2 Years & 4 Days Later.

"Agent Edwards, Matt would like to see you in his office."

I looked up at the new secretary Phyllis, and smiled. "Alright." I followed her out of my office, and then made my way to Matt's.

Before I could even knock on the door, it swung open. "Come in Agent Edwards."

I sat down in front of his desk, feeling nervous. He didn't usually ask me to his office this early in the morning. "Is everything ok?"

He stopped writing, and looked up from the stack of papers on his desk. "Can I start by telling you how proud I am of you?"

I was taken back by his statement, and began to blush in embarrassment. "I know you are, thank you for believing in me. Always."

Matt coughed to clear his throat, trying to keep a straight face. "You know, there was a time I didn't think you'd be here. I was almost convinced you'd be pregnant, living the life of a criminal...but here you are. You're a talented agent, who's made a name for herself in the FBI. Most importantly though? You're safe. I love you like a daughter, and I know I don't always show that, but I hope that you know it."

I now had to clear my throat as well, "Of course sir. You've taught me everything I know, and if it wasn't for you I would be in jail. Or worse."

Matt's face became more serious, and he sat up a little straighter, which made me worry. "Since the day I began training you I promised I'd never let anything hurt you, that's why it's paining me to say this...I know that we agreed to put your past life with that gang behind us, but something has come up."

My mind immediately flashed back to him. Eli's face appeared in my mind, along with the memories of a time where we were in love, before he broke my heart. My voice came out stronger, and louder than before. "What is it. Tell me now Matt, please."

He shook his head, "I'm sorry, but your friend Emma has died."

In that instance my heart broke, but I simply nodded. "We should send flowers. Thank you for informing me Matt. I have an interrogation I have to get to, I'll see you tomorrow."

As I walked towards the door Matt stood up running to block my exit. "Clare stop it, it's ok to be upset."

I laughed quietly, but coldly. "No need to worry, I am fine. That part of my life was long ago. May I go now?"

Matt stepped aside, opening the door for me. "When your brother died you turned your grief into anger, and you put a wall up. You shut yourself off from the world, don't do that again. Don't bury yourself in work, deal with what you're feeling."

I walked passed him without saying a word, but as I rounded the corner out of sight I allowed myself to fall to my knees. I dropped my face into my hands, dryly sobbing. No tears came out, but yet the pain I felt was great enough to compare to the pain my brothers death had caused me. After a few moments, I picked myself back up and dusted myself off. I hadn't even asked how she died, but I didn't want to know, because everything I could imagine made me sick. I wanted to run to the place I used to call home, and grieve with them, but I made a decision a long time ago that the agency would be my life. I vowed to put criminals away, I couldn't mix the two lifestyles. Eli was right about that. I put Emma in the back of my mind, and I drove myself down to the police station. I had been asked to come do an interrogation on a repeat offender, who didn't crack easily. When I arrived at the station, many police officers shook my hand and informed me of what huge fans they were. "Agent Edwards it's such an honor to meet you." One officer exclaimed.

"Agents Edwards, d-did you really take d-down Arnold Diaz." One shuddered.

I nodded and smiled at all of them, but the attention truly got on my nerves. It was my job, I didn't want any special thanks. Officer Harvey walked me to the holding room so that I could question the suspect, but not before warning me. "This one if tough, even for you agent Edwards. Here's his file."

The file had top secret stamped on the front, and I raised an eye brow. "He's that important? Anyone I know?"

Officer Harvey chuckled, "Possibly, but I doubt it. This one doesn't live too close to this area, he's from Toronto. Actually thats where your old office used to be, before you relocated here. Isn't it?" I slowly nodded, trying to keep my thoughts off of Emma, off of all of them. "He was on his way to the United States to drop off a truck full of drugs. I mean a shit load."

I scrunched my face, "Then what's the problem? Why isn't he being charged?"

Officer Harvey scratched his head, "He wasn't technically found with the truck of drugs, he was apprehend at a pay phone near by. We know for a fact that the drugs were his though, it's too big of a coincidence. They've been trying to catch this guy for years, so we hope that you can make him crack. If not, we'll have to let him go, and that's something we just can't do."

I patted his back, "I have this. No worries."

With that I opened the door looking down at the file as I sat down, I began reading his previous offenses. "So Mr.-" I stopped mid sentence as I ran across his name. I dropped the file onto the table, slowly looking up. "Sean?"

He smirked at me with his arms crossed, "Well if it isn't my sister Clare. So this is where you've been hiding out?"

Wide eyed, I nervously responded. "I can't believe it's you."

He uncrossed his arms, while leaning his body over the table. "You look so different, so businessy. You even cut your hair short. You're a regular stick in the mud, and I'm glad. I'm proud of you." I stood up from the table, looking back to make sure the door was shut and then began to walk around to him, focusing on the sound of my heels against the floor so that I wouldn't think about all the rules I was about to break. When I reached Sean, his face softened. "Are you going to arrest me, Lil C?"

I was unfazed by his attempt at a joke, and I wrapped my arms around him. "I missed you, brother."

He slowly and hesitantly wrapped his arms around me too, "I missed you."

I pulled away wiping a tear from my eye, and walked back to my seat. "Sean, do you even know?" I whispered.

His face became so pained, and I regretted brining it up. Tears started to fall from his eyes. I had never seen him so weak, not even when Vince died. "I know."

"Tell me what happened, tell me everything. Please." I breathed

Sean sat up, wiping his face. "These last two years have been somewhat of a challenge. The gang's reputation has grown significantly since Vince shot Aston, which has is perks, but at the same time it's consequences. We didn't understand how much we were feared, until we started getting attacked. Bianca was jumped several times by Aston's minions, and our place was broken into frequently by them. So Zig burned the house down, and we relocated."

I reached my hand across the table to grab his, "Sean I'm sorry, I know what that place meant to you."

He shrugged, pulling his hand away. "My mother will always be in here." He put his hand on his chest. "The house, was just that, a house." He paused for a second before continuing, gathering his thoughts. "Anyways, things got better after that. Business ran smooth, and after graduation we all had a lot more time to focus on more important things."

I raised an eye brow. "Like?"

"Eliminating every last enemy associated with that bastard Aston. Not only for you, but Bianca and Vince. Sometime after graduation we began to receive threats again, and Eli and I decided it was time to let them know who they were dealing with."

I frowned, "What did you do?"

I looked down, and for a moment I thought he might have been ashamed. "We followed the new leader of Aston's gang, Rodger, home. We set his house on fire. His wife and child were in there, but we didn't know Clare. I swear." I kept quiet, unsure of what to say, so he continued. "They weren't hurt, but as you can imagine it still really pissed him off. A few weeks after that I left Zig In charge, because I had to travel to the U.S. I wanted to take Emma with me, but she didn't want to leave Bianca alone. So I gave in, I let her stay. I should have stayed, but I was so greedy. All I cared about was that I was going to be making more money than i ever had before in my life. I'm the reason Emma is gone. Me."

I wiped away a tear, "Sean, how?"

He looked up with Glossy eyes, "I called Eli on a pay phone the check on things, and he told me that in the middle of the night she had been kidnapped. He was hysterical, and I started screaming into the phone asking him what happened. He said they sent a video, of her tied up." Sean's words cracked, and he began to sob as he spoke. "They sent us a video of them killing her Clare! They showed no mercy, none!"

I ran around to the other side pulling him into my arms. "Sean it's ok. It's ok. They won't get away with this, I'll make sure of it. I swear to you."

He gently shrugged out of my arms. "How Clare, are you going to throw the book at them? That's not enough! Because she's gone! They have to suffer."

"Sean no, that won't do anything but create more violence."

His face turned hard. "Then arrest me Clare, because that's the only thing that's going to keep me from destroying them."

I walked back to my seat, and I made a decision, a decision that would erase all the hard work I had put in the last few years. "Sean, do you want to be at Emma's service? Do you want to see her again?" His lip quivered, and he nodded. "Then you and I are going to go. Then I'm going to help you destroy every last person who hurt our family."

Sean looked up, tears streaming down his face. "Why? No. No. This is your life now, you do things by the book. I don't want you sucked back into this."

I smiled, "If it was Eli, I'd want the same thing."

Sean winced. "It isn't El though."

I looked down, "It could be though, If we don't end this. It could be Zig or Bianca too, and we can't let that happen. Family does not abandon family. I won't abandon you guys." Sean just kept staring at me, unsure of what to say. I stood up, and wiped my face. "Sean sit up straight, and dry your eyes. If they ask, you didn't tell me a thing." Sean was about to question me, but I had already knocked on the door. "Come in."

Officer Harvey walked in, twirling his handcuffs around with a smug look on his face. "Can I book him?"

I put my hands behind my back, "Actually no. Not only could I not get him to crack, but I believe that this department has been mistaken. This man has just lost his girlfriend, and yet he sits here wrongfully accused."

Officer Harvey shook his head back and forth in disbelief. "Do you really think that? Agent Edwards I don't mean to question you, but this gang member was only blocks away from this truck. Who else would it belong to?"

I hardened my face. "Then don't question me officer. I don't know who it belonged to, but I suggest you find out. Now."

Officer Harvey nodded. "Yes ma'am."

He turned to leave, but I stopped him. "One more thing." He turned back to look at me. "I didn't quite catch the name of this gang, it wasn't in the file."

He scratched his head awkwardly, "Well there isn't a name, they don't have one. They've been know to refer to themselves as a family on occasion."

I raised an eye brow, "Thats quite ridiculous."

Officer Harvey laughed, "You're telling me."

I grinned, "I'll take care of this." He nodded and left. I looked back at Sean, when Harvey disappeared. "I'm sorry, I had to make it look real."

Sean half smiled, "It' fine. So, are you ready to see Eli again?"