Julian

Julian's professional life became an endless stream of meetings. In the past three weeks he'd met with PR reps, local and international press, and crisis management consultants. Though he was determined to fix the damage done to his brand by the Lyritrol scandal, the throng of meetings just didn't help his sanity. To make matters worse, there was still an ongoing investigation into who kidnapped Mia and dumped her at an abandoned warehouse. The kidnapper apparently intended to keep her longer than 24-hours but got cold feet.

Julian agreed to work with the detectives who handled Vivian's case. They wanted to see if there was any connection between that and his niece's kidnapping. He and the FBI had already met once and he was down at headquarters again to do another interview about possible suspects.

"Late," he whispered, checking the Chopard watch on his wrist. By the time he parked in the garage and got down to the lobby, another 30 minutes had passed. It was a relief when he saw Detective Moreno just walking through the door himself. Then he caught sight of Joanna following close behind.

His heart did a dance just seeing her. She wore a tan trench coat over a black dress with black heels. Her dark brown hair draped over part of her face, but he could clearly see she looked troubled. He wanted to weave through the clutter of people passing through the lobby to greet her, but she and the detective were moving now. Julian was still within an earshot of their conversation as he stood out of view.

"What are you doing here?" The detective asked Joanna. Julian immediately didn't like his tone but decided he wouldn't flip out.

"I clearly have information for you," she said. Her voice told Julian that she could handle herself, but the detective's body language still made Julian tense up.

"Julian is somewhere around here," he said. "I have a meeting with him."

Joanna's face tightened with distress. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Julian's own confusion was the only thing that held him there. Joanna hadn't been enlisted like Julian to help with the case, as far as he knew, so he also wondered why she was there.

"Look," Detective Moreno began. "It won't be long before he finds out you're a cop anyway. You've blown your cover enough already."

She breathed a long sigh like she was attempting to keep her composure.

"Him finding out doesn't matter now." She glanced around her as if she was searching for someone. "I have information for you about Mia's kidnapper."

The detective huffed out a deep breath. "It'll have to wait until after I talk to your boyfriend."

Detective Moreno stormed off and Julian turned his face away. When he looked back, he saw Joanna walk in the opposite direction out through the doors of the headquarters.

Once she was gone, Julian staggered towards the wall and exhaled. He wanted to decipher the words and images he'd seen, but things just didn't make sense.

"Joanna's a cop," he said to himself. "She's a cop."

Joanna

Dealing with Will was a true annoyance for Joanna but she did so begrudgingly, for the sake of the case. Joanna wanted to tell him about a lead on Mia's kidnapper. They were almost certain now it was Wyatt; they just needed to find him. Will always let his jealousy blind him. He seemed to be holding this grudge against her. And he wondered why she didn't come crawling back to him. At least Julian understood forgiveness!

Joanna looked at her phone that evening and was shocked to see no calls or texts from Julian. It was unlike him. Even the calls she made to him on the way home from work had gone unanswered. Now she was beginning to really worry.

She pulled her silver Mercedes into the driveway of the mansion and considered for a moment whether she should stay there or go back to the city to Julian's condo. She bit her lip and stared pensively at her phone showing no missed calls. She stayed that way a few minutes longer and then drove her car out of the driveway to head right back down I-495.

Joanna checked in with the doorman at Julian's condo and was surprised that he was there. Well that didn't explain why he wasn't answering her calls. He apparently was, at least, willing to speak to her face-to-face since she was granted access upstairs.

When she got off the elevator leading out to his condo, she looked around and saw him just draped on his couch. His tie wasn't around his shirt and he was still dressed in slacks.

"Julian! What's going on? Why haven't you returned any of my calls?"

He got up and walked with an unstable gait towards her. "Joanna."

She took a deep breath and tried to assess his haggard appearance.

"You smell like a bottle of liquor," She said, cringing at the sour smell he gave off. "How much have you had to drink?"

"Not enough," he said, walking towards his kitchen.

Joanna felt entirely confused. Julian wasn't answering her phone calls and was sloppy drunk. This didn't spell anything good.

"Is it Mia?" She knew that besides work being hectic, he worried a lot about his niece. He didn't like that she had to stay at the mansion.

"What's wrong?" Joanna questioned, sauntering towards him at the counter. Julian had a bottle of brandy in his hand now that she took away and sat on the counter.

His eyes didn't connect with hers as she slipped an arm around his waist and reached a hand up to his face. "Tell me what's wrong."

He finally looked her in the face and there was this hurt expression that nearly destroyed her. "Is this part of your act too?"

"What act?" Joanna said, as he walked away. She stood in the kitchen completely distraught with worry. Did he know?

She found him in his bedroom and watched as he packed a bag with clothes.

"I have no idea what's going on, but I'm worried," she told him. She didn't want to just assume. She didn't want to think the absolute worse.

Julian swung his dark blue duffle bag over his shoulder and came up to her at the door of his room. "You lied to me," he said firmly. There was still that same hurt look in his eyes. "You lied about who and what you are."

He left Joanna right there speechless and holding back tears.