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"My God..." Adam finally managed to say.  "...so, Stephanie is behind all of this...she...hired you to...kill me?"

Levesque laughed as he quietly closed the hotel room door behind him.  It was an odd gesture considering the racket he'd been making only minutes before.

"Very perceptive of you, Copeland..."

As Adam's eyes widened in shocked disbelief, The Game spoke again.  "...you get a silver star instead of gold.  Know why?  Because the only thing you got wrong is the McMahon who hired me."  His maniacal grin widened.

The tall Canadian turned to exchange glances with Amy for the briefest moment possible.  The redhead's eyes were as wide as his own.  "Oh, my God...it's Vince."

"Bingo!  Oh, I'm gonna enjoy taking you apart...you stupid son of a bitch.  How could you treat Stephanie like that?  If I was with that woman, I'd treat her like a queen."

"I treated her fine."  Adam wondered why he was defending himself against the man's words when that should have been the furthest thing from his mind.  Before long, he was going to have to concentrate on fighting Levesque physically - and try to get that damn sledgehammer away from him at that.  And there was Amy to protect as well - that was the most important thing.

"Like hell, you bastard!" Paul shouted, his expression darkening to anger.

"Oh, like you really treat Nora like gold!" Amy suddenly shouted.  Both men stared at her, equally surprised she had opened her mouth.

"Keep out of this, you little bitch," Levesque spat.  "I'll get to you when I'm done with him.  And then, I'll make you scream."  He laughed again.  "I can't wait...I'll bet you're quite a wildcat in the sack.  I would love to-"

His words were cut off in a gust of breath as Adam made his move, spearing him into the door - hard.  Taken by surprise, Levesque dropped the sledgehammer, and it was a miracle it hadn't fallen on either man's foot.

As Paul went for the object, Adam punched him in the face, distracting him.  Levesque responded by pounding him back.  Although the Canadian was slightly taller, The Game was definitely the stronger of the two.  Adam groaned as he took a fist to the jaw.  Paul bent over to retrieve his fallen weapon.

"Drop it!"

Levesque looked toward the redhead, and Adam whirled around to stare at her in disbelief as well.  She was standing in a defensive posture, a gun clutched in both her small, graceful hands.  It was trained on the attacker, and Amy looked like she knew what she was doing.

"You little slut...you're not shooting anyone!"

"Get away from him!" she shouted, her eyes narrowed, a furious expression on her lovely face.

"You don't know what you're doing with that thing," Levesque taunted in a patronizing tone.  "Put it down before you hurt yourself, honey..."

"Fuck you, asshole...go ahead and try me - because I'll gladly shoot you a new orifice..."

The man stared at her, a serious expression on his face.  Something in the woman's voice, in her eyes told him she wasn't kidding around.

Amy suddenly realized Adam was at her side, the sledgehammer in his hand.  He dropped it behind them as if it were a flame burning his flesh.

"Call the front desk, baby..." she said.  "...tell them to ring hotel security."

The Canadian quickly picked up the receiver on the phone, doing as she requested, his eyes never leaving the buff form of Paul Levesque.

"You're not going to shoot me, sweetcheeks," The Game said in a dangerously low voice.  "Come on - we both know that..."  He began to slowly back up until he was beside the door.

"Like I said, try me," the redhead challenged.

The man slowly reached for the door handle with one hand, pulling the door open so blindingly fast, Adam couldn't believe his eyes.  Amy lowered her .38 Special in frustration, knowing there was no way she would ever fire at an unarmed person - even one as heinous as Paul Levesque.

"Damn it!" she cursed.  "He's getting away!  What do we do now?"

Thinking fast and furiously, Adam said, "Let's go to Stephanie..."

"What?!"  Amy stared at him in disbelief.  "But she-"

"Amy, I think Nora was right," he said, gripping her firmly by the shoulders.  "Stephanie didn't know a thing about any of this.  We can't go to Vince - he's the brains behind this whole scheme."

The diva nodded wordlessly, slipping her .38 back into her purse.  "Are we going like this?"  She gestured to her pajama-clad body.

"Throw on some clothes as fast as you can."  He picked up the pair of blue jeans he'd tossed haphazardly over the back of the desk chair earlier that night.

"What about Jay?  And Nora?" the redhead asked, her eyes widening.  The little blonde's boyfriend was not only an abusive creep - he was an attempted murderer.  What if Levesque went after her next?

"Let's leave them out of this," the tall blond said.  He glanced around.  "Shit!  What the hell is taking the hotel security so long?!"  Before Amy could say anything, he said, "Never mind...we'll worry about them when we get to Steph's room."

*

Stephanie McMahon had been unable to sleep all night due to the constant turmoil invading her mind.  She cursed herself for not going to her father with the news she'd received from Kurt Angle earlier.  And while she'd been awake all these hours, she had heard quite a ruckus coming from down the hall - shouting voices, a booming sound that reminded her of hammering, and a crash, as if a door had been forced open.  She'd stuck her head out her hotel room door but had been unable to see anything.  Nonetheless, she knew something bad was happening, and she was scared.

She'd picked up the phone and dialed hotel security, hurriedly explaining the commotion further down the hall.  As she'd hung up, her heart had leapt to her throat when a startling realization had come to her - Adam's room was down the hallway from her, in that very direction.

Immediately after, she'd grabbed her cell phone and called Kurt, silently praying the man had kept his own cell on and that he'd answer.  She'd breathed a sigh of relief when he had.

Now, although sleepy, the Olympian was in her room with her.  Kurt had thrown on a pair of windpants and a T-shirt, a pair of sneakers on his feet.  He looked as exhausted as Stephanie felt.

"Where is that damn hotel security?!" she cried, gesturing wildly with both hands.

"Steph, calm down," Angle said softly.  "I'm sure everything will be all right."

"But you don't know that!  If anything happens to Adam or Amy - or anyone - at Paul's hands, it will all be my fault!  I...I could have stopped him!"

Angle moved closer to the distraught brunette, wrapping his arms around her as he tried to soothe her.  "Shh...don't blame yourself," he said.  He ran his hand gently down her long brown hair and her back.  "You listen to me, Stephanie McMahon - you aren't to blame for any of this."  He rocked her back and forth ever so slightly.

Stephanie closed her eyes, allowing her head to rest on the man's strong shoulder.  She couldn't help but feel safe and secure in Kurt's arms.  It was a nice feeling.

They both looked up as a knock resounded at the door.  The Olympic Hero exchanged glances with the young woman, then released her so she could answer it.

"Who is it?"

"Stephanie, it's Adam - and I've got Amy here with me.  Please let us in."

The brunette released the locks, pulling the door open in a hurry.  "Oh, my God!  Get in here, you two!"  She closed and locked the door behind them.

Adam was surprised to see Kurt Angle in the room, and despite now knowing who was after him, his guard went up slightly.  He found it ironic that two of the three people Jay had named as the possible attacker were together.

Stephanie looked over the tall blond man and the redheaded diva, her eyes widening.  They looked almost as tired as she felt, but their eyes also looked haunted.  Or was it hunted?

"Paul Levesque just barged into our room," Adam said.  "He's...been trying to kill me."

"Oh, God," the young woman said.  "I knew he was after you, but I never-"

"What?!  You knew about it?" the Canadian cried angrily.  He glared at his ex-girlfriend with fury glittering in his green eyes.

"Now, wait just a minute!" the Olympic gold medalist suddenly put in.  "This woman didn't know anything about this!  Don't you talk to her like that!"  He looked angry, and the taller man glared at him as well.

Stephanie stepped in front of Angle, putting herself between the two men.  "Adam, it's true...I only suspected that Paul was up to something - which was why I had Kurt follow him this afternoon."

"You were following him?" Amy questioned as Adam's face looked angrier, yet more surprised by the moment.

"Yes - Steph asked me to do it over lunch," Kurt said calmly, regarding the redhead.  "She told me that...well, why don't I let her explain."  He shifted his blue eyes toward her.

The brunette took a deep breath and swallowed hard before speaking.  "I've been noticing that Paul has been acting very strangely lately.  He's been staring at me like he's a lion and I'm a raw piece of meat."  She shuddered.  "And early yesterday afternoon, I caught him spying on you two outside the hotel restaurant..."

Adam cocked his head to one side as he listened silently to the woman's words.

"...and I questioned him about it.  He denied spying on you."

"I can vouch for what Steph just said, guys," Angle said.  "When I started following him, I saw him standing by the restaurant later on...when he walked away, I went over to see what or who he was watching - it was Jay and Nora."

"Oh, God!" Amy exclaimed as she exchanged shocked glances with Adam.  "What if-"

She was interrupted by a knocking on the door.  They all looked at each other uncertainly, but then a voice spoke from the other side of the door.  "Hotel security!"

Stephanie rushed over to the door, unlocking it and then yanking it open.  "Thank God..."

Two uniformed men stepped in, glancing over each of the occupants of the room in turn.  "You called security, miss?" one of them asked Stephanie.

"Yes, I did."

"So did I," Adam added.  "A man forced his way into the room my girlfriend and I are sharing!  He's been out to get me and tried to attack me with a sledgehammer!"

Stephanie and Kurt exchanged shocked glances.  Both now realized what she source of the earlier banging had been.

"Do you know who this man is, sir?"

"Yes!  His name is Paul Levesque, and he's a guest here."

"He's a wrestler like these three are," Stephanie added.  "He goes by the wrestling name of Triple H."

"For some reason, this man was hired by Vince McMahon - to kill me."

The brunette shifted shocked blue eyes toward her ex-boyfriend.  She parted her lips to speak, initially flustered so that no words came.  Then, "What?  You think my father hired him??"

"That's right, Steph," Adam said with a scowl.  He wasn't angry at her, for it wasn't her fault Vince McMahon was her father - but he couldn't stop the rage that went through him at the thought of the older man.

"Well, there must be some mistake, Adam!" Stephanie cried, her pretty face turning angry.

"Stephanie, Levesque himself told us your father hired him," Amy explained.  She tried to speak gently, for she knew this would be a horrible blow to the other woman.

"And you actually believed him?!  How could you trust anything he says?"

"Steph, calm down," Kurt said softly as he reached one hand out toward her.

"No, I..." the brunette pulled out of his reach, wrapping her arms around herself protectively.  She bit her lip, then said, "I have to go speak to Daddy - now."  With that, she calmly walked to the door and let herself out.