"You!", screamed the strange man, "You and the Vanderbilts and your boy toys!"

I furrowed my eyes brows at the man. He has some scars here and there and a lot of bruises and injuries. Judging from his facial features, he was Russian.

"Do you know what they've taken from me, what they've taken from Jarrett?" yelled the man.

"Sir, what-what are  you talking about?" I asked confused.

"Don't play dumb little girl. You KNOW what your family did to all of us!" He yelled.

Before I could say any further, my bodyguards stood in front of me and glared at the man.

"You need to leave," Drake said in a serious voice.

"No no no, I'm not leaving until SHE pays the price for her family." He smiled wickedly which makes me want to puke.

"Sir, I'm going to tell you again, LEAVE. NOW." Drake said in a deadly voice.

Jackson had his hand on my arm, ready to pull me out if necessary.

As if the man was defeated, his body slumped down and his shoulders relaxed.

But out of nowhere, he has his gun out and shot it right at me.

It all happened in a flick of a second that I couldn't even process it for a while.

I looked down to see a bullet wound but found none.

Then, I heard an inhale of breathing next to me and saw that the owner of the bullet wound was Jackson.

His abdomen was pouring red but he stilled stayed in his composure in front of me.

"Jackson!" I yelled wide-eyed.

I turned to inspect his wound.

"Don't worry Miss. I was trained for this." He said through gritted teeth.

"Well well well. Your aim is so bad you can't even hurt the person you so desperately want. Now, your last chance, GET. Out. Or you'll see what two ex-assassins can do." By the looks of it, Drake was done at this point.

Finally, he cast one last glare at me and ran away.

"Drake! He needs help!" I yelled out.

Jackson was pale as a ghost at this point. Drake came over and looked at his wound. He then cursed under his breath.

"That mother fu*k*r! He laced it with poison!" Drake yelled out.

A gasp left my lips and I looked back at Jackson.

Drake ferociously pulled out his phone and called someone.

"Sir, we had an incident at the mall. Jackson is injured." Drake said to the person on the other side.

"Yes."

"I understand."

"It was taken care of sir."

"Backup would be appreciated, thank you."

I watched in awe as Drake started to rip his shirt and pressed it to Jackson's wound. I now understand the friendship between my two bodyguards, they would always help each other.

After a few minutes, three black cars pulled in. Two cars filled with my father's men came out and started helping Jackson.

My father and Tristen came out of the last car and walked to me.

"Talia!" Tristen yelled out.

"Sweetie are you okay? Were you hurt?" My father asked me.

"No no, I'm fine. It's Jackson you have to worry about." I answered.

Tristen started inspecting me and relaxed when he found no injuries.

"Dad..who was he? The man who shot Jackson. He said that you guys did something to him." I asked.

"Talia..it's complicated. Our family has a long line of enemies." My father explained.

"But what DID you did to him. It has something relating to Jarrett right?" I asked.

"Talia, we keep secrets to keep you safe." Tristen holds my hand his his.

I sighed, not getting an answer out of them and don't think I ever will.

"Then, I want to be near Jackson until he recovers," I suggested.

"But Talia, it's too da-"

Tristen was cut off by my father.

"Okay then. One of my men will drive you." My father said.

My brother opened his mouth to argue but my dad raised his hand and my brother stopped immediately.

"Sawyer, take my daughter to the hospital that would be containing Jackson." My father called one of his men.

"Yes sir."

I walked over to the car and went in. We soon arrived at a private hospital owned by one of my father's friend.

Jackson was put in an ER to first inspect the poison gun wound.

I waited painterly one the waiting room which surprisingly, had no one except me.

As I sipped my coffee, I saw a group of men come out of a room led by Drake. 

"Miss Vanderbilt, Jackson is ready if you want to see him." He said.

I jumped up and walked into the room that held Jackson. It was white inside with a few flowers for decorations here and there.

"Miss Vanderbilt?" I heard a voice come from the hospital bed.

Jackson was laying there with a blotch on red on his abdomen.

"Do you feel better?" I asked as I got near him.

"Yeah, they did a pretty good job of getting the poison out of my system." He winced slightly.

"That's good. I'm glad you're okay." I replied in relief.

"You didn't have to come here." He said.

"Of course I had to, you were hurt because of me. Well technically because of that stranger but you get the point." I shrugged.

"I kind of get paid for it," Jackson smirked.

"Payed for or not, coming here was a great thing to do," I replied.

"Your heart is truly made of gold Miss Vanderbilt." He said in awe.

"Oh my gosh. Enough with Miss Vanderbilt, call me Talia. Please?" I begged in fake desperation.

"Okay Talia. Whatever you say, "He smiled, "Now, didn't you have a Winter Formal to get to?"

"Well...yeah but I can cancel it, it's not even a bi-" 

"Go. Please. I'll be alright. I'm an ex-assassin for god's sake" He chuckled.

After of minute of debating myself, I sighed and nodded.

When I got out of the room, Drake took me home as I changed into the dress. I finished the look off with a small tiara.

All that's happened in the afternoon made me forget to check my phone.

As I opened my phone, a bunch of texts shot up from the boys

Tyler: Talia...

Nathan: Are you okay? I heard someone tried to attack you.

Gabriel: Are you hurt?

Alex: Talia, where are you now?

Tyler: Talia WHERE ARE YOU?

Nathan: Talia Tyler's spamming me with texts, are you OKAY?

Gabriel: Talia! Were you injured?

Alex: Talia, I'm coming to get you now!

Oh no, I'm probably sure there's searching all over the place for me now. With a couple clicks of my fingers, I texted all of them that I was safe.

Talia to Alex, Nathan, Gabriel, Tyler: Guys I'm safe now. I'm on my way to the Winter Formal. See you there!

The school building was decorated from top to bottom. Since I was already late, no sign of students were outside the building.

I made my way over to the ballroom and the party was at full swing.

My eyes immediately connected with the boys and theirs' held concern, anger, frustration, relief, and happiness.

But hey. At least I didn't die today right?