I woke up snuggled up comfortable in Xander's embrace. His big arms held me tight to his chest and that made me instantly relax and feel safe. I gently untangled myself from his arms and got off the couch. Xander must have brought me back home last night because I swear I fell asleep in his car. I walked into the kitchen and started cooking some breakfast for us. I fried some eggs and sausages and even made coffee.

Last night left me with so many questions, but I am confident that it wasn't a dream. I had seen Axel and he was standing right in front of me. It didn't matter how much I tried to convince myself that my mind was playing tricks on me. Last night had reopened a memory to a period of my life that I desperately tried to forget. It brought me back to the day I left.

FLASHBACK;

"Alexa you can't come with us, you are just gonna embarrass us," Damon said while looking down at my pink outfit with a dirty look. He turned away and walked away from me and towards a group of blond girls that were waiting over by his car. Carson carefully took my hand and me 50$. "Here take a taxi home and buy some pizza or something. We will be back later."

He gave me a small smile before getting in the car with Damon. A tear slid down my cheek as I watched my big brothers drive away.

A taxi stopped by the curb in front of me and the driver rolled down the window. "Are you going somewhere, Miss?" I looked down at the money in my hand and opened the door to the backseat. "The airport please"

FLASHBACK OVER

I picked up the finished plates with breakfast and very carefully carried them over to the couch where Xander was still sleeping peacefully. I gently poked his cheek and he stirred a little in his sleep. "Xan I made breakfast, wake up." His eyes fluttered open and he stretched out a bit before spotting the food on the table. His eyes lit up and we immediately dug in. We ate the food in complete silence, no body daring to address the elephant in the room. After a while C

Xander broke the silence. "Alex do you want to talk about what happened yesterday?"

I looked up at his concerned express and I tried to give him a smile, but my eyes were already filled with tears ready to spill. "I don't want them to find me" I said, my voice just above a whisper. It didn't take long before I started sobbing again and Xander pulled me tight into his chest. He understood me more than anyone else and supported me while I stained his shirt with my tears." I won't let them take you away from me or hurt you again. I will protect you" he spoke while continuing to rubb my back.

After a while, he had calmed my sobs and it only came out as small hiccups. I slowly pulled away from Xander. I walked into my room and changed into a comfortable outfit that consisted of a black hoodie and black ripped jeans. I remember making plans to go shopping with Olivia and I really hoped it would distract me for a while. It was hard, but I eventually convinced Xander not to drive me and that I was fully capable of taking the bus.

I met Olivia in a small coffee shop downtown and after hugging her we went inside to order. The atmosphere in places like this was one of my favorite things about New York. No matter where I went I felt welcomed and happy and that was refreshing. Today was a Saturday so the shop was kind of crowded, but after a while, we could make our way towards the register.

The guy behind the register was handsome, like greek god handsome. "Ladies what can I get you today?" He flashed us a smile and quickly started scribbling down Olivia's order. "I would like a chocolate cupcake and a latte thanks" I said and smiled back. We collected the food and paid before heading over to a cozy booth.

I had previously told Olivia about my true identity when she demanded an explanation as to why my face was on the news. Of course, my brother had reported my disappearance to the police and soon an old picture of me was all over the news. Luckily over the years I have changed so much that I am pretty much unrecognisable as Alexandra.

I told Olivia everything and it felt surprisingly good to talk to someone about it. She knew about my brothers and how I felt living with them. She knew abound my eating disorder and me being abused and bullied at school. The latter was especially hard to talk about. At the end of our talk, she had tears in her eyes while she squeezed my hand. I am so glad I get to have someone to call my best friend.

Olivia waited for me to continue talking. I knew that she wanted me to talk about what happened after she left the club. Obviously, Xander had called her to let her know that he had taken me to his place last night.

"I met Axel yesterday" I said while looking down at my empty plate. "Axel as in your older brother Axel?!" She exclaimed and my face instantly turned crimson red."Say it a little louder I don't think the people at the other side of the street heard you and yes Axel as in my second oldest brother" I whisper shouted.

"Did he recognize you?" She asked a little quieter. "He called me Alexandra, but Xander got me out of there before he could say anything else. I have to thank Xander for that later.

I took a deep breath"he was crying and I just wanted to hug him, but I know that if I talk to him Mason and the others will find me and take me back" I knew very well that when I moved here and changed my identity that I couldn't look back, it was all or nothing and no matter how much I missed them I couldn't go back to the dark place I was before. My past consisted of constant bullying and abuse at school and lonely nights in my room. Olivia looked at me with sympathy and reached out to grab my hand. "I can't go back Olivia"

We continued talking for a while and Olivia told me about the guy she had met the previous night and she seemed pretty smitten with him. She could be described as the opposite of me. No one was more surprised than me when she decided that I was her new friend. When we eventually finished eating we decided to go shopping. Olivia insisted that we walked to the mall instead of taking an Uber since quote she needed to "get back in shape" like she wasn't already looking like a literal supermodel.

We talked and I laughed at her jokes while we made our way through the busy crowds of tourists. Olivia walked in front of me while telling me about this new Netflix show she had started watching. I jogged a little to keep up with her long legs and make it over the road before the stop light turned red, but out of nowhere a car sped towards us. I barely managed to push Olivia out of the way before everything turned black. Everything seemed distant and blurred out, but I could still hear muffled voices and screaming before I let the darkness fully consumed me.