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The Manor (DudeMeister&SHARPii)

He hoped that it wouldn't come to this. Doing business with the mob, he knew that some day he'd have to get his hands dirty. Quickly aiming the glock he picked off of the first guy, he fired at the man holding Harper hostage. The bullet hit him square in-between the eyes. Firing the shotgun at the man he took for bait, he pumped it again, all the while pointing the glock in the direction of the kitchen, where he knew he could get fired at. When they shuffled about, he fired a couple of rounds, all of them lethal. But that didn't prevent another guy from bursting out of Harper's bedroom and firing four rounds into Hawthorne's arm and back.

Severely wounded he dropped to one knee before falling down on his side in pain, feeling his blood pressure drop. The man laughed and went over to him, pointing his gun to his head to perform the coup de grace. However, Hawthorne wasn't done yet. With a loud bang, the man was blown away by the sawed off. After pathetically bringing himself up by sheer force of will he slowly walked over to her, untying her bonds

"I know that this must be very traumatic and you probably hate me now...but if you want to live you must come with me" he said
 
Her eyes remained closed and then shots were fired. She thought she was dead. But then if she was able to think, she couldn't possibly be dead could she? That was when Harper opened her eyes. The guy who had her gun point was dead, so was the guy that Hawthorne had baited. Then she watched with horror as he dropped all the rest of them like flies. But not without sustaining his own injuries and that's what made eyes rain with tears. "Hawthorne..." She gasped, willing herself to move but couldn't with her restraints.

She sniffled as she watched him come forward, untying her, even if he could barely keep himself standing up confidently. Once she was untied, she stood up and moved to him, her arm coming around his back carefully so not to hit his wound and the other pressing to his chest. "Fine, but we have to get you to a hospital. You're bleeding. You've been shot!" Not necessarily in that order of course!
 
"No hospitals. I'll manage" he said, although he didn't sound to confident about it.

"There are dangerous people who want to kill me. I can take you someplace safe. I need you to trust me. We have to leave now " he said to her

With all that done, he dragged the body that was outside into the apartment so that there wouldn't be a scene. He than took her hand and led her out of the building and too his car, the shotgun concealed underneath his jacket. By the time they reached his car, he was dizzy from losing so much blood. He couldn't drive. Opening the doors he sat in the passenger's seat, trying hard not to pass out

"Harper, I need you to drive us to this address" he said, clumsily taking out a folded up piece of paper. It led to the mansion of the retired Don, Alphonse.
 
"I'll explain everything later. But trust me...if we go to a hospital, we are both dead. I'm not kidding around. This isn't some action movie. This is life and death. Drive" he said sternly
 
Harper looked at him and she sighed deeply. She blinked her eyes and bit down on her lower lip hard before just nodding. Her heart was pounding, her insides were shaking yet she had a firm grip on the steering wheel. She drove them away. "Where am I going?" Her eyes were glued to the front. She looked around to make sure she wouldn't cause any sort of accident but otherwise she looked only before her. Not even at him. She didn't want to.
 
"Don Aphonse....he used to run the gang that I work for." he said laying back

"He's retired now...but he can protect you until I find a way to resolve this situation" he added
 
He sighed. She was definitely mad at him. Not that he blamed her. On the other hand things wouldn't have gone down the way they did if Stephanie didn't approach Sly. He never took her for the jealous type. He also wondered how much Harper knew. Of course he was hoping he wouldn't have to tell her that he did Stephanie before seeing Harper...but at this point he decided not to be a liar either.

"It's on the piece of paper that I gave you. On another note you should probably brace yourself" he said, rubbing his eye as he felt woozy, not looking forward to laying this on her

"Stephanie is probably dead" he said after taking a deep breath
 
Her grip on the steering wheel tightened and her eyes blurred with water. She swallowed hard and took in a deep breath before exhaling slowly. “That’s…not good.” She whispered, the lump in her throat so big that she could hardly speak.
Looking down at the note, she turned a right and kept on driving before she made another left. After driving straight forward for a bit, they arrived at the address. “So, now what? I go in? You go in? What?” She asked softly, too softly. Her eyes were still wet and she was doing all she could to keep herself composed and remotely sane. Harper didn’t want his comfort and she just wanted him to get the help he needed. And then after that? She didn’t know. But this…
 
"I'll go in and explain everything. Just come with me and let me do all the talking" he said, leaning over and kissing her cheek, embracing her gently

"I'm sorry. I know she was a good friend to you" he said, before getting out of the car and knocking on the door. Before long a huge bodyguard answered the door

"Oh, Hawthorne...come in. Alphonse is on the patio" he said, letting him in

He thanked him and gently took Harper's hand leading him to the patio. Lounging in a chair, an older man in his mid 60's was smoking a cigar. Seeing Hawthorne he got up and smiled at him. For an ex-mafioso he was rather nice.

"Hey Hawthorne how are...holy shit what the fuck happened to you? Who shot you? And who is dis girl? She looks scared" he said, looking at Hawthorne concerned

"Well...Sly happened. He killed one of my girls, threatened this one, and probably has it out for your son" Hawthorne said, dropping to his knee afterward after loosing a lot of blood

"Damn...that insane bastard will ruin business for everyone! Come in, let my man take the bullets out and you can explain everyone later" he said

"You must be worried dear...do you need anything?" he asked, looking at Harper
 
Harper looked at him and she bit her lower lip. She just nodded her head and got out of the car with him after turning everything off. She locked the door and went along with him and when the doors opened and they were let in, she followed him in to the patio.
There sat an older man but for a man who had to be well in his fifties or early sixties, he was preserved nicely. Someone clearly knew how to take care of themselves, thus rendering Harper impressed.

A soft gasp came from her as Hawthorne fell to the ground. She fell to the ground with him, putting her hands on his wounds, pressing on them a little bit so maybe stop the blood from coming out. Her eyes watered up and she looked up at the man and shook her head. When she pulled back from him, she stood up slowly on shaky knees and looked at her hands. They were covered in his blood and she was so afraid that he'd die. Stephanie already was dead. She didn't want Hawthorne to die either. Because then everything would have been for nothing.
"W-Where's your bathroom?" She croaked finally.
He pointed the way with a concerned look and Harper retreated to the bathroom, her vision blurring with tears as they finally fell down her cheeks. Shutting the door and locking it, she turned the water on and started scrubbing her hands, crying quietly at the same time. She was mentally cursing herself for being such a pathetic girl. But she couldn't help it. Stephanie was dead. Harper was almost killed. Hawthorne was probably going to die if he didn't get treated. Yeah, what a day.
 
He was later brought into a bedroom. One of Alphonse's men dug the bullets out of Hawthorne and sewed him up. He was an experienced gangster...so digging bullets out of people wasn't anything new to him. Hawthorne passed out during the procedure.

Hawthorne woke up a few hours later, groaning slightly when he sat up. He felt weak, but at least he didn't have about a pound of lead in him. Looking around, his first thought wasn't about how to deal with Sly (who by now knew that Hawthorne tricked him). His mind was completely on Harper.
 
Harper was taken to a room where she was told to lie down and just close her eyes and relax. It took a lot of convincing, it took a lot of time for her to finally agree to this. And the moment her body went horizontal on the bed and she closed her eyes, Harper was asleep. And she had been asleep this entire time. It was a good place to be, asleep. She could cuddle up into a ball and just sleep it all away, as if it never happened. As if nothing between Hawthorne and her ever happened. Only one problem. All she dreamed about was Hawthorne.

A few hours later, she woke up but she didn't get up from bed. She was lying on her stomach, her arms cuddled around her pillows and she just stared at the wall. With a heavy sigh, she pushed herself out of bed and walked out of the room, rubbing her eyes and going to the room that he was in. She saw he was awake and leaned against the door frame. Yawning, she covered her mouth and then crossed her arms over her chest and looked at him. "You're alive." She said softly. She was happy about it, despite the fact she wasn't showing it. "So is this it?"
 
He was happy to see her. He got up a moment later and put on a shirt. He wanted to go over to her and embrace her...but the way things were going lately, he figured out it wasn't a good idea. He walked over to her and stood in front of her at a reasonably safe distance

"Well...this is the safest place you can be. Just give me some time to figure out how to solve this, and you are free to go. You don't have to ever see me again if you don't want to" he said
 
Harper swallowed hard and she looked at him. She was fighting the urge to cry, to hold him, to be in his arms and be assured that nothing was going to happen. That she was safe. That they were safe. That nothing would happen to her and nothing would happen to him. But she had a feeling he didn't want to. That whatever it was with them, it was over.

Swallowing hard, she nodded slowly. "You don't want to see me again either, do you?" She asked.
 
He looked at her and sighed.

"I do want to see you...but after all that you've been through, don't you hate me? I mean you were almost killed because you were close to me." he said, gently brushing a strand of hair out of her face

"I was so worried about you. I'm so sorry that I put you through all of that." he added, taking his hand away
 
Harper looked at him. "I can't hate you Hawthorne. I should. I honestly should, but how can I when you warned me? You warned me from the beginning that something like this could happen. That being with you would be so dangerous because of the line of work you're in." She stepped to him as his hand moved away and she slid her hand into his. "I took the chance anyways. How could I not? I've never felt this way about anyone so instantly." She almost whispered.
"You were worried about me and the entire time I was so worried about you because I didn't even want to think of the rest of my life without you in it. I almost could have died. You actually almost died." She shrugged and her eyes watered. "If I stayed away, it'd hurt more than lead being pumped into my body."
 
He looked to her and slowly embraced her, deeply moved by what she said. She really did care for him. He gently kissed her lips and ran his fingers through her hair. Momentarily breaking the kiss, he rested his forehead against her's

"After all of this is done, I'll try to go straight. I want to be with you to, but you deserve more than a criminal" he said

"I'll make sure nobody hurts you again"
 
Harper's lower lip quivered as he embraced her and she gently moved her arms around his back, mindful of his bandages and she pressed her lips to his shoulder, sniffling. Looking up at him, she kissed him back, her hands moving around his cheeks and she sighed contently, her eyes closing. "Yeah, probably." She laughed softly. "Or...change the manor into something else. Not a brothel house. But something that sells." She looked at him. "Do you own it or does someone else own it?"
 
"Well...technically, Alphonse's son Tony owns it...but maybe we can work things out" he said, pulling away from her and sitting down on the bed, still dizzy from the whole ordeal

"Back when I was a lawyer, I represented his godson, who was a doctor. He was being sued for medical malpractice, and I won the case for him. The godson actually is clean: he has nothing to do with the family business...but Alphonse still owes me one. That's probably why he's ok with saving my ass" he said

"I'll see if I can find him and talk to him to clear things up....after that...do you want to do something?" he asked her, hoping to spend some time with her after
 
Harper nodded to him and she bit her lower lip. She watched him move from her and moved herself to sit beside him on the bed, her hands resting in her lap, on her legs. Her fingers knotted together and she stared down at them. Her head bobbed in nodding accordance as he spoke, so he knew she understood what he was saying.

Looking at him, she managed a weak smile but a smile nonetheless and nodded her head. "I'd like that. But I think you should rest first. You kind of had a bunch of lead pumped into you. You're a bit 'holy.'" She grinned at her own joke, shrugging her shoulders as she stood up.

"I think I want to go home. And when I say home, I mean back home where my parents are. I need to go there for a little bit to clear my head. And I think we could use that time and space to sort of heal and let this entire ordeal blow over." She said softly. "I need my mom." And she wasn't embarrassed to say it. Her mom was the one person who understood her, got her, and didn't judge her. And as much as she wanted to be with Hawthorne, she needed her mom's help with all this.
 
He nodded. He understood her request. But he couldn't let her go unprotected.

"Well...in principle that's an ok idea...provided that it is out of town. I also will have to drive you, just to be safe" he said to her

"Sly's influences is all over the city...so if your mother lives out of town than that would be safe. Otherwise the only safe place is here" he said to her
 
Harper sighed softly and she looked at him. "Cool your jets Mr. Tisch." She said with a soft playful smile. "My mom lives out of state. She's in the neighboring state. Nothing a quick drive can do. I'll be fine." She told him.
"Besides, if you do anything more, you might not make it. And I refuse to lose you. That's not an option." The idea that the next time she saw him, it might be at his funeral, it wasn't a very warm thought or feeling.
"Please?"
 
He sighed and nodded, holding her hand. He looked to her and ran a hand to her cheek

"Please...let me take you, just to be safe" he said to her

"Let me drop you off at your mother's house so that I know you're ok" he added, kissing her cheek
 
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