Timeline: Danny has just learned that Michelle was the one who called the FBI

Look me in the eye and let me know
If you can’t love me then let me go
Let me go
Maybe in your darkest hour
Am I the keeper of your beast
Well I don’t want to be
I don’t want to be
So let me go
Let me go
---Melissa Etheridge, “Let Me Go”

My cries grow louder and more strangled as Danny continues to walk away from me. As soon as he reaches the door, he turns around for a brief moment, before shaking his head.

Taking advantage of his hesitancy, I begin to walk forward, but I am stopped dead in my tracks when I notice Danny's cold stare.

I flinch in pain. Bowing my head, I let the tears spill onto my dress. Glancing up, I notice Danny's figure slipping out in the door.

I nearly fall over when a man crashes into me. I would have fallen over if a strong arm had not steadied me. Brushing the tears off my cheeks, I slowly walk to the door, and decide to follow Danny. Taking a deep breath, I walk outside into the darkened parking lot.

The cool night air sends shivers down my body. Straining my eyes, I glance around the lot, hoping to find Danny. Out of the corner of my eye, I notice something moving. Picking up the pace, I find myself in one of the far corners of the parking lot. The slight movement has stopped. Tears start to sting my tears when I realize that it was just my imagination.

"Michelle."

Slowly, I turn around to see Danny's figure in the shadows. The goosebumps on my skin have nothing to do with the cool night air. Stepping closer, I find myself face to face with Danny. Even in the darkness, I can see the pain and anger in his eyes. They have not lost any of the coldness. Hesitantly, I lift my shaking hand to his cheek. As soon as my hand makes contact with his cool skin, he flinches away.

"Don't touch me." he says in a cold tone

"Danny.."

"Don't." he says flatly

For several minutes, we stand in silence. Neither of us making a move to leave. My eyes are peeled on his face, trying to gauge what is going through his mind. Danny's eyes never leave the pavement. He just stands there with his hands stuffed in his pockets, silent and quietly hating me.

"Still, I can't believe that you didn't it. God, I am such a fool." Danny says softly, as his hands rub his face.

"I want.."

Danny gives me a look. I immediately stop talking and realize that he is the one who will be speaking. "I am such a fool." he repeats

Tears start to form in my eyes as I watch Danny pacing back and forth, devastated by his own wife's betrayal. I have never hated myself more than I have in this moment.

"Tonight, I thought that all of our problems and mistrust were over. I thought that this was a new beginning for us. I had even planned to.." his voice trails off

Casting a quick glance at me, Danny lets out an empty laugh, "But now, my news just does not seem to be important. Tonight was supposed to be about us, Michelle. It was supposed about you wanting me and this marriage."

"It was supposed to be about us, not my mother or my brother. But us. God, I had been waiting for this moment ever since I married you, Michelle." He cries out in between his tears.

"I'm sorry, Danny. I'm so sorry."

Danny lets out a bitter laugh. "You are sorry? You're sorry." he growls in low tone, his voice slowly getting louder. "Well, Michelle, I am sorry too. I'm sorry for actually wanting to be your husband, and for wanting this damn marriage to work!"

I walk over to Danny, and try to calm him down. My attempt to soothe his hurt only enrages him more. He grasps my arms in a tight grip and pulls me away from him.

"Don't touch me, Michelle. Don't." he says through gritting teeth.

"You have no right. You made a fool out of me. I can't even stand the sight of you right now. You disgust me." He spits out

Backing away from his dark gaze, I shake my head in disbelief. "You don't mean that."

"Yes, I do."

"No." I say stubbornly, crushed by his harsh words

"Michelle, you have just betrayed in me in the worst possible way, and I am so mad at you right now. You have no right to want something from me. You are dead to me." he says icily

"No, Danny. Please." I whisper

"Michelle, you have left me no choice. You have made it quite clear that you never cared about me. Because you doesn't do what you did, if you care about someone. It's too bad that your conscious got in the way."

In a quick motion, Danny drops his hands from my arms, and sprints off in the darkness. Stumbling into the middle of the parking lot, my quivering body just collapses into a ball. Rocking back and forth, I try to stop the sobs. Clumsily, I start to get up, but my knees give way, and I land in a dignified heap. A dark and empty feeling fills my body, and nestles itself into my soul.

Danny was gone.

And I was the one who unleashed this beast in him.

Me. No one else.

Lost in the darkness of a land
Where all the hope that’s offered is
Memories of being taken by the hand
And we are led into the sun
But I don't have a hold on what is real
Though we can only dry
What is there to give or to believe

I want it all to go away I want to be alone
Sympathies wasted on my hollow shell
I feel there is nothing left to fight for
No reason for a cause
And I can't hear your voice and I can't feel you near
--Sarah McLachlan, "Lost"

A life without Danny.

The life, which had always wanted to return to ever since I had married Danny. It was now the same life, which I was dreading.

A nice boring life.

Maybe that is what scares me the most, that I don't want it anymore. I was willing to give it all up to be with Danny.

A mobster.

No, Danny was not a monster. He was more than that.

He was a very passionate man. A man who managed to make my stomach do flip flops with just one look.

A man who could be both dangerous and gentle. He could be more dangerous than Carmen or Mick. He was just the right combination.

Still, there was something about him. A sensuous appeal. In a matter of months, he had become my worst nightmare and my knight in shining armor.

Sighing, I shake away the thoughts of Danny. But it does not matter. Wherever I look or go, I always see him. Being back in my old bedroom does not help.

Instead, the memories just overwhelm me.

All the guilt and shame just floods back in waves. My mind can't resist the pull back into the past.

Back to the day when I decided to call the FBI here in my room.

The same night when Danny had managed to awaken some deep, warm place in my heart.

The moment when my heart was beginning harder to ignore.

It was the same night that this endless battle inside of me would inflict so much confusion and pain.

"Come on, he had a beautiful subject and he didn't do it justice, not at all." I had been so hateful and bitter than I had even allowed myself to look at Danny in a different light.

But that night, when I noticed him staring at the drawing that Jesse had done, something happened.

A warm sensation just flooded my body. I saw a look in those eyes which I had never seen. A naked appeal, vulnerability.

Danny just seemed so different. There was this magical quality to him. I had never felt so drawn to him than in that moment.

And that scared the hell out of me. I was not supposed to like him. I could not let my infatuation deter me from my mission. I was going to get my life back. If it had only been that easy.

Nothing about being married to Danny was simple.

Being married to Danny meant being Carmen's prisoner. Carmen had made life unbearable.

I could not live like that. And I still could not understand how Danny could.

Maybe my marriage to Danny could have worked if we had been away from Carmen. Danny was the one who protected me from Carmen, and the one who could leave me at his mother's mercy.

I had no illusion of Carmen Santos. She was ruthless and calculating. There had been one thing that I had learned, that she would protect her family at any cost. Now, she would glad to have me out of the picture.

The sound of a knock on the door snaps me out of my thoughts. Wiping my hands on my pants, I slowly move to the door. I should run to my room and lock the door.

It is probably one of Carmen's goons to 'take care' of me.

Sucking in a deep breath, I realize that I don't care anymore. It is a horrible to even think that, but I just don't care anymore.

In the past, I had made the mistake of caring too much, so maybe it is time, for me not to care.

Life would be so much easier if I didn't care about anyone or anything.

Swinging the door open, I steel myself for the visitor. A blast of cool air hits my wet pants, and sends shivers down my body.

A gasp comes out of my mouth when I notice the person standing in the doorway.