It was now the middle of the night and Aaron wasn't sure what night. Aaron had gone to sleep soon after leaving his son on the hotel room floor. He was fucking exhausted, if he was telling the truth. He knew there was nothing the kids could do with the tapes, even if they made copies the police couldn't trace them to Aaron. The Fitzpatricks would probably trace them to Aaron but he would get the fuck out of town before that happened. Aaron was something of a novice when it came to crime, but he had always had a criminal's heart. He was just "born bad," as his dad used to say. Like that asshole was any better. Logan on the other hand was soft because his mother was soft on him. If Aaron could have just got Lynn out of the picture sooner, he and Logan could have been partners in crime... But that fucking bitch Veronica-she was the reason his son was being like this. Logan had never gone through his things before or asked even a single question. Where's Mom? Why did she leave? What do you do for a living, really? None of that shit. Aaron knew Logan's rich friends were a bad influence. They had always had everything handed to them and they thought any other way of life wasn't worth living. It's not like Logan had it so bad… Hell, he had it a lot fucking better than Aaron did at his age. Logan had had two jobs in his whole fucking life, one of which was delivering the fucking newspaper.

Aaron rolled out of bed and decided to take a shower. Aaron liked looking presentable. Ten minutes later, he was walking back out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist when he realized he wasn't alone.

"I hope it's alright. I stole Logan's key," the ridiculously attractive young blonde said to Aaron.

"Lilly. Didn't expect you back so soon. Especially when Logan and I are kind of on the outs." To put it mildly…

"I don't care about Logan."

"You helped him steal my property."

"Guilty. I'm always up for a little excitement."

"I need to get dressed."

"I'll come with you." Aaron raised an eyebrow at Lilly.

"Stay put, honey," he told her. "I'll be right back."

After Aaron disappeared, Lilly nervously shuffled her weight from foot to foot and then forced herself to stop. You're Lilly fucking Kane. You don't get nervous. After all, her little brother was just outside the suite door, trying not to look suspicious as he lingered around. Veronica and Logan probably wouldn't have approved of their plan, but the Kanes had to do something… Lilly had always been something of a loose cannon and she was converting Duncan more and more by the second.

Aaron returned moments later, dressed to the nines. "You look great, Mr. Echolls."

"You too, Lilly. Call me Aaron."

"Right. Aaron." She smiled at him with all the flirtiness she could muster, which was a lot of damn flirtiness. She was wearing a low cut red dress. She was still Lilly Kane after all.

"Why don't you tell me what you're really doing here, girl," Aaron said with barely contained lustful menace.

"I just wanted to talk. About you, about what you do. I'm thinking about getting into the business-don't you think I've got what it takes?"

"Are you fucking with me, Lilly? You think I won't fuck with you back?"

"Oh, I'm counting on it…"

He moved toward her slowly, taking one of her hands in his. Lilly looked at him quizzically. "You want to know what I do, Lilly? I take care of bad people who need taking care of. Are you a bad person, Lilly?"

"No, Aaron, I'm a great person."

"Well then, I guess you have nothing to worry about. Your friend Veronica on the other hand… She just can't seem to mind her own business, Lilly."

"You can't hurt Veronica," Lilly said immediately, for a second dropping any and all pretense. "Her dad would kill you with his bare hands."

"I am just terrified of Keith Mars, Lilly, let me tell you." The way he kept saying her name was creeping her out but she tried not to let on.

"Are you terrified of anyone, Aaron?"

"I was scared of my dad but I took care of that a long time ago."

"Did you kill your father?"

"God, you're ballsy. What's it to you?"

"Nothing, just you might want to start treating Logan better before he murders you."

Aaron laughed. "That boy doesn't have it in him."

"Like that's a bad thing…?"

"Hell yeah, it fucking is. You've got to be willing to take what you want, when you want it, no matter who gets in the way. You're like that, Lilly."

"I know."

"So what do you want?"

"Obviously, I want you."

"You wearing a wire or something?" Lilly shook her head impassively. "But you don't mind if I check?" Aaron yanked down the top of Lilly's dress and started kissing her all over.

"I mean it, Aaron," Lilly said breathlessly, rather enjoying herself in spite of herself. "If you keep treating Logan like dog shit he might one day even cut your hand off or something."

Aaron roughly shoved Lilly away from him and glared at her, his eyes full of sudden hate. "The fuck do you think you're doing, bitch?"

888888888888888

Logan and Veronica still sat at the Mars kitchen table waiting for Keith to call or return. Almost unconsciously, Veronica reached out and took Logan's hand in hers. If they had more normal lives, maybe he would ask her to the junior prom. Hell, maybe he still would but they had to get through this first. Logan's face was so unreadable and Veronica couldn't even imagine how he was feeling. She could barely get him to speak.

"I'm sorry about him-about all this."

"You can say his name, Veronica. Aaron's not Voldemort."

"Isn't he? I'm sorry, I know he's your dad…" Veronica had never apologized so much in her life. She wasn't like Logan that way.

"No. I hate him too." And they sat in silence some more.

Meanwhile, at the Neptune Grand:

"Are you trying to get me to hurt you?" Aaron's voice was like ice and fire at the same time.

"You're not going to hurt me."

"Have you always been this stupid?"

"Just because I'm not afraid of you doesn't make me stupid." And then Lilly actually winked at him.

"You…" Aaron approached her again and squeezed her neck with one of his hands.

"People know I'm here, Aaron," Lilly's nerves were gone and she was flying on pure adrenaline. It didn't feel like fear; it felt like excitement.

"I don't care." But he released his grip on her neck.

"They're right outside. And armed. And I'm on the security camera walking in. You gonna kill all of us and destroy the evidence? Or are you going to keep the evidence like we all know you like to do."

"Lilly. I never answered you before. You do have what it takes for the job."

"I know."

"It's a shame you're too arrogant to go all the way."

"Takes one to know one. And I guess we're at a standstill. Give me what I want and I leave."

"You think you can just walk out of here and I'll never come after you."

"People will know it was you, don't you get it? My family is the most important family in this town. My dad could buy any judge if he wanted to. You will never get away with it no matter how hard you try."

"So you think you're untouchable?"

"I know I am."

"You're such a kid."

"Be that as it may, I am still not stupid. Keith Mars is going to the cops about you right now."

"What are you telling me that for?"

"So you know I'm kind of on your side. I just want to know who'd you kill and dismember? C'mon, it's gotta be somebody special if you're still holding on to them like this."

"I think you know. And that's all I'll say."

"That's not enough for me." The two adversaries had both remained eerily calm throughout the entire exchange. Aaron and Lilly really were a match made in something.

"Well that's all you'll fucking get; I don't know what to tell you."

"You're going down, Echolls. And I'm just here to make sure you do."

"How's that?"

"Because I know the cops are on their way. I'm just here to distract you. I know my friend's outside with a gun aimed at your door. I know your boss'll kill you if the cops don't get you first."

"What's in this for you?"

"I'm just enjoying myself."

"Well that's about to stop." Aaron pulled his gun and aimed it at Lilly's heart. She just laughed, to his utter exasperation and disbelief. "You really don't care if you live or die do you, you crazy bitch?"

"I really don't care about a lot of things. So what are your plans? Shoot me right here and now." It was not quite a question, not quite a statement.

"I'm thinking about it. Just wondering if you're lying about having a man outside."

"I'm not."

"Well then, who is it? Or who are they? Don't tell me it's Logan. 'Cause I've got news for you, despite what you may think, Logan will never shoot me."

Lilly scoffed. "Like I'd bring Logan as backup. He's broken. You broke him." Lilly paused and licked her lips. "Would you shoot Logan?"

"Logan is the last person alive I would want to shoot," Aaron answered immediately.

"Right, sure, you just go around beating his brains out. So is there like a ten percent chance that you would shoot him, then?" Lilly took Aaron's lack of response to mean an affirmative. He silently fumed. Aaron had never seen anyone so calm with a gun pointed at them before.

"There's like a ninety percent chance that I'm going to shoot you."

"Well, be my guest but my brother will blow your motherfucking brains out."

"You've got Duncan outside? You think I'm scared of Logan's little high school buddy? He's no match for his big sister."

"He knows how to shoot. I'm guessing he's even better than you. My dad paid for the best instructor in Southern California. And I know you, Aaron. I know that no matter what, you don't want to die. If Hell is real, obviously you're going there. Shit, maybe I am too."

"So, what, your brother's just waiting for me to shoot you so he can charge in firing."

"No, he's waiting for my signal."

"Which is…?"

"If I told you that, it'd ruin all the fun. By the way, if you're planning on shooting to kill, I'd ask that you tell me whose hand that is so I can go to sleep happy."

"You have my word."

"Good. I'm sure it's golden. And if you're not planning on shooting to kill, just know that I'll be dancing on your grave. Or visiting you in prison with bells on. Whichever you prefer."

"You are making it really hard for me not to kill you."

"I know. But you kind of want to sleep with me too, huh? You've wanted to sleep with me since I was thirteen years old."

"A lot of guys have, I'm sure."

"It's a gift." The cops would be there soon, Lilly guessed, even if she didn't really know for sure they were coming. Duncan could be there in a second but Donut had never really been part of the plan—he just thought he was. He probably thought the police should have been there by now. Lilly was the master of half-truths. And she was enjoying fucking with Aaron Echolls so much. She felt invincible. Lilly pursed her lips, shrugged her shoulders, and looked Aaron directly in the eye. "Well, Mr. Echolls, what are you going to do?"