me: 1,044 words WITHOUT the author's note! Yay! And no one wanted me to end this, so here's the next chapter!

Angel: Make sure that all of you with Facebooks add her as a friend!

me: I have a cover-up accout for you reviewers. My FAKE name is Grace Moses. Do not call me Grace. My email is fnick(dot)fwilliam at gmail(dot)com.

Total: Include your online name and what stories of MRA's you have reviewed. She'll send you a message asking you if you don't.

me: Add me! And enjoy the chapter!

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I'll never get to know Max's secret. I'll never get to know what her 'dark past' is that she keeps hinting on. Tomorrow Jeb dies, and Max and her sisters are already packing for New Jersey. They've already got a plane booked for noon tomorrow to Denver.

We, our families, have been hanging out together more then ever. Max says she wants to take good memories with her to her 'Aunt' in New Jersey. But today probably ruined all those good memories, and filled it with one bad, unforgettable one.

The kids were playing in Max's yard. Mom and Daniel took Iggy to help with early wedding preperations. Ella and Nudge had Maddy, like they have almost ever since we've been home. Me and Max were sitting on the porch swing, slowly moving back and forth. Max reached out to rub her knee, quickly pulling it back. But I still saw it.

"Max, what happened?" I asked. I gently took her wrist and pushed up her shirt sleeve. A big, purple and blue bruise.

"Um...paintball." She jerked her wrist from me.

Well, paintball does hurt and leave huge bruises, but... "When did you play paintball?"

"Um...last week."

"No, it wouldn't be that new of a bruise. What - Sam. Was it Sam?"

She didn't reply, just looked at her shoes. It was Sam. He'd hurt her again. "Max, tell me next time you see him, where he is. Send me a text or something. I'll..."

"No. It's fine, Fang. Really, it is."

"Max, he's a strong guy. He's going to hurt you worse. It's not fine. It's just going to get worse. You need to put a stop to this."

"How? What do you expect me to do? I've tried everything! Nothing I do works! He follows me, like some pleague! I thought I got rid of him in Mesa but no, he pops up here. And he'll pop up in New Jersey. I can't get rid of him, no matter what I do!" She pulled her knees up to her chest and hugged them.

"No, you haven't tried anything." My eyes flickered towards the woods. "Oh, look who decided to show up." I stood up and started down the porch steps. Max tried to stop me, but it didn't work. So all she could do was follow me. "I thought I told you to get out of here," I hissed at Sam.

"I thoughtt I told you to sstay away from my gorlfriend," he slurred. He had been drinking again. But even with his tough words, he took a step back. In a flash he turned and ran through the woods, me right on his heels. He was tripping over his own feet. The house was out of view before I caught him.

I didn't realize what I was doing. I just closed my eyes and I couldn't feel my arms. All I heard was a loud crack! and a low whimper. I slowly opened my eyes. Sam's eyes were open, not blinking, his neck broken. I collapsed to his side.

I could even hear Max's slow, silent steps walk up to me. "Max, I'm so, so sorry."

"You warned him. But I told you not to be a murderer. It will haunt you until you die, believe me." I frowned.

"How would you know?"

"I sorta - um...nevermind." Well, I hope the worst she's done is run over a cat on a four-wheeler.

"Anyway, maybe if we get out of here now we can avoid getting caught." I stood up and we slowly started walking back to the house.

Max waited until Sam's body was out of sight before talking. "I finally got rid of him," she whispered.

A thought hit me. Because now, Max is single. I shook it out of my head. "He won't hurt you anymore. Or follow you to Jersey."

"Ugh, don't remind me about Jersey."

"Why?"

"I don't want to leave. My uncle is in the military, so he's never home. And my aunt, well, early retirement. She smells like meatloaf and won't get off the couch. So it's like I have a fourth mouth to shove food into. It's pretty much the same as here, but I don't have friends to help me. But I have to go."

I thought a minute. "Maybe not. You said that your father killed someone to protect you, right?"

"Yes. But what does that have to do with anything?"

"Well, what was he trying to protect you from? Getting hurt?"

"Killed. But I don't see what -"

"There are laws, Max. About protection. If we can prove that he did it to protect you, they can't execute him."

She shrugged. "Maybe. But how can we prove that before noon tomorrow?"

"It's about nine-thirty. We have twenty six and a half hours. It's possible."

She sighed. "Fang, how do we plan to prove it? He's dead, it's not like we can make him confess. Anyway, that happened in Mesa. They just found him here."

"If he tried to kill you, it's probably not the first murder he's attempted. He probably has a criminal record. If you know his name, or even what he looks like, then we can find him. We'll just take a plane to Mesa later." I tried to send her a supportive smile. I didn't want her to leave, she didn't want to leave. You can't label this as selfish.

"His name is..." She swallowed. "Demaca Mosse. And he does have a criminal record. He murdered a five year old girl a month before Dad killed him." A tear ran down her cheek.

When we got back to Max's house, Mom, Daniel, and Iggy were back. And we were on our way to the airport to go to Mesa.

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me: You know what's weird? Winter and MelRose520 voiced what they thought would happen in this chapter. Winter thought that the godparents would be total freaks, and MelRose thought they would prove Jeb's innicence. Which they did. And I had already wrote the chapter before they reviewed!

Angel: ...Mind readers.

me: They're not like you, Ang. They're all human.

Total: Good point.

me: Coming from the talking DOG! Review!