Final Curtain

Mel's POV

The first thing I did coming to, was cough. I think. Now, my mouth was dry as desert sand and my eyes… I squinted. Why was everything white? I took several gulps of air all at once. Was I blind? But why would I be blind—then it hit me. My stomach twisted, making me sick. Pacey. He'd picked me up, we were hanging out and he… he injected me with something.

Did that…? My eyelids trembled and a strangled whimper rang out. Mine? My eyesight was easing into normal. Guess the reason why I was seeing so much white was because an enormous lamp was pointing at my face. I shifted my head slowly and winced. A bad headache had its teeth in me. Wherever I was, it was large—I spotted shipping containers. Somewhere in the docks? A warehouse? I moved my shoulders, finding my hands bound behind my back with… rope? Nope, I think it was too thin. Zip-ties? I was bound to a metal chair. I tried my legs. No-go. And yeah, I totally hit jackpot on the Zip-tie guess.

"Did you have a nice nap?"

My head snapped to the side, where no containers were. Instead, I saw a large U-shaped desk with several computers and expensive looking gadgets. There was a chair with someone on it. The chair wasn't turned the computer's way. There was no super-villain turning slowly, petting a cat. No, the chair was turned my way. I stared. And stared. For a whole minute, I couldn't place the face—I'd seen her before, though. Once.

Once after losing my memories. But I'd seen her before that, probably a few times. How did I know that? Well, she was my new neighbor. The one who'd rented Anna's old apartment. What. The. Fuck.

"I know that look. Poor thing. You're all confused." And this year's greatest understatement went to… Huh. What was her name again? Canada! Damn it, Mel, no. I couldn't call her that—oh, screw that! This girl had me tied to a chair!

"Wha…" I croaked. I coughed again. "What is this?"

"This?" she swiveled in her chair side-to-side. "Just a temporary workstation. I've got a few scattered around…" those brightly painted lips stretched. Red lipstick. "Well, that's no concern of yours, Mel. I can call you Mel, right? I've been listening to you for so long, I feel like we're family. Close friends, at least."

She'd been… listening? To me?

"Is this… a joke?" because I wasn't laughing. It hit me again. She hadn't drugged me. I looked around like crazy. Ouch. OUCH. My head! "Where is he—"

"Pacey? He's close. I can't say he'll be alive for long, though. He served me well."

"What? What do you mean? What have you done to him?" I knew Pacey put me in this situation—but my head couldn't wrap itself around that. It was still Pace. "Pacey? Pacey!" I screamed with all I had. My voice grew raw, failing when I called for the sixth time. "Pacey, if you can hear me…"

"Give it a rest. He betrayed you. All it took was some photoshop and a couple of twisted truths about you and your merry band of assassins."

I licked my lips, but my tongue was dry.

"Who… who the hell are you?" I stammered.

Canada girl with bleached blond hair and red painted lips clasped her hands between her knees. She tilted her head at me.

"I'm sensing you don't remember my name. You avoided calling me anything when we met weeks ago. And it's the same now." If she'd been listening in—bugged my place—she knew about my memory loss. Her wry lips told me that much, "My name's Ashley. I'm not from Canada and I don't own a catering business." Okay, so once upon a time I knew that stuff. "My cooking is incredible, though. It was supposed to be my job. Many, many years ago. Before I became a whiz with computers and technology in general." She waved at the work station behind her, like a proud scientist revealing his latest discovery.

"Great. Where the hell is my friend?" I gritted.

She didn't show signs of listening, "Aric's your brother."

I looked at her dumbly.

"Where's Pacey?"

"It took me years to track him down. When I found out he was in Australia he'd already left. After he came back here—to the US—I kept tabs on him. For almost two years. It took me that long to find out about his family. About the twins, about Nathaniel… and then you."

I wasn't following. Who was this person? Why the hell was she talking about Aric? And why the hell was I strapped to a chair as her captive audience?

"I almost cracked up when I found out, Mel. How perfect is it? Aric has a sister—a sister he cares about. Not like Riley. He never gave a shit about her, nope. For a time, I thought Nathaniel would have to do. It would be harder to pull off. He's a trained Hive agent. You?" she laughed, throwing herself back into the comfy chair. "You're easy to delete."

Delete. Delete. The word bounced around my head. Did she… She meant kill me.

"You're crazy," I whispered softly. Because of fear or because my voice was dead, I didn't know. "Where. Is. Pacey?" I spit each word, determined to keep hot tears to myself.

"Crazy. Sure. Listen up," Ashley rolled up to me in her office chair. So close. Close enough to headbutt? I grimaced on the inside. I really wanted to send my headache into overdrive. And since when I headbutted people? "Once upon a time, in a small town called Norwood, lived a young girl. She was a senior at high school, on the volleyball team. Then, one day, this guy blows into town. Stop me if you've heard this one before: the guy's bad news, his family is head of a crime organization." The Order. "But who cares, right? Girl likes boy, boy likes girl… You know how it goes. Only it didn't go on for long…"

I found the nerve to smirk. Wait, don't tell me this was about a bad breakup?

"Don't tell me you're pissed because Aric dumped you?"

SLAP.

My head snapped to the side. The bitch backhanded me across the…

She grabbed my shoulders—tilting the chair and me back. Her eyes were wide with a fury and I could tell she was grinding her molars.

"I wasn't the girl, you little bitch. My sister was." Well, her sister was a— "And your brother killed her." Silence filled the room. Silence filled me. "Aric," Ashley spat. "Fooled around with my sister for months. For months. And you know what I found out? When he was a kid, he ran away from the Order. Know what else? The Order kept trying to find him—that's why he always needed to move, why he didn't stick around for long. But he stayed in Norwood for four months. Four. Months." Spittle flew at me—coating her lips, too. The chair fell on its metal legs, shaking me. Ashley grabbed hold of my face, forcing it towards her. "Aric stayed and dated my sister like there wasn't a problem. But there was a problem, Melissa. They found him. They tracked him down. They found out he was dating Violet…" I could feel her nails break my skin. I buried a wince. "They took her and they shot her. They shot her to…" she choked up. Her eyes had tears in them. I could feel her desperation in that one moment. "They shot her just to prove a point."

I was stunned. My father—my biological father—had run that organization. Aric's father. He'd truly been a monster, hadn't he? I didn't want to remember his face, his voice or anything else that connected us. How could mom have a fling with a guy like that? But mom's choices weren't important now. Pacey. God, where was he? Was he really here? Dying? Somewhere alone and…

Ashley's fingers slipped. I saw blood caked under the nails. Mine. Okay. This was very bad.

"How… do you know what happened?" my voice didn't shake her awake from whatever memory. Silent tears were streaming down her face.

She didn't even blink as she carried on, as if in a daze, "The shack was on the way to my girlfriend's house. I… I was just heading there when two loud noises caught my attention. That road was always deserted. I went to check it out. I just—I got a bad feeling." A dark chuckle left her. Yep, she was missing a few marbles. "Violet and me weren't the closest sisters. But who cares? When I got there, I saw her choking on her blood. Aric was bending over her. Doing nothing. I couldn't understand… Why would my sister be bleeding? Aric heard me—somehow. I don't remember anything after that. Maybe I blacked out or maybe he knocked me out." She blinked once and voila! The tears stopped coming. Now, she spoke with a tear stained face. Coldly. "When I woke up, my sister was gone. Aric was gone."

She leaned away, into her comfortable chair, looking up at the ceiling.

"Her body was found the next morning." Her fists curled. "He burned her body. You know why? To get rid of any prints or DNA samples on it. He fucking burned my sister. He destroyed her image, left nothing for my mother to hold in her arms. My father hung himself a year later. My mom fell into a big depression and she's been in a mental hospital for the last five years. She was the one who found dad." My God. My God. My… I was crying. There was just pain in her eyes, in her body language and her words were cutting into me and making me bleed empathy. This girl had her family taken away from her. One by one. Her sister's homicide started a domino effect. She snorted sadly. "I don't need pity from you. Your brother destroyed my family—destroyed me—and he never looked back."

I could understand her anger—her hatred. But Aric hadn't killed her sister. Ashley was pinning it all on him, when it was The Order who pulled the trigger.

"Ashley," I said. "Aric didn't kill Violet. The Order did. They were a cult." I think that's what Anna called them. "But they got dismantled. You have to know that!"

"I do know." She stated calmly. "Did you forget? I followed Aric's moves. I know what you did last summer. Just like I know all about your trouble in paradise." Her lips curled at my stunned face. "Yep. Guilty. I sent those texts. I couldn't help it, my last girlfriend was always one for dramatic flair and I thought poetic to use it on you." She smiled a secretive smile, like there was a juicy detail she was withholding and loving it.

I focused on what I did know and puzzle pieces matched up very quickly, even with the buzzing pain in my temples.

"You broke into my apartment," I whispered. "You left that message on the mirror." It made sense. Her lipstick was bright red, just as Nate described last night. "You did that so… So that Nate and I would freak out. So that he wouldn't think anything else got messed with—but you did something else. You planted bugs."

"In a lot of rooms." She nodded proudly.

Sweet baby Jesus. This woman was nuts and she'd been listening to us. Nate's hunch from last night had been right. Too bad he'd taken so long to come up with it. I hadn't made it easy for him to focus lately. Nolan kidnapped me and then memories had gone ciao. And now they were Nolan's worker bees.

"The Order might have pulled the trigger, but it was all because Aric stayed and fooled around with her. If he really liked my sister, he would've stayed the hell away from her."

Was Aric that cruel? I thought about Anna. How she behaved so differently nowadays, around him. Anna was a good judge of character. No guy—ever—had made her fall. Aric had. She didn't need to admit it to me or to herself, I could read it. So, maybe Aric had been young and careless about hurting people, but I didn't believe for a second that was who he was now.

"Maybe," I whispered. "But why am I here?"

She crossed her arms, "Because you're his sister. I thought that was obvious."

"The old an-eye-for-an-eye thing." It wasn't a question. A bitter statement. "From what I've been told, I've been kidnapped a lot this last year. Can you guess how many people succeeded in killing me?"

Crazy Ashley ignored me yet again. Shocker.

"I guess killing siblings runs in the family." Oh, no. What the hell was she going on about now? "Aric killed mine. You killed Nate's."

My world came to an abrupt stop. I wondered how long until my brain went kaboom. This chick wasn't all there, I'd established that. But now she was saying that I—me, Melissa, who couldn't stand to see blood or hurt a fly—killed Nate's psycho sister? I waited for her to say: Hahaha! Got ya! She didn't. Ashley took her time to slide back, reaching for something on the table. A photo?

"Here," she showed it to me. A corpse, with frost covering her body. Squinting I saw red—around a small bullet wound. Something twitched in my mind—something whispered for me to remember. I balked. Had I… really… killed this person? This was… "This is Drew. Ring any bells? Nolan's kept her body preserved for leverage." Nolan. The abyss under my feet widened. She knew Nolan. She's in league with him, a tiny voice fluttered. Shit. Shit. "It was a lucky shot, Mel. It worked out great for me—in a way—since she would've killed you." Yeah, I'd lived so Ashley could kill me. Doubt kept hounding me: had I killed Nathaniel's sister?

Not important. Pacey. Time to resort to groveling and hope this woman had a heart somewhere inside this thing called chest.

"Ashley. Please, I get that you hate Aric. I get that you want me… for revenge. I get it. But Pacey has nothing to do with this. Please, if he is here—if he's dying—let him go. Let him go, please."

She looked baffled at my plea.

"Didn't you hear me? He turned on you like that!" she snapped her fingers. "All I did was photoshop some pics of his cousin and of you shooting him. From there, I told him about your parents, I lied and said you were an assassin, too. I said killing Parker was initiation and that you blew him up, to cover your tracks." I wanted to tune out. I wanted to yell. I wanted… someone. Who? Mom was gone, dad was gone. Pacey betrayed me. Anna... had I managed to send a text to her? How could she reach me through a text? There was no one. No one, but a half-brother I felt relatively close to and a boyfriend I didn't remember. "I couldn't let someone who's that easily swayed leave."

"You bitch," I ground out. "You tricked him."

"He fell for it and went along with me with no remorse. So much for friendship."

I had no one. I was alone. I was done for. I would die here? My fingers curled. I didn't want to die. What to do? Stall, a voice whispered. Play her, like she played Pacey.

"If you brought me here to kill me, why don't you?" Good, Mel, bait her into doing what you're trying to avoid. Jesus, I sucked at this so bad.

"Because I'm waiting."

"Waiting for…?"

"You ask a lot of questions." I didn't know why, but that made me smile. "I saw Violet die. I figured I'd do the same for Aric."

My brows knitted, "You're… waiting for him?"

"Yes," she reached inside her pocket, revealing my phone. "I saw your text to Anna. So, to save them some GPS tracking, I sent Aric the address. Told him to come alone." Aric wouldn't be so stupid… "Which he won't. He'll bring Nate, at least. That's why this place is rigged with explosives. All I need to do," she picked up what I could only assume was a detonator. "Is press this button. And we all go away. Simple as that."

"And if they kill me before I trigger the explosion? It doesn't matter. If Nolan doesn't hear from me once a day, he'll know something is wrong and he'll send everything I got on you to the authorities." What she got on them—on… on… us? Had I killed Drew? My heart beat faster. She was Nolan's partner. Goddamnit. This was a clever plan. This was a lose-lose plan for us. Our options?

Number one: Ashley kills me for revenge. Nate and Aric keep working for Nolan?

Number two: They come in guns blazing, kill her before she manages a word or reaches for the detonator. Nolan doesn't hear from her and he sends the evidence. They—we?—get hunted down.

Number three: She blows us all up. Lots of wet chunks, fire and chaos. End of story.

Playing out those possibilities in my head made me shiver. I didn't back down, though. I kept fiddling with the damn Zip-tie keeping my hands locked. If I could get loose… They wouldn't budge an inch. My wrists were getting more scars with how I kept straining against the plastic. Come on, Mel, think. Pacey is here somewhere. He needs me, I thought sucking in a breath. Stretch, stretch, stretch—nothing! I beat my hands hard against the chair. Why couldn't I wiggle my hands free, why… Wait. My fingers wiggled. Was it looser? Was it wishful thinking?

A heavy grating noise made my head snap left. It came from beyond the containers. It sounded like someone was moving a heavy metal—a very rusty metal—along the floor. I stiffened at the sudden cold on my temple. Gun muzzle. Ashley moved it lower, pointing somewhere at my stomach. The grating finally stopped and I either felt super dumb or super courageous.

I yelled, "Don't shoot her!"

Ashley kept her eyes fixed on the shadow stretching across the coarse ground, coming from behind the containers. My heart tutted faster once Aric appeared. He was holding a gun, but it was lowered at his side. I was too far away to be sure, but I bet his jaw was tense, just like his whole stance.

"Why not?" he asked softly. So soft I almost couldn't make out the usual Australian accent.

I hesitated. Would she shoot me if I told him about her working for Nolan? About the explosives?

"Because if you kill me, you'll either go to jail or get blown up." Well. That was that. Ashley didn't smirk or grin at Aric. Her face looked like something sculpted from a diamond. All cutting edges. "I have surveillance everywhere. I saw you coming in, I know Nathaniel's with you."

My stupid heart beat faster. I wanted to slap myself. Focus. Pacey. The Zip-ties. But I was afraid to move now. Ashley had a gun trained on me. Keeping my eyes trained on where Aric stood, I saw Nate joining him. These two really were opposites. Aric kept a cool mask. Nate's murdering intent was written across his face and eyes. And Nate's silver gun was tightly gripped at his side.

Nathaniel's expression changed to bewilderment. "You?" it dripped confusion.

Aric's eyes never left Ashley, "You know her?"

"She's Melissa's neighbor."

"Ah,"

"Ah?" Nate repeated our half-brother's mutter. "Does that mean you understand what the hell is going on?"

"Maybe," Aric stated, tilting his head. "Your hair used to be brown. And you were sixteen last time I saw you, yeah? But that's you Ash."

"Ashley." She bit out. "Only my family got to call me Ash. And you killed my family."

Nathaniel gripped his hair with a I-can't-believe-this-shit expression.

"You took Melissa because he killed your family? Fuck that. Take him. Leave her out of this." Nate boomed.

"I didn't kill your family." Aric was still calm. Give him an Oscar.

"Maybe you didn't pull the trigger on my sister," she repeated what she shared with me. "But you were the reason she was ever in their crosshairs. It was because of you The Order went to Norwood, you bastard. Because they were after you." I shifted my eyes to the gun pointing at me. Keep calm, I told myself. "It's your fault she got put down like a dog." Her voice broke.

"I never said it wasn't my fault. But I didn't want it to happen, I didn't call them there." He said smoothly, like an enchanter. "What you're doing with Melissa is premeditated and it's wrong. Just like what The Order did with Violet."

I saw Ashley's finger twitch on the trigger. My head shot in their direction again—I found Nate. He took a breath, faltering a step forward. Aric grabbed his arm.

"Aric…"

"Shut up, Nathaniel." Aric ordered, emeralds glued on Ashley, her gun and the detonator in her other hand. "If you want to punish someone for what happened to your sister, punish Nolan. He shot her."

I slid my eyes to her. Ashley smiled unkindly, "Maybe he did. But he didn't desecrate her body. You burned her. You burned her body to keep yourself safe, then you ran away like a coward." Aric didn't offer up a word. So, it was true. Aric had been that cold? Burned the body of a girl he'd cared about only to save himself? "My father killed himself because he became obsessed with knowing what happened to Violet. He wouldn't sleep, he wouldn't eat… He just wondered about what happened. Until he couldn't wonder anymore. My mother found him and went mad. You took everything from me, you ruined my whole family, Aric."

Silence. My breaths were coming faster. I didn't want to die. I didn't want to. I needed to find Pacey. My lips parted as I looked at Nathaniel. Could he read lips? I knew he saw me mouth something—at least. His own mouth parted as his brow creased, concentrating as I repeated the words. Pacey's dying here, somewhere. Help. Him.

"You're right," Aric spoke at last. I looked at him. Nate only side-glanced. "You're right. They found your sister because I stayed too long and messed around with her. It's my fault. Everything that happened to your family, it's all on me." Okay, Aric was losing me now. "So, why are you pointing a gun at Melissa? Point it at me. Shoot me. It's revenge you want, yeah?"

Ashley cocked her head.

"There are other ways to get revenge."

"By killing her?"

"You care about her." Her one laugh was hysterical. "Hell, of all four sibling she's the only one you worry over." Her eyes found Nate with a taunting edge. "Poor, Natie. Seems like you never get the good end of the stick when it comes to family." Nate's face looked strained. Delighted, my deranged neighbor turned sights on Aric. "If you didn't care, you wouldn't be here, convincing me to shoot you instead. Which makes her worth killing."

"She's done nothing wrong," Nate gritted, dangerously low on patience. "Go shoot Nolan. He actually shot your sister."

Ashley jerked her chin my way, "She's not that innocent. She's killed, too."

"So?"

"So," Ashley intoned mockingly. "Drew might have been on the crazy side, but I don't like having my girlfriends killed."

And just like that, I felt something break inside. Nathaniel hadn't denied me killing her. So. So? I'd murdered someone, shot them. Worst of all, Drew had been Ashley's girlfriend? No wonder she wanted to kill me. This was more than an eye-for-an-eye. Nathaniel looked lost, maybe he hadn't known Drew's sexuality? Or maybe he was just surprised that she'd have anyone. She'd sounded insane and sadistic.

Aric's face betrayed him now. It looked like he'd ran out of arguments. This whole thing had come full circle. I wasn't ready to take a bullet. I wasn't ready for the blinding pain. Hadn't I been shot before? Yep, that's what caused the coma Anna talked about. This time there would be no coma. This time, I was dead.

I wasn't ready for the bullet. And Ashley wasn't ready for the shot that rang out when she lifted the gun, aiming squarely at my stomach. She wasn't ready for the bullet in her hand. Blood splashed. The gun slipped from her grasp and on reflex, so did the detonator when she used the good hand to cradle the bad one, cursing loudly. Racy steps sounded across cement. Nathaniel tackled her to the ground, straddling her like a pro. He pointed his gun at her forehead. She stayed down.

"Where…" I trailed off, feeling someone messing with the Zip-tie holding my hands. Snap. They came loose and I could've hugged Aric… if my legs weren't still tied. He took care of that next, making sure to pick up the bomb trigger. "What was that?"

Aric looked up—having cut my last restraint—but someone beat him to it.

"I happened," Anna! I searched for her. She was coming from far away, at the end of the row of containers. With a riffle thrown over her shoulder, carrying it like a Prada bag. "We spotted the cameras outside. I came in after Aric and Nate started chatting her up." They'd been distracting her as a tactic. At least, at the beginning they had. "Once I got a shot lined up, I took it. Sorry about the wait." Anna looked from me to Aric. He nodded, not meeting her eyes.

"Pacey!" I shot up. dizziness from my headache bubbled up, making me stagger. I said screw that and would've thrown myself to where Nate was, holding her down, but Anna grabbed my shoulders. "She said Pacey was here—dying! She wouldn't say where…"

Anna gave me a grave look, "I saw his Jeep parked nearby. I thought it was weird."

"He…" brought me here. "She lied to him about Parker. Pacey injected me with something and I woke up here."

"Where is he?" Nate asked.

Ashley didn't say. She smirked, baiting him again.

"Drew always said you weren't cut out to be an assassin." His face twisted and darkened. She was laughing like mad in his face.

Anna stared aghast. Then I heard her teeth grind. But Nate was ahead of her. He swiped Aric's knife—put away his gun—and reached for the good hand. He eased the tip underneath a fingernail. My blood ran cold.

"Where is he?" Nathaniel bellowed above her sharp cry as he dug the tip in. Between her nail and flesh. This was horrible, so why couldn't I look away? Because Ashley heaved laughs—strained giggles—between biting pain. Nate wasn't having that. "Where is he?" I saw half of her nail tip back—blood poured from her finger as she cried.

Ashley mumbled something between a gasp. Nate told Aric some container number and I was running. Leaving Anna and Aric to follow. I reached container number 786 in the middle row. My hands shot for the locks anxiously, only to have strong calloused hands stop me. Aric shoved me behind him, doing the opening. I felt Anna behind me just as worried. Pacey was her friend, too.

Aric opened the metal shipping boxes and I barreled through. Stumbling on something on my third step. Ow! My fall echoed. My elbow was bleeding, I could feel warm liquid seep out. I heard Anna call Pacey. I heard the second her voice failed because it was the same moment I looked ahead. I looked and saw blood. A pool of it. I'd slipped on it; my clothes and skin were getting drenched.

At the center of the blood was Pacey. Pacey. My Pacey. No, I reasoned, that isn't Pacey. Pacey doesn't have a hole in his head. Pacey doesn't wear a frightened look on his face. Pacey always laughs and makes jokes, that's the kind of guy he is. I thought it all. Slowly. Denying. Not wanting to see… what I was seeing. The smile that crept across my face when I ran here—to save him—slipped. Slowly. Why was everything slow? My face crumbled. I looked down. Palms bloody, painted red. Red with Pacey's blood? I started shaking—was I going to pass out? I shook, I shook, I shook—I puked. Struggling to my knees, I slipped, getting blood… blood and vomit on my jeans and hands. I went to bring up my hands to stifle the sounds coming out of my mouth—I stopped. They were shaking as I glared. Hands pulled me back—tugging me away from Pacey. I writhed against them. Screaming.

"Nooo!" Not Pacey. It wasn't Pacey. "No. No! Pacey—!" I cried, kicking out. "Pacey! PACEY!" Wake up. Wake up. He wouldn't move. Pacey. "Not Pacey," I screamed and whispered. How was that possible? I was screaming right now. Crying. "Anna! That's not Pacey! That's not Pacey—that's not… It can't be…" I grabbed her with my unclean hands. I shook my head at her. She wasn't the one grabbing me, stopping me from running back inside. It was Aric.

Anna's face was pale, lost, looking at me. Her eyes looked past me. Everything became slow again. Her eyes closed. I screamed, denying it. Nooo! No! He couldn't be gone! He couldn't… Pacey, he was my best friend. My oldest friend. And he'd been lied to, none of this was his fault, this wasn't his fault. Pacey, he was… my brother. Images popped up. Him laughing his ass off when I crashed his car last year—who would laugh over that?—how he vowed never to let me drive it again, still wiping tears from his eyes. I heard him gritting my name—Melissa—clearly. I would never get on his nerves again, would never study for another mid-term, would never hear him rant about Ginger. Would never get to do all the things we promised each other as kids.

It was all gone.

With more memories popping up, my screams and struggle against Aric had gone down. Tears still fell. But he was dragging me away. Away from Pacey. Eyes swimming, I saw Ashley. Something inside me cracked wide open. I shrugged Aric's hold and took off. Seeing red. I saw the gun on the floor, the gun she used to kill Pacey. The gun she'd meant to kill me with.

I lunged for that gun.

"Aric!" Nathaniel yelled.

"Argh!" I yelled in deep seethed frustration. "Let me go! She killed him. She killed him. She killed Pacey!"

"Get her out of here!" Nathaniel screamed above my hysteria.

"Melissa!" I yelled into the nothing as Aric dragged me off my feet. Having to carry me away.

I pinned Ashley with my gaze, "I'll kill her. You hear me, bitch? I'm going to kill you. I'm going to kill you!" My insides were crying. "I swear to God!" I cried. "I swear to God…" I trailed off.

Aric shoved me against a hard surface—metal. He kept me pressed there, growling when I tried to kick between his legs.

"Melissa," he hissed. "I'm sorry about your friend—"

"His name was Pacey," Anna bristled behind him. Was. How could she be so… accepting? Of death? His name is still Pacey, the voice inside me roared.

A long sigh rushed out of Aric's nose.

"Yes, luv, you're right. I'm sorry about Pacey. I understand how you feel—believe me—but killing Ashley isn't an option. You heard her before. If we kill her Nolan rats us out." He paused. "Do you want to end up a fugitive?" I wouldn't look at his face. Aric's fingers dug deeper into my shoulders and he lowered his voice, "Do you want Nathaniel to be sent to prison? Maybe killed?"

Through the smoke and devastation inside me, I managed to get a grip—I stilled myself. Aquamarine eyes locked with green ones. This was a cruel place to be in. Torn between avenging my best friend and keeping that lunatic alive to save myself—and others. Two people I knew, that—deep down—mattered to me. Maybe one mattered… more than anyone. Maybe. To keep our chances alive, I needed to get a grip. I couldn't kill her like I wanted to. We needed to figure something out—

Torn between saving myself or getting revenge. I held Aric's gaze, questioningly. Was this what you felt when you burned Violet's body? Burn her body or risk being hunted down? For a crime he hadn't committed? His hands eased up.

"She said something," I whispered wishing I could compartmentalize the grief hitting me like a tidal wave. "She said something about Nolan having to hear from her? If he doesn't, he'll know something is up."

"He knows what she's been planning." Aric nodded at Anna's wise statement. "I bet he doesn't like the idea of Mel getting offed. We both know the only evidence keeping Nate working for Nolan are the ones against Mel." She sent me a quick apologetic look. For not telling me I was a murderer? Yeah, I could understand why she'd want me in the dark. "With Mel gone, Nate wouldn't hesitate to kill Nolan." Right. Because Nathaniel had no self-preservation. Apparently. Noted. And still, the fact that he was doing this for me, to keep me safe, tugged at my heartstrings.

Aric gave a bitter smile at Anna.

"But he'd rather lose Nathaniel than lose me. I'm more fun to torture." Aric said it like an afterthought, a footnote. "I guess she's coming with us for further interrogation."

Oh, no. I could accept she needed to stay alive—for now—but she was coming with? Coming where exactly? Unless Aric had a dungeon… I didn't get to ask. He was giving Anna orders, telling her to take me to his car. That Nate and he would be along shortly after they… took care of things and snooped through her computers.

Anna pulled me along. More like dragged me. The red Viper Nate drove us in last night, ha been replaced by a Suzuki family car.

"He has a lot of cars." I could hear the eye-roll in her voice. "This one calls the least attention and it has plenty of space." For weapons. For taking hostages. "Come on," we were out in the docks, like I'd guessed earlier. Daylight was fading once Anna locked us inside Aric's ride. We were in the backseat and she was messing around with her riffle. "Mel," she whispered at last. Her fingers stilled. "I don't know what to say."

Neither did I. Today had been beyond horrible. I got some flashes from my previous time with Nolan—but no solid memories. Yet, I found out a lot. About Aric. About me. I was a killer. Why didn't I feel… more? I knew it was wrong, somewhere. I'll kill you! I thought my voice would scare my wits, nope. Could I be broken? Or was this who I'd become during those months? Had I lost the ability to distinguish right and wrong? No, what Ashley did was wrong. She deserved to pay for tricking Pacey, for murdering him in cold blood. For telling me he was dying while she was talking my ear off. He'd been dead the minute she aimed. What I did to Drew? I wasn't sure, but I'd ask soon. Not now, I didn't have the energy for more.

"Then don't say anything." I told her as I eyed my dirty hands. Bile mixed with blood. I didn't feel nauseous, I kept staring down, feeling determination take root. Ashley would pay. Sooner or later. But her time would come.