her office and then immediately walked right out to Hyeon's desk. She pointed inside, "Where did those flowers come from?"

Hyeon looked up from her screen before following Nyla's gaze. Her face morphed into a frown. "They were dropped by earlier, with a note that just said to place them in your office."

Nyla looked at the bouquet of Gardenia's suspiciously. Ever since the bomb package incident, she didn't like anything coming up to her office. All her packages were opened by security before they made their way upstairs. "Do you still have the card?"

Hyeon nodded before passing along a slim white card. The only words on it were Please place these in Nyla's office.

As she walked back into her office, Nyla continued looking at the card. She couldn't recognize the handwriting, but it seemed very familiar. For the next couple of hours, she looked over the various budgets, but the cards and flower stayed in her mind. She had a couple of theories in mind and she was quite sure she could narrow the individuals down. She'd seen the writing in one of the contracts that had been signed earlier.

Pulling open the files, she began sifting through them hoping to match the handwriting. She'd almost given up when she pulled up the last file, the contract between G-Health and Renne. She saw the one of the clauses had been changed and written again. The writing matched the one on the card. Scanning to the end, Nyla saw that it had been signed by Darius. Her heart immediately went cold.

She'd told him not to contact her and hadn't heard from him in the last two weeks. All of a sudden, he was sending her flowers now?

A phone rang and she guilty placed the note back into her drawer. She'd done enough mooning over Darius to last a lifetime. The number didn't have a caller ID, so she wasn't sure who was calling her.

"Nyla Malhotra," she answered.

There was brief static on the line before it became crystal clear. "Ms. Malhotra, this is Agent Tessa from the F.B.I."

Nyla immediately straightened. She hadn't heard anything from them in a couple of months, so she'd assume they had reached a dead end and failed to contact her.

"Are you in a secure location?"

"Yeah, I'm in my office right now."

There was pause on the other line. "We don't know who might be listening in, if we send up a car, is it possible for you to meet with us?"

Nyla looked at her calendar. She didn't have a meeting scheduled for at least two hours and that gave her plenty of time. "Yeah, I'll be there."

"Good, there should be a black sedan waiting for you by the Renne lobby in the next few minutes. Don't tell anyone who you're meeting."

The line clicked before Nyla could respond. Well the F.B.I were efficient at least. It would be difficult to leave the office without anyone noticing but she was sure that Hyeon would be the hardest one to fool. Grabbing her bag, she exited the office.

"Where are you going?" Her assistant asked.

Nyla gave her a brief reassuring smile. "Something came up with one of the distributors so I'm just having meeting with their team."

"Do you want to have someone else to tag along with you? Perhaps me or George to write the meeting minutes?"

Nyla smiled tightly. "No, I'm good. It's an informal visit, it shouldn't take too long."

"I can call for Anthony to take you wherever you are needed."

"Thank you, but I already have a driver waiting for me downstairs."

Her assistant gave her an inquisitive stare. "Are you feeling okay?"

Nyla nodded, hoping that Hyeon would just give up. "I'll be back for my three o'clock meeting," she said before walking away.

"Hey, if you are meeting with Mr. Giordano tell him I said hi!"

Nyla's cheeks warmed in anger, but she didn't say anything. It was better for Hyeon to believe that she was visiting Darius rather then the F.B.I. Lord knew that Hyeon finding out would lead to a greater number of questions.

When she exited the building, true to Agent Tessa's word, a black sedan was parked at the front. A female in a black tuxedo stood at the side while on her phone. It looked as though she was trying to blend in, but her posture was a bit too stiff to be considered relaxed. Nyla coughed lightly when she reached her.

Dark brown eyes meet hers. "Can I have some ID please?"

Nyla dug through her bag before producing her driver's licence. She didn't use it much, but she still had it on her at all times. She was quickly ushered into the car before it began to pull into the traffic. Nyla didn't know where they were going so she spent the time answering a few emails. They arrived at an abandoned apartment complex that looked as if it was about to be demolished.

When Nyla arrived upstairs, there were already a few F.B.I agents she recognized from the bombing incident but there were many she didn't.

"Thank you for joining us." Agent Tessa's hard voice filled the room.

"I can't say it's a pleasure to be here but I'm very curious as to why I was called."

"We found the person behind the bombing."

Nyla's face hardened and her gaze directly met Agent Tessa. "Who was it?"

Agent Tessa didn't answer her question. Instead, she motioned towards the chair in front of her. "Have a seat please, this is going to take a while."

Nyla did and she was told and placed her bag on the counter-top. Her heels brushed against the dirt on the floor. "I'm listening." she said.

♠♠♠♠♠♠

"You have got to be shitting me."

Agent Tessa shook her head. "We have very strong hunches, but we need you help to get the last bit of proof."

"I can turn over any company records you require, provided of course they are kept classified."

"That's very kind of you," Agent Tessa said with a grim smile. "However, we require another role out of you."

She pushed a sheet of paper in front on Nyla. "Send this memo out to your company and we will handle the rest from there."

"Done," Nyla responded.

Her phone pierced the mostly quite room. She looked at the caller ID to see it was Hyeon and immediately declined the call. A text came seconds later.

It's an emergency, as soon as you get this call me back.

Nyla frowned but dialed Hyeon anyways. The rest of the F.B.I agents stared at her and so she gave them a tight smile. "I'm sorry but I need to take this."

Hyeon picked up on the first ring. "Have you seen the news yet?"

"No, I was in the middle of something."

"It's terrible, the phones are ringing like crazy. Everyone wants to get your opinion." Hyeon rushed her sentence.

"Slow down," Nyla gently scolded her. "Explain what happened from the beginning."

"Darius is in jail."

Nyla thought she didn't hear the words correctly. "What?"

"He got into some fight, it's all over Twitter and now he's in jail. Since everyone still thinks you both are together, they want to see if you know anything else."

Nyla was conflicted. Her and Darius weren't together so it wasn't her responsibility to look after him but at the same time she knew Darius wouldn't have gotten into a fight unless it was warranted. She had to protect her own reputation as well and being associated with Darius was not helping her right now. "Do you know where he is being held?"

"No, all I know is it's somewhere in Houston?"

Nyla abruptly got up, scraping the chair nosily against the dirty floor as she did so. "Why isn't he in New York?"

"I don't know Nyla, just tell me what I need to do." She pleaded.

"Call Olivia, find out where Darius is being held. Let her know that I'll handle the rest from there." Nyla grabbed her bag, ignoring the curious gazes around her. "Also, make sure that nobody puts out a statement from either side."

She hung up the phone and met Agent Tessa's gaze. "I'm sorry but I'm going to have to cut this meeting short. I have to fly to Houston immediately."

One of the other agent's opened their mouth but Agent Tessa cut it. "It's fine, just pick up the phone whenever we call."

Nyla shot her a mocking smile, "I always do."

She shook her hand firmly before exiting the building. Although she had put a brave face in front of the F.B.I agents she was worried. What if she didn't get in time to Houston? What if Darius was seriously injured? She shouldn't care anymore but she knew she did—she always would. It wasn't that easy to cast someone out of your heart. Ignoring all the thoughts building up inside her, she picked up her phone and made the first of her numerous calls. "Have the jet ready to fly out to Houston in thirty minutes."

♠♠♠♠♠♠

Her heels clicked against the floor as a stream of cool air burst into her face.

"Is there something I can help you with ma'am?" The uniformed officer asked her politely.

"Yes, I'm here to retrieve Darius Giordano. I believe you booked him earlier in the day?"

The officer slowly looked at the screen in front of her. "Are you his lawyer?"

Nyla shook her head but then pointed to Jacob who stood beside her, "No, but he is."

She'd grabbed the lawyer earlier from the G-Health offices and he'd flown on the private jet they charted together. She didn't like Jacob, but she was sure that Darius would be less appreciative of her lawyer's representing him.

"I'm afraid the other party has decided to press charges and his bail is set to $50,000."

Jacob and Nyla exchanged a glance before she stepped forward with her card. "Can I pay the amount right now?"

The officer looked a bit shocked, but she nodded. Nyla swiped her card, aware of the officer's curious glare. Nyla was sure she was waiting for her card to decline but it never did.

"Well, I'll have him brought out then."

Nyla gave her a tight smile before taking a seat on one of the plastic chairs. Jacob joined her. "I don't know why he would do something so stupid like this."

Nyla shrugged her shoulders. "What can be said, men are often stupid."

Jacob glared at her but didn't say anything further. Nyla didn't care, she just wanted to make sure Darius was alright and then kick his ass all the way to the North Pole. They waited silently for about a quarter of an hour before Darius came through the back, dressed in simple long sleeve shirt and jeans. Beneath his eye, there was a particularly gruesome gash but otherwise, he seemed to be fine. She breathed in a sigh of relief internally.

He was fine.

They glanced at each other and his blue eye's widened in surprise. "I didn't know you were going to be here."

Nyla didn't respond. She didn't want to be having this conversation in the middle of a police department. She grabbed her bag, "let's go, a car is waiting for us outside."

She walked ahead, expecting the boys to trail behind her. Pulling open the door to the limousine, she slipped into the back. Darius followed her in but when Jacob made a move to join her, she pointed to the front. "Do you mind sitting with the driver for a bit, Darius and I need to have a nice discussion."

Based on the annoyed expression on his face, it was evident that Jacob did have a problem but when Darius muttered, "It's fine," he let it go.

Nyla gave the driver the address before pulling up the divider. No sooner had the pulled away from the police department when she turned towards Darius, "What the fuck were you thinking?"

He didn't meet her gaze, instead Darius opted to look at the ground.

"Answer me damnit! Because I honestly don't know what went through your head. Who the fuck get's in a fight? You have responsibilities to not only yourself, but your company, as well as mine."

Darius' blue eyes pierced into her and she saw what she hadn't seen before, sadness but determination also. Well that made two of them. The last thing she expected was to be rescuing Darius when she also needed to protect her own company against the mole.

Nyla took a deep breath before lowering her voice. "I need to know who you fought."

"Why does it even matter?"

Nyla tried to calm down her frustrations. "Why does it matter?! It's because whoever the other idiot is—he's pressing charges. I'm already in a media shit show and this is the last thing I need on my plate."

"I'm sorry," Darius said softly.

"I need a name."

Darius clenched his teeth and looked out the tinted window. He wasn't going to give her a name. She sighed, "There's already a video on social media. If you don't give me the name, all you are doing is avoiding the inevitable. I'm going to find out one way or another."

"Fine, it was Michael alright?"

Nyla froze for a moment. "Michael your school friend?"

Darius gaze her a terse nod and a cold feeling came over Nyla's body. "No Darius, you didn't. You wouldn't be so stupid..."

Darius' silence gave it all. He'd fought Michael on her behalf.

"I didn't ask you to do anything." she said, feeling the need to defend herself.

Darius' honest gaze met hers. "I know, but I should have done it long time ago which is why it doesn't matter."

But it mattered to Nyla. He'd destroyed his reputation for her, stood up for her even though it wasn't the smartest way possible. She was going to make this right. She pushed down the diver, "Turn the car please."

Both Jacob and Darius looked at her as if she was crazy. "You have thirty seconds to give me Michael's address before I hire a private investigator to find him."

Darius' eyes had a dangerous quality to them, and he immediately straightened up. "What are you going to do?"

"It doesn't matter," Nyla gave him a sweet smile. "Address please."

Darius remained silent; Nyla turned towards Jacob instead. "You must know where he lives."

Jacob didn't respond but a few seconds latter he rattled off an address. She asked the driver to take them there.

"This is crazy," Darius said as they arrived in front of Jacob's mansion.

Nyla ignored him and got out of the car, Darius also made a move to join her and she blocked him. "You are not coming inside with me, the man pressed charges against you for fuck's sake, stay inside."

"I'm not letting you go inside by yourself after Michael said those things to you."

"You don't have to let me do anything. I'm fine, unfortunately I've dealt a with a lot worse than a dirty little rich boy who can't keep his mouth shut." Darius still didn't look convinced, so Nyla turned towards Jacob. "Please advise your client to remain in the vehicle."

"I'm sorry Mr. Giordano, I'm with Ms. Malhotra on this one. You need to stay away from him."

Darius slumped against the black leather seats.

"Ten minutes," Nyla said. "That's how long it will take me. I'll be back in the car before then."

Before the two of them could respond, she shut the car door and walked towards the door. The bell rang and to her surprise, Michael was the one who answered—with an ice pack touching his cheek. A sense of satisfaction rose in Nyla upon seeing his injury, but she quickly slipped inside before he had the chance to shut the door on her feet.

"What are you doing here?"

Nyla gave him an overly sweet smile. "I thought it was best for us to chat."

"Get the fuck out of my house."

"No," she replied. "I don't think I will. It would be in your best interest to listen and agree to what I have to say."

Michael snorted but he didn't say anything.

"I want you to drop the charges against Darius."

"And why the fuck would I do that?"

Nyla smiled at him. "It's really quiet simply, I have recordings of you and your friends calling me racist names. I'm sure the public won't be to happy with that."

Michael's face visibly blanched.

"Calling someone a curry-eating bitch while smoking in a public place isn't the best idea now is it?"

"Fine, I'll drop the charges." Michael glared at her with hatred, but Nyla wasn't satisfied.

"Call your lawyer right now."

Michael fished his phone out. "Yeah, Harry I want you to drop the charges against Darius. No, do what the fuck I tell you to."

When he hung up, Nyla let out a true smile. "Now that wasn't hard, was it?"

She swung the door open herself, "I would advise you not to come near Darius or I for the remainder of your life. Lest you wish to end your own career."

With that, she walked back out the door and slipped into the car.

Darius cocked an eyebrow, "Did you have a good conversation?"

Nyla smiled sincerely. "I believe that we did. Michael has agreed to drop all charges and won't be contacting you anytime in the near future."

Both Jacob and Darius looked stunned at her response. "How did you do it?" They lawyer final asked.

She winked at him, "A girl never tells her secrets."

Beside her, Darius gently placed his hand atop of hers, "Thank you," he said quickly before removing his hand. Nyla missed the warmth immediately, but she didn't say anything else and neither did he.

---------------

*Comes out from behind a potted plant* Sorry it's been too long. Last semester was brutal and I didn't have any time to write. On the bright side, the last chapter will be posted next week as I'm almost about to finish it! Don't we all think Nyla's a badass? Do you think Darius was justified in punching Micheal? Please remember to vote and comment!