Outside of work and trying to keep things running since James is only concerned about one job, I try to balance my life with Justin and Chase and Tabbetha. I hang out with my close friends as much as I can while trying to go out with Justin. It is hard to deal with considering I am so used to being in the shadows and never seen. There are always cameras in our faces and around us. I’m very careful to limit my face and extremely careful not to lead them around my house and definitely not the mansion. My skills of hiding have come in handy for this.

Right now, though, is not the time to worry about all that. I have a huge event to go to tonight. I am at the mansion trying to tie up some loose ends on some jobs and make sure my men have it covered, and then its home to get ready for it. It is a huge charity type event and Justin is invited because of his huge contributions, plus I think his name and face help out a lot.

I’m not all that excited about having to get dressed up in a formal dress and heels, but Tabbetha is ecstatic about it. She is coming up with hairstyles and makeup tips everyday. I’m quite annoyed with it all, so that is why I am here until I have to go get ready.

I’m walking around and checking on everything and everybody when I hear the intercom system turn on. “Arianna, I need to speak with you right away.” James’s voice booms through it. I roll my eyes and head straight to my office since I’m sure he’s not in his.

I walk in and before I even set eyes on him I roll my eyes. “You know, you do have an office of your own and I am quite tired of you taking over mine.”

“It’s nicer and bigger and not to mention it have huge windows.” He tells me without cracking a smile. “I called for you to let you know that some of the men I had following Rich and his men have reported back that he has come up missing. I have no idea how this happened and I am definitely looking into it, but that is not my point. Rich is obviously has something huge planned. He has been very tight on who he has been talking to, he doesn’t move around much, and now he is missing. I’ve come to let you know this so you are aware. If he has gone missing, he is probably after you and it would be safe for you to stay low profile for a while.” He tells me.

“Well that is good advice and I may just follow it starting it tomorrow. I’ll start it by doing research of my own and following my own people. Apparently it hasn’t been done as well as it could have been.” I tell him hoping this will satisfy him for the night.

“No, you need to start tonight. You and I can go research his old workplace and maybe a few hot spots we know he visits.” He moves to the door with an expectation that I will follow.

“I will not go anywhere tonight except to my house to get ready to go to a big charity event with my boyfriend, and then to the charity event. We will start tomorrow.” I tell him as I plop down in my chair. Thank God my bullet wounds have healed because that jarred a little and hurt slightly. I can only imagine what that would have felt about a month ago.

James stops in his path and immediately turn around with a furious look on his face. “ You cannot go to this event!” He demands.

“Oh yeah. Why is that? Because you say so? You are not my boss?”

“No, but I am your partner and as that I tell you that if you go, you have become the selfish bitch I knew you would become when you started dating this puss.” He yells.

I jump up from my chair with fury of my own. “Selfish bitch?! I finally do something for myself and that makes me a selfish bitch? This is because I’m going with Justin isn’t it? You can’t stand me happy with him.” I challenge him to disagree.

“It’s not about that. If you go, you put not just your life in danger but min, our men, and ever your lover boy. You may not care enough about your life and most likely not mine right now but what about his? Is it really worth it?”

I glare intensely at him but I do not respond. I know he presents a good point, the stupid bastard. I do not give in though because I can protect myself and those I love. “I’m going!” I declare and walk out of the office before he can say anything else to convince me otherwise.

I storm out of the mansion, drawing quite a bit of attention as I speed off.

Our men are getting anxious with the tension growing between James and me and I can tell. I feel bad because it can only lead to stupid mistakes through lack of confidence. I’d hate to lose a man just because James wants to be a stubborn butthead. Yes, I just resorted to name calling and I do not care. I’m going home to enjoy a night with my friends and my boyfriend.

I get home ready to be overwhelmed by Tabbetha, but no one is there. She is probably with Chase getting a little lovin’ before she comes over and gets a little annoy. I sit around and watch some TV and make something small to eat. There is supposed to be food at this event, but just my luck it will be something that we overpaid for. It will be a small amount of food that tastes like cardboard.

After eating and cleaning up a bit, I call Tabbetha to come over. I may dread the idea of having her come over and make a huge deal out of all of this, but I know I need help. I’m not used to being a girl in the sense of dresses, heels, hair, and makeup.

It does not take Tabbetha but a matter of minutes to get over to my house. She runs in as a ball of energy. She starts firing off ideas for my hair and makeup but stops quickly when she sees I’m not listening. I’m just sitting on my bed staring at the wall or that is what it seems. I am really staring into nothing.

She asks me what is wrong, but I do not want to tell her. In fear she will agree with James and tell me I can not be with Justin anymore. She sits down beside me and insists I tell her what is wrong, and because she is my best friend I share with her the conversation that went on between James and me.

“He does have a point, Arianna. Justin is in danger,” the answer I feared, “but he is always in danger as a public figure. I can imagine someone he would be safer with though. I do understand that your life adds a little extra danger and putting you into his life intensifies it.” She had made me feel better only to make me feel worse. “Arianna, I believe that Justin loves you, and that he understands the risks he takes being with you. I also believe you love him and you will do nothing but everything you can to keep him safe, along with everyone else. You have been looking forward to this event, but if you are questioning it that bad, then I do not think you should go and Justin will completely understand.”

Finally my friend is able to get around to the point of making me feel a little better. My anxiety is still there, but I am more at ease about my decision to go tonight. “Thank you. You truly are a great friend, and I do not tell you that enough.” I tell her looking at her and giving her a hug. Damn it, this boy has made me a softie!

“I actually prefer the sarcastic witty remarks if you want my honest answer.” She says laughing as she pulls away. “Now let’s do something with that hair.”

I laugh and am very thankful I have friends like Tabbetha and Chase who truly understands me and allows me to be me without great judgment.

After a couple of hours of me bitching and Tabbetha whining, I am finished with getting ready. My hair is pulled back away from my fair with half of it up in a twist with pieces framing my face. The half that is down is curls into nice thick curls. My make up is a simple light smoky look with just a little blush. We compromised on the lips with having only a slightly tinted lip gloss. I have a floor length royal blue dress that fit me to my waist but flowed loosely from there. The back is pretty much nonexistent as the front dips down in a V-cut. I am wearing small dangling diamond earrings, with a small diamond tennis bracelet on. We kept going back and forth on whether I should wear a necklace or not, but we decided that we will keep it simple and do no necklace.

Justin is going to be here in like five minutes, and I need to calm down a little before then. I am anxious. I am nervous about being in front of cameras and trying to impress Justin’s friends and acquaintances. I want to make a good impression, so people will believe that I really am not bad for him. I want to show that it is okay that he has chosen to be with me.

Holy shit! I care what others think about me and him. I want people to be okay with the fact that we are together. I love him. Holy shit! I love him! I am now more nervous than I was before. I have to wait for him to arrive to tell him.

I leave my room and walk downstairs to the living room. I had intended to sit patiently and wait, but instead I am here pacing the floor waiting impatiently for his arrival. Tabbetha joins me in the living room, but she sits on the couch where I wish I could.

She starts laughing a little, “you alright? You seem extremely nervous about something.”

“I love him!” It just burst out without being able to be controlled. “I was upstairs thinking about how much I want to impress his friends and his world and how I want it to be okay that I am dating him. I’ve never cared what the friends think or what anyone thinks for that matter before. I love him.” I smiles as I finally sit down next to my best friend.

She squeals with delight. “FINALLY!!! I was starting to think you’d never figure it out.” She smiles at me and gives me a small hug.

“What has gotten into me? Ever since he has come to visit, my whole world has done a complete 180. I don’t think I even know how to handle it.” I admit, hoping my friend has some great profound advice.

“You don’t ‘handle it.’ You love him and he loves you and you just live life as it is dealt to you.” She smiles at me, and then looks down at her watch with a perplexed look.

I am about to ask what when I look at my own watch. Justin is fifteen minutes late. This would normally not bother me, except he was adamant about being on time for this event. He is usually on time when we need to be somewhere. Actually, now that I think about it, he has never been late for any of our dates.

I jump back up off the couch and immediately start back with the pacing. Tabbetha tries to calm me by telling me that he is probably running late because of traffic or because his suit is giving him problems or most likely because Chase is holding him up with playing video games.

I nod as I grab my phone and dial Chase’s. He answers and I start hounding him. “Chase, where’s Justin? We are going to be late and if you and your stupid video games are the reason then I will kill you.” I tell him with what he knows to be an empty threat.

“What are you talking about?” He questions, sincerely confused.

“Justin. He was supposed to be here twenty minutes ago. We are going to be late if he doesn’t make it soon.” I explain to him.

“Justin left 45 minutes ago to come get you. He should have already been there by now.” Chase answers with a little worry.

My pacing intensifies and my worry grows. Chase tells me he is coming over and I just hang up, planning on making another call – to work. I call my guard, Charles, to figure out what is going on.

“I’m not sure what you are talking about, Arianna.” he tells me.

I’m tired of people telling me this. “James, where is he? We may have an issue that needs to be taken care of immediately.” I demand to him very loudly.

“Arianna, James left over an hour ago. He said he was going to make you listen to his warning if it’s the last thing he will do.”

“FUCK!” I yell out as I hang up. “Something is going on. Apparently, Justin left to come here and he is not here. James left over an hour ago to come here and he is not here. Something has happened and I’m sure Rich has something to do with it.” I ramble on as I pace.

Tabbetha becomes scared and I do all that I can to calm her down. “Listen, Chase should be here any minute now. You two stay here and keep the door locked no matter what. You know where the safe room is. If worse comes to worst, please use it. I’m going to the office, and I am going to figure out what the hell is going on here.” I tell her as I head out the door and straight to my car and speed out of my driveway straight to the mansion.

I get there and my three main men meet me at the door. I order them not to comment on my dress or anything else about my appearance. I rush in and go to my office. James must have left something. There has to be a main reason behind him rushing to come get me other than warning me about Justin and the stupid event.

Papers are strewn out everywhere. That boy can never clean up after himself and for once I’m happy about that. I shuffle through the papers trying to figure out what he must have found out. I almost give up when something caught my eye. It is a handwritten note beside the phone. Since when does James take phone messages. It is an address. I turn on my computer and about to look up the location when I looked over the address. I did not have to look this one up, I know this address. This is the address of Rich’s previous meeting ground. FUCK!!!

I run out of my office as fast as these damn heels will allow without falling on my face. I run upstairs to my bedroom and change into some more reasonable breathable clothes that will allow me to kick some ass. I do not bother doing anything with my hair or jewelry. I do not really care. I need to get to this address before something extreme happens, and I never forgive myself.

I get downstairs and give orders to my main men and a few others to follow me, and I order others that I see to get everyone they can to this address as soon as possible and to stock up on the weaponry. I had three guns on me, a couple of blades, and fury that will kill anyone in my way.

It does not take us long to load up our vehicles and head out, leaving only dust behind. I give orders the whole way on how we are going to go about taking Rich down. Who is going to be where and what they are going to do. Only Charles and I are going after Rich himself. Everyone else is in charge or controlling our environment in a sense. Any of Rich’s men who get in their way, they are more than welcome to take them out. I call James’s phone once last time in hopes that he is just being a butthead and avoiding calls. Shockingly, the phone is answered.

“I have been waiting for you. I ignored so many calls hoping you would call” is the greeting I am given.

“You fucking bastard. What have you done?” I demand to know.

“Not too much. Your lover boy is looking a little rough. I would think dating you would have toughen the guy up. I guess I was wrong. James hasn’t let me down though. He is stubborn, just as I had hoped.” He laughs which infuriates me.

“You do know you will die, don’t you?” I ask as my speed increases and Charles calls the men in the following vehicles to let them know that I am talking to Rich.

“I doubt it, but I will do you a favor because I am such a kind person.” He offers, “I will not kill your two favorite men until you get here to watch.”

This pisses me off. I hear him laughing as I just hang up on him. My speed increases to a great extreme but I do not care. I am getting there soon and I am killing Rich. As bad as I want to be quick, I am going to make sure this bastard suffers for crossing me. No one messes with me and the ones I love.

We get there and check out the area. We spot most of the men and the weapons they are carrying. We prep ourselves and head out or more in I guess. We are spotted soon after our arrival which is expected if these men are doing their job. My men are in charge of keeping them off our back so Charles and I can get into the building to Rich.