Two months later...

It had been two months since we traveled to Italy and I was already feeling homesick. Of course, I still wanted to finish this and find out the truth, but I also wanted nothing more than to just go back home with Tristen and get back to our regular lives. Since we ended up staying way longer than we thought, Tristen had to call his job and tell them that he was stuck in another country and couldn't leave so they wouldn't fire him. We also ended up having to drop the rest of our classes for the school year. That was the most upsetting part for me.

Also, staying with Natalia just put a damper on our relationship as well. We didn't have any alone time to spend together and since we all had a mission to accomplish in separate areas, we rarely saw each other. Tristen landed a construction job two weeks after Natalia told him to. As for Natalia, she started volunteering at the church and even did routine maintenance, so she was tasked with learning the schedules of all the security there. My only job was to worry about getting into the archive room, so I stayed home planning while they did their own things.

Because of the nature of the mission and not knowing for certain how much longer we'd be in Italy, Tristen and I took it upon ourselves to start learning some Italian. We weren't fluent or anything, but we knew more than we did before. Plus, Natalia kind of forced us to learn since she said she may not always be around to translate for us and told us not to assume that anyone else would speak English for us either.

With me being at the house by myself most of the time, I had time to plan exactly what to do when I got inside the archive room. The main problem in our plan was dealing with the backup generator when that time came. If I truly only had thirty seconds to get what I needed to, then it was going to be an issue; because I still didn't know what I was supposed to be getting from there. I re-read the poem a million times to see if Natalia had missed anything when she deciphered it, but I found nothing new. There were the letters E.B. on the back in this weird font, but I couldn't figure out what it meant or if it even meant anything.

Natalia and Tristen were constantly arguing because their plans had to correlate with each other. Natalia said she'd be able to get the guards away from the room, but Tristen would have to make the power go out at that time. Tristen argued that he couldn't set a specific time to make the power go out and that she'd have to follow his schedule for whenever he would be able to make it happen. Natalia always tried to include me in their discussions and ask whose job I thought was more important. It didn't matter. But if I absolutely had to answer...it'd be Tristen for sure.

It wouldn't have mattered if Natalia somehow found a way to get security away from guarding the room, and it wouldn't have mattered if I had a rock-solid plan to get the files and slip out without being seen, because if Tristen couldn't make the power outage happen for us, the plan would be a bust! There was no other way to get past that retina scanner.

As I contemplated the plan, the front door unlocked, and in came Tristen and Natalia. She shut the door behind her, "And like I already told you, I can only do so much!"

He took off his work gloves and placed them on the kitchen counter, "And you can stop yelling, I heard you already. I'm saying that we need another plan."

"Guys, what's going on?" I asked interrupting them.

She pointed at Tristen, "Your man here says he can't cut the power."

"I didn't say that! I said that it'd be extremely difficult for me to do it with the little time I had, that's why I was saying that we needed another distraction of some kind", he said.

I sighed, "What's the problem, babe?"

He sat down and sighed, "I used the official computer in the office to type up a request to work on the city power lines in the area and signed it with my boss' name. The request should either be approved or denied in about a day or two. But the thing is, they have to see that something is already wrong with it or they won't send us out on the project. So I have to mess with it tonight before they come and look at it. The problem is, the streets are always busy so I won't have a window to do it."

"So essentially, your distraction needs a distraction", I said.

He nodded, "Exactly, and like I was telling Natalia, if one of you can come up with a way to get people away from the city, I can work my magic. We all have important roles to play in this, but if I can't get them to have my crew come work on the power lines, you're not getting inside that room. I need that distraction."

Natalia looked at me, "It's not that I don't understand what he's asking, I just think it's an impossible request. We can't just get people out of the streets, especially so close to St Peter's. Unfortunately, it's a huge tourist area, and because it's a new year, more people have started traveling and there are way more people here than usual."

He ignored her and grabbed my hand, "Love, if you wanna get inside of that room, I need a distraction. If you can't think of anything, it's okay. I can try to go early in the morning to mess with it. I don't want you putting yourself in any danger, so if you really can't think of anything, I'll deal with it."

I knew that with everything going on, Tristen was feeling the pressure of it all. He was here against his will and I wanted to lighten the load for him as much as possible. He didn't know how much I appreciated him even trying to make sure this plan worked. I nodded, "Okay, I'll try to think of something."

I sat down and tried to come up with some ways I could cause a big distraction. I had to make sure that it wasn't too big to where I would be arrested or anything, but big enough to get people away from the area. Tristen rubbed my back and pointed to my notes, "Have you figured out what to look for once you're inside of that room?"

I shook my head, "No, not yet."

Natalia spoke up, "Well you sure are cutting it close. All our efforts will be for naught if you can't figure it out."

Tristen made a face at her, "I'm sure she's aware of that. She'll figure it out, just relax."

What Natalia said was completely true. We wouldn't get a second chance at this, so I had to do it perfectly. I guess the pressure had gotten to me too. For two months, I'd been stressing over the letters on the back of the poem. I searched for what E.B. could've meant, but nothing turned up. I was lost on what I was to be looking for, but I didn't want to worry either of them with my incompetence.

I turned to Natalia, "Look, I'm pretty sure that whatever I need to look for has to do with the letters on the back of that poem. Once I'm inside, it'll be easier to know what to do."

She sighed, "This is never gonna work. You only have about thirty seconds, River."

Tristen slammed his hand on the counter, "Yeah? And what have you been doing for the past two months, huh? How do we know that we can even trust you? You could be telling the people at the church what we're trying to do and get us arrested as soon as we try anything."

"Oh don't be ridiculous, I'm on your guys's side! Why would I do something so stupid? I mean, why have a brain if you're not gonna use it at all!?"

"Guys! Be quiet", I blurted out. I was so sick of their nonstop bickering. I stood up, "I need to be alone right now so I can think. You guys can argue your heads off if you want to, I don't care."

I got up and walked outside for some fresh air. I couldn't stand being in that house with them for another second. I had more important things to worry about—like how I was going to make a distraction for Tristen. There weren't many options and I truly was drawing a blank on what I should do. I even got so desperate, that I started searching on my phone ways to draw a crowd away from an area.

After about thirty minutes of being outside alone, I heard the door behind me open. When I turned around, I saw Tristen standing there. He came and sat crisscrossed on the ground next to me, "Hey."

I looked at him, "Hey."

He softly sighed, "I'm sorry about earlier. That was dumb. It's not an excuse, but I've just been a little stressed with my job here and making sure I don't get fired from my job back home. I'm sorry that we're always fighting in front of you. I know you've been stressed about all of this too. I need to be there for you more."

I gave him a small smile, "Thank you. And I accept your apology. Things are just...weird right now and it's not anybody's fault. We're all stressed. I think you're more cranky than usual because we also haven't done anything romantic in a while. We used to go out at least four times a month."

He grabbed my hand and kissed it, "I know, love, I'm sorry about that. Construction is a very difficult job to call out of. We're on contract so I have to go whether I want to or not. I'd have more leeway if we were still in Michigan. Still, I want to do more with you while we're here."

I rested my head on his shoulder, "Don't stress yourself out about it too much. You know I still love you the same."

He kissed my forehead and stood up, "And I love you. I didn't wanna bother you for too long, just wanted to apologize for my behavior. Let me know if you think of anything for tonight. Like I said, if you can't, it's okay, I'll wake up early and mess with it. Just let me know, okay?"

I nodded, "I will."

He walked back inside the house and left me to myself again. I wasn't out there for too much longer because I truly couldn't come up with a plan that wouldn't end with someone in jail, so I gave up and went back inside the house. Natalia looked at me, "Well?"

I shook my head, "I'm sorry guys, I can't think of anything."

Tristen came to comfort me, "That's okay, love. It's better if I do it myself. I can't risk anything happening to you. I'll set an alarm and mess with it sometime in the middle of the night. I just need some rest before then."

"Well, we can't risk anything happening to you either. I mean, all of us have to be present for this plan to work", I said.

"He'll be fine. There'll barely be anyone in the streets at that time. Plus, if he's wearing a uniform of some kind, no one will be suspicious of why he's there", Natalia interjected.

"She's right. It'll be safer if I do it. I'm gonna go take a nap, I'm tired. I'll see you later", he said while giving me a kiss goodnight. He headed straight for the couch and planted face-first into it. Since we'd been staying with Natalia, I'd been sleeping on the couch every day while Tristen slept on the sofa. After seeing how exhausted he was from work, I didn't mind letting him take my spot.

Natalia tapped on the counter, "I'm heading off to bed too. If you plan on staying up all night and find yourself getting hungry, there's still some leftovers in the fridge. Other than that, I guess I'll see you tomorrow. Goodnight."

"Night", I said waving her off. It's not that I wanted to stay up all night, but I just couldn't help myself. I beat myself up because I felt like I wasn't doing enough, or really much at all. Both Natalia and Tristen were working hard for the plan to work and all I'd been doing for the past two months was sitting at home, trying to figure out what to do once I got inside that room.

I was also nervous for Tristen. He'd never done anything like this, so I was always concerned for his safety. Plus, he'd been extra stressed because he couldn't be around his father and wasn't there to help if needed. It was a selfish thought, but I didn't want him to resent me when this was all said and done. I was grateful that he was still by my side after everything. I didn't deserve someone like him...

~*~

The next day..

"We got the green light. Because it's so urgent, they want it fixed as soon as possible so we're being sent out to work on it tomorrow", Tristen said to both Natalia and me.

Natalia scratched her head, "That's a lot sooner than I thought it'd be."

He shrugged his shoulders, "It's the only shot we'll have at this. Tomorrow at 3 pm."

She sighed, "Shoot."

"What?" I asked.

She took a seat, "Antonio and Marcel will be guarding the room at that time. I can get Antonio to leave and maybe not even show up, but Marcel never misses a day no matter what. It'll be hard to get him away from that spot, but if this is the only time we'll be able to do this, then I'll try to figure something out."

"What have you learned since working at the church?" Tristen asked.

"There are twelve guards in total. Each of them works in shifts of two. They all pretty much have a consistent schedule and guard the room for six hours on each shift. They rotate the security every other day, but since I've been there for two months, I know who's all working and when they work. The reason I can deal with Antonio more easily is because I found out some personal information about him. I befriended his wife, who's currently pregnant, and all I have to do is call and tell him that she's in labor and he'll drop everything to go to her."

He turned to her, "Wait, your big plan is riding on whether or not this man loves his wife enough to leave his job for her? Are you joking? That's what you've been doing for the past two months? What happens if he doesn't pick up or just feels like his duty of protecting a top-secret room is more important?"

"Hey, you wanna cool it? I had to learn all of the security's personal information, which was not easy to do by the way. Those men's private lives are private for a reason. And no, that's not the only trick up my sleeve, it was just a suggestion! I can also just make sure he doesn't show up at all, but that's more risky", she yelled.

I pinched the bridge of my nose, "Guys, please! There's no need to argue. Natalia, do what you have to do. Tristen, please tell us more of the plan from your end."

He nodded, "Right, so, three o'clock is around the time we'll be out there. Last night, I went and messed with the power transmission line, so I'm hoping I can get it to fail to work tomorrow. They'll do maintenance on the duplicate line, for security, but when they try to trip it back on, that's when I'll have already messed with the backup power. It'll cause an overload on other generators that aren't connected to the transmission and should shut down the entire network. It'll probably take the rest of the day to repair. So you won't have to worry about that backup generator in the church."

Natalia turned to me, "He sounds like he knows what he's talking about, so with that backup generator problem out of the way, I need to hear your plan for once you're inside. We may not have to worry about the power cutting back on, but everyone's not just gonna stay still once it's dark. Plus, I still gotta figure out how to deal with Marcel."

I sat down, "Okay, so since I know a bunch of tourists will be inside, I plan to blend in with them. I'll be close enough to the hallways that lead down to the archive room but won't make it obvious that that's where I need to go. We'll be communicating via walkie-talkies, so once the lights go out, you let me know when the area is clear. That's when I'll find my way down the halls and to the room. Once I get inside, I'll use the flashlight on my phone to look for files with the letters E.B. on them. It's my only guess right now. Once I find that, I'll let you know so you can inform me if the coast is clear or not. Once it is, I come back up, we meet Tristen outside and get back home as quickly as possible."

Natalia also took a seat, "I don't know why hearing the full plan now all of a sudden makes me nervous about it. What if we can't pull this off?"

"It's too late to start having doubts. The plan's already been set in motion", Tristen said now taking a seat as well.

She rolled her eyes, "Yeah, I know, I'm just saying. There's a lot that could go wrong. If we get caught, we're done. This has to go off without a hitch."

"It will", I said as I touched her shoulder to comfort her.

The truth was, I had no idea how it was going to go. I was confident in Tristen's plan, but Natalia's still worried me. It seemed like something she'd thought of last minute. If she couldn't succeed in getting those security guards away from the door, I wouldn't be able to do what I needed to do. After the power outage, the plan's success rested on her. I didn't know how I felt about that.

Tristen stood up, "Well, it seems like we all know what we need to do. Let's all make sure we have a good night's rest. Love, do you mind if we talk outside really quick?"

"O-okay, sure. Uh, we'll be right back", I said to Natalia as we walked out the front door. I looked into his eyes, "What's going on?"

He grabbed my hands, "How are you feeling?"

I ran my hand through my hair, "Pretty nervous, not gonna lie."

He caressed my hand with his thumb, "I know. I am too. But we'll be okay."

The look on his face told me that he didn't believe what he was saying. He seemed troubled. I touched his face, "Was there something else that you wanted to talk about?"

He breathed through his nose and flashed a small, sad smile, "You know me too well. Uh...my dad's back in the hospital; he's sick. I got a call from him a couple of nights ago."

"What? Why didn't you say anything?"

"I didn't wanna worry you. But...I gotta go back after this. I need to be there for him, he has no one else. My job's threatening to fire me if I don't show up. I'm still paying a mortgage on a house I'm not living in right now and paying a car note on two cars that I'm not driving. It's a lot, love. And I know how much this all means to you, and I don't want to take that away from you, but I really don't plan on leaving without you either", he admitted.

As he finished speaking, a stream of guilt began to rise inside of me. He didn't tell me about Harlem because he didn't want to worry me when he was worrying about his father the whole time. It made me feel terrible that he'd been silently suffering just to accommodate me and make me happy. I began to tear up, "Tristen, I'm so sorry, I didn't know. I don't even know what to say. I would never try to keep you away from your dad. Harlem means a lot to me too."

He wiped his tears, "I know, I know. But I need to know what you want to do. I can't leave you in this country by yourself. I know Natalia's here, but I'm sorry, she still hasn't proven herself to me yet. I also can't stay. I have a life back home that I want to get back to—our life. I promised that we'd stick together, so whatever you choose, that's what I'll do."

"Tristen-"

"I'm serious. I need to know where your priorities lie. We can talk more about it after the mission's over, but just know that my mind's made up", he said as he walked back into the house.

I took a second to think about what he'd said. I knew that being here was hard for him, but I had no idea of the depth of the situation. Yes, I cared about finding out the truth, but I also cared about him and Harlem. I wasn't going to make him stay here with me when his dad was sick and in the hospital. I thought that maybe this was the wake-up call I needed.

We had a great life back at home. We had so many plans and all of it got put on hold so I could chase this adventure again. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't embarrassed and disappointed in myself. I was being a terrible partner and he'd just been suffering through it. He deserved better, so I'd become better. After the mission, I would tell Natalia to finish it on her own so Tristen and I could get back to our normal lives. I would no longer push his feelings aside for my own selfish reasons...

~*~

The next day...

It was almost three o'clock and everyone was in position. Me and Natalia were inside the church while Tristen was with his construction crew. As expected, there were a bunch of people inside and I stuck close to the tourist crowd. Natalia left where I was to go do some maintenance. When I looked down at my phone, I saw that Tristen had texted me that he and his crew were about five minutes out from the church.

Tristen's POV

I sent a message to River letting her know that we weren't too far away now. Riding around with all the guys, I was nervous about what I knew I had to do. Not only was it risky, but it was also extremely dangerous and if I wasn't careful, I could end up electrocuting myself. Of course, I didn't tell River because I didn't want her to know how nervous I actually was about this. But I was a bit distracted at the moment. It was the worst time for it, but I couldn't help it after learning about what happened to my dad.

He didn't even want to tell me so that I wouldn't worry, but he knew that I deserved to know. He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He said he'd been feeling pain for a while but just ignored it because he said it was a part of growing old. He also told me that he didn't tell me this to ruin my trip and to still enjoy my life, but he didn't understand how much I cared about him. I was not going to stay in Italy while he was sick.

I got a tap on my shoulder from one of the guys, "Forza, siamo qui." (Come on, we're here.)

I nodded and got out of the car and started setting up with my gear and equipment. I got my boss's attention, "Fatemi salire. Posso sistemare tutto." (Let me up. I can fix it.)

He shook his head, "No, dovremmo essere io o Matteo. Sei ancora nuovo." (No, it should be me or Matteo. You are still new.)

Shoot. I needed to be the one up there so I could mess with the duplicate line before they'd be able to fix it. I had to do some quick thinking. I looked around and found where Matteo had been standing and approached him, "Boss says you're free to go, buddy."

He gave me a confused look, "Eh?"

"Tornare a casa", I said as I instructed him to get out of there. Matteo and I had pretty much the same build and were the exact same height, and since he was wearing safety glasses and a hard hat, my boss wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the two of us. I quickly put on the disguise and hopped into the bucket. I hit it twice on its side and the truck lifted me to the wires. This wouldn't trick my boss forever, so I needed to be quick about it.

I pulled out my walkie-talkie, "Natalia, get ready. The power's about to shut off any minute now."

Natalia's POV

"Roger that", I said as I placed the walkie in my back pocket. I was glad he gave me a bit of a warning because Marcel still needed to be dealt with. I'd already made sure that Antonio wouldn't show up to work but since it would just be Marcel guarding the door today, he was stubborn about not leaving from that spot. Thankfully, I had a little plan of my own.

Without fail, every time he works, he goes to the lounge area, fixes himself a large cup of black coffee, and drinks the whole thing before he goes to stand for six hours. When I went to do maintenance earlier, I dumped a whole box of laxatives into his drink and made sure to watch him drink all of it before getting into position. I was only a few feet away from the archive room and I waited to see if he would make a move.

He began holding his stomach and made a face as if he couldn't hold it in any longer. He noticed me sweeping around the corner and pointed, "Signorina, potrebbe guardare questo posto per me?" (Miss, could you please watch this spot for me?)

I nodded, "Sì."

"Grazie", he said running away and holding his butt.

I grabbed the walkie from my back pocket, "River, you should start making your way over here. I got Marcel away from the door. The lights should be cutting off any-"

River's POV

The lights cut off before she could finish her sentence and immediately, all you could hear was everyone screaming. I had already heard Tristen tell Natalia that the power was going to be shut off soon, so I went off on my own and away from the crowd. I started reaching for the walls and began leading myself blindly down the long hallways. I didn't want to turn on my flashlight and have people follow me or know where I was, so I made sure to memorize where I was supposed to go. As I reached my hand out and approached slowly, I felt another person.

"Ahhh!" I heard a woman scream.

I immediately shushed her, "Shhh! Natalia?"

"River?"

I smacked my lips, "Well, obviously." I now turned on my flashlight since we were the only two people in the area. I looked around, "How'd you get Marcel to leave?"

"Not important, all you need to worry about is getting inside, now go. I don't know how long he'll be gone", she said.

I nodded, "Right. Let's see if this worked." I shined my light on the door and approached cautiously. "Please work", I silently whispered to myself as I applied pressure and pushed. Thankfully, the door opened up but it was pretty heavy. I slid my way through and it shut itself behind me.

I steadily descended the stairs and when I reached the bottom, on both sides of me were shelves full of different files and important-looking books. I shook my head, "How am I supposed to find anything down here?" I shined my light above to see if the files were in alphabetical order, and thankfully, they were. I guess you would need some kind of order if you kept a bunch of historical and top-secret documents.

I searched for 'E' and began looking through everything. After about three minutes passed, I finally stopped at a folder labeled E.B. that was in the same font as the one on the poem. I grabbed it and immediately placed it inside the backpack I was wearing so I wouldn't get caught carrying the files. Not wanting to waste any more time, I started heading back up the stairs when all of a sudden, the lights cut on.

"What?" I asked myself as I ran up the rest of the stairs and tried pushing open the door. I looked over on the side and the scanner lit up in red saying that it required a retina scan. "No, no, no!" I yelled as I banged on the door.

Natalia checked in on the walkie-talkie, "Tristen, why is the power back on?... Hello? River, can you hear me?"

I took out my walkie, "Natalia? Yeah, I can hear you. What's going on? How come the power shut back on?"

"Uh, I don't know, but there are cops coming down this hallway right now. I can distract them, but you need to find a way out", she said.

"Find a way—there is no other way out!" I yelled back in frustration.

"I'll hold them off as long as I can, figure something out!" She finished.

"Wait, Natalia!...Natalia!?" I began panicking as I made my way back down all of the steps. I had so many questions. Why was Tristen not answering either of us? Why did the power shut back on all of a sudden? Did something happen to him? Would Natalia really be able to keep the police away from this room? Would I be able to escape?

I looked around and noticed that all of the cameras that had been shut off by the power were now turned back on. I immediately reached into my bag and put on a ski mask that Tristen had let me borrow as a 'just in case.' I was out of view, so I wouldn't be recognized for now. But I didn't have time to think about anything, I needed to get a move on.

I started rummaging through the shelves looking for a switch or a button of some kind. I wanted to see if there was a secret escape inside because if there wasn't, there was no way I was getting out of this room without being caught. If that happened, all of our efforts would've gone to waste. I couldn't let that happen. We all worked too hard.

As panic started to settle in, I started running around like a headless chicken! There was so much pressure on me at the moment. I had no idea what I was supposed to do. I must've been running too fast though, because I ended up tripping over absolutely nothing and planted my face on the hard ground. I immediately reached for my head, "Ow."

I looked at where I'd fallen and saw that a single-floor tile was higher than all the rest of them. I reached for it and began pulling it up only to find that there was a digital key card underneath. On the back, it read: use to override. My eyes got big as I realized what this meant. I could override the system that required a retina and use the keycard instead to get out. The problem was, I didn't know if the coast was clear or not, and if I'd radioed in without knowing, it could get both of us in trouble.

I was prepared to wait for a while until I heard static from the walkie. I pulled it close to my face and whispered, "Hello?"

"River, it's Natalia. The police were just asking people about Antonio. They don't even know that you're inside the room. We're not in that hallway anymore, but Marcel might be heading back soon, so please tell me that you found a way out", she said.

"Oh, thank God. Yes, I found a way out. I'll meet up with you. Tristen, if you can hear us...actually, if something happened and someone else has his walkie-talkie, we need to stop talking. Get rid of yours", I said.

I ran up the stairs and held the keycard up to the scanner. At first, nothing happened, but then the light turned green with the words 'access granted' at the bottom and the door unlocked. I grabbed it and pulled it open slowly to look around and see if anyone was standing there. When I saw that the coast was clear, I made my way out and back down the halls to where everyone else was. I looked around for Natalia and when I spotted her, I waved to her.

She gave me a concerned look and kept doing weird hand motions my her face. That's when I realized that I still had the ski mask on. I hurriedly took it off and shoved it into my bag. Once she finished talking to the cops, she made her way over to me, "Well?"

I smiled, "I got it."

"Sweet, let's go", she said as she took me by the wrist and left the church.

We got into her car and she almost pulled off before I stopped her, "Wait, I gotta make sure Tristen's alright. I haven't heard from him since the start of this and I'm starting to get worried."

She crossed her arms, "I mean, what the heck happened? I thought his plan was foolproof. We almost didn't make it because of him."

I put one hand out as I held the phone to my ear with my other, "Okay, just...I know. I'm more concerned about him though."

After a few rings, he finally picked up, "Love, I am so sorry-"

"What happened? Are you okay? I was worried sick about you."

"I know, I know. I'm fine. Well, not really fine but I'll manage. Were you able to do what you needed to do?"

"Yeah, I got the documents. Where are you? We can come and pick you up."

"No need, I'm sitting outside of Natalia's place. I'll explain later, just get here as soon as you can", he finished as he hung up the phone.

I turned to her, "He's at your house already."

She sighed, "Can't wait to hear this." She pulled off and away from the church and headed home. When ever pulled up, we saw Tristen sitting down on her porch with a bandage wrapped around his hand.

He stood up once I got out of the car and made his way over to me, "Hey, I'm so glad you're okay."

I looked down at his hand and pointed, "What happened?"

"Uh-uh, inside first", Natalia said walking past us and unlocking the front door. We followed after her and sat down on the couch. She threw her keys to the side and folded her arms, "Explain yourself."

He sighed, "I know I messed up. Someone else, someone more experienced, was supposed to be up there instead of me, working on the power lines. I thought I knew what I was doing but I still don't know everything. I've only been here for two months and I've never had to do anything like this in my life. Anyway, I guess I messed with the wrong thing, which only cut the power off for a little bit. Long story short, my boss caught me and demanded that I come down. Since he'd already warned me not to go up there, he fired me on the spot and told me that I was a liability. This messed up hand is from me being dumb and accidentally smashing it in the work truck out of frustration for failing you guys. I had to turn in all of my equipment and then one of the guys gave me a ride here."

I gently touched his arm, "Look, the most important thing is that you're okay. I got worried when I didn't hear back from you. Thankfully, it all worked out in the end and I was able to get what I needed from the room."

"I really am sorry that I messed up. Both of you guys did an amazing job and I'm glad you pulled it off", he said sincerely.

"Well, it's a miracle nobody found out what we were doing and none of us got arrested, so I say that's cause for celebration. I'll cook you guys some food and then we can look over the files afterward, alright?" Natalia suggested.

I looked over at Tristen because I knew what he'd said before the mission—that we would be leaving after this one, which I totally understood. I turned back to Natalia and nodded, "Mhm. We're just gonna go have a chat real quick outside."

"That's fine", she said as she got started on the food.

Tristen walked with me outside and he gave me a sad look, "Love, I never meant to put you in any danger-"

"Oh, stop. I forgive you. I know how challenging this was for you. I'm sorry I put that pressure on you with everything that you're dealing with right now. I'll, uh...I'll go let her know that she'll have to finish this without us", I said holding his uninjured hand.

He moved a piece of hair from my face, "You don't have to do that."

"What? Why?"

He softly sighed, "Because you're staying...and I'm going."

My eyes expanded, "Tristen, that's-"

"Let me explain. All I could think about today was my dad. How losing him was something I'd never imagined. His condition is only gonna get worse and I'm responsible for taking care of him. Plus, I gotta get back to my job and start making stable money again."

"But I can come with you-"

"No, love, you can't. I know how much this means to you. And I know you care about Harlem, but you're doing something for your parents too. You'd never say it, but I know you'd end up resenting me if I took that away from you. I don't want to take that away from you. I was being selfish before, but you deserve to know what happened. I couldn't imagine something so horrible happening to my dad and me not ever finding out the truth. And with the way things went today, I see how good of a team you and Natalia are. We may have our differences, but she's trustworthy. I know you'll be safe staying with her", he finished.

I was stunned and didn't know what to say. I shook my head, "Tristen, I don't want you to hate me. I understand why you need to go back. I will go back with you."

"I don't hate you. I understand you now. You need to be here. And hey, it's not gonna be forever. I could never stay apart from you for too long. We will talk on the phone to each other every day and make time for video calls too. I never imagined I'd do long-distance, but I'd do anything for you. Anything to make this work", he said while kissing the top of my head.

I gripped his forearms with my hands as he cupped my face. Teary-eyed, I looked into his, "What did I do to deserve someone like you?"

He smiled, "Oh, love...I ask myself the same thing about you. Now come on, let's go eat. We don't have to tell her until tomorrow. That's when I'll be leaving out."

I nodded and wiped my tears, "Okay."

We came back inside and helped Natalia with the food. She set our plates and went to her cabinet, "Since the mission was a success, I think we all deserve a nice bottle of Prosecco!"

Tristen waved his hand out, "You do realize that none of us are of age to drink, right?"

She rolled her eyes, "You do realize that you're in a different country and we have a different legal drinking age limit, right?"

His mouth formed an 'o', "Oh. Well anyway, you can keep it. We don't drink."

She continued to pop it open and poured herself a glass, "Are you gonna get offended if I ask why?"

I shook my head, "No, it's just a personal choice. We don't judge you for it though, we just don't do it. Feel free to keep drinking."

"I will", she said as she took a swig.

For the rest of the night, we talked about our expectations for upcoming missions. Natalia agreed that since we all had a stressful day, we could recoup and check out the files that I grabbed in the morning. This was perfect for Tristen and me because that's when he planned on telling her that he was leaving.

I still didn't know how I felt about him leaving while I stayed. Since we started dating, we'd never been apart from each other for too long. This was going to be a challenge. I understood his reasoning, and when it all came down to it, we both had the same thought process. Neither of us wanted the other to resent them for their decision. We understood that both things were equally important to us, while also understanding that if we hadn't come up with this solution, one of us would have to compromise our happiness for the other.

It would be weird, but I knew it was better this way. He needed a break away from this. He was right about needing to get back to our normal lives. Staying in Italy for this long was never the plan, but it's just how things turned out. With just Natalia and I, I was confident that we could figure this thing out pretty quickly and find out the truth about everything. The clock was ticking now.

With the documents I scored, I was eager to find out what was inside. What was the significance of E.B. and would it actually lead us to the truth? Whatever it was, I felt like all of this would be over really soon. At the end of this, I'd just hoped that I would finally have some answers to all of my questions...