Somehow, he suddenly seemed different from her as he turned his head to look at her, his expression now exhausted.

Michel then looked at Fanny in silence, only to see her continue her work in silence as she applied some more antibiotic ointment to the closed wound, and then carefully applied a gauze pad.


"You need to slightly sit up again. I need to put the bandage on now." She explained.

Again, Michel didn't say much as he tried to lift himself off the mattress.

This time, however, he seemed to have more difficulty, clearly flinching from the sharp pain in his side, and immediately falling back onto the bed.


"Fanny," Michel whispered there, sounding exhausted but her name rolled out of his mouth as sweetly as if it had been laced with honey.

Fanny's body immediately got goosebumps as she experienced a strange vibrating sensation in her stomach.


His voice was deep and vibrated throughout her body.

"Fanny," Michel repeated.

She hates to admit it, but somehow she doesn't hate the way her name sounds when it comes from him.

The way Michel said it, almost softly, made her feel numb. She doesn't even know how.

"Yes."

"Then help me up," Michel spoke softly, waiting.

His gaze never left hers, and when she didn't respond or move fast enough, he just tried again and ended up sitting forward.

However, his change of position caused them to face each other, eyes meeting as they stared at each other in silence.

Fanny felt her heart rate speed up as he kept his unwavering gaze on her. Her stomach twisted into a knot and as she twisted restlessly in place, feeling weightless and warm at the same time.

Fanny drew in a surprised breath as she suddenly realized that the unknown feeling she had earlier was fluttering vibrations.

---

It's been almost two weeks since Michel woke up and everything is still as vague and confusing to him as when he first opened his eyes.

"I just don't understand why he got shot on Davies's territory. They're our allies. Did they say how Phoenix got access?" Vengo asked as they all sat in the office, this time with Michel, discussing gang problems as they usually do.

Carlos shook his head, leaning back in his chair.

He asked his father-in-law who was the head of Davies and his wife's father, but he seemed as surprised as all of them when they said that Phoenix had suddenly appeared.

"It doesn't matter anyway." Michel then said as he opened a new packet of Marlboro and took out a cigarette to stuff it between his lips, quickly lighting it up.

He took a deep breath and exhaled as he continued.

"It's their territory and they guarantee our security as we do for them when they have a business on our premises. They should have guarded this place and not let us in. right."

"I agree with Michel," Charles said, who had leaned against the bookshelf the whole time, listening to the conversation.

"Mr. Aiden needs to be held accountable. He's the boss. It doesn't matter if he's Gwen's father or Carlos's father-in-law, the fact is he didn't. He messed up."

"And how are you going to make him see that?" Vengo defiantly leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms.

Charles straightened up and walked over to the wooden table they were all sitting around.

"Easy. By getting a big cut of next month's profits as compensation."

Everyone was silent at Charles's suggestion.

Michel finished his cigarette and put it in the ashtray on the table.

"Sounds fair to me."

Vengo nodded.

"Okay, let me make a phone call."

---

Entering the room, Michel was surprised to see Fanny there, standing to the right, admiring the shelves full of books.

She had her back to him and still hadn't noticed him coming in, so standing there quietly, he watched her as she curiously traced the spines of old leather-bound books.

For the past two weeks, they barely said a word to each other, interacting only when she came into his room twice a day to check on him while he was recovering.

However, even though he kept quiet most of the time, Michel couldn't help but start noticing her. Or better yet, start noticing the attraction she has for him.

Of course, he'd seen her innocent eyes, the memory of the deer in the headlight expression she'd given him when he'd pointed the gun at her that still invaded his brain from time to time.

But since she was twenty-two years old, a fact he learned when he asked Carlos about the background check they had done on her, he assumed she was probably just looking like that and must have had some experience with the opposite sex.

So while Michel has left her to do his job in the last two weeks since his recovery, he can't figure out why he shouldn't get from her what he's craving now that he's already feeling better.

So far, Michel has never had to make any major efforts to get his woman. Since most of their work time is spent in clubs and pubs, they never really have to show any moves or have to act a certain way to get whattheye wants.

Women often come to him and if he finds them attractive enough, he simply spends a night with them before moving on to the next one.

That's why he never had to change his behavior in hopes of making himself more attractive.

And he didn't expect anything to happen to his nurse.

What Michel didn't know, however, was that Fanny was confused.

Most of the time, she finds him quite blunt, and rude when he's not busy scaring her.

She finds it strange to be around him, his interrupting remarks and commands scare her and make her feel like she might be the next target of a change in his mood.