Coneflower's Author Note: I had this idea, but thought it would be great to have a co-author for it, so I asked emptyvoices and she agreed. I'll be writing from our OFC's perspective and emptyvoices will be writing from Lisa's perspective, but we'll also be sharing chapters. Thank you to emptyvoices for going into this project with me!

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

His face was everywhere, glaring maliciously at her. She had walked so gullibly into the trap he had set for her. Once she was in his clutches, there was no turning back. No recuperating from what he'd so brutally stolen from her.

"Tess," an all too familiar voice said from behind her. She paid no mind to it as she stared absently out the second story window of her New England home. Tess and her husband, Tom had purchased it five years ago in hopes of fixing it up and starting a family after the refurbishing was done. Now, those dreams were a distant memory as that day would never come.

"Tess, look at me!"

A hand encircling her arm suddenly spinning her around, and she gazed darkly into the soft blue eyes of her sister. "What do you want?" she asked her harshly.

Bree appeared to be almost in tears. "You need to get out of this room. You can't stay in here forever expecting Tom to walk through the door."

Tess' eyes narrowed even more, and she violently jerked her arm from her sister's grasp.

"You know better than anyone Bree," she yelled, pain contorting her tired features, "that I'm not expecting Tom to walk through that door! He's gone, and it's my fault!"

Bree shook her head, pleadingly. "You couldn't help what you were being forced to do."

Tess glared hotly at her for moment then turned sharply back to the window, wrapping her arms across her chest. "I thought by obeying the demands that I was saving Tom. Instead, I sealed his fate. I killed him." Her fingernails dug into her upper arms as she reveled in the affliction of her own flesh. It felt better to feel the physical pain she could inflict on herself without having to think about what she had lost.

"You didn't know."

"I shouldn't have been so weak," Tess continued to speak. "I probably would be dead right now, but at least I wouldn't be in pain."

Bree nibbled her bottom lip nervously before saying, "David Halliway called from Homeland Security. He wanted to inform you that Jackson Rippner was released yesterday."

At the sound of Rippner's name, Tess whirled around nearly knocking her sister off balance. Her face filled with fury as she clenched her fists as if they were about to swing out at her sister at any moment. "They did WHAT?"

Bree stepped back, her hands up ready to defend herself if Tess were to lash out. "The information Rippner could provide was too important to them to simply pass up. He wouldn't comply under simply interrogation, so they struck a deal with him for immunity since he didn't actually commit the Keefe assassination."

Tess' eyes were flamed with anger as she pushed passed Bree, her hands flailing dramatically. "Well, damn the government to hell! Let's set a murderer free so he can go out there and do it again!" She threw the bedroom door open with such force the knob dented the cream-colored wall behind it.

Tess' feet pounded hard on the wooden steps as Bree followed her sister down the stairs at a safe distance. Tess made a beeline for the computer desk in the living room, and turned the machine on. She typed in the Map Quest web link then hastily got directions to the Lux Atlantic in Miami. A map appeared on the monitor and she immediately printed it out.

"What are you going to do?" Bree asked shakily as she watched Tess' effortless moves on the computer.

Tess didn't answer until the map was fully printed. She snatched up the paper and stood up face to face with Bree. "I'm going to do what I've should of done ever since I buried Tom."