M y heart pounds as I step out of the Nico's office. I can feel it roaring in my ears, right alongside the fear. But I push those aside, because I know what I have to do. I know what I have to do to save myself from this, but more importantly, I know what I have to do that will save Dylan.

One of Nico's guys is posted outside his office, and he scowls and goes to stop me as I step out, but I just keep walking.

"Nico asked me to see him right after," I say plainly, smiling benignly as I waltz past him. My phone rests in the palm of my hand, turned inward and hidden from view.

"Look, babe—"

"Nico wanted to see me, okay?"

I just keep walking.

Don't run. Just keep breathing.

The guard doesn't follow or try and stop me again, so I keep going, walking across the open floor of the studio. Nico's by the cameras and the set where we were going to shoot the scene, talking to his uncle. But when he sees me, he frowns and turns, his eyes narrowing at me.

"I told you to stay put ," he growls.

"No you didn't," I say flatly. "You just said I had five minutes, and it's been five minutes."

Nico glares at me, but I stare right back, unblinking.

I'm not afraid anymore.

Well, no, that's not true. But I'm not going to be controlled by fear anymore. Not after what I've been through, and not after I've met the man who makes my heart sing the way it does.

Nico stares me down before he finally looks away and shrugs. "Whatever. Go back to the office until I come get—"

"Gino?"

Nico's jaw drops as I interrupt him and turn to his uncle, smiling sweetly.

"Great studio, isn't it?"

Gino's brow furrows, looking at me curiously. "What? Yeah, sure, kid."

"Get back in the office!" Nico spits at me.

"Oh, Gino?"

I smile sweetly again at the older man, ignoring Nico.

"Want to hear something?"

My thumb taps down, and since the phone is already set to speaker mode, the audio of the pocket-dial voicemail starts to play loud and freaking clear . At first, Nico stares at me with total confusion, but slowly, as more of Vinny's little tell-all starts to come out, his eyes go wide.

"Turn that off," he hisses under his breath, his eyes blazing.

I ignore him.

"I said turn that off! "

"Hang on," Gino growls, his brow wrinkling as he tilts his head to listen.

"This is the robbery from the other day, isn't it?"

Nico looks white, and he swallows thickly. "Yeah, we already took care of it, Gino, so forget this shi—"

"Shut up." Gino holds a finger up, ignoring his nephew as he stares at the phone in my hand.

And then we come to the best part.

"You're seriously stealing from Gino Moretti?"

Dylan's voice cuts across the dead-silence of the room, followed by Vinny's snort.

"Man, fuck Gino. Money's in the crate back there, boys."

"What about Nico? I thought you guys were close."

Vinny's laugh rattles through the room.

"Oh, we are. Which is why we're striking out on our own with this cash. Gino's time is up, Dylan. We’re gonna pay off some of the guys to swing their loyalties our way, take Gino out, and then Nico's gonna be in charge, with me as his second in command."

"Jesus, Vinny."

I click the phone off, and slowly, as Nico's face turns ashen, his uncle's turns bright red as he turns to him.

"You motherfuckin' ungrateful—"

Gino reaches for his gun, and all hell breaks loose.

I scream, lunging out of the way behind a piece of the set as suddenly every gun in the room comes out and starts firing away. The sound is deafening, and I scream again as I dive to the ground as the bullets rain overhead. My pulse races, and my hands cover my ears tight as the sound of gunfire and men screaming fills the space.

A hand grabs me, and my heart jumps into my throat as I'm suddenly dragged across the ground.

"You're coming with me, you little bitch ," Nico wheezes, one hand gripping my wrist, the other half-heartedly holding both a gun and the bloody hole in his shirt. Blood leaks from his finger, and his face is pale as he drags me away from the firefight towards an exit. I scream, lashing out and trying to catch him with my foot, but he's moving too fast. I scream again, but no one sees me, or hears me — the rest of the room too busy shooting at each other to notice.

Nico reaches the exit door, and he's reaching for the knob when the entire door comes crashing in on him. He screams, dropping my arm and staggering back as the huge shape comes charging through the broken door and knocks him to the ground.

Dylan .

Dylan with blood pouring down his arm as he hauls back and sinks his fist into Nico's face again, and again, and again, before suddenly, he stops himself. He trembles, his whole body heaving before he slowly looks up. His eyes meet mine, and he drops his hold on Nico, letting him collapse to the floor with a groan.

"No," he says quietly, almost to himself before suddenly, he's lunging for me and wrapping his arms tight around me. The tears start to pour down my face as I hug him fiercely.

"I was just coming to rescue you, you know," I whisper in his ear.

Dylan laughs, wincing slightly as he hugs me tight. "You already did, angel," he says quietly. "You already did rescue me."

"You're hurt…" My face falls as I pull away and look at the wound on his arm. "Oh my God , are you shot?! "

"I've had worse," he says with a shrug. "The guard I had to jump was a bad shot. He only clipped me."

"Oh, so it's just a small gunshot wound."

"Exactly."

I roll my eyes, beaming at him as I go to throw my arms around him all over again.

"Well ain't this a pretty fuckin' picture."

We both whirl, and Dylan's half up to his feet when Gino's thumb pulls the hammer back on the gun he's leveling at us with a loud click."

"Very touching, really," he grumbles. "But do me a favor, and get the fuck out of my way."

There's a groan behind us — Nico, curled into a ball on the floor holding his broken nose. Dylan takes my arm and pulls me aside as Gino and a contingent of "his" guys, looking a little shot up, advance on Nico with guns drawn."

"Gino," Nico sputters out. Well, really it sounds more like "Nino" with his broken nose.

"Gino, listen—"

"You shut your fuckin mouth," Gino hisses. He glances over at Dylan and narrows his eyes.

"I'm not big on thank yous, so, we're gonna skip that part. But listen, this whole porno thing?" He makes a sour face and glances around. "Not my thing. And it seems my nephew here pulled some real fucked up shit with the two of you. So …" He sighs heavily, and suddenly, he's spinning the gun in his hand and holding it out towards Dylan, butt-first.

"He wronged your girl here, kid," Gino mutters. "You do whatever you think you gotta do to bury this thing, okay?"

The room goes quiet, except for Nico blubbering on the floor. Dylan stares at the gun in Gino's hand for a long minute, before slowly, he shakes his head.

"I've settled what needs settling," he says, his words measured as he meets the older man's eyes. "And that's not for me. Not anymore," he adds, his eyes moving to me and holding there.

Gino shrugs. "Suit yourself." He holsters his gun before he suddenly kicks his toe into Nico's side. "Guess that means you're comin' with me , you ungrateful fuck ."

“Hang on.”

Dylan drops down and glares at Nico before he tears open his jacket pocket. A small, portable hard drive tumbles out, and Dylan grabs it.

“This it?”

Nico swallows, and I watch as Dylan’s face darkens and his hand clenches into a fist.

“Is. This . It .”

“Yeah, okay? Yes!” Nico hisses.

“Any other back-ups?”

Nico is silent, but when one of Gino’s guys kicks a heel into his side, he groans and doubles up.

“My laptop! In the office. I swear those are the only two copies.”

Dylan stands.

“Have a nice life, shit-head,” he spits down at Nico before nodding at Gino. “He’s all yours.”

Nico’s eyes go wide.

"Wait! Gino!"

"Get him the fuck outta here," Gino grumbles as his guys haul a sobbing Nico away.

He turns back to Dylan. "I don't know what sort of shit Nico had you running, but you seem like a smart kid. Smart enough to know running security in this gig is fuckin gamble. So how about this. I don't want no bad blood with all this shit, and trust me, you don't wanna work for me. So, you're done. Whatever you had worked out with Nico, consider it over. That work for you?"

Dylan doesn't even pause to think about.

"Yep."

"Good. We're done here, the both of you."

Dylan and I glance at each other, when Gino clears his throat.

"That means get the fuck out."

* * *

L as Vegas looks weird in the sunlight.

Outside the studio door, we both blink in the glare of the afternoon sun beating down on the crummy parking lot.

Dylan shrugs, hoisting the backpack that carries the laptop and hard drive with our movie on it.

"So, what now?"

I laugh before I turn and throw myself into his arms.

"Now we go find you a doctor, because you got shot ."

He grins and rolls his eyes. "I told you, it's nothing."

"Dylan—"

"Besides ," he purrs into my ear, the heat of his voice instantly turning me to jelly as a shiver runs up my spine. "Apparently I've got the day off of work, and I just happen to have the hottest, sexiest girl in the world, who also happens to be the love of my life, on my arm wearing one hot little cheerleading costume."

I laugh, throwing my head back and letting the sun wash over me as I sink into his arms.

"Oh really? "

He shrugs. "Oh, really. It's one hot little getup, let me tell—"

"The other part, dummy." I grin, biting my lip.

Dylan's eyes burn into mine as the smile creeps over his face. "Oh that part? About you being the love of my life?"

I nod, swallowing thickly.

"Yeah that's the most absolute truth I've ever known in my life, angel," he says quietly before he pulls me into him fiercely. "I love you, Rose. With every damn part of me. And I damn well always will."

"I love you ," I whisper heatedly as he pulls me into him. His lips find mine, and when we crash together, the rest of the world fades away until it's just he and I.

"So," Dylan clears his throat as he pulls away, and I shriek as he picks me up in his arms. "So what was this about you wanting to play doctor? "

I roll my eyes, grinning. "You know that's not what I said— oooh ."

I moan as his lips find that sensitive spot right below my ear, his teeth nibbling at me and making my body melt .

"Angel, I'm about to take you somewhere quiet and make you say all kinds of things."

I gasp, my pulse spiking through me as the heat pools between my thighs.

“Dylan?”

He looks down at me, one brow cocked. “Angel?”

“Do you think we could…” I trail off, blushing, before I nod at the backpack.

“Think we could watch that?”

He grins hungrily, his eyes flashing into mine.

“I was thinking we could make a sequel.”

I tremble, every part of me aching for him. "That a promise?"

"Absolutely ."