“Raymond!” Charmaine screamed, uncaring for her own safety as she dropped to his side, her hands cradling his face.

“C-Charmaine,” Raymond gasped, his face draining of color as he forced his eyes to remain focused. He looked at her and on a ragged breath asked, “A-Are you okay?”

Charmaine’s tears were now running freely down her face, “I’m fine. It’s you I’m worried about. I’m going to call an ambulance.” She rummaged through her bag and heard footsteps approach. Looking up she saw a man dressed completely in black staring coldly down at them.

Raymond also saw the figure and he looked up at the man’s face. He didn’t recognize him. “W-Who are you?” he asked in a hoarse whisper. “Who sent you?” The man didn’t answer but instead gave them a chilling smile. He lifted his gun and aimed it at them. Raymond used all his strength and managed to get up, his hand clutching at his wound. With an unborn strength he didn’t know he had, he pushed Charmaine roughly behind him and shielded her with his body.

The man laughed softly, a cold unemotional sound, “One way or another both of you will die tonight. It doesn’t matter who goes first.”

Raymond squeezed Charmaine’s hand and then abruptly jumped on their attacker. Having caught the attacker by surprise, Raymond managed to hold him down to the ground, “Run Charmaine! Run!”

Charmaine stared in horror as Raymond and their attacker struggled on the ground. Raymond turned his head towards her and shouted, “Run dammit!” Without any further urging, she ran to get help.

The attacker cursed loudly and kneed Raymond in the wound. The hot searing pain caused Raymond to falter and cry out. With their positions switched, the attacker pressed the barrel of his gun into Raymond’s temple and snarled, “Say goodbye.”

Raymond closed his eyes and waited for death to claim him. The loud boom echoed in his ears as he waited to fall into an indefinite sleep. Instead he heard a thud and quickly opened his eyes to find his attacker’s lifeless body sprawled beside him. Wincing with pain, he crawled away from the body and scanned the area. Off in the distance, he could make out a handful of people trotting his way. He slowly inched himself backwards, to better prepare himself for whoever was coming. Feeling lightheaded and with the pain bearing down on him, he thought he saw Charmaine in the group and she was running towards him. That was the last thing he saw before he lost consciousness.

---------------------------------------------

“Are you sure he’s going to be alright?” Charmaine asked for the tenth time.

Their trusted friend and doctor patted her on the shoulder, “Have I ever lied to you?” He looked at Raymond, who was now sleeping, and said, “I removed the bullet and as long as you keep his wound clean and change his dressing every day, he’ll be back on his feet in no time.”

With misty eyes, Charmaine smiled with gratitude, “Thank you.” When the doctor nodded in response, she turned her attention back to Raymond. “You’ll be okay. I’ll take care of you,” she whispered as she softly brushed his hair back from his forehead and placed a kiss there.

Derek who had remained quiet since they brought Raymond back to their house spoke directly to the doctor, “I don’t want anyone to know of this.”

“Of course not,” the doctor confirmed. “If there’s nothing else, I’ll be going.” He walked to the door but paused to look at Charmaine, “He may develop a fever tonight but don’t worry about it. Just remember to apply a cold compress to reduce the fever and it’ll pass.”

“Thanks again,” said Charmaine. The doctor nodded again and left the room.

Joe placed a hand on Charmaine’s shoulder and somberly said, “Don’t worry too much. You should get some sleep. The doctor said he’ll be fine.”

Charmaine shook her head vehemently, “I’m not going anywhere. What if he wakes up during the night? He needs me.”

Derek walked over to stand beside them, “Let her stay. Joe, I have something to discuss with you.” Placing kisses on top of her head, the two men left the room closing the door behind them. Once in the privacy of Derek’s home office, Derek said, “Michael is really a cold-blooded bastard.”

Joe nodded in agreement, “I can’t believe he would put a hit on one of his men for no reason. Luckily we were there and in the nick of time.”

Derek looked at Joe thoughtfully and said, “He protected Charmaine with his life. I’m beginning to think he really does care for her.”

Joe frowned suddenly and blurted, “Charmaine will start to wonder why we were there. What should we tell her?”

Derek relaxed in his chair and simply said, “The truth. I rather have her get mad at us now then finding out later that we put a hit on Raymond. Then she’ll never forgive us.”

Joe smiled warmly at Derek, “You’re right about that.”

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Michael threw his glass of wine across the room and against the wall, shattering it into a million pieces. “What do you mean he’s still alive?” he roared.

Bosco nervously walked up to him, “The assassin failed and before I could send another one out, some one came and saved him. I didn’t want any confrontations because that would lead the trail back to us.”

Michael clenched his hands into fists and slammed it down onto the table. With hard eyes glaring at Bosco, he growled, “I want him dead! Do you hear me?”

Bosco nodded his head, sweat pouring from his body at Michael’s cold impassionate voice, “Y-Yes, I’ll get the job done.”