I quickly pulled the girl inside as a bullet landed right towards where my head was just a second ago. I closed the door quickly and locked it. Everyone was on high alert now. My brother was screaming, Santiago cautiously looking through windows and James giving me the nastiest glare I've ever seen.

"Are you fucking thick in the skull you could've died trying to save this girl?" He yelled at me.

"What a way to go." I remark sarcastically.

"Tanya." He rubbed his head before his phone rang. He answered it and walked away.

"Sandra can you help me please?" I asked blankly. She nodded quickly and helped me take the girl to one of our spare bedrooms. She was still breathing but she had bruises all over her body that were visible even though she had rich chocolate skin. Poor thing. She looked no older than twenty years old but she was malnourished severely. Her eyelids fluttered quickly.

"No please, please don't make me." She muttered.

"Can you go get me some water and something to eat for her nothing heavy I don't want her stomach to explode." That's how severe it was. Her veins poked out freely, you should see the movement of her rib cage as she breathed and I was worried she might not make it. Her eyes opened and she looked at me.

"Please don't take me back there." She started furiously crying and I couldn't help the tears that came along with it.

"I promise I won't." I said taking her fraile hand in mine, Sandra came back with some water and some food. The girl looked longingly at it.

"For me?" She asked I nodded.

"Anything you want, you got it." I assured her and once the food was given to her she sat up and ate.

"What's your name?" I asked her. She thought about it and started crying.

"I-I can't remember." She gave me the saddest eyes and I had to take a deep breath before I got the urge to track down who did this and slice them ear to ear.

"It's okay, you'll remember once you become healthy. Just focus on eating." Sandra gave me a sad look and and clenched my jaw. "If you need us we'll be downstairs. I'll be back to bring you some clothes, get some rest." She nodded. And we left the room softly. I went downstairs to start cleaning up and I heard Sandra start to sniffle. I went and gave her a hug.

"Don't be scared, we're gonna be okay." I said. Santiago entered the room, I raised and eyebrow at him and he nodded. "I'm gonna go clean up okay?" She nodded into me and I let her go. I was gonna give them some alone time.

I started cleaning up, putting everything away, into our empty refrigerator. I wiped everything down and did the dishes. When I was finished everyone was in the living room I joined them.

"You're staying at my place." Santiago declared.

"No I'm not. I have my own place."

"Sandra I think it's best if you stay with him." I suggested. She gave me a betrayed look.

"Fine." She said pulling Keano closer to her.

"I'll go home as well, I'll try to find who sent her and who shot at the house. We will have them killed before the month is over." I sighed and everyone gave silent approvals before diffusing. So now it was just James and I sitting across from each other. He got up without a word and went upstairs. He was definitely mad. I quickly followed after him because I wasn't going to just let him be mad at me.

"Can you talk to me?" I asked closing the bedroom door behind me.

"What you did was so stupid."

"It was stupid to save another person?"

"No it was stupid to sacrifice yourself. You put yourself in so much danger."

"And that's my choice, and I would do it again in a heartbeat. Why does it matter to you anyways?"

"You don't think I care about you?" He asked. I shrugged.

"No, I don't." A part of me thought that this whole thing was more of a game to him, I didn't believe that I was that important to him.

"Well then maybe I don't." I nodded slowly. I took my clothes and went downstairs. I'll take the sofa.

~*~

Three weeks later

"Good morning Tanya."

"Good morning Evangeline." I said to the girl who was gaining weight quicker than ever. She looked brighter and cleaner, her bruises where healing nicely and her memory was coming back, which was how she was able to remember her name. My brother walked into the kitchen and Evangeline became spooked instantly. He raised an eyebrow at her and she blushed scooting closer towards me.

"What's up?" I asked Corey.

"Nothing I just need to talk to James." Hearing his name made my blood boil, but of course I didn't display it.

"He's in his office."

"Okay, you look good Evangeline." He said before heading upstairs.

"Oh, um thank you." She said more as a whisper because he wouldn't hear her.

"You guys would be a cute couple."

"He scares me." She said blushing even more.

"He would never hurt you like they did. Even if he tried I'd be there to kill him." She gave a small smile and thought about it. "How much do you weigh now?" I asked her. We did weekly weigh ins to make sure she was gaining weight.

"One twenty five."

"That's good, how do you feel?" I asked her.

"Very grateful." She said giving me a hug. I hugged her back.

"How about we celebrate, just us girls. We can go shopping then to a nice restaurant, maybe a club." I suggested.

"I would like that." She said. I'll just ask to borrow Corey's car because James and I still weren't talking. Quickly I ran up the stairs and knocked on the large mahogany doors before peeling my head through.

"Hey Corey can I borrow your car?" I asked.

"Why don't you ask James?" I ignored the stare that James was giving me.

"Please." He rolled his eyes and tossed me his keys.

"Thanks Big bro."

Corey

"Whats going on between you and my sister?" James stiffened.

"That's not what you came here for."

"But it's still important, why aren't you guys talking to each other?"

"Aren't you the one who didn't want us together?"

"I wouldn't mind you as a brother in law." I shrugged.

"We just had a small fight, she won't talk to me."

"Hm, if you don't know my sister already she's going to be her own person no matter what, you have to respect that."

"I do, she just thinks I don't care about her, but I do and I said some things that weren't nice but because I wanted her to realize the impact she has."

"Then you'll fix it. I don't like seeing my little sister upset."

"Yeah I got it. What about you and Evangeline?" I chuckled.

"I'm having my people send over some documents, we're trying to find out as much as we can about this man."

"Wait you can't ignore my question."

"I just did."

"You like her."

"Like? I don't know about that. She's attractive." James raised an eyebrow at me.