Changed into her normal attire after her shower, Grace sat on her bed with wet hair as she stared listlessly into the space in front of her.

Zain approached Mary outside of Grace's bedroom. "How is she?" he asked.

"Not well... She's barely said a word, and she keeps sighing as she just sits there."

"I see..."

"Do you think she'll get past this?"

"She seems strong, so probably, but I don't know how long it'll take. This went against her morals."

Zain knocked on her door. She didn't answer, but he opened the door, anyway. "What did I say about not answering?"

Grace didn't even bother to look up at him. She didn't even notice he had come in, too stuck in her mind, going in circles.

He grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet. She jumped, finally noticing him. "When did you...? What are you doing?" Grace asked.

"Grabbing your attention."

The hand still holding hers told her otherwise. "For what?"

"You..." Zain thought for a moment. "You haven't gone to see your friend today, yet. Let's go."

"It's okay." She pulled back. "I'm not planning on visiting today."

"You'll make him lonely."

"He can go a day without me."

"Damn... You're doing worse than I thought. He's your partner; he might be able to help you better than anyone else here." Not listening anymore, he dragged her along, and she let him. She didn't have it in her to fight with him.

Downstairs in the basement, Zain nudged her into her Roger's room.

"Grace! It was getting late, so I wasn't sure I was going to get to see you..." Roger trailed off, his expression dropping as he looked at her. "What happened?" He patted the spot next to him on the bed, and she sat down.

"I don't know if I want to go through it again..." Grace mumbled.

"Whatever it is, you're already reliving it in your head, so why not tell me?"

Grace sighed and then told him about her evening.

"Ah, no wonder you're in this state." He gave her a shoulder hug. "I know you've avoided killing, but the others are right. You did what you felt you had to in the moment. And there's a high probability he would've killed your grandpa if you didn't. Sometimes the world is kill or be killed."

"Have you killed anyone before?" While they had been partners for years, he had already been a cop there for a while before she came along.

"Well..." He sighed and scratched the back of his head. "Honestly, I have."

"How'd you deal with it?"

"Rationalize that it needed to be done. That's about it. I'm sorry I can't be more help." He stroked her head.

"I took a life, and that means there's zero chance he can redeem himself."

"What makes you think he'd ever want to?"

She turned to him, wide-eyed.

"There are more bad people out there than you'd think, and they don't care one lick about taking a life. Not everyone can be redeemed..." Roger zoned out, lost in thought.

"Seems you've had issues with people, too."

"Who hasn't? We see a lot in this line of work, so it always amazed me how you stayed so positive."

"Funny, I thought you were the positive one."

He tapped his lips. "What comes out here." Then he tapped his head. "Isn't necessarily what's in here."

"I suppose that's true. You never know what someone else is really thinking."

"I think you'll be fine, Grace, once you choose to accept you had no choice. It's not like you're going to go apologize to his family or anything, right? I imagine that would get you killed."

"That would also require knowing who he was."

The door opened, and Zain stomped in. "Enough of this nonsense. No one is going to tell you who it was because it doesn't matter. They were attacking us. They were from a rival mafia family, and they wanted to get rid of us. The one man you killed is nothing in the grand scheme of things. We need the person behind it all. We need to show them they can't mess with us."

The image of the man from before in the car flashed through her mind. If it was him... "Did you not recognize any of them? Isn't it likely the Marini family? Or maybe they're working with others."

Roger went silent as they talked, his eyes narrowing as he watched them.

"That's not something you have to worry about," Zain said.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"Are you kidding me? They tried to kill us; of course, I have to worry about it."

"The boss and I will deal with it—"

"I was in the restaurant when they attacked; they tried to kill me, too. I should be able to fight back—"

"Fight back?! Are you kidding me? You killed one person, and it's like you're being pushed off the edge. You think you can kill more? Because it will come to that. In a mafia war, there are many dead bodies. And as much as I don't want it, innocent people get caught in the crossfire, too. You think you feel guilty now? How about if someone innocent gets killed because you didn't fire? How bad will you feel then?"

Grace gritted her teeth, biting back any response she had. He's right. "But I already have a hint as to who was behind it."

"You do?" Roger asked.

"I spotted someone in the back of a car driving by after the fighting stopped. There's a chance it was a coincidence, but I don't know..." Something tells me it wasn't.

"Well, who did you see?" Zain nudged her.

"Are you going to let me help?"

"No."

"Then I guess you don't need my information." Grace crossed her arms as she looked up at him defiantly.

He huffed and turned to Roger. "Can you talk some sense into her?"

Roger shrugged. "Hasn't worked so far."

"I guess you're like this with everyone. We'll see what the boss has to say about this."

"You say that like it's a threat, but I'm not afraid of him."

Zain leaned in close, staring into her eyes. "Are you sure about that?"

"I'm not you." She shoved his head away.

"Tch... Why do you want to be in the middle of a mafia war? You know bloody well how dangerous it is, especially after today."

"I'm already in the middle of it because of you guys. I've already proved myself today." She clenched her fists in her lap.

"That didn't go so well for you."

"And what's done is done. There's no taking it back, not that I'd want to."

"You wouldn't?"

Grace glanced at Roger. "No, since it would've likely meant my grandpa would've died."

"Which is what everyone was already telling you. What's so different now? Him? You'll listen to him, but not us?"

Roger narrowed his eyes, smirking. "What do you expect? It's only been a short while, and I was her partner for years. Of course, she'll trust me more. Wouldn't you, in her situation?"

"The boss is her family."

"That she only recently met up with. Frankly, you're lucky she isn't still trying to run from you mobsters."

Zain growled as he grabbed Roger's shirt, dragging him to his feet."You're lucky you're worth something to her. If you weren't, you'd already be dead." Zain shoved Roger, knocking him onto his back, and grabbed Grace's wrist. "You're done here."

"What are you doing?" Grace tried to dig her feet in, but it didn't do any good. Zain dragged her out and headed upstairs. "Seriously, what's your problem?" She tugged back again, and this time his grip tightened. "Ouch..."

They passed by a couple of men lounging about in the hallway, who averted their gazes.

Enough to make you wonder what they were told before I was brought here. Can't expect help from them, that's for sure.

Mary spotted them outside Grace's room. One look from Zain, and she kept quiet and moved off to the side.

What the hell is he so angry about?

In her room, he tossed her onto her bed. She heard him plod up to her door, slam it shut, and it clicked as it locked. Grace looked over at her closed door. "Grr..." She stomped up to her door and slammed her fist into it. "What the hell, Zain?!" she yelled as she jiggled the handle. "Tch, locking me in my room like I'm some child. What was his deal, anyway?" Rage fuelled, she paced around her room, thinking about the man in the car.

Could it really have been you, Floyd?

"What is it now, Zain? I wish to sleep at this time of night after such a long day." Ray sighed as he let Zain into his bedroom.

"Your granddaughter knows something about the attack, but won't tell us unless she's allowed to be involved," Zain explained.

Ray sighed again and shook his head. "I... I don't want her in the middle of this."

"I don't think she's going to back down because you want her to."

"So, what are you saying?"

"I'm saying if we don't involve her, she's going to try to find a way to investigate on her own."

"How? She doesn't have her phone or a computer."

"She's also the woman that went out the third-floor balcony to try to make a getaway. If I didn't happen to be hanging out around there, she might've gotten away that first night. Don't underestimate her when she's determined."

"What choices do we have, then?"

"We either ignore what information she has and deal with things on our own, or we bring her along in this and find out what she knows. Keep in mind, we don't know if she knows a lot or a little, or how valuable that information is. I wouldn't put it past her to bluff, but she could be telling the truth."

"Come to understand her a bit, have you?" Ray smirked.

"Of course; that's what happens when you spend a lot of time together. She might not have been here too long overall, but I've spent most of that time right beside her."

"Observing her, and I still can't tell if you like her or not."

"What does that matter?"

"Because if you like her, and want to be the next boss, shouldn't you be trying to woo her?"

Zain's eye twitched. "I'm too busy trying to keep her safe and keep up with her, to try to woo her. Not that I'd be any good at it. Normally, women flock to me or run from me; I've never had to put much effort in."

"That lack of effort in love is what will bite you in the ass at the end. If you want her, fight for her—"

"What makes you so certain I want her? I've only been near her because you made it my job to be near here, that's all."

"Really? It doesn't seem that way to me. I've seen you two going back and forth, and I've never seen you so animated when talking with someone. There's definitely something special there. Besides, are you saying you're not interested in my gorgeous granddaughter after I gave you the honour of being one of her marriage candidates?"

Zain froze at the dark glint in Ray's eyes. He swallowed hard and cleared his throat as he struggled to come up with an answer. He tugged at his collar, feeling the squeeze despite always leaving the top button open. "I... I didn't say that... but she seems to like Vincent, anyway—"

"And? Who says she doesn't like you, too?"

"Pretty sure she hates me."

"Ha! I think you have more to learn about women." Ray shook his head.

"I can't refute that, but don't we all? Women are complex creatures."

"Isn't that too true!" Ray burst out laughing.

"So—"

Ray came to a sudden halt. "If you keep being a wishy-washy pansy, you'll never have a shot and match up to Vincent. If you want to be the next leader, and if you want to be with my granddaughter, then try to win her heart."

"I'm not exactly used to long-term relationships; I don't know how to win her heart."

"Pay attention to what she puts her attention on, and you'll find the key. You're observant when you try, so you should be able to figure it out."

"What are we going to do about Grace withholding information?"

"We'll have our men working to see if there's anything on the cameras, so maybe we'll see what she saw. Otherwise, I'd say you work on wooing her, and maybe she'll give up the information willingly."

Zain scratched his head. "I don't know. Even if she started to like me that way, I can't see her giving up the information. She's probably going to keep pushing to be involved. She is a cop, after all."

"Was a cop."

"She will always be one at heart, even if she never goes back there. Although, I know some part of her does want to go back."

"I have had both her and the other one resign. They've also been replaced by new cops with ties to our family."

"Can never have too many on the in a guess."

"Zain."

"Yes?"

"I'm tired, so we'll deal with this in the morning. Go to bed."

"Yes, Boss." Zain gave him a little bow and left. "Ha... I don't think that was very fruitful."