"Mia!" I shook my head. "You need to speak to me," he whimpered. His head was buried in my lap and hands engulfed mine. "I love you... please," he said.

I gasped, closing my eyes in surprise.

No, I won't think about it.

"Can't you see that I am telling the truth? I am not him," he pleaded. My eyes blurred and I felt wetness travel down my eyes. "Please..."

Jacob had asked me to marry him. I had refused to be involved with him. He had taken advantage of Daisy's absence to enter her apartment. He had known that I would never shut the door on his face; he was too close a friend for me to treat him like that.

"It has been six months since you have spoken! You have to let it go. You knew that this is how our world worked!" he shouted, then. I hadn't met really seen him since that time in the hospital. I refused to speak to anyone who had been a part of the plot. I had wondered if he had known what was going to happen. I wondered if he, too, was as corrupt as Cain Vincent had made them out to be.

I shook my head to remove the wretched thoughts.

He looked up, rage filling his eyes. I knew that the fire in my eyes matched his.

"I told you," he sneered. "and you still fell in love with him. He killed your mother, and you fell in love with him!" he hissed. Unwilling to give in to his taunts, I soaked in his rage and tried to build my anger. If I believed the things he thought were true, then I would feel rage in place of helplessness. I would use it as a weapon to rejuvenate myself and seek revenge.

Had this not started with you trying to be the judge and the executioner?

Have you not learned anything?

"How can you still be in love with a man who used you and left you for dead? Do you think that is love?" He didn't mean a word of it. I could see it in his eyes. He knew that making me angry would fire me up. I would hit him and scream at him. I was tempted, but I would wait. I would see how far I could take his blows.

He waited for my reply, and then he just sighed.

"How many times do you want to do this? I will ask you every day if you want," he told me. He kissed the back of my hand and cradled my face in his palms. "I am not a fool, Mia. I know that you may never love me, but I want to do this? I have to keep you safe and Daisy... she... she has no one who answers to her. She can't protect you physically!" he reasoned. "I just waited for the right opportunity and came inside," he shrugged. I raised my brow at him. "You are still recovering, and you would never be able to take down a dozen men with your shoulder. They wouldn't even have to put a bullet through you. You would just strain a muscle and die from a heart attack."

I gulped, knowing that what he said was true.

"I promise to keep you safe. I will kill any motherfucker who wants to hurt you." My lips twitched and I fought from smiling widely. This, too, was true. He would really kill anyone who came in his way. "And if you want, I will take him out." He never said the name. I knew what he meant. I wrapped my hands around his neck and hugged him. He held me tightly against me and whispered in my ear.

"Please, marry me. I know it's a bad time, and we don't have to get married now, but I just want everyone to know that they will have to answer to me if anything happens to you." My tears flowed freely as I sobbed into his neck.

I didn't give him an answer.

I remembered what Cain Vincent had told me.

I should always stay with someone who loves me...