Author's Note 1: Apparently I lost a bunch of reviewers…*grimace*. I guess the whole Gory Sorokin as Veronica's husband kinda put people off. What can I say? But this is still LoVe story (with a dash of MaDi), don't worry. Thank you so much to those who are still reading and reviewing (all six of you, heee…), you don't know how much it means to me and I really appreciate it. The important thing is that I have fun writing this fic. And I hope you are having fun too reading it.

Author's Note 2: I feel like I messed up. I didn't do a research to distinguish between US Army and US Marines. Being a non-American, I didn't know the difference. I apologized for any mistake. The point is, Logan was trained in combats and then recruited by a government agency for his expertise. Also, I'm not familiar with how government/bureaucrat works in USA. For the sake of the fic, please just go with it.

Author's Note 3: I just realized that I forgot to put the dialogue in italic for the flashback in the last chapter. Bah! Sorry about that… Btw, don't get confused with flashbacks in this story. I usually treat flashbacks as scenes so don't be confused with sudden change of POV.

Le Verrier

Logan opened his eyes and stared to the ceiling. For a moment he didn't recognize the room. It wasn't until he remembered that last night he was crashing at Dick's Penthouse he sat up and wiped a tear from the corner of his eyes.

Meeting Veronica last night made his heart ache.

He missed her so much. Seeing her when she was in New York wearing that wig wasn't a memory that he wanted to preserve, or seeing her crying at the cemetery… But last night, outside that restaurant, she was wearing that cocktail dress, looking beautiful as ever… And then he hugged her and he could smell her perfume…

"Promises? That's the name of my perfume…" She said a decade ago.

It was a bittersweet reunion for both of them.

Her scent still lingered in his brain. And he could still feel her warm body against him when they were hugging. He wanted more, so much more… He wanted to kiss her so bad. It was strange to still be familiar with someone's scent and body even though they haven't seen each other for a decade.

A decade was ten years… but it still felt like yesterday when he held her in his arms, in that small apartment, asleep in that couch, not really thinking what just happened few hours before in The Grand's rooftop.

Flashback

Logan remembered that he stared at sleeping Veronica in his arms, and realized how much he loved her. He loved her so much; it made his heart in pain. He saw dry tears on her cheek, and he realized that she was broken hearted with the fact that her dad might be dead. If Keith Mars was dead, then she would be alone… Logan was in turmoil between staying beside her forever, and leaving because he didn't want to hurt her. He thought at the time that he would hurt her eventually. Aaron's DNA was much too strong in his body.

He carried her to her bed, and he wanted to snuggle with her, just to be next to her. But seeing her face made him cry. He kissed her temple and then her lips, because she looked like a goddamn Sleeping Beauty. He sat for a while on the edge of her water bed, and buried his face to his hands. He was too damn tired. Veronica was an orphan, just like him. Sometimes Logan felt that Neptunians children were cursed… They weren't allowed happiness.

And then he was thinking about Dick and Mac. Dick and Mac who were bind together by Cassidy. When Cassidy asked whether there was a reason not to jumped, he didn't answer. How the hell he could face them again?

He looked at the sleeping Veronica and stroked her hair. He cried a little bit. "I love you, Veronica."

Present

He wiped another tear from the corner of his eyes. I still love her after all these years… How pathetic that sounds? He thought bitterly.

She was obviously had move on from him, by marrying Don fucking Lamb, and then to a Russian mob Gorya Sorokin. When Patricia told him over the phone that she was married to a mob, it took a great strength not to pick up a gun and shoot blindly to the street. Not that he blamed her for moving on; he didn't expect her to be pining over him for a decade. Unlike him…

He sighed and climbed down the bed and walked nto the bathroom to have a shower.

Mars Residence

Darrell walked into the kitchen, yawned very widely, and greeted his parents, "Good morning." Keith and Alicia were sitting at the kitchen table, eating breakfast.

"Morning, sweetheart." Alicia greeted and kissed his son. "Care for some pancakes?"

"Hell yeah."

"Language, son." Keith commented while reading newspaper.

"Oh dearest mother: I would love to have some of your delicious mix of sugar, eggs, flour, and milk batter for my breakfast because it's the most important meal of the day." Darrell deadpanned.

Keith rolled his eyes, "Smarty pants."

Darrell chuckled and poured a glass of orange juice for himself. "So thanks for defending me from Clemmons' wrath last night."

After Darrell and Eli discovered that the school had been vandalized again yesterday afternoon, this time it seemed more like a crime instead of prank, Darrell called Keith and Principal Clemmons and told them what happened. Keith and his deputies secured the school area, and Clemmons was berating Darrell for not solving the case sooner. He even berated Eli for being there, who just raised his hands in a mock surrender and told his former principal that he was just there to help. Which made Keith defended Darrell that he was doing the best he could.

"I didn't like that man's tone; like he was accusing you vandalizing the school yourself." Keith looked at his son. "Which you didn't, right?"

"Pops!"

"Keith!"

"Sorry, sorry, just kidding." He grinned uncomfortably from Alicia and Darrell's dirty looks. "Anyway, Eli mentioned that he would help with the case. Which I appreciate, considering he hates that school."

"He said he would do anything for Ver - The Mars family." Darrell able to stopped himself before he said Veronica's name. His father didn't have to know that Eli probably had feelings for Veronica. "So what did the forensic says? Are those real bloods?"

"They're not bloods. But corn syrup mixed with red dye number 3 to make it looked like blood, the forensic people told me." Keith answered bitterly. "This is a cruel prank – someone is using a dead mass murderer as a joke." He referred to Cassidy Casablancas poster. "Someone seriously has a crazy sense of humor."

His phone was ringing as Darrell was basically gulping his pancakes. "Chew your food, son." Alicia said while shaking her head.

"Keith Mars." Keith raised his eyebrows. "Mrs. Ortega, good morning - this is a surprise. How are you?" Keith was listening to Stephanie Ortega, personal assistant to Alphonse Gonzales, The Balboa County Supervisor, a.k.a The Mayor of Neptune City. Keith's eyes widened. "When did this happen?" Alicia and Darrell looked up to him when his tone changed. "I'll be there in half and hour." Keith closed his phone and frowned. "That was the mayor's assistant. She told me that the City Hall is vandalized last night or maybe after midnight." He looked to Darrell. "Someone put a giant poster of Cassidy Casablancas and poured red paints everywhere and also sprayed paint words of 'Die Mayor!' on the walls."

Darrell spit his orange juice.

Sorokin Mansion

A white Audi sport car pulled up in front of the mansion and Domonick Desante climbed out from his car. He entered the mansion and high-fived Boris who opened the door and was ushered by another bodyguard named Yegor to the kitchen. He passed by many eclectic artworks and photographs. There were paintings of angels on the ceiling, and there were photographs of Veronica on top of the fireplace mantle. It was a long journey to the kitchen as the mansion was very huge.

"Mr. Desante to see you, sir." Yegor announced after they arrived at the kitchen, and then he left.

Gorya was sitting at the table, reading his newspaper. A burly chef named Oleg was making an omelette for Gorya. "Breakfast?" Oleg offered.

"Love to. I'll have bacon and omelette." Domonick answered and sat down in front of Gorya. "Good news!"

Gorya glanced to his college friend slash lawyer from his newspaper, and noticed that Domonick was wearing a white Polo shirt and white khaki shorts. What a douche, he thought. "About what?"

"Last night meeting was a success, your brothers agreed to 25% each for the shares of the company and you still got 50%." He clapped his hands and rubbed it together with satisfaction. Gorya rolled his eyes and went back to his newspaper reading. "What? I thought you'd be happy with this."

"I seriously don't care. Roman and Valentin were being assholes last night."

"You mean when they were talking about your missus?"

Gorya glared to Domonick. He didn't like to be reminded by last night meeting. It was a disaster meeting, as his brothers managed to provoke him about Veronica. When she left after dinner, they made some comments about her, which made him to be restraint so he wouldn't hit them. "Uncle Lev didn't say anything. Ever since dad died, he became so submissive." Gorya muttered. "I may have to take some action if I wanna be the head of the family." The chef put both plates of omelette to the table. "Spasibo, Oleg." Oleg nodded and walked out from the kitchen.

Domonick leaned forward and whispered, "Are you planning to take him down?" Gorya only smirked, folded his newspaper and started to eat. Domonick didn't ask him again, and started to eat his own breakfast. "Where's Veronica?"

"She had to leave early for work."

"On Saturday?" Domonick made a face.

"She likes to work. I let her. It makes her happy." Gorya only shrugged. "Which by the way, I need a favor from you."

"Shoot."

"Have you heard about a guy named Logan Echolls?"

Domonick frowned a bit, "The movie director? Yeah, I heard of him. He made that movie…ah, what's it called?" He snapped his fingers. "Neptune Noir. Pretty good movie."

Gorya nodded, "He's Veronica's ex-boyfriend."

Domonick's eyes widened, "No shit?"

"She met him last night at the restaurant and she failed to mention that to me, probably thinking that I was gonna be jealous."

"Which you are." Domonick raised his eyebrow.

"Of course. The problem is if she mentioned this to me I would probably let it slide, as there was a reunion. Because she lied, I wanna know everything about this Echolls guy."

"Technically, she wasn't lying."

"Don't gimme that lawyer bullcrap. Can you do it?" Gorya asked.

"Consider it done." Domonick shrugged.

Gorya drank his coffee and returned to his newspaper. "Just dig some dirty things about him. It might be useful in the future."

Domonick nodded, "Sure thing, boss."

Few Blocks from Sorokin Mansion Compound

A cable company van was parked with two men inside who were listening from their recording devices. A man was wearing a headset and watching the video monitors which had images of the Sorokin mansion from many different angles. On the wall of the van there were photographs of the members of the Sorokin family and the bodyguards. Another man was writing down a name on his notepad.

"Did you get that?" The man with the headset asked his partner.

"Yeah, I got it."

He was scribbling 'Logan Echolls'.

Le Verrier

Logan opened the door of the guest room wearing only his clothes from last night, and he had his shirt unbuttoned. Mac, who was watching TV in the living room and wearing Dick's oversized T-Shirt and his boxers, widened her eyes when she saw his muscle chest. She almost dropped her TV remote.

"Good morning." Logan said while buttoning his shirt, not realizing that Mac was staring at him. His hair was wet, as he just took a shower.

Mac shook her head, trying to be normal, "Morning, Logan."

"Where's Dick?"

"Taking a shower. He might be a while in there." Mac grinned. "He's more pampered than me. Have you seen his hair products?"

Logan laughed, "Well, that's an improvement. When he was in high school, he was too lazy to take showers most of the time."

"Ew." She laughed. She went to the kitchen and poured herself a cup of coffee. "Coffee or OJ?"

Logan followed her, grabbed himself a cup and gave it to her, "Coffee, please." He was standing so close to Mac, it made her blush. She was lucky that she didn't drop his cup, when she gave his coffee cup and their hands touched briefly. "Thanks." He closed his eyes after he took a sip. "Hmm… Good coffee."

Logan close proximity made her feel warm all of sudden. This is Veronica's ex-boyfriend and Dick's best friend. Snap out of it! Mac was screaming inside her head. "So, what's your plan for today?"

"I dunno. Today we're supposed to have our high school reunion, right? That plan is a bust."

"YOU were gonna have a reunion, I wasn't." Mac said and drank her coffee.

Logan frowned. "Whadaya' mean?"

"I wasn't going to the reunion." She shrugged. "I was going to stay at home with my movies."

Logan shook his head. "Why?"

"Well, I didn't have many friends back then. My only friends were Veronica and Wallace, and I hung out with Corny occasionally. My boyfriend was Cassidy. I still see Wallace and Troy in regular basis. And Dick always bothers me at work, so I thought; what's the point?" Mac didn't realize she mentioned Veronica and Cassidy's names. Logan didn't say anything for a while as he was sipping his coffee, and wondering how he should approach the subject of Veronica.

That makes sense; I didn't wanna go either at the time. My friends back then were Veronica, Duncan, Lilly, Cassidy and Dick... Two of them are dead, one is gone, one is married to a fucking mob, and the other one is trying to reconnect… Logan thought. "I didn't know about the reunion until Dick told me about it. I didn't check my mails most of the time, I almost passed the invitation. But…" He put his tongue on his cheek. "I think it would be nice to see everyone." He looked at Mac. "I wonder whether Veronica would attend the reunion."

Mac blinked several times, and then she looked away from Logan. She was trying to lift herself up on the kitchen island to distract her mind, but she was too short so she was having a hard time, until Logan picked her up and sat her on the island. She felt her face was burning because Logan's face was so close to her and he was holding her waist. "Thanks." She muttered.

"I noticed that both you and Dick weren't saying anything about Veronica…" Logan said quietly. He didn't realize that his hands were still on her waist. She looked down to him as her legs were touching his body, and it made her heart beating so fast. "And nobody tells me anything about her… But I heard something happened to her, something horrible…" He looked up to her. "I just wanna know what happened to her… So I could…"

"You could what…?" She asked quietly too. Of course he's still thinking about Veronica… He hasn't seen her for a decade, and he's in the dark… Get your head outta your ass, Mac.

Logan sighed, "I dunno… Understand all of this. Make sense all of this…" He unconsciously drew circles on her arm. He looked her in the eyes and said, "Please tell me, Mac. I need to know."

Mac looked at him with sympathy. She put her hand to his shoulder and squeezed it. "Logan, Veronica experienced many horrible things in her life… Sometimes I wonder why bad things always happened to her. And it affects all of us; her friends and family. I dunno whether you could handle the stories…"

I handled her killing a mob lawyer… Logan thought bitterly. "Please, Mac." He put his forehead on her shoulder. Mac sighed and stroked his wet hair. She then held his face and kissed his forehead.

"If I'm gonna tell you the stories, I think I need a drink. How about tonight?"

Logan smiled, hugged her, and kissed her on the cheek. "Absolutely."

Both of them smiled. Mac might have a crush with Logan, but they bonded and became friends first and foremost. That was the most important thing.

They didn't realize that Dick was listening and watching their interaction from behind the wall. His heart was strained a bit to see Mac was blushing, and then saw them kissing – granted, those were friendly pecks between friends. But knowing Mac had some sort of feeling towards Logan, it made him a bit jealous. He let out a breath that he was holding, and then cheeringly walked into the kitchen.

"Coffee!" He exclaimed. Mac smiled and gave him a cup of coffee. "Thanks, Macaroni." He squeezed himself between Logan and Mac, and gently nudged and pushed Logan aside. Logan looked at him amusedly, especially when he caught Dick's look. Not this one, Logan.

Did he just give me a dirty look? Logan thought.

"You know you can just borrow Dick's clothes." Mac made a comment.

"There's no way I would have any Dick related garment touched this body." Logan shoved Dick's shoulder and then walked to the living room. "Hey, where are the alcohols?"

"I already took the trash out don't worry." Mac said. Logan sat down and watched the television while sipping his hot coffee.

Dick stood beside Mac and leaned on the kitchen island. "Are you planning to tell him about Veronica?"

Mac nodded. "I think he needs to know. He's been in the dark for a while. If I was him, I would like to know what happened – regardless how bad it sounds."

"Are you… gonna tell him tonight?" Dick felt his voice sounded pitchy.

"Yeah, maybe over a drink. There's no way I'm gonna tell him about Veronica without some stiff drinks." She answered casually.

Dick bit his lower lip. "I'll go with you."

"Nah, you don't have to. I can handle it."

"I know you can handle it, but I wanna be there too." He avoided her eyes. "Logan is my friend too. And you're my friend, so you need my support." He hoped he didn't sound jealous or too obvious for cockblocking her.

Mac smiled and ruffled his wet hair. "You're so adorable." Dick smiled goofily and went to the living room. "I'm gonna make breakfast. Anyone wants some?"

"Eggs and toast for me." Dick sat next to Logan who was watching TV. Logan glanced to Dick who was still smiling like an idiot. He smirked and punched Dick's arm. "Fuck, why did you do that?"

"Dude, you're almost 30. You're not in high school anymore. Tell her."

"Tell her what, DUDE?" Dick seethed to Logan, which made him laughed. His laughter died out when he saw something on television screen. Dick frowned and looked at the screen, and he was shocked to see his dead brother picture was plastered on the news. "WHAT THE FUCK?" His phone suddenly was ringing, and he picked it up. "Hello? DAD? Yeah, I just watched the news! What the hell is going on?"

Mac ran to the living room and saw the picture of Cassidy on the news and her mouth was open. "Holy shit…"

City Hall

"Look at those vultures." Alphonse Gonzales curled his mouth in disgust, watching a throng of reporters gathered around in front of City Hall from a window, waiting for him to make a statement. Alphonse Gonzales was a middle-age man, relatively attractive, and popular amongst Latino community. He was the bridge between 09ers and the rest of Neptune people. Not many people agreed with him being elected, but still he won the election as Balboa County Supervisor. Just like his predecessor – Woody Goodman – a decade ago, he wanted to incorporate Neptune which would lead to the town having an official mayor and its own police department. "Where's Sheriff Mars?"

"He's on his way." His assistant, Stephanie Ortega answered. "The news broke out fifteen minutes ago."

"Goddamn it."

"In my opinion, I think this is only a joke."

Alphonse glared at his assistant. "Sure, writing down 'DIE MAYOR' is hilarious."

"I didn't mean that way, sir." Stephanie defended herself.

Alphonse rolled his eyes again, and then looked out the window. "Damn vultures."

Downtown Neptune, Across the Street of Aphrodite Gallery

Two men were sitting in a car across the gallery when Veronica walked into the building. The driver named Dante was taking a nap and the man who was sitting next to him named Gabriel was reading dossiers.

"Hey, look alive. Look alive." Gabriel woke Dante up when he saw her.

Dante rubbed his eyes tiredly. "I was just resting my eyes."

"She's here." Gabriel informed him. Dante watched her from his binoculars. She walked to her desk and put her bag and her camera. She sat on the edge of the desk and checked her mails. Suddenly she threw her mails carelessly to her desk, and put her head in her hands.

"She's crying." Dante said.

Gabriel looked up and tried to look from his own binoculars. "Shit, I can't stand this."

Dante looked at his partner oddly. "Oh, no. Not you too."

"What?" Gabriel frowned to see Dante looked at him in an exasperated way.

Dante sighed, "You like her."

Gabriel's face turned scarlet and he looked away. "I do not. She's… an assignment."

Dante shook his head, "Don't feel so bad. I can understand how you feel. Everyone is a bit in love with Veronica Mars-Sorokin." Gabriel looked at him dumbfounded. "You're not the only one who is assigned to this job, Gabe."

Gabriel pursed his lips. "I've been reading her jacket." He pointed to the dossier. "She has this… horrible life." He looked at the gallery – Veronica already stopped crying and sat at her desk, and started to work. "She's so beautiful."

"Don't let her beauty fooled you, man. She's a killer." Dante leaned back and closed his eyes again. "Or did you forget that she killed those people?"

"Bad people, I might add." Gabriel muttered. "And we kill people too."

"There's a difference between having a license to kill with revenge killing." Dante argued.

"But she's not killing for revenge anymore." Gabriel argued back. "Look, I won't debate semantics with you. We're just being assigned to keep an eye on her."

"Hey, I don't have a problem with that. Do you?" Dante asked.

Gabriel didn't answer his question, but he read her dossier again. "It's all started with the murder of that Kane girl over a decade ago…. And then that Casablancas case… and then that serial rapist case…" He looked at the gallery again. "And now this, married to a mob."

"A choice she was taking, man." Dante shrugged. "We just take advantage with the circumstances."

Gabriel didn't say anything, only looked at her who was working at her desk.

She looked unhappy.

Aphrodite

Veronica was editing some photographs she was taken this morning for a fashion magazine. The photo shoot didn't take a lot of time, only few hours and she managed to finish before brunch. She loved photography; it was the aspect of immortalized the moment and catch the emotion forever. But today was a different thing; she had to handle many spoiled models and demands from the magazine supervisor. She hated that and had to be very patient from their demands. They didn't know that she married to a Russian mob. If they knew, they probably wouldn't yell to her. Then again, she wouldn't have any clients if they knew that she married to a mob.

That was the reason she was still using Mars as a professional name, instead of Sorokin. People were afraid of the Sorokin family – which was a reasonable.

But today she couldn't concentrate with her job.

She remembered last night she just met Logan Echolls.

Logan fucking Echolls.

Logan, who left her and their friends without saying any words a decade ago, Logan, who never write any letters or emails, or even picked up a damn phone to let them know that he was alright. They had to find out about his life from the entertainment magazines and shows. And then he made that movie – Neptune Noir – a story about female detective. Veronica knew right away that the movie was about her. In a way, Logan still remembered her…

There was a line in that movie, which made her cry: "I thought our story was epic, you know? You and me… Spanning years, and continents. Lives ruined and blood shed. Epic."

She had move on from epic love.

It wasn't Logan who saved her from the monster. It wasn't Logan who was beside her when the shit hit the fan. It wasn't Logan who held her during the night terrors.

But when she met him again in that restaurant, where Gory was still eating dinner with his business associates and his family, it struck her that Logan was actually really in front of her. And then when they hugged each other, she just couldn't believe how familiar everything was. His scent, his touch, and the way he said her name… Memories suddenly came back to her like a tidal wave. She was overwhelmed with his appearance, she sobbed all the way to her home. She was crying while driving – she was emotional to see him back again. She didn't know whether she was happy or sad to see him again.

And suddenly she remembered Don.

Her late husband, Don Lamb.

She felt guilty all of a sudden. Between meeting with Logan, the love of her life back then… with her own feeling with her late husband.

Flashback,

Cabin In The Middle of Nowhere. 2006

Veronica was lying in the dark closet, and she was also had her eyes covered with a tie. She had her knees up to her chin, and she was basically sleeping in a fetal position. Although her hands weren't bound, and her feet were free, she was so tired that she didn't bother to move the tie. Mercer locked her in the closet after her last effort to escape. He tased her and brought her back to the cabin. Mercer was so angry; he hit her several times until she begged him to stop. Mercer stopped and hugged her, while crying and even asked her why she didn't love him and tried to run away. Mercer was going to shave her hair, but Veronica said one thing that he wanted to hear – she said that she loved him and she was sorry that she ran away. Mercer didn't shave her hair, but he locked her inside the closet instead. He couldn't take any chance that she would run away again. Mercer was in panic that after she made that call to her father, they would find her and take her away from him.

It was a day later after she managed to call her father, when the state police and many Neptune deputies with Sheriff Lamb surrounded the cabin and ready to bust in. Mercer put up a fight; he was blindly shooting from his gun, fortunately didn't hit anyone, until Lamb kicked the cabin's door open and hit Mercer in the head with his rifle. When they took Mercer away, Lamb frantically called her name.

He found her sleeping in a fetal position inside a closet.

Lamb wanted to cry when he saw her, covered with bruises and only wearing her bra and panties. "Mars?" He called softly to her. Veronica woke up – apparently she didn't even realize that there was a gun fight outside the cabin. "Mars honey. You're safe now. Your dad is on the way. Can you come to me, please?"

"Who are you?" Veronica croaked. She had her eyes covered with a tie. Lamb carefully took off the tie from her eyes. Veronica blinked and tried to adjust her vision, and she shielded her eyes from the sunlight. When she saw it was Lamb who was hovering above her, she sobbed. "No… no, not you… Why you…?"

"Veronica?"

She cried harder, and when his hand touched her arm, she recoiled and crawled further into the closet. "Get away from me!"

"Mars, it's me. It's Lamb; I'm here to help you. Come on, sweetie. Your dad is waiting." He couldn't understand why Veronica was recoiling from him. He was there to save her, she should know about it, right?

"I want my daddy…" She was crying and sobbing, while trying to get away from Lamb. "Please, Lamb. Don't hurt me."

Lamb froze.

He couldn't believe that Veronica actually believe that he would hurt her. Sure, they had their differences and they were bantering with each other, but mostly verbally and rooted from their rivalry. But there was no way he would hurt her physically like this monster, Mercer Hayes. When she was missing, it actually almost made him crazy. They were rivals, but there was no way he would wish any harm to her.

"I won't hurt you, Mars. Come here…" He touched her arm slowly, and Veronica reacted very badly. She screamed when Lamb suddenly picked her up and carried her outside the closet. Other deputies saw her in horror. This was Keith Mars' daughter – some of them had known her since she was a little girl. One of the deputies was crying.

Veronica closed her eyes and clawing Lamb's face, and she was struggling from Lamb. "Let me go! Why you, Lamb? I HATE YOU! Stop it! Daddy, where are you? Help me, daddy…" She was kicking and screaming while being carried by Lamb outside the cabin. Lamb was yelling for a gurney but they had to climb down the hill first. Veronica was screaming off the top of her lung. She was crying and tried to get away from him. Lamb struggled to keep his emotion checked and tried not to drop Veronica from his arms. He gripped her tightly so she wouldn't fall – which was hard to do because she was moving wildly, trying to get away.

It was a heartbreaking scene.

When they reached to the bottom of the hill, an ambulance was waiting. Keith, who was just arrived, practically was flying towards her. "My baby!" He cried.

"Daddy?" She jumped from Lamb's arms and hugged her dad so tight. "Daddy, where were you? Daddy… Daddy… Daddy, help me." She cried. Keith carried her like she was a little girl, and both of them were crying.

"Oh, my baby girl. I'm sorry, honey. I'm sorry I wasn't there for you." He sobbed. "But you are here now. You're okay now, you're safe."

"I love you, daddy." She was sobbing hard.

It reminded them when Aaron was trying to kill them – the time when Aaron locked her up inside a fridge and set it on fire and then tried to kill Keith. "Oh, God… Veronica. I love you so much my baby girl." Everyone who saw them was crying. Deputy Sacks even looked away so he could discreetly wipe his tears. After more than 10 days, they finally found her.

Lamb sighed heavily. He stroked her hair as a sign of relief.

But Veronica who was calm few minutes ago after her father held her, suddenly reacted violently. "Keep him away from me!" She screamed and started to struggle again. Lamb was so surprised, he took several steps back.

"It's okay, honey. It's Don, you know him. He just saved you." Keith was assuring her, but she was shaking her head and wailing. Keith looked at Lamb, who was stunned. "Okay, okay, he's gone now. It's okay, I'm here." He climbed to the ambulance with the paramedics. Sacks closed the ambulance door and the ambulance drove away.

It was a chaotic scene with the officers from the state police and the deputies were securing the area, the forensic team was climbing the hill to collect the evidence, they didn't pay any attention to Lamb. He was standing watching the ambulance drove away. The sound of the siren pierced his ears, but he didn't hear it, as he was feeling numb.

Lamb lowered his head down so everyone didn't see he was crying.

Suddenly he felt like there was a mountain on top of his head. And he felt a large amount of guilt. He remembered how Veronica looked at him just a few minutes ago; it was the same look she had given several years ago when she reported that she was being raped and he laughed at her.

He couldn't erase the image of Veronica recoiled from him in the closet, with bruises on her body…

Lamb walked back to the cabin, where the forensic team was collecting evidence and taking pictures. He didn't touch anything; only observe the inside of the cabin. He saw shackles, handcuffs, bounds, many different sex toys, torn clothes, bloody floor, signs of struggle… he even saw claw marks on the wooden floor. "Sheriff, your cheek is bleeding. You better do something about it." One of the deputies made a comment.

"I'm fine." He said numbly. He touched his cheek, and he saw blood on his fingers. Veronica scratched him hard. But he wasn't upset about it; infact he was sad.

I hate you, she screamed.

Lamb closed his eyes and let another tear drop.

Present,

City Hall, 2016

Alphonse Gonzales was standing in front of a podium, and next to him there were Sheriff Mars, his assistant, and several officials. He was ready to make a statement about what happened, when a car stopped in front of the building. The driver's window was lowered, and someone pulled out a machine gun, and started to shoot.