CHAPTER – 6

"Steve." Chin said.

Steve looked at the team and his eyes softened. "Miss me?" He said, his eyes lingering on Chin and Kono for extra few seconds. A thousand questions ran through his head after seeing everyone there.

Lou and Adam were visibly shocked to see Steve. Their eyes went wide before a small grin creeped up their faces. Tani, Junior and Quinn couldn't control their happiness and cheered.

Steve looked the same as he did 10 months ago. His hair and beard had grown, giving him a younger look. Tani was about to run to her boss to welcome him when Kono spoke up.

"When will your flair for dramatic entrances get old, Boss?" She rolled her eyes mockingly.

"When you tell me you didn't miss the Island one bit in these past 3 years." Steve countered and before he knew it, he had his arms full of his favorite rookie.

"I missed you every bit, brah." Kono said with a smile.

"Liar." Steve teased her and Kono laughed as she hit his shoulder jokingly.

"Steve, brah!" Chin grinned widely as he embraced his old friend after 3 years. They touched their foreheads together in a Hawaiian greeting before looking at each other. "I wish we were meeting under better circumstances."

"What is hell is going on?" Steve asked everyone. He knew his team was shocked to see him and probably wanted to ask him thousand questions, but he knew this wasn't the time for meet and greet. "And what are you guys doing here?"

"Steve, I called you a thousand times, man." Lou said seriously.

"I lost my phone. I got mugged." Steve explained. "I was going to call you with my new one, but by then I had decided to return. I thought I'd surprise Danny and everyone, but when I went home…Lou, that was a crime scene." Steve's voice tightened. "Where the hell is Danny? And Eddie?"

"Steve, Danny was taken 2 days ago." Chin said softly.

"It's Rivaldi, Boss." Kono said. "He's back."

"He shot Eddie. But don't worry. I spoke to Jerry this morning; he is with him. The doctor said Eddie's going to be just fine." Lou informed him.

Steve closed his eyes for a moment. This was fucked up. Rivaldi was one criminal Steve wished he'd never met in his life.

"We did everything we could, but we couldn't find any lead. We knew that you, Chin and Kono were probably the best bet we had. So, I contacted Chin last night." Lou said.

"When I heard it was Rivaldi, I brought in Kono with me. You know how dangerous that man can be, Steve." Chin said gravely.

"There's no contact from Rivaldi and we've exhausted all the leads we had." Junior said. Steve shook his head at his words.

"There was no contact because there's no point in contacting us. Rivaldi doesn't want anything." He said and looked at his old team members.

"The one thing he wanted, is already with him." Chin completed with an understanding nod.

"Wait a minute, Steve, you said something about a third sibling." Quinn reminded him. "What was that about?"

Steve sighed and shook his head. "It's in the profile. Don't ask me how, because I don't understand much of the mind thing. The BAU analyzed his behavior and relationship with Vivian and came to the conclusion that he had a third sibling, probably youngest and a girl. He must have…abused her sexually over and over again to become who he is today."

"You and Danny often worked on this in your free time, did you get anywhere on getting the name?" Lou asked.

Steve shook his head. "We didn't."

"We'll keep searching, Boss." Kono said determinedly.

"We'll get him, Steve." Chin reassured the man as Steve blankly nodded.

"I'll get you all the notes me and Danny had on the case." He said and left without another word.

/

In between all the beatings, somewhere Rivaldi had decided to jump in and beat Danny himself. He didn't feel the pain anymore. Rivaldi was sick. He just wanted to see blood drip down from Danny's face. With every beating, Rivaldi would speak about Grace and it angered Danny to no end. With every comment, the Detective wondering about what was true and what was false.

Danny longed for those periods where he was unconscious. It didn't hurt, and he was blissfully unaware of the fact that each and every part of his body was bruised and bloody.

Currently, his head was the worst of it all. Rivaldi had brought a crowbar with him last time. He had hit Danny's head with it, almost killing him.

Danny knew something was not right. He had vomited bile 3 times and his head just won't stop spinning.

"Boss, what's the plan?" Danny heard Rivaldi's right hand man, Terry.

"I'm gonna beat him to death, literally." Rivaldi said. "But not so soon."

"They are gonna notice he is missing. They will search for him."

"They don't know where we are, they won't ever guess. Plus, with his old team out, the new ones won't have any clue." Rivaldi reasoned.

"I-I don't know, Boss. Let's just kill him, dump his body and just leave. You remember what had happened the last time. We don't want to get stuck in such a pickle again, Boss."

"What, you 'fraid to get your hands dirty, Terry?" Rivaldi scoffed.

"No Boss, I just don't-"

"Shut up and get out."

Terry looked at Danny uncertainly before leaving the room.

"You don't want anything from me." Danny said casually. "Why not kill me then?"

"No can do." Rivaldi shook his head.

"You just want me as a punching bag." Danny said and swallowed as he felt his nausea come up again.

"You see, Danny, I have a lot of rage built up inside of me from all these years." Rivaldi said with a small grin. "I want an outlet. And you, my friend, are my outlet."

Danny eyed the man in front of with as much disgust as his mangled body could muster up. He needed a plan. People like Rivaldi were uncertain, he looked like he was on a psychotic break.

"I did you a favor, by killing your sister." Danny said suddenly. Rivaldi's breathing quickened as he heard him.

"Don't you dare, Williams." Rivaldi snarled. "You're not in any position to be making such comments."

"No, I'm serious." Danny said. "You see, however much of a psychopath you are, your sister, miraculously, had some emotions."

"What do you mean?" Rivaldi asked curiously.

Danny knew his plan was working. He was done. Even at the age of 40, Danny had made sure to keep his body in supreme condition. His fat percentage never increased beyond 10%. But, after Dayui Mei, his strength had weakened. He had to stop working out for almost 3 months. Although he had gained most of his muscle back, Danny was still not at the prime of his fitness like he was a few years ago. Hence, he knew that his body was on the verge of giving up now.

He also knew that Steve would give him his most ferocious glare at the mention of 'giving up', but then, he wasn't here, was he?

"We found a note at her place. She was going to expose you." Danny said. He wasn't lying. Vivian Rivaldi had apparently had a change of heart. But why she had decided to rain down bullets on him and Steve was beyond Danny's understanding.

"You're lying." Jared yelled.

"No, I'm not." Danny said calmly as a coughing fit rocked his whole world. Saliva and blood dripped down his chin.

"Vivian would never do that." Jared whispered before rage took over him. He pulled out his gun and pointed it at Danny.

"Kill me if you want. But it won't change the truth. Hold on, do you even know the whole truth?" Danny asked.

Rachel was right, in the end, this job was leaving his children fatherless. Well, if he was going to die, Danny wasn't going down quietly.

"You think she wouldn't find out, Jared?" Danny said.

"Find out what?" Rivaldi asked, a little fear creeping into his voice. "She knew everything I did."

"Except the little girls, Rivaldi." Danny spoke with disgust. "You kept that little secret from her, didn't you?"

"Shut up!" Rivaldi yelled. "I'll shoot you."

"You will shoot me anyways." Danny shrugged. "The moment I saw it was you who took me; I knew I'm never walking out of here alive. Don't you want to know how she found out, though?"

Danny could see the wheels turning in Rivaldi's head.

"You're lying." He shook his head. "She could never…"

"You kept a major part of your life hidden away from her." Danny continued. "She knew you were hiding something. She wanted answers."

"No no no no!" Rivaldi yelled.

"How do you think we found her, huh?" Danny asked him. "We weren't aware of the Trafficking ring until we found her. We were investigating death and rape of Hila, and we knew there were more victims. We found Vivian's name in the home of one of your clients, Rivaldi. She found out."

"I didn't involve her!" Rivaldi shouted. "I kept her away from all of this. So what?"

"You kept her away because you knew, if she found out what a freak you are, she wouldn't idolize you like she did. You blame all of this on us, but everyone knows, even you know, this-this is all your fault, Jared." Danny pushed. He knew he was playing with fire. He probably shouldn't blame the guy who had a gun to his face, but well, Danny surely knew how to irritate the fuck out of someone.

"ENOUGH!" Rivaldi yelled. "I've heard enough of your chatter, Detective. I think it's time we shut you up."

Danny had one last card to play. He would die, but he wouldn't die without making Rivaldi's life a living hell.

"She knew, you know." Danny gulped. "She knew about Gina."

Something shifted in the other man's eyes and he lowered his gun. "What do you know about Gina?" He asked Danny.

"You're not as much of a mystery as you'd like to be, Rivaldi." Danny gave a short laugh which turned into another coughing fit. "You think me looking into your life wouldn't bring up Gina, huh?"

"I-I made sure she was-"

"Non-existent? Wiped all the traces, didn't you?" Danny asked. "You make me sick, Rivaldi…She was your baby sister. You raped her, abused her for years! And to keep her mouth shut, you killed her, didn't you? And what did you tell Vivian? What lie did you come up with to hide your sick actions, huh? Was Vivian just lucky that she didn't sleep beside her brother that night? Was Gina an opportunistic victim or did you have your eye on your sister since she was born?"

Jared gave a barbaric yell before striking Danny with his gun.

"SHUT UP!" Rivaldi was breathing heavily. His face was red and his hair was in a disarray. He looked like a proper picture of a psycho on loose.

"You shut Gina up, you can shut me up, but how many more, Rivaldi? Your secret's going to come out sooner than you can imagine."

"Who else knows?" Rivaldi asked. "TELL ME!" He slapped Danny when the man didn't answer.

"Where's Grace?" Danny countered.

"I swear when I get my hands on your daughter, I will make sure I enjoy every bit of her till the last breath leaves her body. I will torture her till she screams for her daddy. I will fuck her over and over again till she finally gives in to me." Rivaldi spoke as he looked into Danny's eyes.

Danny held his gaze for a few seconds before huffing out a laugh. His laughed till his ribs started hurting before he calmed down after a few minutes. After he got his bearings, he looked at Rivaldi.

"What are you laughing at?" Rivaldi asked confusedly.

"You don't have her, do you?" Dany grinned.

Rivaldi narrowed his eyes. "You really want to take that chance, Detective?"

Danny laughed again. "You just admitted that you don't have her, you schmuck."

Rivaldi lashed out at Danny again in anger. This time, he used his gun and put a bullet right in Danny's thigh.

Danny howled as unbearable pain shot up from his leg. His eyes watered and his world became blurry. The last thing he saw was Rivaldi's face contorted in anger.