Part Five

I will dedicate and sacrifice my every thing
for just a seconds worth of how my story's ending.
I wish I could know if the directions that I take
and all the choices that I make won't end up all for nothing.

Show me what it's for,
Make me understand it.
I've been crawling in the dark
Looking for the answer.
Is there something more
than what I've been handed?
I've been crawling in the dark
looking for the answer.

Help me carry on,
Assure me it's ok to
use my heart and not my eyes
to navigate the darkness.
Will the ending be ever coming suddenly?
Will I ever get to see the ending to my story?

So when it comes, will I know?
How much further do I have to go?
How much longer until I finally know?
'Cause I am looking and I just can't see what's in front of me

~Crawling in the Dark by Hoobastank~

Allie POV

    I can’t believe this is happening. I was having a good day, and then frickin’ Seamus had to go and kill my brother. That means that I’m the boss now. I can’t be in charge of a huge crime organization—I’m only eighteen! I’m a senior in high school, mother of a four month old, and wife to my best friend. How am I supposed to do this? Sure, I wanted to be in charge—maybe in ten years! I just lost my parents last month to this fucker and now he’s killed my brother. Who’s next? Max? Alex? Riley? Me?

    “Allie, we’re at the airport,” Todd said softly.

    Whoa, I didn’t even know he was capable of speaking quietly. Shaking my head, I climbed out of the limo and headed for the closest counter.

    “Hi, I’m Alexandra Evans. My private plane is supposed to be on its way here. Do you know when I can expect it?”

    The man’s eyes widened in fear. “Um, Mrs. Evans, I’m sorry to tell you, but, um, you see—er…”

    “Spit it out!” I said impatiently.

    “Its not coming; you’re going to have to get a ticket and fly a commercial jet to New York.”

    “What?” I hissed incredulously.

    “There’s a message from a Mister Ronald Peters.”

    I ripped the note out of his hand and read it furiously.

   Kat-

        I hate to tell you this, but the plane’s not fueled up and it would take too much time to find more since Finnegan’s men are swarming around looking for us. Maybe it’s best that you do fly commercial since Seamus would never expect it. See you when you get here.

    Ron

    I crumpled the note in my fist and whirled back around to face the man behind the counter.

    “When’s your next flight to New York?” I demanded.

    “In two hours.”

    “Get me two tickets.”

    “Y-yes ma’am,” he stammered and began looking up something on the computer.

    I paid for my and Todd’s tickets and slumped into a chair while waiting for our flight. If only my parents could see me now. Dad’s probably rolling in his grave at the thought of my now being in charge. Great job I’m doing, too. Damn you, Cedric! Why did you have to leave me? I’m too young for this, too naïve. Okay, maybe I’m not naïve, but still…

    The short conversation I had with my cousin Brad earlier kept running through my head.

   “Hello?” I said, dreading what I was about to hear.

    I could hear the person on the other end draw a shaky breath.

    “Allie Kat, its me,” Brad said.

    I knew immediately who it was—only Max, Brad, and, at one point, Riley and my father, called me Allie Kat. It stood for Alexandra Kathreen. Everyone else called me Allie or Kat.

    “What is it, Brad?” I questioned fearfully.

    “Cedric is dead.”

    Oh my God. “H-how?”

    “Finnegan and several of his men shot him to death in front of his apartment. Allie, you know what this means…”

    “I’m the boss now,” I murmured. “Have my plane flown over here. I’m coming to New York.”

    “Okay, kiddo. I’ll see ya in a few hours.”

    “Yeah,” I muttered and hung up the phone.

    “Allie? You okay?” Todd asked, poking my arm.

    I just stared at him.

    “Okay, bad question. Are you going to be okay?” he asked, genuinely concerned.

    I smiled wryly. “Yeah, this is nowhere near the worst thing that’s happened to me. I’ll eventually be okay.”

    He just nodded and stared at the people milling around the terminal. Some time later when we were finally boarding, my cell phone rang.

    “Evans,” I answered.

    “Allie! How are you, darling?” Ronald Peters’ obnoxious voice asked.

    I rolled my eyes at Todd.

    “Peters?” he mouthed.

    I nodded. “So, Ronnie, what the hell happened to my plane?”

    “I told you in the note.”

    “Oh yeah, you forgot to have it fueled. Are you stupid or something? How can you forget to do something like that?”

    Ron sighed. “Excuse me, princess, if I have more important matters to attend to other than fueling up your precious jet.”

    My jaw dropped. Oh, he did not just go there. “Who the hell do you think you’re talking to? I’m your boss and I will be spoken to with respect!” I said angrily.

    “Sorry. Look, I’m just a little stressed right now—“

    “I don’t care!” I said in dangerous tone. “Just know this: the next time you conveniently forget to gas up my private plane and I am forced to ride on a commercial flight, there will be hell to pay. Don’t mess with me, Ronald.”

    “Y-yes, Mrs. Evans,” he said in a defeated voice.

    “I’ll see you in New York,” I muttered and hung up my phone. Who the hell did he think he was talking to me like that? I ought to have Todd beat the shit out of him. Hm, not a bad idea…

    The rest of the flight was pretty much uneventful, except when Todd and I were getting off. As I looked around for our driver, Cedric’s old one, I caught sight of the most piercing blue eyes I’ve ever seen. I couldn’t see the rest of the man, but I knew that he had to be handsome. I almost started to make my way over to him, but Todd grabbed my arm and pointed to a waiting Frank. When I glanced back, the man was gone. Oh well…

    Come to think of it, I’ve seen eyes like that before, but where? Kyle! Kyle, too, had amazing blue eyes. Was that Kyle I saw? No, it couldn’t be. Why would he be in New York? I laughed at my wishful thinking and climbed into the limo. After battling traffic, we finally reached my family’s old home. It was a huge three-story loft in the ritziest neighborhood in all of New York City. As I made my way up the front steps, I stopped for a moment on the spot I knew Cedric had died.

    “I love ya, big brother,” I whispered and made my way inside to greet everyone who had shown up to welcome me.

    While I talked to yet another person I didn’t know, I caught sight of Ron’s bright red head.

    “Excuse me,” I said to the elderly couple and walked over to Ron, pushing him against the wall.

    “Christ, Allie! You scared the shit outta me!” he exclaimed, holding a hand over his heart.

    I just grinned and replied, “Too bad I didn’t scare ya to death.”

    Ron’s hazel eyes widened. “Now, come on, Allie. You can’t still be mad at me for the whole plane incident.”

    “You’re restricted to simple duties such as washing my car, doing my laundry, etc. until further notice. Understand me?”

    He nodded. “Good,” I said cheerily and sauntered off.

    A good two hours later I had finally cleared everyone out and went to bed. I wasn’t really looking forward to my meeting with Daniel McIver the next morning, but he was the most decent of the other bosses so I had agreed to meet with him first.

    Preciously at eight, Todd came in and woke me up. I groaned and dragged myself to the shower. After I had dried off, I put on my favorite “business” outfit—a white spaghetti strap top, black leather pants, black leather trench coat, and black stiletto heels—and made my way downstairs for breakfast. When we were all finished, me, Todd, and four of my other bodyguards climbed into the limo and drove to the warehouse the meeting was to take place at. A block away from the location, Todd and I got out and scanned the building.

    “What do you think?” Todd questioned.

    I pointed to the fire escape and said, “If anyone is gonna take me or Daniel out, they’d have gone in through the fire escape and stayed close so that they could get away easily.”

    He nodded and said, “I’ll check it out,” and took off for the warehouse.

    I climbed back into the limo and we drove the rest of way. I got out and made my way through the front door with caution, looking for anything suspicious. A moment later, I heard a clanging noise as a rifle crashed to the ground. I stared at it in shock—I knew that it had to have been one of Finnegan’s men trying to take me out. The bastard never quits. One of Daniel’s men pointed out the room where Todd had taken the would-be assassin and I stormed over with Daniel on my heels. I flung the door open and locked eyes with the man who had been caught trying to kill me.

    “Kyle!” “Allie!” we exclaimed at the same time, and then everything went black

Part 6

Max POV

    After I recovered a bit from Allie’s departure, Liz helped me gather Riley’s things and strap him into his car seat in the back of my BMW.

    “This is a really nice car, Max,” Liz said in awe.

    “Thanks. It was Allie’s birthday gift to me,” I replied.

    Liz raised an eyebrow as she climbed into the passenger seat. “How can she afford it?”

    “Allie could not work ever and still be able to live a ritzy and glamorous lifestyle. Believe me, she can afford it.”

    “Wait—are you saying that’s its all her money and not yours?” Liz questioned with confusion all over her beautiful face.

    I grinned. “Yeah. We don’t even have a joint checking account as most people seem to think we do.”

    “Why not?”

    I tried to guess what her reaction to my next words would be. “Because it will be easier and less messy when we get divorced.”

    Her reaction was more than I could have ever hoped for: her jaw dropped open in shock and several emotions danced across her face. Surprise and hope were the most dominate.

    “Where to?” I asked, pretending as if nothing had happened.

    She stared at me and rattled off the directions to some place call the Crash Down Café. “So…you and Allie are getting a divorce?” she asked quietly.

    I nodded. “Probably, now that poor Cedric can’t throw a fit.”

    “It seemed to me that you two had a great relationship.”

    “No, we have a great friendship. When we found out that Allie was pregnant with Riley, we had broken up and I was preparing to move here with my family. I knew that I couldn’t abandon Allie or Riley so I stayed in Roswell and married Allie because she was freaked about having a kid out of wedlock. We’re just friends. Shot, we don’t even sleep in the same room.”

    “So you don’t love her?”

    “Of course I love her!” I exclaimed.

    Liz just said, “Oh,” and looked away.

    What’s her problem? Oh…I get it. “No, Liz, I don’t love her—not like that anyway. She’s my best friend and I love her in a non-romantic kind of way, like I’m sure you love Maria.”

    She turned around and smiled shyly at me. “You really mean it?”

    I could only nod. God, she’s so beautiful.

    “How does Allie feel about it?”

    “She feels the same way as I do. Hell, she probably wants a divorce more than I do considering how much she flirts.”

    Liz giggled—I love the sound of that. “Well, she did seem pretty friendly with Kyle that night at your parents’.”

    “Oh yeah. She likes him a lot.”

    Liz studied me for a moment. “Does it bother you?”

    “What? That she likes Kyle?”

    Liz nodded. “Kyle or any other guy.”

    “No, not at all. Like I said, we’re just friends. Besides, I would be a hypocrite if I got mad at her for liking someone else.” Did I really just say that? Crap, I did.

    Liz blushed—how cute is that?—and timidly asked, “Really?”

    I nodded and reached over to squeeze her hand. “Really really.”

    She laughed. “Are you a Shrek fan?”

    “Yeah, Alex got me hooked on it. I think I’ve seen it a total of seven times.”

    “That’s cute.”

    “What? The movie?”

    Liz shook her head. “No, the fact that a big tough guy like yourself has seen Shrek seven times.”

    “What gave you the impression that I was ‘a big tough guy’?” I asked playfully.

    She blushed slightly. “From what I saw this morning, you’re pretty strong, plus you wear clothes that accentuate that. What else am I supposed to think?”

    “That Allie the fashion freak buys my clothes.”

    “She does?”

    “Hell yeah. That woman doesn’t trust me or Alex to buy our own clothes. She insists on doing all of the shopping,” I said as we pulled up in front of a cheesy looking restaurant. “So, what exactly is this place?”

    “This is my place of employment. Maria and Kyle’s mother owns it.”

    “They’re brother and sister?” I asked in confusion as I got Riley out of his car seat.

    “Kinda—they’re step-siblings. Maria’s mother and Kyle’s father have been married since Maria and Kyle were nine so we don’t think about the fact that they’re not biologically related. Kyle thinks of Amy as his second mother since he lost his several years ago.”

    “What happened?”

    Liz sighed. “Someone broke into her house while she and Kyle were home and she was killed protecting Kyle. I think he was twelve at the time.”

    “That’s terrible.”

    Liz just nodded and we made our way inside. Maria greeted us instantly.

    “Hey guys! Come by for a late breakfast or an early lunch?” she asked cheerily.

    “Early lunch,” Liz replied and led me over to a booth in the back.

    We gave Maria our orders and sat in a moment of comfortable silence. That moment was broken when Alex came bounding up to us and slid into the booth beside Liz.

    “Top of the morning!” he exclaimed with a grin.

    My face fell immediately. Alex didn’t know about Cedric yet.

    “Er, hey, Alex. Where have you been?” I asked.

    “Just got me self a job at the UFO museum across the street. Very strange place with an even stranger owner: guy by the name of Brody Davis. Nice English chap, but a bit crazy. So, where’s me little sister?”

    Liz and I exchanged a look. She had apparently realized as well that Alex wasn’t aware of his brother’s death.

    “If you’ll excuse me, I think I’m going to take Riley with me to the bathroom and change his diaper,” Liz said as she stood up.

    I smiled at her gratefully and passed over Riley and his diaper bag. She squeezed my hand and made her way over to the bathroom.

    “That’s odd. How did she know Riley needed his diaper changed?” Alex wondered.

    I turned to look at him with a serious expression on my face. He noticed it and grew silent.

    “Alex, there’s something you need to you, but you’re not going to like it. I hate to be the one to tell you—“

    “Out with it!”

    “Finnegan had Cedric killed early this morning which leaves Allie in charge. She left the house when she found out and is on her way to New York,” I spat out.

    Alex didn’t say anything; he just sat there and stared at me with a look of utter disbelief on his face. After what seemed like hours, he finally stammered, “W-what? You’re kidding, r-right? Cedric cannot be dead and me lil’ sister cannot be the boss of a violent crime family. Max, tell me you’re just playin’ a cruel joke,” he pleaded with tears threatening to spill from his eyes.

    I hung my head. “I wish I could. Alex, I’m so sorry.”

    “I’m gonna kill ‘em,” Alex growled.

    My head shot up at that. “Excuse me?”

    He looked at me with a crazed look in his eyes. “That bastard has killed four of my family members and I’ll be damned if I’m just gonna stand around while he does it. I know I vowed never to get involved, but this is the last bloody straw. Finnegan is going down and you’re going to help me.”

    “I-I am?”

    “You, me, and Allie are going to take out that son-of-a-bitch once and for all. Sure, Allie’s the only experienced killer in the group, but I reckon that you and I will catch on quickly. Ya know how to fire a gun, right?”

    I nodded, too stunned to speak.

    “That settles it, then. You and I are going to the airport right now and we’re gonna fly to New York and kill that fucker. You can leave Riley with Liz or your parents or whatever if you’re worried about him.”

    Liz? She should have been back by now…

    I looked up and found myself staring into Liz’s horrified eyes.

    “Max, who are you people?” she asked.

    Shit. It was time for the truth to come out. I could only hope that she wouldn’t reject me after it did.

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