Falling For My Hit Man

Prologue

"I'm a little girl who's going to die, but that's okay, little girls die everyday, don't they?" Alice asked her parents, her face  full of understanding and reassurance. 

Her father knelt down to her level, took her face in his hands and kissed her on the forehead, "'Not my little girl." He whispered as he smiled at Alice and her mother before turning away from them both. Alice's mother saw her husband wiping his eyes but she pretended not to see. He would cope better if he thought they didn't know.

Helene picked her daughter up and drew their heads close, "Mummy loves you, you know that right?" She was amazed at her daughter's ability to comprehend death as most children her age had no idea.

Alice laughed, "Mum, I'm already five, you don't have to say that anymore, I know it already."

Helene smiled affectionately and James came back to join his family, "Hear that James? We don't need to tell our little girl that we love her anymore."

He took his daughter into his own arms, and smiled as she yawned, her tiny lips forming a little 'o' as she tried to fight the oncoming sleep.

"I'm not even sleepy." She complained.

"I didn't say you were, but now that you mention it, bedtime!"

"That's not fair!" She cried, fighting off another yawn.

'I'll tell you a story, that's a fair trade isn't it?'

"Can you tell me my story?" Alice asked, even though she'd heard it hundreds of times already.

"C'mon, let's have a new story today." James said encouragingly.

'Is it more interesting than my story?'

"Well...no." James replied, defeated. "Fine, your story it is."

He held Alice with one arm as he pulled back her duvet with the other. He placed her gently on the bed and sat beside her wondering how she'd come to the conclusion that she was going to die. She was James' world and there was no way anyone was coming close to touching the hair on her head, nevermind taking her life.

He tucked a few stray wisps of her hair behind her ear. She'd inherited his hair colour as opposed to her mother's blonde. Both father and daughter had dark brown hair, almost black but still recognisable as brown.

"So once upon a time, there was a dashing young man who lived with his parents in a far away land." He started, "they were very rich and the young man had everything money could buy but he didn't have anyone to love."

"He had his mummy and daddy," Alice interrupted.

"But his mum and dad were very busy people, they didn't have enough time for him even though they tried." Alice nodded to show her understanding.

"One day the young man ran away from home to teach his parents a lesson. He didn't get very far, you see the young man didn't plan ahead and so he didn't know where to go. On the way he came across an old friend of his. They'd known each other since they were children but they had stopped talking a few years ago. She scolded him very much and told him to go straight home, she told him to stop being silly and that he was too valuable to be roaming the streets. 

Of course, the silly young man thought she was complimenting him by calling him valuable but she corrected him, if anyone recognised him and stole him from his family, they could hold him for a very large ransom. The young man promised to go home if his friend would keep him company some days.

She agreed after a lot of squabbling and pretty soon after, on the way home, both of them fell in love though neither of them knew it for a long time. Their parents didn't agree to their marriage so they eloped and got married in secret anyway and they never went back home. A year later, they had a beautiful little baby girl called Alice."

James looked at his daughter, the ending of the story was her favourite part but she was already fast asleep. He sighed and tucked her in before leaving the room with one last glance at his daughter.

He'd do what it took to protect her from his own family.