I sighed and nervously tapped my foot on the floor. Dylan was sitting next to me, flipping through papers. Luckily, I was allowed to wear what I wanted. I wore my black Don't Hate Mecrop tee, heavy destroyed white skinny jeans, red peep toe heels, black 3.1 Phillip Lim Woven Lattice Belt, red Ben-Amun coral seed beads multi row necklace with coins, black knot tassle earrings, and white beanie hat that sat at the back of my head so my curled hair still flowed out. On my hands were my black fishnet gloves. I had red lipstain on and red NASH nail polish along with black, smoky eyeshadow and white eyeliner. (whole thing on profile)

Dylan put his hand on my knee and gave me a stern look. I stopped tapping my foot and he removed his hand to rifle through his papers again. "This should begin soon. All our people are here. We're just waiting on William,"

I bit my lip. "Are you sure this will get me out? If it was enough, I'd be out already without trial,"

"Procedure," he said, stacking his papers.

I leaned back in my seat. "You don't have any faith in yourself, do you?"

Dylan shrugged. "Just nervous, that's all," he turned a small smirk at me. "I heard you might be pregnant,"

I stiffened and looked at him, my eyes hard and my lips pressed hard together. "Who told you that?" I tried to go for innocent but... it didn't quite work.

Dylan laughed. "Jason found a used pregnancy test in the trash can. Shannon told him."

I rolled my eyes. "I swear, those two..."

Dylan hesitated. "So, are you?"

I sighed and shook my head. "No. Negative. I never believed I was and I have no symptoms either. Shannon was just being weird but... I just wanted to make sure, you know?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Lissa is," I looked up at him and saw him smiling. "We're gonna get married too,"

I hugged him. "That's wonderful, Dylan! I'm so happy for you!" I pulled away. "It is yours, isn't it?"

He chuckled. "Yeah, it is. Should be, at least," His eyes widened. "Oh! I've been meaning to tell you! Val is due in two weeks,"

I smiled. "Hopefully, I'm out to be there for her,"

"You will be,"

We looked behind us into the pews and saw Fang and Ella standing there in the front row. I stood and lunged myself at them, engulfing them in a giant hug. "You're here!" I almost squealed.

Fang buried his face in my hair as Ella pulled back to look at me. "We finally get to see you again," she smiled at me, her eyes watery.

Fang held my tighter. "I missed you,"

"I missed you too. Both of you- all of you!" I gently peeled myself away from Fang's grip. "We should be starting soon so I have to behave,"

He looked at what I was wearing. "As stylish as I remember." he murmured. Fang held my hands in his. "Max, you have to know we tried everything to get to you-"

"I know. And I love you all so much for trying," I sighed. "But you have to sit down now,"

They nodded and walked off. But before that, Fang quickly spun back at me and grabbed me into a hug, his mouth at my ear. "I love you, Max,"

I held him back just as tightly. "Love you too,"

Fang kissed my cheek as he pulled away and I sat down in my seat.

The doors opened and we all turned to see Officer Varner stumbling in, holding his arm. His hand was covered in blood as he tried to keep his wound closed.

"He ran," He ground out between his teeth, pain evident on his face. "When he found out what this trial was for, he got me and ran," He panted and leaned against a pew in the back.

I looked back at the judge to see her reaction. She was shocked. "Do you think other guards can catch him?"

Varner shook his head. "No. They don't know his tricks. Only one person does," Varner looked at me with sad eyes. "Max, I am so sorry. I didn't know about it,"

I raised my eyebrow. "You're his best friend- you should have known or at least been able to find out,"

"I didn't want to believe it. Please, Max, I'm really sorry. I thought a girl like you would change him." He let a small smile flitter onto his face. "Guess I was wrong. Judge Halpert, let Max find him. She'll be able to,"

"She's a felon-"

"William stabbed a fucking cop! Max was framed for the drugs! You can trust her- she's a goddamn choir teacher!" Varner yelled, sliding into the pew seat. "Trust me on this: if you don't let Max find him, he'll be gone forever,"

The judge looked at me. She sighed. "Baliff, escort Max out the courthouse. It's like a maze out in the halls,"

I stood up. "Not necessary, ma'am. I'll figure it out." I smiled. "You can count on me,"

I started walking out of the courtroom and stopped at the door to look back at the judge. "I'll be back soon, I promise. And William will be with me," I held my hand out to Varner and he placed his handcuffs in my palm, the blood staining the metal a faded red.

"You better make it back, Max," Varner murmured, wincing from his arm.

I nodded. "Get Varner a doctor immediately," I murmured to a woman to my left. She ran out with her cellphone open.

-!-

I ran down the halls of the courthouse, skidding in my heels around corners to get closer and closer to the entrance. A security guard saw me running and tried to get in my way. He bent his knees and held his arms out like he was ready for me to tackle him. I jumped over him and past the checkpoint. I ran out the door.

I stopped outside the door and slowed my breathing, looking around on one side of the sidewalk and then the other. I ran to the left, since Varner was stabbed on his right arm. Will probably ran back the way the came and was walking nearest the buildings.

As I rounded a corner, I was pulled into an alley, my mouth covered, and slammed against a wall, farther in. I looked up and saw William scowling down at me.

"Why do you insist on wearing heels? You know you can't walk in them." William noted, sniffing as he looked to the side toward the road.

I scowled and stood straighter. "No, Will, I can walk in heels. I just couldn't walk before since you kept trying to break my legs,"

He smiled sardonically. "And even then, you came back to me,"

"As if I wanted to be there. You just showed up and I couldn't hide out long enough without a search party after my tail." I took a step away from the wall. "Come on, Will, it's time to go."

He laughed. "Yeah, right. As if I'd go with you to get arrested!"

"You fucking took me from my family. Believe me; if it were up to me, you'd be dead right now,"

He smiled and shook his head. "I'm loving this new fire inside you. I guess little lover boy brought your spirit back when he returned from New York."

I rolled my eyes. "Will, you have no right to pry into my life. Now cooperate or you're getting cuffed,"

"Kinky. I like it," he took a step closer and I backed up into the wall to maintain the distance. He laughed again. "Oh, Maxie, Maxie, Maxie, when are you ever going to learn?" He lunged forward and grabbed my neck, pulling my head forward and slamming it back in my surprise. I felt and heard either my skull or the wall behind me crack. I didn't make a noise but I did wince from the impact. "I own you. And Varner is going to tell the judge that you ran off without looking for me. Resisting arrest and abstructing justice, I believe the terms are called?"

I growled at him and punched him in the stomach. "You're a sick individual," William barely flinched at the contact of my fist to his gut.

He took his other hand to brush his fingers through the loose hair in front of my face. "And don't I know it?" Using that same hand, he withdrew it and swung that arm past my face only to have his elbow collide with my jaw. My head snapped to the side from the hit.

I kept my head still so I could see straight as he lifted his nose to the spot under my ear. "You smell heavenly. Is that perfume I detect?"

I lifted my arms, crossed, and shoved them against his chest, making his body lean back from the force. "No. And keep your hands off me." I jerked my knee up and hit him in his groin. He doubled over, letting me go. I slid to the side, closer to the road than the dead end, pulling the handcuffs out from my back pocket. "It's time, Will." I opened one of the cuffs to snap it onto his wrist when he stood, wobbling.

He was holding a pistol, aimed at my head. It definitely made me freeze: Will was a good shot- we had gone to shooting ranges together before. He laughed, blood rushing to his face making it bright red. It added the insanity to his appearance, not just his mind. "C'mon, Maxie. You know me better than that. Probably the only one who knows me at all. I couldn't let you get me, and I definitely couldn't let you get away- not again." He cocked the gun, finger on the trigger.

I smirked. "I do know you, Will, you're right about that. But here's the thing: you don't know me. Not at all," I ran at him, the gunshot sounding through the air.

That was it...

Okay, who's fucking pissed at me right now? Either for the super long wait or because of this cliffhanger? (And knowing me, I probably won't update for a LONG time so this will be with you all for an extremely long time!)

I have no excuse this time but I only ask for everyone's forgiveness. I haven't exactly been in any writing mood for this story and I didn't want to fuck it up. I'm really glad that I'm still getting alerts, favorites, and comments so far into this story and this journey. Truly, I'm honored to have great fans like you guys and I'm sorry for having taken advantage of it. I promise to be better about it. Which is why, from now on, with my new stories, I am going to have my notebook filled with chapters all the way unti lthe end before even typing it all up or uploading. I want to have everything ready and set before I decide to commit to them. This story, sadly, is almost over. I think only two chapters after this...

And I've come up with a couple ideas for new stories and new ways to keep everyone updated. I have a Twitter account but I never use it. This could be a good excuse to: AmyKatherine914. Tweet me anytime to encourage me or bitch me out for not updating. Even give me suggestions! I also have a deviantART now: AmyKatherine914. And, finally, my e-mail is still there: AmyKatherine914 gmail . com

I know, I'm not original. But I want to keep these names the same for everyone since it'll make finding me easier. So, what I'm going to do now, with my profile, is reconstruct it. I'm going to fix up my information, get rid of those little "add to your profile if..." stuff and keep and update links for all my stories. THEN, I am going to go through all those stories and fix those up, get rid of the crap, add in the deliciousness. I created a Polyvore account which, for the unfamiliar, is a site where you can create your own interior design options, outfits, etc. I'm mainly going to make my characters' clothes on there, which is where Max's most recent outfit it. I'll link it on my profile once the reconstruction is finished.

I love all of you and appreciate you all staying with this. I PROMISE to update tomorrow! I can't just leave it the way it ended for too long. Not just for you guys but for me: I'll most likely forget the ending I have in mind, hahaha

Anyway, I hope you enjoy it and I hope all of you like how this story is going. I'm praying that everyone is in character. I know Max is: only she would lunge at a man with perfect aim, haha.

Love You All,

~AmyKatherine