Chapter 28

"How much do you know about my past already?" He asked me from the get-go. He didn't look at me - just his fingers as they fidgeted over the picture of him and Liz on the table.

"Bits and pieces," I answered vaguely, hoping not to guide what he felt was most important.

His brows rose slightly, as if thinking figures. "From the beginning, huh?" He repeated my request, deep in thought. "The beginning goes back so far I couldn't really put a timeline to it if I tried. Life rarely gives you warnings that say 'this is it: the beginning of the end'."

I swallowed as I leaned in as he started telling me his story.

"On my eighteenth birthday, I enlisted in the Army. It was either that, or follow my family's footsteps. And trust me, if you think I'm a criminal now…" His words trailed off for a moment as he cleared his throat.

It was obvious he didn't make a habit of telling people his story. Or at the very least, he wasn't used to it being pried from him. Like a rusty nail perpetually buried within his skin. Painful. But he continued anyway.

At the time of his enlistment, Meliodas' father was serving year four of a fifteen year sentence for petty crimes; small stuff, really. The only things the feds could actually nail the guy for despite his… extensive criminal resume, as Meliodas put it. That much I'd gathered from my conversation with Howzer and the texted images he'd sent me of the records.

"The choice was obvious." Meliodas shrugged, and I could see how he'd gotten so many awards as a soldier - and managed to lead a ragtag group of vigilantes. I'd seen his sense of justice shine through many times over the last couple of weeks. I'd just ignored it - labeling it as something criminal. "I wanted to be better than that." He continued, but the way he talked about his family… I could tell: it was more than that.

He needed to be better.

"And your brothers?" I asked hesitantly, receiving my first glance from him since we'd sat down. A wary glance. A glance that asked how I could possibly know. And It was only fair that I give him something, "I… overheard your phone call. With Estarossa."

"Of course you did." The wariness never left his gaze, but he didn't seem to shut down knowing this. "I was too young to take care of them at the time. Too hot-headed. Besides, they were already corrupted by my old man. They both were wards of the state and looking at time in Juvie."

I nodded - that was about what Howzer had told me on the phone about the two brothers. "What happened next?"

Without missing a beat, he began telling me about his time in the Army. "I was bright and had a drive that others my age didn't seem to have, and that got me places. Before I turned twenty-five, I was already a captain and on my way to my next promotion."

"So, I guess you liked being a soldier?" I couldn't help but ask. I didn't know many people who strove to climb ladders if they didn't want to be at the top of something.

Meliodas regarded me a moment before shrugging, "I suppose I did. I liked the comradery. I liked that I was supposed to be serving a bigger purpose. But," he put emphasis on the word as he frowned, "the higher I climbed… the more I learned about the people I'd vowed to serve and protect, the harder it was getting to convince myself I'd gone to bat for the right people."

There were things he could overlook, turn the other cheek. But there were others that went against his very nature. Things he couldn't bring himself to tell me about. "I'm sure you can understand what that feels like?" He asked pointedly, drawing the comparison to my arrival at the bar in the beginning.

And I did. All too well.

But, like so many others like him, he was beginning to lose faith in the system.

"That's when someone came along and gave me hope. It was like someone was answering some unspoken prayer." A soft smile started to pull at the corner of his lips, his eyes finding the picture on the table.

"Liz."

He nodded softly. "It was a glance from across a room. That glance started everything." He seemed like he was in a completely different time and place as he recalled the night he'd met her.

"I used the most ridiculous pick-up line to get her attention - but it worked. She told me later it was because I'd been so lame that she even considered my offer." Meliodas chuckled with a soft shake of his head and then a long swig of his beer.

It had been a whirlwind romance. The kind of dream romance you'd read about in novels. From then on, Meliodas and Liz spent every free moment they had together. Lunches, breaks between drills and meetings, evenings.

She was a lower rank than him, but she was a rising star. Smart, great instincts, at the rate she was climbing, she would out-rank him in no time. Not that he seemed to mind as he recounted everything. He had grown frustrated with the direction the military was headed. That frustration only doubled as time went on.

"A year after we'd begun seeing each other, I was deployed overseas. Apparently, I'd proven myself more than a capable leader and the command sent me to lead a routine inspection on one of our international bases."

He got quiet. The expression on his face shifting.

"What happened?"

He took a long shaky breath, "It...had been anything but routine." He offered as the emotion in his eyes suddenly became clear, "It was a bloodbath. Civil war had been mounting in the capital of the country. Rebels targeted the base. The fight lasted five days - Insurgents made it impossible for reinforcements to come to the rescue from any side, leaving us to fend and fight for ourselves. By the time reinforcements managed to break through… nearly half of those who'd been stationed there were dead."

They had been unprepared for the attack. Defenses had been down. The people there were so misinformed, it was criminal.

Meliodas swallowed the anger that the memory stirred within him before he turned his gaze back up to me. "It was the last straw for me. With Liz's help I came back stateside and spent the next year going after those who'd been responsible for leaving the troops so defenseless - making sure those who were in charge were brought to justice. And when I'd done all I could, I left the military."

I watched him, speechless. He'd fought so hard… his whole life had been about being better. Being apart of something better. Even when he was met with injustice - he still fought to be better and rise above.

When did that sense of justice turn into what he was today?

His emeralds seemed to reflect that very question - as if telling me that he'd realized this was where the end began.

"I hadn't really thought that hard on my future following my discharge." He said, unsure. Struggling to put the events in order.

"Whatever it was, I knew it had to be here. Liz had remained with the military - a choice I supported - if not a little hesitant at first. But I knew the service was better for her being there. I honestly believed she would make a difference. But this was where she was stationed."

He got quiet again as his emerald gaze swept out over the bar, "This was all her idea, you know."

"The bar?" I followed suit, allowing my gaze to flow over the bar floor I'd grown so accustomed to walking.

"Yeah. She… she told me one morning that I should open a bar. Because I knew my way around alcohol. It was such a silly idea at the time."

"But you ended up opening a bar." I continued for him. If he'd thought it silly, why go through with it?

"Yeah." There was a sheepish air about the way he rubbed the back of his head then, "The more we looked into it… the more we talked about it, the less silly it seemed. Not long after my, let's call it 'early retirement', I managed to find work in the security sector. A big corporate place downtown. The money was good - really good, but It was boring. So, with the money I was making from the other place, we were able to put away the funds we needed to buy this old building."

I couldn't help the little chuckle I gave.

"What?"

"You guys planned on buying out this building?"

He rolled his eyes, but not angrily. Instead he grinned, "I'll admit, I wasn't fond of the location at first either. It's certainly an area you'd see a bar, but not one I particularly wanted to be in."

"What changed your mind?"

"She did. She'd fallen in love with the idea of converting this old building into something beautiful again. Somewhere we could call ours. Who was I to deny her that?

There was something so romantic about it - the way he talked about her, the way he thought about her and the things she loved. It was almost poetic. I found I was entranced in his storytelling; a reader longing for that happy ending. One, I had to remind myself, wasn't coming.

"Another year later - after spending countless nights and weekends building the bar from scratch, and the Boar's Hat - her suggested name, by the way - was just about to open."

"That's incredible. You and Liz built this place yourselves."

A flash of one of his usual grins came to the surface, "You'd be surprised the things I know how to do."

I was really starting to believe that.

But just as quickly as that grin of his had come - it was gone. Replaced by something much more rueful, "I was going to propose." He said outright and my heart constricted painfully at the astronomical implications of something said so simply. "The night of the grand opening. Had the ring and everything. I'd spent the two years up to then thinking about the rest of my life. And it was impossible to picture a future without her."

I swallowed, finding a part of me wanting to tell him to stop. But I didn't. I waited quietly for him to continue.

"It was about two months before the bar was to open that Liz started getting busy on a new assignment. Had her out later, away most weekends." He shrugged, "It had been something important. When she was home, she was always thinking. It was constantly on her mind. But it was also clearance-level information. She couldn't tell me what was going on."

I watched him as I recalled going back through the information Gil had sent me. I hadn't found any information about a special assignment. Not that I expected there would be - it wasn't like I had clearance.

"But I could tell it was big - something was eating at her, and that only got worse as time went on. I did my best to support her in any way I could, despite that. Knowing that as soon as the assignment was over, we could go back to the peace we'd built together. I could propose and we would get married, and beyond that was endless possibilities."

Meliodas shifted, his elbows resting on the tabletop as his hands rested in front of his mouth. "One night, though, a week before the grand opening… she didn't come home."

The bar grew quiet as we both sat there in silence.

"I remember staying up all night waiting for her. Calling her. I… I got the news the next morning." He swallowed again. It had been five years, but obviously the memory was still very painful. The scars were just as wide now as they were then. There'd been no real closure. It didn't take a detective to figure it out.

"I'll admit, I don't remember much about what happened after I found out. I lost all sense of self and time. When I wasn't wasted to the point of sickness, I destroyed everything I could put my hands on." He chanced a glance up at me and my reaction before adding, "That went on for a little over a week and a half."

Then he'd gotten the call.

The police department had concluded their autopsy, and he was free to make funeral arrangements. They were vague about the details about the investigation - unsurprising. We weren't really in the business of storytelling.

"They called me in for questioning a few days after the funeral. I remember thinking it was weird."

My brow furrowed at that, remembering the annotation in the file about the BF being brought in for questioning, "What did they ask you?"

He shrugged, "The same things they had when the officers first came to tell me the news. Who her enemies were, who would want to hurt her, a recollection of her whereabouts leading to her disappearance."

I nodded, but none of that seemed out of the ordinary. "What was so weird about the interview?"

His eyes skipped up to mine as if the question was distasteful… or maybe it was the memory that was distasteful, "It was weird because of how aggressive the cops were. Like they suspected I had something to do with it."

Ah...

"That's also when they told me she'd died of an overdose."

He went quiet again and I waited patiently for him to process his own thoughts.

"Let's just say I… didn't take the news well."

His expression said it was about as well as he'd reacted to it earlier. His outburst came back to me and I had to keep myself from asking the question burning at the forefront of my mind.

As if he could sense my anticipation and thoughts, he sighed, eyeing me hard before speaking again, "She didn't overdose." He repeated from earlier. This time, the look in his eyes was different - pleading almost.

He was practically begging me to see this from his point of view.

And… I wanted to. I really did. Despite everything. Despite how it could compromise my ability to stay objective. I really wanted to be able to understand this man.

But my training wouldn't let me. What I had was indisputable facts. Lab results. A coroners' report.

My eyes softened on him, "Meliodas, look… I."

"Just," He put his hands up, willing me to stop, "hear me out, alright?" and I nodded reluctantly for him to continue, "I know what the reports say. Trust me…" He looked away from me as a twinge of guilt and despair entered into the emerald depths of his irises. "I've spent a lot of time scouring them for any other clues."

I didn't doubt it. With both Merlin and Gowther on his side, I'm not sure if there was anything in the police databases the sins didn't have access to.

"I know… officially, Liz died due to an overdose. That the tox screens all back it up. I'm not saying that's not how she died."

It was like a stroke of clarity washed over me. One of my missing pieces finally clicking into place as I studied the difficulty the blonde had at forming the right words. The reason why he would be so keen on investigating the issue himself.

"You think she was murdered." the words left me before I could stop them. And the sudden corresponding unease on Meliodas' face as his eyes met mine again was all I needed to confirm my suspicions.

That confirmation didn't stop him from voicing it though, "I don't think she was murdered."

I know she was…

And here I thought I was getting answers.

Again, I'm reminded by just how much Meliodas - and the sins in general, kept close to the vest. And this was a whole other layer. By telling me this, Meliodas was telling me he had evidence that contradicted the coroner's report. Or… at least brought some of it into question.

But I was having a hard time putting it all together. Sure, there had been some missing information in the report, and yes, there had been plenty of question marks around the investigation… but nothing immediately jumped out at me as being… off.

Except...

The fact that the cops had pulled Meliodas into questioning in the first place. There had to be a reason why the investigating officers suspected someone else was involved - a former decorated soldier boyfriend no less.

"What are you thinking about over there?"

Meliodas' voice brought me out of my thoughts and I realized I had zoned completely out. I shook my head, not quite ready to voice anything I wasn't sure of yet, "Why?" I asked him, trying to get back on track, "Why do you think she was murdered? Show me your proof."

Meliodas' shoulders slumped slightly and I could see the hurt in his face, but I couldn't let that stop our progress, "I'm a detective Meliodas. I don't doubt your intuition, but I need more than that. If we're going to figure out who did this, I need something solid to go on."

Suddenly, the hurt in his features was gone, replaced with a flash of hopeful surprise.

It was only then that I realized what I'd said.

But I couldn't bring myself to correct the statement either. It wasn't like I didn't believe him. Something definitely felt weird about the whole thing. Something scratching at the back of my mind, but I needed more to go on. At the very least, being on his side meant he'd be more forthcoming with answers, right?

Somewhere I could just feel Howzer judging me, telling me I was too compromised.

Maybe I was.

"To start with," Meliodas offered, "Liz never did drugs - of any kind. She'd even refuse pain killers if at all possible."

I shook my head, "That's not proof. You said she'd been working later and later before she passed. There is no way you could possibly prove she wasn't using."

It looked like he was going to take offense to the statement, but my expectant gaze made him reign it in, "How about a police cover-up? Is that proof enough?"

That had my brow raising. This was starting to sound like another rabbit hole. But I'd told him I'd hear him out.

He sighed again, this time, a mixture of frustration and guilt clouding his face, "You said to me, when you first had me in that interrogation room… that I'd put three officers in the hospital…"

That's right. The poster I'd linked him to… But he'd denied it, not that I believed him back then. "Did you?"

"Yes." He answered truthfully. "The thing is… I only really started any of this… because they made it clear to me when they interrogated me that they had reason to believe her death wasn't an accident. Then they turn around and rule her death as an accidental overdose and the case is closed tighter than fort-knox." He shook his head, "If they hadn't… I probably wouldn't have pushed as hard. I wouldn't have started investigating on my own."

"So, you started looking into the case."

He nodded, "I started looking into everything. Found out that the assignment Liz was working on was some sort of internal affairs investigation into the sudden death of a couple of soldiers - old friends of hers. I was shocked! She starts looking into three other spontaneous deaths and ends up dead a few months later? There was no way that was a coincidence."

I agreed. If I had known something like that, my first move would have been looking into what she'd been investigating. But I didn't see anything in the case files that even remotely referenced anything like that.

"Obviously, I took that info to the cops."

"And?"

"And they told me they would look into it and sent me on my way. Nothing else. No follow-ups, no contact, nothing. I figured out real quick that the justice system wasn't on my side on this."

I could see exactly where he was going with this. This was the turning point. How a decorated soldier became the boss of a gang.

"What about the cops? What happened?"

"I found out about what they had done and… I lost it." He ran a hand through his hair. "Usually I had Ban or King there to reign me in or at least talk some sense into me when I got like that but… I had purposely sent the two off on something else. Can't even tell you what it was so it must of been bullshit. Something to distract them enough not to follow me."

"It worked though?"

"It worked. Both of them weren't very convinced by whatever I had given them, but they went anyway." He laughed lightly. "Probably knew from the start what I was doing. The fuckers showed up eventually. Stopped me before I…" he swallowed thickly. "Before I really did some damage."

A shudder went down my spine. Meliodas put three men in the hospital and didn't consider that damage?

"What happened?" I pushed.

"They dragged my ass out of there before the police showed up. Missed the witness though. Hence the sketch of me in the precinct. And Ban's always had more of a face in the underworld than me. Simply because he doesn't give two shits if people know about him." He shifted, eyeing me for a second before looking away. "We're lucky no one's identified King yet. That'd really put a damper on things."

Interesting information, but not what I wanted. Maybe at one time, but not now. "I mean the officers." I leaned closer, trying to catch those green eyes. "What did they do?"

What was so horrible that you almost beat three men to death?

He caught my gaze and watched me, unsure again, despite how far we'd already come. Was it because I was one of them? Because I was a cop? "They had been members of the force, not even involved in Liz' case." He explained solemnly. "It took me years - with the help of every Sin - but I finally found out they were responsible for tampering with the case and evidence. It was by some miracle we found part of the original files. Part of the Autopsy report that indicated that Liz had probably been in an altercation before she'd died."

Now that was the kind of evidence I was looking for. Even though I hated the idea that someone on the force would do something like that.

"That wasn't all, though. Somehow they'd had enough pull to sway the case the way they wanted it to go. Eventually, it'd been written off as nothing more than an accident."

"How'd you figure out it was the three officers and not the ones on the case?"

He scoffed, "Followed the money."

Money?

"After all the investigating… after the way they'd raked me over the coals… I knew this couldn't just be an accident. Eventually, we found the common denominator. The three officers responsible for tampering with the case all received a large sum of money around the same time. It was all written off. If I had been looking on my own, I never would have figured it out."

But… That incident… it was only a few months ago, "It took that long?" I found myself whispering.

He nodded. "When I first started digging five years ago… I wasn't really sure what to look for and, well, I was angry. That anger made it difficult to successfully pull off anything I had managed to find and use correctly."

A small smile crossed his lips.

"And I did a lot of damage on my own." He admitted. "Ban could only help so much, ya know?"

"So you found Ban, first?" I blinked at the information. It really shouldn't have been a surprise given how close the two of them were.

Meliodas hummed. "Yeah. Him and then King. That's when we really started making some headway. But, like I said, I had made a mess of things. And it's difficult to get your footing in the underworld even if you do follow through on everything correctly."

He continued to give me a very brief overview of the Sins. Nothing on circumstances of finding them or any details whatsoever. Just the order he met everyone in.

Ban. King. Diane. Merlin. Gowther. Escanor.

Each of them had a different part in this story. They had to, or they simply wouldn't be here. But Meliodas wasn't telling it. Wouldn't budge when I gently prodded. Told me that it wasn't until they had all known each other for a few months that they actually became a real team with a name.

"That's how all of this began for me." He said with finality. The end of his story. "And how I started the sins."

Meliodas drank as I sat in silence, processing.

It was a hell of a story. Even with only his piece to it, that was plenty. It explained so much about how he got here. Why he was the way he was. But there was still one small bit of information that was bugging me. And since I had gotten him on an honesty kick, I figured now was the time to ask.

"How does your brother fit into all of this?" I played my hand.

Meliodas' gaze hardened and I could tell he was fighting the urge to tell me off, "He doesn't." He spat, then took a breath to calm himself when seeing the upturn of my brow, "Estarossa's just another informant. A willing informant, but an informant nonetheless."

"One with ties to the criminal underworld?"

He nodded, "I told you that my old man had already corrupted the two of them early on. Estarossa just… took the family business to the next level."

"Do you think he's involved in any of this?"

The thought seemed to repulse him as he screwed up his nose, "No. He may associate and make bank off of the scum of the earth, and I'll be the first to admit that he's cold and calculating. With no capacity for guilt, empathy, or remorse on the best of days." Meliodas said this with a roll of his eyes, "But I've been at this for a while. I'd know if he were involved."

I had a hard time suddenly agreeing. That description didn't exactly give me a lot of confidence in Estarossa's innocence. But, it was also hard to deny that if he had been involved, something would have popped up... Right?

"And the others? What stake do they have in all of this?" I tried again. More directly this time.

Meliodas shook his head, "It's not my place to tell you their stories. If you want that answer, you'll ask them."

I sighed. Right. Because that would ever actually happen.

"I'll… make the recommendation that they talk to you."

I couldn't help the surprise that entered my expression as I found Meliodas watching me.

"I won't make them talk," he continued, "but… it would help your case if I put in a good word."

I nodded, feeling more hopeful. If anyone's word meant anything to the rest of the sins, it was Meliodas'. Maybe there was a chance for me to figure this all out after all.

"But after this, you'll have to make a choice."

"A choice?" My features pinched together in confusion. What was he talking about?

"Once you learn about everything. There won't be any room to be wishy-washy anymore. You'll either be with us, or - or our deal ends." He shrugged, his words were resolute despite the disappointment in his tone. Disappointment I wasn't sure he meant for me to hear with the way he cleared his throat again.

I guess that was fair, though. I couldn't expect them to reveal their pasts to me and not expect to have to give something in return. But the way he said it… made me think he didn't believe I'd want to stay when I learned the truth.

"Of course, none of this means that I'm not pissed," he muttered with a downturn of his lips. "You know that, right?"

It was such a strange sudden combination of emotions in his voice. He'd stripped himself emotionally bare for me. And that insecurity was still ever present in his voice. But now he sounded annoyed too. Maybe to cover up just how naked he really felt.

"You went back on your word," he finished, and the annoyance was less forced.

I wanted so bad to hit him with the technicalities of everything. How not once had I given up his information. How everyone was still safe. But I didn't. It wouldn't have mattered. And it would have outed myself more than I wanted to. Admitting that I had contacted Howzer twice now.

"If that's how you'd like to see it, fine." My tone came off more relenting than I would have liked. The truth was, I was tired of trying to prove my motivations to them.

To him.

"But, I was running out of options. If I don't show up in the next two weeks with some sort of evidence that exonerates you in any of this… My word will mean absolutely nothing. Not only am I going to lose my job, but you'll be arrested."

There it was. The truth. Cold, hard, no-nonsense.

Realization slowly sank into Meliodas' gaze as he watched me. Like he finally understood my stake in all of this.

I wasn't so different than the rest of them. We all had our reasons for being here - maybe soon… I would be able to put it all together and understand what those reasons were.

As for tonight, though, I couldn't absorb anything else. I needed some time to process everything Meliodas had told me. Give my heart and mind some time to reconcile their differences so that I could make rational decisions.

My mug was long empty, but that didn't stop me from picking it up to give my fingers something to do while I thought about what I wanted to say. All I really wanted was to curl up and cry - scream until my voice gave out.

But, instead I settled on what I felt was the most prominent thought in my head, "I don't think anything less of you, knowing the truth." In fact there was a part of me that knew I could never truly blame him for his actions after this. He was trying to find justice where the justice system had failed him. Where people like me… had failed him.

Surely… if the tables were turned… I may very well have done the same thing.

I stood from the bar table, taking both of our empty mugs with me. I needed to get away from all the emotions before I started losing my head.

The blonde's lips turned up in a rueful grin as he chuckled humorlessly to himself, keeping his eyes fixated on the table, "Doesn't really mean much if you didn't think very much of me to begin with."

Finally, he turned his eyes up to me. They were guarded again, his true emotions safely hidden away behind a mask of ease and humor. But now I could see the chinks in his armor. I could see through him. There was a deep sadness in those words, and I could tell he honestly believed what he was saying.

And that's where he had it oh so wrong. I did a lot of things on impulse, sure. But I'd come here for a reason. That reason may have morphed over time… but one thing had always stayed the same. From the very beginning.

I felt my body softened, eyes dancing over him as I tried to put that sentiment into words. Instead, I leaned in, placing a soft kiss on his cheek.

When I pulled away, I could feel my face burning, and saw the mild shock on Meliodas' face as I went to leave.

"I never said I didn't think much of you."

I maintained eye contact for only a few moments before slipping away. Up the stairs, into my room and shutting the door. My feet didn't stop moving until I collapsed face first down into my bed.

Exhaustion washed over me, pulling me into sleep within minutes.

Dom: *Sits contentedly with a sketch pad in her lap as she scribled away, her tongue hanging out as she focused intently on her art*

Luv: *pokes her head in to the room* Whatcha doing?

Dom: LUV! UHHH…. *Closes her sketchbook quickly, tucking it behind her* NOTHING. Nothing AT ALL.

Luv: Uhhhhh *steps into the room and starts circling the dom skeptically* You sure about that?

Dom: YUP! *Spins around to follow along with her as she circled her* I have nothing suspicious or otherwise incriminating in my possession.

Luv: *gives a defeated huff * Fine fine… Next time on Don't Trust Me: With one story out of the way, Elizabeth is now faced with the motives behind each of the sins. What made them into the people they are today. Things aren't as black and white as she may have first assumed. How will she deal with the truth behind the supposedly deadliest gang in the city?

Dom: *sneaks a peak at Luv walking away before opening her sketchbook back to the page of smutty and fluffy doodles of characters she really shouldn't be shipping but fuck it.*

Luv: *attempts to sneak back in the room. She does a badass roll and makes a grab for the sketchbook*

Dom: *Swings away trying desperately to keep it out of her reach as she runs away* NNOOOOOOO MY OTP! NO ONE SHALL SEE IT! *Dashes out of the room with Luv on her heals* GOOD BYE READERS!