I sat outside the property line and leaned against the wall. My mind was filled with questions with no answers and I was still reeling over the fight I had with David.

"Penny for your thoughts?" I looked over to see the boy I'd landed on standing next to me.

"Life isn't so great right now," I admitted, "what's your name?"

"Aiden," he smiled.

"Iris," I replied.

"I know," Aiden said, "you're the girl who landed on me and the girl who humiliated James and Cole at school."

I raised an eyebrow, "the latter wasn't that big of a deal but, eh, sure."

I stood up and brushed myself off, "I'm gonna go for a walk."

Aiden raised an eyebrow, "You're going to walk alone at night?"

"I need to visit a friend- it's really important."

Aiden grinned, "I'll come with you, it'll be safer," I wanted to argue, but I know he was right. Although I had my gun, you can never be too safe.

"But what about your family? Won't they be worried?" He asked.

"I'll call them," I replied, unlocking my phone and calling them. On the third ring, Oscar picked up.

"Iris, are you okay?" He asked.

"I'm fine. Is it okay if I go and visit Jax? I have something I need to tell him," I didn't mind asking Oscar- he was probably the most reasonable out of all of them.

"It's getting dark and I don't want you to go out alone."

"Aiden is with me," I silently prayed that would be enough, "Please Oscar? It's a matter of life and death," that was true.

Oscar sighed, "your brothers are going to kill me."

"Is that a yes?"

"Yes," Oscar laughed when I thanked him, "just be back in two hours."

I ended the call and smiled at Aiden, "he said I could go."

Aiden grinned, "then come on."

X

It was a twenty minute walk. Aiden and I talked and I found that he was a funny and enjoyable person to talk to. He had an older brother and they both were living with their parents, who were a part of the family business. When I asked what it was, Aiden looked at me strangely and said, "you don't know? Oh well, it doesn't matter anyway."

I decided to drop it and interrogate him later.

We reached Jax's house and I knocked and waited for him to answer. He told me that he'd moved out of his foster parents house a couple months back, and I was excited to see how he was faring.

"Iris?" Jax looked confused when he opened the door, "is everything okay?" He looked at Aiden and became even more confuzzled.

"Jax, this is Aiden. Aiden, this is Jax, my best friend," I quickly introduced them and they both shook each other's hand, "Jax, I need to tell you something."

"I'll be over there," Aiden mumbled while walking away, guessing that we wanted some privacy.

"Harry told me John is back," I said.

"What?!" Jax yelled.

"And he's looking for me," I carried on. Jax looked like he wanted to murder someone.

Tears pricked my eyes as I thought about what John did to me. He beat me up and forced me to drink alcohol and smoke. I would always throw them up afterwards and brush my teeth carefully.

Jax engulfed me in a hug and sang:

"Hush little Rainbow don't you cry,

I'm gonna go and find that guy,

Because he didn't treat you right,

I'm gonna give him one hell of a fight,

And if it all goes well,

You're gonna have to bail me outta jail."

I chuckled. When I was younger and sad, Alex and Jax would sing to me. Alex liked to sing calming lullabies in Greek while Jax liked singing songs that would make me laugh.

"Are you going to be okay?" Jax asked, assessing me carefully.

"I'll be okay, I guess," I smiled weakly, "sorry for bothering you."

Jax shot me a look, "Rainbow, you could come banging on my door at 3am in the morning and I wouldn't care. I love you and will always be there for you."

"Love you too, Jax," I checked the time, "ah, I have to go now before my family murder me."

Jax laughed, "I'll drive you there- don't you dare protest. I don't want you walking around at night, regardless of whether you have someone with you."

I rolled my eyes at his protectiveness. To be honest, I was glad he was going to drop me off. I really should've been thinking when I decided to wear these boots on a twenty minute walk- they were killing my feet.

X ()

I take that back.

I wish I walked.

That way, I would've avoided the five people glaring at me and two who were trying to calm them down.

"Bye Rainbow," Jax kissed the side of my head. I could feel the glares intensifying.

"See ya Jax," I said, "bye Aiden."

"Bye Iris," Aiden waved and he and Jax hurriedly left the room- I didn't blame them.

"I'm sorry for the things I said earlier," I stated emotionlessly.

David nodded, "and I'm sorry for being too harsh on you," by silent consensus, we decided not to approach the 'you left me for eight years' thing.

"One thing I don't get," Daimen said, "why can't you tell us about where you go and stuff?"

"I just can't, Daimen," I said sharply, "it's for your safety as well as mine."

"What about the scars?" I wanted nothing more than to slap him.

"What scars?" Lisa frowned.

"Nothing important," I glared at Daimen- which can make even the strongest man cower. To my satisfaction and annoyance, he looked slightly ashamed, but carried on anyway.

"The day that man threatened Iris, she was turning to leave and I saw some white scars on her arm," I no longer wanted to slap Daimen. I wanted to tie him in a meat flavoured sack and throw him in a pit of wolves.

Automatically, I gripped my arms, "it's nothing to worry about," I snapped, "I was mugged a while back and one of them had a knife," Lie.

Please believe it. Please believe it. Please believe it, I chanted in my head.

"Are you okay now?" Oscar asked and I swear, I could've hugged him for breaking the tension.

"I'm fine now," I smiled, "fortunately, a friend was nearby and saved me," that was the truth.

"I'm going to bed now," I mumbled quietly, leaving the room.

"She's lying," Dad announced when we heard Iris' footsteps fading away.

"How can you tell?" I asked.

David rolled his eyes, "you're forgetting who her father is. Besides, I raised you guys. I know how to tell when a child is lying."

"Well, we can't force her to tell us," Oscar stated reasonably.

"Why not?" Daimen asked. When Iris left, he started thinking more with his fists rather than his two brain cells. 'Kill them first, ask questions later' was his motto. It helped him establish a strong position in the Mafia.

Yes, we're in the mafia. All of us. Dad didn't want to involve us, but Grandpa West forced us to.

Grandpas West was- how to put this delicately?- pure evil. When Iris was born, he didn't rejoice or be happy that our family was blessed with a baby girl. Nope, he mourned and said that the family was 'cursed' because girls can't take part in the Mafia. What utter nonsense. Even if she was allowed to be a part of the mafia, we wouldn't have allowed her- regardless of Iris' gender. Grandpa West was the reason we weren't allowed to contact Iris.

Now, old enemies are rising. It's our job to shield Iris from the danger. We will protect her at all costs.