Bobbi felt four pairs of angry eyes burn in his pale face, each in his different tone. But his bitterly serious countenance was the same. It was evident the displeasure that had caused the brothers with such an attitude, so he realized that he should not have brought the girlfriend home, this put the criminal identity of his family at risk. The young man heard someone grumble, irritated. He looked, startled, at the broad-shouldered man before him. Blade was totally still and ugly, his face closed, showing how nervous he was.

I'm very disappointed, I thought I could trust you, but in the face of your childish demeanor I see that you do not."

Maldonado's words hit his youngest brother lightning, destroying him completely. He lowered his head, adjusting his round glasses so that the pain would subside somewhat, for it was almost unbearable. Jesse looked at him heartbroken it was not fair to punish the young man for wanting to protect his girlfriend by bringing her to a place where she felt safe.

-It is ironic that you reprimand the young man for acting like a child, treating him as if he were one.

When Jesse saw he had already spoken, he was surprised that he had not regretted it. Blade cast her eyes toward her like an arrow they were dark reddish from so much anger. She was the only person in the world who had the ability to take him seriously in such a way and face it. The others who tried were seven spans of land. A fact observed by the others present on the spot, they were open-mouthed with the girl's courage who did not move an inch away from the place as he set out on top of her with clenched fists in a totally frightening way.

-One more word and it will be the last thing you say in life, - he said wickedly.

Blade was standing right in front of her. It was necessary to bend enough to be Carter's height, even though he could not, it was impossible for anyone of Blade's physical stature.

-You're a little contradictory, you know that? – First, he promises that he will never let anyone hurt me again but he threatens to kill me on the same day he makes the promise.

She put her hands on her hips nervously. Because of this sudden movement, the girl's rebellious hair fell aloof over her delicate face. He thought he had never seen anything more profane in his life. Jesse was so upset about him that any innocent gesture of her seemed to be something really indecent.

- Is it my impression or is it rolling a DR here? - Li tried to stifle a chuckle, making her an unconvincing cough. He was finding the most out of that unlikely pair facing each other. Someone had to face Maldonado.

-Are you going to teach me now, how I should create my brother, an investigator, who does not take care of himself? - Blade changed the subject, pretending not to hear what she had said, it would be too embarrassing to have to clarify in front of the partners that she had the need to protect that annoying being before him without any coherent explanation for it.

- Create? You can only be joking, Blade, for God's sake! He is already a man-made.

The impact of his name on Carter's voice was visible in his facial expression, his eyes turned into a dark blue hyacinth, and his muscles more relaxed. Julius grinned as he watched his friend slip his hands into his pockets, half awkward. The girl messes with him thought the mountain of muscles.

-I'm not  joking, so I suggest you go back to that fucking room and do not intrude on what's none of your business, - he ordered, pointing his finger at the exit, and again she did not obey.

-If you are a real man, you should act like one in the face of this situation. Do not stand like a jealous mother who caught her son coming home with the first girlfriend. So stop fresh and take a stand.

Jesse did not usually mean to anyone he was too good for it. But everything she'd heard so far had been too much for her level of self-control. It took Li's hand to take Stephen's chin to close his mouth that was "the" shaped, astonished by what he had heard. She had just signed her death sentence.

-Prepare the sunscreen, because the door to hell, has been opened! - The Chinese have a good laugh, holding the belly that was aching with laughter. He had a beautiful smile and hi teeth were white and well-lined.

-Just because your family does not care about you does not mean that others are the same. -It was too cruel, common for someone with heartless like him.

The blow was accurate, her eyes glittering, it was proof of that. But she did not back down as he expected, she continued with her head held high, staring at him.

-I could say a lot of things, but I will not ... The truth is that people hurt others just because they're hurt, -she said, her voice trembling, almost crying. Her words had an immense impact on him, who looked away from her immediately. Jesse had put him in his place without needing to be mean, only with the truth.

-Enough of this conversation, we have a bigger problem than the difference between the two right now. - Julius stood in the middle of them, his hand in the middle of Maldonado's chest, pushing him back.

-I can also help you with this problem. I'm going to take the girl to my house and tomorrow very early and I'll take her to the police station where I work. I'll go in with his father and tell the judge that I found her walking down the street alone because she could not find her boyfriend's house. Julius smiled with the goodness of the girl, offering help even with her heart hurt a few minutes ago.

-Thank you, investigator, you're being very kind doing this for us, thank you on behalf of our youngest brother, Bobbi. - Perez smiled at her so kindly that Carter returned without realizing it. -I am Julius Perez, at your disposal, miss. The one with the white face there is Stephen. The Englishman beckoned to her, bowing down to a lord. - The abused Chinese is Li, the brain of our team. Xing winked at her too gracefully in Blade's opinion was now following in silence in a far corner of the room.

-She's not doing this for us, you idiot, she's just trying to take credit for her job as" cop of the year "for finding the famous judge's daughter, I know how many, - grumble Blade, completely disrespectful of her goodwill girl.

Now he had sat, cradling his feet on the office table, turning a black gold pen between his fingers with his usual sour expression, and looking at the passionate couple embracing leaning against the door that was closed.

-No, I'm doing this because I'm worried about you, Blade, - Jesse said honestly, disarming him completely making Maldonado almost fall from his chair. Did not expect this, was not accustomed to people worrying about him.

-Seriously, you really are a cop, Jesse? -I never imagined seeing a police officer here at home, even more wearing Blade's clothes, -Bobbi commented, stroking his girlfriend's hair that was hidden inside his arms.

- Yes, I am. Nice to meet you, Bobbi! - She smiled sweetly at him.

-Well, son, your brother quarreling with you for bringing your girlfriend home and also brought his, and we can´t forget the detail: she's an FBI investigator. -Stephen did not fail to share his remark in the face of the facts, which in Blade's ears sounded like a bad joke. The Englishman did not even care about the stern look Blade threw at him. He crossed his long legs to a mouthful of steaming, ginger tea with mint, a traditional combination of the Salvatore family and Father Edward's favorite.

-Not if I were the last woman in the world, I'd rather be a monk, - he said with a girth.

- Enough! - Julius cried in a frighteningly high voice, it was a love of soul, but Blade was exaggerating in the matter of rudeness. She did not understand why the girl was so involved with him, she was just trying to help obviously she cared about him. -Let's do as Jesse said, I'll take the two of you to her house. Bobbi says goodbye to your girlfriend and you, girl, not a word about what you saw and heard here, did you understand? - Lia nodded and said good-bye to Bobbi with an innocent, passionate kiss.

- Disgusting! - Stephen had said in disgust, never kissed anyone in his life.

-I bought her, so it's my responsibility to take she home! - Blade said looking earnestly at Julius who had just picked up his Lamborghini's key in the drawer of the bookshelf where the shards of what remained of the million-dollar statue Carter had picked up from the floor, dead with   shame, there.

- Care Blade, when broken heart receives affection, it falls in love. -The Mexican whispered so that only he could hear, putting the car key in the same place he was. Julius tapped his partner's shoulder.

- I do not have a heart! -He answered coldly, not as a breeze, but as an entire iceberg.

Halfway to the investigator's residence, Lia fell asleep as a child in the backseat of the Impala.

-I do not know why all that worked, I'd leave her on the first bend. - Blade uttered more sour than usual, watching the sleeping girl as an angel with her hair all messed up on her face.

-Fine for me, there's a perfect one right there in the front, - Jesse said naturally, causing Blade to almost pull the car off the road. He could expect any response from her, except that one. He thought of a moralistic speech or a reprehensible and annoying remark. -But you'll be the one who's going to have to face Bobbi when he gets home and tell him he's never going to be able to see the girl he loves again because you left him at some corner."

Blade wanted to scream at her, squeezed the wheel tightly to vent her anger. Jesse knew he would never do anything to hurt his younger brother and was smart enough to use it against him at the right time.

Does she think I do not know what she was doing? If she thinks that  can play with me she is wrong, very much wrong, thought Blade.

- Which street is yours? - Maldonado asked bitterly, they had passed the rest of the way in silence.

-On the second right, just ahead, in a red brick building, - she said, pointing.

-I wonder if it's not in a pink building with drawings of ponies and flying fairies, - he mocked.

-I hate pink I have panic of ponies and fairy phobia. - She swirled the small ring delicately around her finger, an innocent movement, her eyes darkened as he saw it. Her breathing grew heavy, traces of sweat poured down her face.

-I thought all girls liked pink, - Blade said, unable to look at her at the moment.

-My mother taught me that I'm not all girls, -she replied as a little girl on the first day of school, the shyness was the same.

-Wise words of your mother.

Jesse thought she saw a faint smile on his face, but that was almost impossible! Blade never smiled.

-We're here, - he said, parking the car in front of the red brick building.

He put his head out of the window of the vehicle that had the glass almost all open, to see if, in fact, it had no painting of any fairy-tale character. She really is not "all girls", was unique in every way, Blade realized as she circled the car, opening the hitchhiker's door and trying in vain to pick up a teenage girl taller than she was just because she was sorry to wake the girl. The scene was funny. Shee took one hand from the girl, another fell, could not even move Lia from the place. After a few minutes of watching that ridiculous scene with his arms crossed on the sidewalk, Maldonado decided to take action, he had more important things to do that night.

-Stay away, - he ordered, reaching for the backseat to take the judge's daughter. His expression was as if he were picking up a garbage bag in his lap.

-Thank you. - She murmured, surprised at his attitude.

He did not answer, just followed her down the sidewalk to the entrance steps. The gate was just leaning back, all rusty and unlocked. Blade continued to follow her down the hallway, repairing every detail of the place with the mud-stained walls. Their way was interrupted by a couple who had been indecently clinging to them, probably were also residents of the building, he concluded, but discarded this idea when he heard the red-haired woman wearing a very short red dress, showing the half of the buttocks, a  thin black shoe, a horrible makeup, smoking a cigarette and saying that this time oral sex was on the house, but the next would charge twenty dollars more. Jesse almost died of shame, his face a deep red. She was accustomed to seeing prostitutes coming out of neighboring Bredon's apartment, some even sympathetic who sometimes greeted her. Others would run away hiding their faces as if they had been beaten, even tried to help another day, but received a "fuck you, piranha" as thanks. Already he was an abominable man, who kept looking at her in a strange way.

-Sorry about that, - she said sheepishly, still red. She thanked God for making her black because if her skin were light it would be the color of a tomato.

Just outside the door, she remembered that the keys and the cell phone had been in Nayla's purse, luckily she remembered that the day she moved there the doorman mentioned that such an extra key was under the carpet. She bent her body to take it Blade watched each movement without blinking.

-It's very dangerous to keep a copy of the key under the rug, you know that? There a lot of bad guys out there. - Jesse turned to look at him, thinking he was opening the door to one, by the way, the most dangerous of them all.

-I do not steal the poor people, Jesse, you do not need to worry, - he said as if he'd heard her thoughts again.

He opened the door slowly, letting out a creak showing the years of use. The Lawless Man was horrified at such poverty, realizing that the inside could be even worse than the outside. There were no rooms, much less furniture. As she ran her eyes through the small, modest space, she realized that she had never been in such a horrible place before.

- Where can I put it? - He asked twisting his nose, the musty smell of the water stains on the poorly painted purple-blue walls was bothering him greatly.

- There, please! - Maldonado carried Lia to a double mattress that was leaning against the wall and covered with a white sheet. The place at least was clean, that he had to admit. She laid the girl very carefully on him, too much for those who said he did not like her.

- Are you still moving on? - He asked as he stood up again in his usual superior posture.

-No, I've bought everything I have, - she said proudly. For those who had never had anything of their own, this place was paradise, had no luxury, but there was peace.

-All of it? - He said sharply.

Looking at the tiny apartment, the place was smaller than her bathroom, and there was only one old dresser in the corner with some objects on it, a small bookshelf, a single old mattress on the floor where Thompson's daughter was sleeping. There were a small bathroom and no trace of a kitchen just a few packets of crackers and two thermos bottles, one with coffee and the other with milk a basket with some fruit, most of them starting to rot. Much of the glass in the single window that had been broken could feel the cold wind coming from outside touching his face. Probably when it rained it filled the place with water. How could she managed to survive in this place for two weeks.

-I'd like to know where you intend to sleep since you gave up that puppy nest that calls bed to the puppy. - He raised his voice, trying hard not to touch anything in order not to contaminate himself.

- I'll do it. - She lowered her head.

-Only if you go from one place to another on this cold ground, for God's sake, Jesse! This place is rubbish a beggar lives better and safer than you under a bridge. -Lia shrieked on the mattress, but she did not wake up.

-It's rubbish, but it's mine. I did not do anything illegal to get it, no matter where I intend to sleep today, but that my conscience will be clean when I wake up in the morning and that money no purchase, -he said firmly, just could not hold the cry.

-I doubt you'll keep thinking like that after you get sick from the cold or raped by your weird neighbor. - He also noticed the strange way Bredon had looked at her.

He left nervously without saying goodbye, slamming the door hard, which almost fell with the impact. Jesse grabbed his Kiki Butovisk pajamas on the dresser and a towel, walked to the bathroom to take his shower, but not before covering Lia with the only blanket she had in the house. She cried a little under the shower, she was used to being humiliated by other people she did not know why when the person in question was the Blade it hurt a lot more. At bedtime, she thanked the angels of the sleeper guard for having an old sleeping bag of the time that was a childish scout; used when the group was camping in the forest, always loved nature.

Then she fell asleep. She woke up in the middle of the night, frightened by the heavy rain falling outside the window. She hurried to put a piece of canvas she had prepared for it. She was startled to find a man standing across the street in the dark with his hands in his pocket, staring in the direction of her apartment, not caring about the storm that was pouring down on him. Due to the darkness and being without her glasses away, she could not identify who he was. She finished what she had to do and lay down again, but with the thought in the man in the rain.

He should not be there he may get a severe cold or even pneumonia. She thought before falling asleep again, as always feeling compassion for her neighbor. This was the gift of Jesse, to bloom, to be a flower, especially in a desert of dry people, empty and without love.