A/N: For those following A Surprise Suitor, it will be updated tomorrow… hopefully. I encountered the small hurdle of writers block. I know what I want to write, but it just isn't flowing very well.

I have heard from a few through PM and review that I threw you all for a bit of a loop. No one was expecting Yuuta's mother to be behind the attacks. I'm happy I was able to surprise you, but that it still made sense; which is exactly what I hoped to accomplish. Remember that in this story, you can never assume anything. Enjoy the new chapter.

Chapter 20 – I'm Innocent!

A dizzying feeling encircled her head and she felt like she was on a never ending roller coaster ride that did nothing but travel in loops. Gasping, Choko tried to escape the horrible smell that had been shoved under her nose as she attempted to lift her eye lids to rid herself of the darkness that encased her. Once her eyes were opened, she slowly lifted her head and realized she was slumped over in a chair. Her hand lifted to her support her head as she groaned, "Where am I?"

"Library at the Haninozuka estate," came the curt reply from somewhere above her.

Her eyes found Kyoya standing above her before she allowed herself to scan the room and if she could have, she would have backed away from the glares of hatred staring her down. Unable to run, Choko tried to shrink back into her chair in order to escape what was to come. It all came crashing down around her and she suddenly remembered everything. The man in the suit asking to speak to her in the library and when she refused, he grabbed her arm and forcefully escorted her there; and then the group of people entering, which included her employers, before Kyoya Ootori questioned her. She couldn't escape their accusing eyes.

"Now, shall we try this again?" Kyoya questioned.

"Wh-What do you want?"

"As I stated before, I would like to discuss your side employment."

"I have (ahem), I have no idea what you mean." She was trying to sound aloof and innocent, to pretend she knew nothing of what he was talking about. Her cousin had assured her that nothing would be traceable back to her, so why were they questioning her?

Pushing up his glasses, he shook his head, "Coy really doesn't work on you. I would suggest you start answering the questions… or else."

"Or else what? You have no proof I've done anything."

"No, you assume I have no proof."

Tamaki took a step forward seeing the maid's distress, and it made him want to help the poor girl. Speaking up, he questioned his best friend, "Mon Ami, are you sure it was her?"

"Need I remind you Tamaki that she is the one that has been spying on your 'little girl' and could have hurt her? In addition, she delivered packages for Yasuchika and therefore she helped the people who made an attempt on Yasuchika's life. When have I ever made false accusations?" Kyoya snapped.

As he read off her list of offenses, Choko's heartbeat started to increase and she was suddenly feeling lightheaded again. Feeling the push on the back of her head, she bent forward and had her face pressed into her lap.

"Thank you Tachibana. Now Choko Hamasaki, passing out again will only delay the inevitable. Now you assume I have no proof, but I do. Not only are you related to Megumi Kondo, and are the only one here that is, but the fingerprints found on the cameras match you."

"Cameras? I don't know what you're talking about," she reiterated.

"Hotta, Ajima! How many cameras did you find?"

The two bodyguards stepped forward, each carrying a box full of electronics. It was Hotta that finally answered, "There were cameras in each of the bedrooms, three here in the library, one in Haninozuka-sama's office, four in the living room, one in the tea room…"

Holding up a hand to halt the recounting, Kyoya said, "Thank you." With a stern expression upon his face, he turned towards Choko once again, "As you can see, we have gathered evidence. In addition to this, I have intercepted text messages, emails, voicemails, and phone calls between you and Kondo-san. There is also the fact that you have been spotted on campus delivering a couple of messages to Yuuta. In addition to all of this, Yuuta has informed me that you were pressuring him to change his ways and return to the family, and you also told him that he should settle down with a nice girl like Haruhi. Do you deny this?"

"Yes! This is a setup! I haven't…"

Kyoya took a folder Tachibana was holding out to him and opened it. Taking out one sheet at a time, he held it up for Choko to see before throwing it on the floor. Each one was a picture of her on campus, a copy of an email, a printout of her text messages, and finally a picture of her meeting with Megumi Kondo. Did she still dare to claim her innocence after seeing the evidence literally laid out in front of her? Of course she did because it was easier than admitting the truth, "Those are all fake. You conjured them. I know all about your computer skills and you're just like the others. You have money. You could hire people to create all of this for you!"

"True enough, but I wouldn't go through the trouble of implicating someone if there was no merit. And why would I make someone look guilty who wasn't. I'm not that type of person… regardless of what you may have heard about my family. That being said, if you are still trying…" Kyoya was interrupted by the doors to the library crashing open. Standing in the doorway and breathing heavily were two mirror images of each other. "Hikaru, Kaoru, you better have a good reason for just barging in and interrupting me."

"We…we didn't want the boss to suck out your brains!" Hikaru yelled breathing heavily. He wanted to cringe in fear, but he had a greater purpose and needed to fulfill it. The lives of Haruhi and the others was in danger!

"We also needed to make sure everyone was still alive," Kaoru was equally out of breath when he spoke. He found it difficult to stand up to Kyoya, but some things were more important than the nightmare the Shadow King presented.

"WHAT?" The room rang with the question as everyone deadpanned and all eyes turned to Tamaki.

"What are you two doppelgangers talking about?" Tamaki screamed.

Hikaru stalked up to his blond friend, but not too close, and accused him, "Don't try to hide it. We saw you in the kitchen through the window. You took a knife and then ran over here like your pants were on fire."

"What?"

Nodding, Kaoru stood next to his brother and backed him up, "We saw it all. And you were talking about getting signals down in that underground bunker!"

"You're not Tamaki-senpai, you're an alien and we've come to rescue everyone!" They proclaimed together as they each pulled out a baseball bat from some unseen source.

The tick marks above Kyoya's head were too many to count. Pushing up his glasses, his calm voice belied his irritation and anger, "Tamaki, what are these two idiots going on about? Did you grab a knife?"

"NO!"

"Then what did you take from the kitchen? You were standing next to the knives one minute and then next you were gone!" Hikaru demanded.

"We saw the silver in your hand!" Kaoru screeched.

Tamaki tilted his head and thought about it, "Do you mean the dog toy?"

"DOG TOY?" The twins bellowed together.

"Well yah. Antoinette has a toy that looks like a butcher knife, but it is a plush. One of the maids found it and washed it so it was on the counter."

"Why would anyone buy a dog toy that looked like a butcher knife?" Hikaru and Kaoru seethed.

With a beaming smile, Tamaki answered, "When I took her to the commoner's pet store, she found it on the ground and picked it up. She wouldn't let it go, so I had to buy it for her!"

The twins fell to the ground, disbelief stunning them; however, after a moment, they jumped up again, "But that still doesn't mean you aren't an alien!"

"I'm not an alien. I don't think…" The blond turned to his best friend, "Kyoya, am I?"

"You may be an idiot, but you're not an alien," Kyoya answered, his irritation at the entire situation growing.

Chika bolted from his seat, fists clenched, and bellowed, "Will you three shut up! Kyoya-senpai was trying to conduct an interrogation. This woman is trying to kill me and you three want to crack jokes! Sit down and shut up!" He was at the end of his patience.

"Yasuchika is correct. Sit down or I will enact clause 32.3 of your contract," Kyoya threatened. He never saw three people find a seat as fast as they had.

"32.3?" Haruhi whispered in her boyfriend's ear when he once again sat down next to her.

"It's Kyoya-senpai, do you really want to know?" Chika retorted. The only thing that kept him quiet right now and prevented him from attacking the maid verbally was the hand holding his. Haruhi could always sooth him and prevent him from completely losing his head; although it was a toss-up at this point.

Nodding, Haruhi agreed, "Good point."

"Now that we have that out of the way for now, may we continue?" Kyoya forced himself to calm down and faced his prisoner once again, "I apologize for the interruption. As I was saying, if you are still trying to hold onto your plea of not guilty, I would suggest you listen to this." Pressing a few buttons on his laptop that had been set up in the room, the Shadow King played the audio he had obtained: conversations between Choko and Megumi, along with voicemails Choko had left for her cousin.

With each word spoken, Choko started to become paler and paler. Her body trembled in fear. How had this person obtained his proof? It couldn't have been legal, but then again if she argued that then she was basically saying she was guilty. This wasn't the way it was supposed to turn out. Tears started to drip from her eyes and land in her lap. Her hands were fisting her uniform. She had been well and truly caught.

"Do you still pretend to be innocent?"

"She wasn't trying to kill him. She only wanted him out of the picture. She thought if he believed he was in danger or believed that his connection to Haruhi put him in danger, Yasuchika-sama would break-up with her, but instead he moved her into the house. I delivered the packages when she told me to, but I never actually knew what was in them. I also planted evidence that would make it look like Haruhi-san was cheating on Yasuchika-sama."

Chika snorted, "Yah, like I would believe she was cheating on me or break-up with her because someone made an attempt on my life."

"Chika, shhh," Haruhi chastised and squeezed his hand. If she was correct, and she believed she was, her boyfriend was on the verge of losing it.

"The question now is, why did you do it?" Kyoya pressed. Glancing over his shoulder, he could feel the dark auras coming from more than one person, and even the people who normally didn't have demon auras had one at the moment. The atmosphere was becoming stifling. He had been impressed that everyone had kept quiet until now, and had to wonder how close the leash was to breaking.

"Because she is my cousin," Choko responded in a meek voice.

Pushing up his glasses, Kyoya shook his head and smirked, "No, I don't believe so. Your immediate family was looked down by her family because your mother chose to marry beneath her. So I can't imagine that is the reason you would help her."

"Just because she looked down on us, doesn't mean she isn't family. You assume too much third son of the Ootori family."

"Yes, I am the third son and I believe that makes me more creative than my brothers in collecting information and making a name for myself… and I don't believe I am assuming anything." He was, but he had a hunch. Knowing first had what it felt like to be looked down upon by family, he had a feeling it was more than just Megumi was family. He leaned in closely and spoke in soft tones, "I'm sure I can find out the reason and then expose you further. What do you think your cousin will say about your involvement? I think she will renounce you and say that you acted on your own."

Her eyes widened even more and her jaw dropped open. Would her cousin do that? Yes, she probably would. Nodding, more tears flowed as Megumi told him the truth, "She said that Yasuchika-sama would end up like my mother because he was marrying nothing but common trash, especially since he was the second son. I told her that it wasn't like that, but then she said that she would arrange a marriage for me to one of the families that does business with the Kondo family. She said it would restore my family honor and allow me to live a more carefree lifestyle. She said I never should have been born into the lifestyle I was and that I was intended to be part of her social circle. I could have my own maids instead of being a maid."

"You would sell out your own employer for something so small?" Yorihisa growled.

"It may be small to you, but…" Choko started to argue, but snapped her mouth shut.

Haruhi studied the other woman for a moment before speaking, "I think I understand what she is saying. She was jealous. If her mother had married for duty instead of love, she would have been born into a privileged lifestyle."

The patriarch of the Haninozuka family gaped, "So you condone this?"

"That isn't what she said," his wife, Atsuko, scolded.

"No, I don't. I can just see what she is saying. She was lured by an offer of an easy life and an opportunity to live the life she would have had. It's wrong though. I know some of you might have to marry for duty instead of love, but that doesn't make it right; and just because your cousin promised she would do that, doesn't mean that she can deliver. Rich bastards can be picky and a lot of them won't choose to marry someone that used to be a maid."

"YOU DON'T KNOW THAT!" Choko screamed.

"Actually, I do," Haruhi deadpanned.

Adjusting his glasses, Kyoya agreed with his friend, "She is correct."

The fight had left her. They were dashing her hopes and dreams… not that she could obtain anything like that now because she had been caught. Choko dropped her head once again and asked, "What now?"

"Now you are going to tell us everything you know and who else is involved, and then we will decide what to do with you," Kyoya answered honestly.

Haruhi flinched at the cold voice. It wasn't that she agreed with what the girl did, quite the opposite, but she still felt sorry for Choko and she knew how harsh the hosts could be, especially the Shadow King. However, there was nothing she could do for the girl.

Opening her mouth, Choko started to spill everything she knew. She didn't know the names of everyone involved, however, she would divulge all she knew.

Everyone listened intently, and Kyoya was recording the conversation. One person was caught, now they had to deal with the other pawns, the ring leader, and at some point in time they needed to deal with Kame Abe. Their work was still very much far from over. They could and would come out on top though because they were the Ouran High School Host Club, and they knew how to deal with people like this.