"Don't you look cute?" Colette commented, looking at Virginie checking herself out in the mirror.

It was her first day back at the firm and she was nervous. She hadn't spoken to Alex since that awful night back at the villa. He had attempted to talk to her multiple times. He dropped by her room, texted and called her, but Virginie ignored all of his advances. Robert made sure to keep her away from him at the airport but she didn't complain. If he saw the full extent of her injuries, he would not be able to control himself.

She knew that Stephanie was elated by her absence and that irked her but she couldn't do anything about it. She hoped that Alex wasn't mad at her. This was for his own good.

Virginie didn't reply as she ran her fingers over her poreless skin. She wasn't used to seeing it without bruises yet. They had only fully faded recently. Her ribs still hurt occasionally but overall, she was feeling fine.

Colette came up behind her and ran her hands through her curly hair. Virginie was wearing a wig today since she didn't feel like curling her actual hair. It was lighter than she was used to; a soft honey brown that made her eyes pop and her skin glow.

"Why do you seem so glum?" Colette asked, resting her head on her friend's shoulder to admire Virginie's reflection in the mirror. "You're going back to work today! You love going to work. You're finally going to be reunited with Alex."

"That's what I'm worried about," Virginie admitted, biting her lip.

Colette removed her head from its place on her shoulder. "You? Worried? What on earth for?"

Virginie stared at herself in the mirror. A complex yet strong woman stared back at her. She did what she had to do that night. She hoped that he would understand.

She wished that could've told him the truth. The look in his eyes when she told him off was one that she never wanted to see again. No matter what she would have to do, she never wanted to hurt him like that again.

"You're starting to scare me," Colette cried, coaxing Virginie out of her thoughts. "What happened?"

Virginie sighed and turned to face her beloved companion. "I kind of told him off the last time I saw him." The words tumbled out of her mouth before she realized that she would have to explain why and she hadn't yet told Colette that Robert had a mean streak.

When she came back from Jamaica, covered in black and blue, Colette automatically assumed the worst but Virginie managed to convince her that her wounds were from a boating accident. She had to go to one of the Agency's satellite offices to get some special medication that the scientists created to increase the production of cells so her skin could heal faster. She was lucky Colette believed her this time but she wasn't sure she would be so lucky in the future.

"Why would you do that? I thought you liked him."

Virginie narrowed her eyes at Colette. "Not like that!"

Colette raised a curious eyebrow. "I never said it was like that." She smirked, her fingers returning to play with the shiny curls. "You know I would never allow anyone to steal you away from me. You're mine."

Virginie laughed at the seductive look that Colette was giving her. "Stop it, you're so silly."

Colette struggled to keep her face serious. "I'm being honest, you know you're my girl and no one else's. No matter how hot your clients are."

"Stop messing around!" Virginie giggled, pushing her playfully.

"There's that angelic smile. I'm sure once he sees your face, he'll forget all about your little transgression." She pulled Virginie away from the mirror and into the living room for them to talk. "Now please tell me what's on your mind."

Virginie sighed. "Stephanie is starting to worry me."

Colette looked confused. "Stephanie? You mean his fake girlfriend who actually loves him? What does she have to with you and Alex?"

"Something crazy happened while we were in Jamaica."

Colette knitted her eyebrows. "I thought we were going to tell each other everything."

Virginie looked down, ashamed of her actions. "I didn't want you to worry about me. I know you worry regardless but I didn't want to add to your stress."

Colette grabbed her hands. "It doesn't matter. How can I know to protect you when I don't even know what's going in your life? You're so afraid of me getting hurt that you put yourself in danger and that isn't okay. I thought we were in this together."

Don't you understand that it doesn't matter to me if I'm in danger? I wouldn't be able to live with myself if you got hurt or killed because of me. Trying to save me. The words were trapped in her mouth. She knew she couldn't say them because they didn't matter. Colette would do whatever she had to because the idiot cared about her. "Okay, okay. I understand."

"This better not be your usual 'I understand' and then you continue to blow me off."

Virginie smiled. Colette knew her too well. "It's not."

Colette released her hands and grinned. "Good. Now back to this crazy bitch. You were saying?"

Virginie sighed and prepared herself for Colette interrupting her when she got to the part about the guys trying to drug her. That wasn't going to be able to go over easily. "On the first night we were in Jamaica, Alex wanted to go out to a club. I agreed because I wanted to go out and see the nightlife. Robert and Stephanie didn't come. They both said that they were tired. Alex had been drinking before we left and I ended up losing him in the crowd the moment we got there. He's a grown man so I let him go and I thought I would find him later. I go up to the bar to order a lemonade and―"

Colette rolled her eyes. "Of course you did."

Virginie put her hands on her hips in false annoyance. "Excuse me? Do we have a problem? I will not tolerate lemonade slander in this house."

"I wasn't slandering―" She paused for a second, pondering her words. "You know what? Continue with the story."

Virginie sniffed. "Thank you." She cleared her throat. "As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted, I went to the bar to get a lemonade. When I received the lemonade I looked down at the bottom out of habit and I saw some white powder."

"Oh my goodness," Colette breathed.

"I grabbed the bastard bartender by his collar and asked him what he was doing. He slammed my head on the table and dipped out of the club. I ran after him, of course, and due to our training, I can see pretty well in the dark. He ended up tripping and I used that opportunity to trap him by putting my forearm across his neck. I interrogated him and found out that he had drugged Alex. Alex, in his drunken state, had three shots worth. But their actual target was me. I couldn't get any more information from him because he killed himself with an injection. I left his body on the side of the road."

"So someone is after you right now and you didn't want to tell me about it?" Colette's voice was deadly soft, signaling that she was about to scream.

Virginie put her hands up in contest. "Please, you can yell at me once the story is finished. I'm not sure what their motivations are yet because the powder wasn't poison. It was something to make you get drunker than usual. I don't know why someone would pay an agency to do that."

Colette nodded stiffly, motioning with her hands for Virginie to continue.

"I go to find Alex and he's on the dance floor, barely conscious. The worst part is there are two women grinding on him and touching him like he's a fucking mannequin. They were going to try to fuck him in the bathroom. It took everything in me not to squash them both into the neon floor. I grabbed Alex and took him back to the villa so I could take care of him."

"Sounds sexy," Colette giggled.

Virginie rolled her eyes, pretending that she wasn't remembering all the lovely things he had said to her that night. She sometimes pretended that he meant it which was childish and messy on her part but she couldn't help it. "It wasn't. He was vomiting all over the place."

"All over you?" Colette inquired, raising an eyebrow.

Virginie ignored her. "I made him some sandwiches, brought him water, and put a trash can by him. He eventually fell asleep and I cleaned the kitchen before I left. The next day, I get a call from him accusing me of leaving him at the club by himself. Stephanie told him that she was the one who picked him up from the club and took care of him because I apparently abandoned him. She also claimed that he was about to get into a fight when she arrived to pick him up."

Colette laughed drily. "What the fuck?"

"I had the same reaction."

"Why would she lie? Did she see you come in?"
"The funny thing is she's the one who let me in the villa. I knocked on the door and there she was, in her nightgown with that stank ass look that she always has on her face. She was trying to blame me for the whole thing. She kind of wasn't wrong to―"

Colette put a finger to her lips. "Stop. People coming to drug you is not your fault."

"She didn't help me at all. She was disgusted with the whole situation and went to bed shortly after letting me in. She should take most of the blame though. If Alex wasn't that drunk before leaving the villa, he would've definitely been able to notice the powder at the bottom. That bartender was not good at mixing."

"Is she dumb though? Because I don't know why she wouldn't realize that he was going to ask you about it and why would you cover for her? She's always so rude to you. She could've at least threatened you with something beforehand but I guess she hadn't thought that far ahead."

"I know she hates me but I don't understand why she would throw me under the bus like that. What did I do to make her dislike me so much? I try my best to be nice to her even though she's a racist, classist little shit."

Colette shrugged. "Maybe because she's jealous."

Virginie looked at her incredulously. "Jealous? Of me? She's the one who's―"

"Who's what?"

"Never mind." Virginie abruptly got up from the couch and clutched her stomach. Her wounds from Robert's beating hadn't fully healed and she had forgotten she still didn't have her full range of motion yet. "It doesn't matter, I'm going to be late for work."

Colette's face flashed with concern. "You know you're not supposed to moving like that. Or did you not listen to Corey when he came to patch you up?"

Virginie waved her hand dismissively. "I'll be fine. A little pain never hurt anybody." She looked at her with a sly smirk. "How are you and your mans anyway?"

"My mans? Shut up." Colette turned away with a frown and muttered, "That guy flirts with everyone. Who cares about him."

"Obviously you do or else you wouldn't be blushing right now." She pushed her playfully with a cheesy grin. "Don't think I didn't see that little eye sex that y'all were having while Corey was examining my injuries."

"Shut up!" Colette pouted. "You always do this. You never listen."

Virginie kissed her on the cheek with a grin on her face and winked before leaving. "I don't know what you mean. See you later! Te adoro!"

"Te adoro, you fucking idiot."