she had of Alan Lewis. She had seen him at his lowest and his highest during all these years, but the way he was now was new for her. The pride and arrogance which had interwoven itself in his veins like oxygen were gone now, replaced by a certain weariness he had had in her father's office as well. He looked younger now, the way he had been before all of this, when money had just been a word and love still real.

That didn't mean she had any pity for him though, especially now he had grabbed her wrist. She was just about to let her icy words roll off her tongue when he pushed open a supply closet beside them and pulled her in, the door clicking shut behind him. Though a lot of rooms in Gaia were bigger than necessary, this one seemed to be the exception, barely big enough for the two of them to fit inside. Jasmina leaned against the racks of paper towels and cleaning products behind her, watching him in the filtered light of the closet.

"You know better than to pull at me, Alan," she said.

"I wanted some privacy," he said, words hastily tumbling down his lips," this was the best thing I could think of."

"You never could think much," she said with a slow shake of her head, glancing away boredly," anyway, get this show on the road now, will you? I have things to do."

Alan parted his mouth and closed it again, looking baffled. "You're going to listen?"

"Was that not your intention?" she replied, raising an eyebrow," I can also leave."

"Yes, but I didn't expect you to accept it so easily," he stammered," I mean, I was about ready to block my eye from your Louboutins."

"Those are the perfect shoes to stab someone with, I suppose," Jasmina smiled sweetly," the red wouldn't even be visible on the bottoms."

Alan stiffened ever so slightly, like he was sure he was giving her ideas instead of helping his case. The poor fool - she didn't need any suggestions when it came to revenge plans. There was one reason she was still standing here and that wasn't just because of a faint curiosity; no, she had to confirm one of her suspicions. Her eyes wandered across his long sleeves, settling on his bare neck, but she didn't find anything just yet.

"What?" Alan said, hand shooting up to his neck, like he was protecting his skin from her burning gaze.

"I'm growing tired of the questions," she said," you have five seconds."

He knew better than to ask what would happen if he didn't comply, breathing in and out to prepare himself for talking. When he finally seemed to have composed himself he looked her in the eye, gaze made of stained glass and cloudy days. It reminded her of the day he had lost his mother, the way he had sat down and choked on his grief. Even then he hadn't been able to show his emotions well, but she supposed that wasn't needed in their world anyway.

"I know I have already apologized," he said," but I miss you, Jas. I miss your sickeningly sweet remarks and petty plans, the way you're overly dramatic and yet emotionless at the same time. I miss our relationship, our friendship, whatever we were before I ruined it all."

She didn't say anything, watching him without any change in her expression as he continued on.

"You know how my father is," he said softly," more than anyone else, you know. I felt so suffocated by him, by the way our marriage and relationship were determined before we could even realize what love was. There isn't any freedom in having to be the perfect fiancé all the time and I don't know, I -" He placed a hand on his neck, evading his gaze. "I love you, I do, but when Lena made a move I was wondering if perhaps it was love or if I just had been taught it was. It felt like I finally could let loose and so I did, even though I know it was wrong."

"Don't tell me you regret it now," she said," that would be too cheesy of a speech."

"But I do," he exclaimed," I do, Jas, more than you understand."

"Oh, but I understand," she said, pushing herself off the wall," I understand that you feel sorry and now want everything to go back to normal, but I don't think you understand the situation, Alan."

She neared him then and he inhaled sharply once her fingers trailed across his jaw. "You know me longer than anyone else, you know how I am, the things I think are unforgivable. This world we live in is so fake, I have no tolerance for the person I know best to be the same towards me. You knew what letting loose would mean for us, Alan, and yet you accepted those consequences anyway when you betrayed me publicly with a friend of mine."

Her nails almost drew blood, but she pulled back in time, shaking her head.

"That's on no one but you," she said.

"Don't you think I know?" he said, voice growing louder with the word," shit, don't you think I know, Jasmina? It was just one mistake I made. One! Can't you forgive me for that?"

"I died that night, Alan," she replied," so perhaps try again in a different life."

"You died?" he frowned," are you talking about your night in the hospital, Jasmina?" He glanced away guiltily, shaking his head. "Shit, I almost forgot, but you have to know that wasn't my intention. Besides, you smashed in my car window!"

"And I'm sure you cried when you let someone else take care of that," she drawled," oh, poor old you."

"Okay, that might not have been the best point to bring up," he said," but my father was angry about that, you know."

Her gaze became more calculating then, slowly looking him over. Alan immediately was on guard as soon as he noticed, like he was prepared for her to attack him any moment now. She didn't know why he was so on edge, despite the fact that she wasn't one of the nicest people, he should know that if she damaged him in any way, it would far more likely be mentally than physically. When she placed her hands on his chest he flinched, looking at her with wide eyes as she grabbed a few buttons in the middle of his blouse.

"Jasmina?" he said slowly.

"Take your shirt off," she commanded.

"Damn," he murmured," am I to assume I'm forgiven then?"

"I don't like to ask twice, Alan," she said.

"You know I would, but -" he began, voice becoming more husky, but before he could finish his sentence she had already pulled hard.

Alan gaped at her in surprise as the buttons flew loose, baring his chest. She stared at his skin and he only realized after a moment what she was looking at, but it was too late for him to cover up.

"Is your father hitting you, Alan?" she said.

Bruises were coloring him purple, scattered across his skin and blooming further towards his back. They were all hidden enough that they wouldn't be seen with his clothes on though, in a way that told her the person who had done it knew exactly what to do. This wasn't only rage, this was far colder, and though she had had her suspicions, never before had she seen any evidence. Yves Lewis had always been hotheaded, but only once had he shown any outright aggressive tendencies, when Alan had lost a baseball game. He had thrown a vase at his son's head, missing him barely, and Jasmina had had her bodyguards take him with to her house.

Police weren't much good with the rich and influential, but her parents were. So while her mother yelled at him about ever daring to hurt his own son, she had taken Alan in and let him stay there for the following month. Only after Yves had apologized profusely multiple times and spoken about it with her father Alan had moved back in. The incident was never mentioned again, but Alan had insisted on going back anyway. His father only had him now after his mother's death and if he was to be his successor, he couldn't miss too much time away.

She saw Alan often enough to know if someone was hitting him while they were dating and Yves was away enough for their time together to be sparse, but still the thought lingered. It had happened six years ago, but she had known once she had seen Alan's reaction to Yves in her father's office. Right now, those suspicions were confirmed.

"It's nothing, Jas," he said curtly, stepping back and pushing her away," I fell."

"You know better than to lie to me, Alan," she said. For a moment she watched him, before nodding once she made her decision. "You're staying with me in the wing beneath, we both know he would pull you out of any other place you would go to after all. I have no patience for men like this and he will know that soon enough."

"Jas," he merely said.

She was about to walk away to get her plan in motion when he placed a hand on the back of her head. With raised eyebrows she looked back at him, as if to ask what he thought he was doing. And then, without any warning, he kissed her.

Just when she was about to push him off he got slammed against the wall, a low groan leaving his lips as he fell to the ground, but she didn't need to look up to know who had just appeared in the room. Azriel was looking down on Alan, eyes flashing a blood red as he tilted his head to the right.

"Now, what the hell do you think you're doing to my wife, huh?"