are they returning from their trip? They can't go back to their house, those men could still have eyes set on the place."

Seth shook his head, "don't worry, they won't be coming back any time soon."

"I will be taking care of this, I promise." Xavier began to speak, and I was beginning to get frustrated with his promises; especially the ones he doesn't see through. I had to resist the urge to snap at him and remind him that he shouldn't keep making promises he will eventually break. "But you all need to stay within the premises of this estate for now. You'll be safer here."

Elliot nodded in agreement. "We appreciate that, Xavier. Thank you." My eyes widened at his words. Knowing Elliot, I would've expected him to be the first to attack Xavier with accusations about how he failed to keep his promise of keeping us safe here, yet instead he was thanking him.

"I should head back to my affairs," Xavier announced before turning to Elliot, who was standing up to shake his hand like they were some business partners. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. "You have my contact details in case of any emergency - which I hope we won't have to deal with in the first place." Elliot nodded in response.

Xavier then turned to me, his cool-grey gaze falling on me as I remained seated. "And I believe you would be in much better comfort with your friends, at least for a while as I will be busy aiding to my own business." I nodded, understanding his implication that he will have to return to his family business - protecting the entire state of Indiana against drug-lords and what-not.

Xavier nodded in acknowledgement to the rest before heading out the front door. I sighed, reaching out for Ariel's shaking hands that were tightly held together on her lap. I gripped tightly onto her quivering palms and rubbed soothing circles on the back of her wrists. Her soft eyes found mine and they welled up with tears, so I pulled her forwards into an embrace.

"I'm so sorry I wasn't there with you," I whispered.

She shook her head against my own, pulling away from my arms. "No, I'm glad you weren't. Only more lives would've been in danger." She sniffed, trying to pull herself back together. "Plus, this idiot over here," she inched her chin forward in the direction where Seth stood, whose eyes immediately snapped to us, "was already having an emotional breakdown from having to watch over only Bella and I. He would've completely lost it if he had to watch out for one more life."

I shook my head, suppressing a giggle as Seth's eyes narrowed dangerously into tight slits.

"I'm pretty sure had I been there, I would have been the one to protect him," I giggled.

Bella nodded from across the room, not containing her own laughter. "Most likely you would have. Seth would've never been able to handle so much responsibility on his own."

"Hey, now!" Seth suddenly exclaimed while frowning. "I saved your lives, you ungrateful brats. And these dudes knew I was capable of keeping y'all safe, otherwise they wouldn't have sent me off with you." He justified proudly.

Noah rolled his eyes. "The only reason I sent you off is because I knew you would've been a bigger pain in the ass beside us."

Seth gasped dramatically, his eyes widening.

"Never mind them," Elliot finally spoke, walking over to him with a smile. "You did a great job at keeping everyone safe by contacting Xavier instantly for back-up." He gently patted Seth on the back, who was now slowly turning his head towards us with a proud smile, his eyes narrowed into an arrogant look. I laughed at his facial expression.

"Yeah," Ariel whispered reluctantly. She glanced at Seth, rolling her eyes. "You did."

Seth grinned widely, showing off his teeth. "You owe me one." He winked at Ariel, but she just shook her head.

"So what are we going to do today?" Bella asked, getting up from her seat from across us.

"I think Noah and I better teach you guys some basic self-defense moves." Elliot suggested. But we all groaned in response, including Noah.

"We know how to fight back," Ariel replied in annoyance. "Just because we're girls doesn't mean we're weak."

Elliot frowned, "I never claimed that you were. Just maybe a little uninformed."

Ariel rolled her eyes, getting up from her seat and heading towards the kitchen. "I'm making myself a sandwich."

At the mention of food, my stomach gave a loud rumble. I jumped up from my seat. "Make me one, too!" I yelled before following behind her steps. Elliot stepped in front of me to block my path, his hand coming to wrap over my arm to stop me.

"And what about you?" He asked.

I gave him a smile. "I haven't forgotten my lessons just yet."

His blue eyes remained fixed on mine for a few seconds longer taking in my response, before he gave me a smile and nodded. He stepped back, allowing me to continue towards the kitchen.

"I don't mind learning some moves," I heard Bella say to him as I walked through the kitchen door.

Ariel was already spreading some peanut-butter on bread slices, and I went to reach out for the fridge door, pulling it open to find that it was already packed with food. "Was anyone staying here before you guys came in? How's the fridge already packed up?" I wondered out loud as I grabbed some orange juice and walked towards the cabinets in search of a glass.

"The place was practically abandoned by the time we showed up." Ariel informed me. "But about an hour in as we were settling in, a couple of people showed up with several grocery bags claiming a Mr. Kanuho had sent them over with food and some basic necessities that we could use."

I couldn't stop the smile that formed on my face, overjoyed by Xavier's kindness towards my friends' comfort. But that smile didn't go unnoticed by Ariel, who studied me carefully and then raised a brow playfully.

"Hmm," she hummed in interest. My eyes snapped to hers and I immediately bit the smile away, raising my glass of orange juice to my lips and taking a long chug. "So," she walked over to me and handed me a peanut-butter and jelly sandwich, which I instantly bit into. "How did you spend last night?"

I glanced at her to gauge her expression and she gave me a playful wink. I rolled my eyes. "We just talked."

"What did y'all talk about?" She had an annoying, playful grin on her face - as she clearly enjoyed teasing me - and I had to resist the urge to slap it off.

"I told him about Darius."

Ariel suddenly choked on her food, dropping the last bit of her sandwich on the counter as she hunched over and began to cough violently. I patted her back roughly, and she reached out for my glass of orange juice, chugging it all at once.

She stood back straight and inhaled sharply, regaining composure. "You what?!" She exclaimed but in a hushed tone, aware that our voices could echo to the living-room where the rest were.

I nodded, my eyes refusing to meet hers. "He had his doubts about my past from all the arguments I had with Elliot, so he asked me and after a lot of convincing, I decided I had to tell him if I wanted us to work out."

Ariel went silent for a minute, pondering over what I'd just told her. "And what did he say?" She whispered, as if scared to know the answer.

"He asked for his name. Which, of course, I didn't give."

"But why not?" Ariel frowned.

"Because there's no point in bringing it up. What could he possibly do?"

"Uhh- find him?" she exclaimed in a duh-tone. "Give that piece of shit a taste of his own medicine? Maybe put a bullet in his pea-sized brain? Xavier is a man of power - which we all have already concluded. He could find him in no time."

I nodded my head as I put the remainder of my sandwich down, losing my appetite. "I know he could, which is exactly why I didn't give him the name. Because I don't want Xavier to have to deal with him. I spent a lot of effort to get to where I am today, to move past what that bastard did to me. And I wouldn't want my future to mix up with my past."

Ariel eyed me for a few seconds, taking in my words, before reluctantly nodding in understanding. She stepped forward as her arm wrapped around my shoulder, pulling me in for a side hug. "I'm glad you told him the truth, though. Now when he looks at you, he'll also see the Wonder Woman that we all look up to." I chuckled.

"I prefer the Black Widow."

"Whichever pleases you; but a bad bitch either way."