Rose Clark POV

I hold onto Austin's warm hand and keep it close to my lips, saying another prayer for him as I listen to the sound of the machine beeping beside me.

It's just me in the room with him today.

He has been in a coma for a week now, with no sign of waking up any time soon, the doctors do not know when he will wake up but they assure me that he has no brain damage or internal damage, he's just resting, and he will wake up.

That is what they said a week ago.

So much has happened in the past week, I am mentally and physically drained from the amount of change that has happened within my life ever since the explosion in the abandoned factory, mine and Max's life was flipped upside down and turned around, nothing has been the same since I got out of there with Max.

What happened that day still haunts me, I have not been able to sleep or look at myself in the mirror from what I did, the face of the man comes to me in my dreams and follows me as I wake ever since that day.

Ever since I killed a man before he could kill me.

One week ago, inside the factory.

I muffle a scream for help once Daisy, the sister of Angel leaves the room and heads outside to join her crazy sister.

I had heard the name Austin Silver and could not hold my voice in any longer, even gagged I hoped and prayed he could hear me, so he could find me and Max.

Once I knew he couldn't, I knew I had to get out of this, I knew that they wouldn't be gone long if things go wrong, I didn't want to think about anything happening to Austin, but right now my main concern was getting Max out of here and somewhere safe.

I did not care if I were to live or die at that moment, as long as Max was safe, I would do anything.

A painful scream erupted out of me as I felt my thumb break and bend as I pull and shake my hands free from the tight thick ropes that bind my hands together behind the chair, even with my eyes filled with fresh tears and new pain goes through me, I could not dwell on the pain.

I move my sore shaking hands from behind my back and bend to undo the rope tied to my legs, not before removing the bind around my mouth that was put there to keep me quiet, once removing the binds from my arms and legs I stand to hurriedly rush towards Max.

My legs weak from being sat and bound for hours made me stumble and trip as I hurriedly made my way towards Max. "You're okay, you're safe, we are getting out of here okay?" I say shakingly as I put my bravest face on as I speak softly as I can to Max.

He nods his small head, eyes filled with tears, he has a small bruise on his face from where Angel had whacked him to stop him from screaming once they had shoved us into a van, he was too small to go through this, I was a bad sister for not being able to do more.

He is my only living family and I couldn't protect him, but I can now, I can get him out of here.

"R-Rose, i-it hurts." Max cries out softly as I unbind his hands, fresh blood from how tight the rope was now fresh on his wrists.

I nod knowingly as I take a deep breath in, undoing the rope on his feet. "I-I know buddy, b-but you're so brave, you know that right? I'm s-so proud of you!" I say, my throat dry and croaky, yet I smile up at him, truly proud of him.

Once I get him free, I take his hand and drag him along with me, straight to the other side of the room, opposite to where the sisters left, I decide to go the back way, not wanting to put Max in any more danger, I take the safest route, one I know will get him far away from here.

As we walk closer, even with a limp and bruised ribs, I never stop- until that is when I see someone wearing a uniform, my spirits instantly lifted with seeing that man's face, knowing that we are saved and that those sisters will get what is coming to them.

That was until I see the man raise his gun and point it at me and Max. "Ah, ah ah." He says out loud, clicking the gun safety off, the sound makes me jolt with newfound fear.

I stand protectively in front of Max, almost instantly. I put my hands up as Max holds onto my shirt behind me, with shaking hands and silent sobs. "P-Please, w-we were taken and-"

The man in the CIA jacket spits on the floor and glares at me as he takes one step forward. "I'm sorry but I can't let you or the boy leave here alive, it's just business, you know?" He says calmly, taking another step forward.

My heart was pumping five times as fast now, fear was becoming me, my legs were shaking as I stare down the gun pointed towards my head, I wanted to scream, cry, attack him, I wanted to do anything, but all I could do is stand there in total fear, unable to do anything as I let him get closer to me.

Max's silent sobs and the feel of his small hands now gripping tightly onto my hand pull me from my fears, I snap my head up to the man who is watching me, almost bored as he steps closer, hand raised and gripping his gun tightly.

I didn't want to die yet, there was still so much I wanted to see and do. I wanted to see Max graduate college, get married, live a happy fulfilling life. I wanted to see Austin again, tell him how I feel, maybe travel together, get married, and have children of my own one day, to be a mother and a grandmother, I didn't want to die knowing I never truly lived and loved the way I had wanted to.

So, I took a deep breath and watched the man come closer to me, my hand still raised, the shaking had stopped and adrenaline had kicked in.

I could hear the sound of my heartbeat beat slower, my eyes focused on his feet moving towards me, the sound of his heavy work boots clicking as he came closer, I waited in anticipation of what I had to do to secure my future, the future I just know isn't that far away from me, I just had to take a leap of faith.

The man in the CIA jacket is a foot away from me, the barrel of his gun is pointed directly onto my forehead and his face is stoic, unmoving, and emotionless, this was really just business to him, I was a means to an end, this is the life that Austin has lived up until now, I had known nothing of this world until today, it was dangerous and unforgiving and I got first-class front seats to witness this life.

"It is such a shame, you are a pretty little thing." He says, clicking his tongue as he stares at my face.

I swallow hard and flex my hands, waiting for him to speak again, and when he does, I make my move.

"Any-"

I lunge forward and knock the gun away from his hands, a sound erupts near my ear as the bullet from the gun misses me, the bullet firing was loud that there's now a ringing in my ears, but I don't let that phase me as I get on top of the man and keep his hands stopping from picking up the gun that lays beside me.

Ignoring the cries and pleas of Max I do everything in my power and rush of adrenaline to keep this man from hurting my family, it was me or him and I choose life, I choose to protect my family, so I got a shard of glass and stabbed him with it in his shoulder as he pushes me off him.

With a grunt, he pulls the glass from his shoulder, red blood now drips on the floor from where I had stabbed him, he throws the piece of large glass onto the floor, covered in blood. I rush to the gun and get to it before him as he is laid flat out on the floor, hand outstretched to reach his gun.

I stand up with the gun in hand and point it shakingly at the CIA agent, who had wanted to kill me and Max, I hold the gun directly at his face and take deep breathes as I watch him laugh at me hysterically as he stares at me holding onto his gun.

I watch as he stands up, grunting from the pain from where I stabbed him, he raises his head to look at me, a smirk on his face makes my blood run cold. "Come on little girly, drop the gun and accept your fate." He says amused, taking a step towards me.

"STOP!" I shout out, pointing the gun at his head.

But he doesn't stop, and now my heartbeat is in my ears, and he is once again a few steps away from me, and now without thinking, I do the only thing I can think of, nothing else making sense right now but one 'protect'.

I shoot the gun shakingly, shooting him in his leg, I watch as he drops to the ground and grips his thigh with a hole in it, leaking fresh blood that now oozes out of him into a puddle on the cold cement flooring of the abandoned factory.

"YOU FUCKING BITCH! YOU SHOT ME!" He roars out, cursing in pain as he puts his hand over his leg to stop the bleeding.

My hands are shaking furiously as I grip the gun as hard as I can, still pointing at the man with fury in his eyes as he glares holes into me.

I push Max to the side, as he cries and screams out that he just wants to go home and that he is scared and for me not to leave him, but I can't hear him right now, my eyes focused solely on the man gripping his leg.

"I-I didn't want to shoot you! W-Why are you doing this to u-us?" I shout out, a sob escaping my lips as they tremble.

He growls and tries to stand, hunched and gripping onto his leg, his eyes blazing at he glares at me. "You better shoot me whore, before I fucking kill you for this!" He spits out, in promise.

"S-Stop! I don't want to hurt you dammit!" I cry out, watching him limp towards me, saliva dripping from his teeth as his expression changed to one of pure hatred.

I watch his hand go into his pocket and pull out a large army knife, making me sob louder as I once again grip the gun with both hands, both shaking as he curses and growls as he strides towards me, leading a pool of his own blood behind him in droplets.

I cry out. "Stop..." I tremble. "P-Please!" I beg him, my finger on the trigger.

The man laughs darks, four feet away from her. "I will take great fucking pleasure in killing, mark my fucking words- I will dump your bodies in the river and ship your pretty little heads in a box straight to Austin-"

The world stopped around me and before I could figure out what is happening, I watch as the man stops in his tracks, his black eyes haunting staring at me from two feet away, I watch as his head hits the floor, his lifeless body laying there.

It all happened in slow motion, before I knew it, I had killed him.

I killed a man before he could kill me.

There was so much blood.

Luckily for me and Max, just before the building had been set on fire and the eruption of detonated bombs that the sisters planted throughout the building went off, myself and Max were outside of the perimeter of the blast, only gaining a few cuts and bruises from the falling debris.

I had learned that Angel had a trigger hidden on her, she was indeed a professional at her job, just before Austin had shot and killed her, the trigger was detonated once her pulse stopped and she died, the trigger was her, it was always her.

Today was the day that I found out that Angel was working alongside the man that I had shot that day.

I did not know his name then but today I was told by an FBI agent that has visited Austin at the hospital we are currently in over the course of the week, the FBI agent is a man called Sam and he said the CIA agent that day at the abandoned factory was called Timothy Riley.

Timothy Riley had a wife and two children, and I shot and killed him.

Later I had been told that he was the director of the CIA and that he was under investigation for multiple counts of underground operations, and the assassination of the director before him, apparently this investigation had been going on for years and Austin was a part of it.

All of this was to bring him down, Austin Silver was an FBI agent turned crime boss, but not just any crime boss, he was the Don of bosses, he was the King of his world, something the FBI didn't think possible, but then Austin left the FBI once he had gained revenge for the death of his father, he had killed the recent most wanted man in the world.

I knew the name Don Maro De Sicia, everyone in America did, he did terrible, inhuman things in the name of greed, his name was whispered everywhere when I was living on the streets, he was a cruel heartless man who got away with so much in his lifetime, justice did not come for him, he was untouchable.

I had no idea that Austin had killed him not only a day before I was taken by the Iguana sisters, only to be told by Sam, the FBI director, and Austin's handler, and close friend by the sounds of how high Sam speaks of Austin.

It had been a shock to learn about all of this, I knew Austin was into something but I had no idea just how deep it really went, I couldn't fathom just how much he must have sacrificed to get this far, to go this deep into the darkness alone and all for justice to what happened to his father.

Since then, Max and I have been put in protective custody until Austin wakes up, Sam has personally been checking up on us every day to keep me in the loop of what is happening with the case, and to check on Austin's condition.

My life has been flipped upside down and all because I texted back a rude guy who then offered me a job, only to learn that he wasn't just some rude man, he was someone I totally misjudged and definitely did not see coming.

I look back now and if I had to go through this pain all again, just to meet this wonderful and extraordinary man, I would.

I stare down at Austin and grip his hand in mine, a slight twitch makes me snap my eyes from his face to his hand in mine, his beautiful tatted bruised and cut hand, his hand stopped twitching but his fingers now move against mine, they curl around my hand and hold onto me.

I lift my head and stare into the beautiful eyes of Austin as they stare brightly at me. "A-Austin?" I croak out, not believing my own eyes at what I am seeing right now.

His lips twitch as he looks at me, his eyes soft and lips curled slightly. "Hey.. baby,.. why the long face?" He huskily croaks out, his throat crackling from how dry and sore it is.

He's awake, he's actually awake.

I can't stop the tears from spilling from my eyes as I move forward and cry into his chest, I hold onto his hospital gown tightly as I hold onto him, afraid he might somehow disappear before me.

I feel his large heavy arm wrap around me as he brings his other to my hair. "Shhhhh, I'm here baby." He quietly mumbles out, his voice breaking. "Don't cry." He whispers.

"D-Don't ever d-do t-this to me again!" I cry out into his chest, hiccuping the words as my tears soak his gown.

I feel Austin stroke my hair, as the sound of the door being pushed open, I focus on his words, that are laced with promise, not just any promise, Austin's promise, one that I knew he would never break.

"I will never leave you again, come heaven or hell, no one will take you from me again, that I promise you." He promises, his voice breaking at the end.

"I love you, baby, forever and after that."

This 36-year-old, tattooed-covered ex FBI agent now underworld crime boss, I had grown to love every single part of him, every single imperfect thing about him I loved, with each passing day that he laid unconscious in this bed I knew that there is no life without him in my life, not anymore, I needed him like I needed to breathe.

In this moment and forever, I knew I was his and he was mine.

Not even the devil could question it, I loved him with all my heart, forever and after that.