For a moment, I'd believed that I had been shot and was about to sprout out some dramatic last words, when I realized something; I didn't feel pain.

Shit, I'm already dead! I didn't even get to say my rehearsed 'Last Words Of Aria Miller' speech, part 1 of 13!

My eyes were closed and I was fully expecting to see Satan as soon as I opened them.

Alright, Aria, think! Which parts of hell do you want jurisdiction over first?

Just as I was about to list my plans for the underworld domination, two voices yelled out:

"Paradise PD! Hands in the air!"

"FBI! Put your hands in the air!"

Cautiously opening one eye after deciding that maybe I wasn't dead, I took in the sight that explained the gunshot. My eyes widened in horror.

Ellie was on the floor, her gun lying closer to me than to her, and her arm was bleeding like no tomorrow.

If she loses more blood, there truly will be no tomorrow for her, my subconscious commented.

Ignoring her, my gaze drew up to armed men in vests that said FBI and some that said Paradise PD, as they aimed their guns on the goons, at least the ones that were still conscious.

My gaze drew to a short at a particular individual.

"Took you long enough," I grinned tiredly. Now that the adrenaline was draining off, the throb in my foot was getting sharper with each passing second.

"Maybe I should arrest you first," Inspector Bryant grumbled but his eyes gave a concerned once over, probably to check if I still had all my appendages attached.

They were, I soon realised, as two bodies grabbed onto me from two sides.

"What were you thinking?!" Torryn growled.

"She clearly wasn't," Mae replied, her eyes drilling holes into my skull.

"Ah, my fantasy threesome," I muttered dazedly, my mind still a little foggy from the occurrences.

I felt a punch in my arm, not powerful enough to hurt me but definitely effective in getting my attention. I grinned at Mae.

Torryn shook his head, his eyes relieved and amused. "What am I to do with you, Miller?"

"More like, what are we," Ethan matched my grin as he and the other dropped to the ground and we had a very, emotional group hug. At least, that's what we were doing until,

"Can you stop that and untie me?" Anthony's weasel-ly tones floated through the air.

We all let out a groan.

"How did you get Selene to agree to a marriage with you?" I asked, my expression equal parts confusion and equal parts disbelief.

"I have to say, Miller has a point," Torryn nodded.

"Ugh, I'm going to tell the cops you all tied me up-"

"Cole?" I murmured.

"Yes?" He smiled, raising a familiar tie pin.

Anthony couldn't have shut up faster if Rhea had smacked him.

"Are any of you hurt?" I asked anxiously, the worry I'd tried so hard to keep down surfacing.

"Nope, all in one peace," Mason chirped. "Except for some bruises."

"Nothing that can't be fixed by some band-aid," Matt reassured me as the others nodded in agreement.

Thank gods!

Getting up from our places on the floor, we moved towards the door of the cafe as someone helped Anthony and other armed men charged out with the goons all handcuffed. Ellie was being treated in an ambulance, with officers and agents surrounding her.

Looks like they don't want to lose sight on the old bird.

"Jax," I greeted the tall coworker leaning against a wall. "You're late. I texted you like an hour ago and no matter how much we tried, Ellie just wouldn't get distracted," I grumbled, remembering how I'd silently warned my friends to keep her off topic.

"Hey, we were busy arresting her brother and grandson," Jax jerked his head in Ellie's direction. "I didn't see you text until," he winced, "later."

"We could have died if I hadn't started a fight between two best friends," I raised an eye brow.

"What?" He asked as if unsure that he hadn't heard me correctly.

"Yeah, how did you know about that guy's sister?" Owen asked, a curious look on his face.

"I didn't," I shrugged. "Ginger there," I pointed as he and Pony tail were being walked off towards another police car, "has a 'best big bro' bracelet. I just banked on human emotions taking over. Honestly, I didn't even know if the guy really had a younger sister," I confessed.

"Damn," Matt raised his eyebrows.

"Good to see you, Agent Barnes," I greeted the familiar looking man beside Jax.

"Miss Miller," he nodded. "The Queen Organization will not be doing any illegal operations anytime soon. Paradise shall be a safer city now."

"What is going on?" Ethan asked, a confused frown marring his face.

"Right," I sighed. "I should probably explain. Meet Special Agent Jaxon Rietveld, and Special Agent Barnes," I pointed at the two men. "Jax was posted at the cafe in disguise and Agent Barnes, well...."

I trailed off, remembering when Mae and I were about to leave the police station that evening, I had followed a familiar looking man into Inspector Bryant's office.

"Hey, kid, I'm talking with this—"

I cut off Inspector Bryant. "You," I pointed at the other man. "I know you."

"You do?" The man raised a good-natured eyebrow but for some reason it didn't seem to suit him very well. "I'm afraid I can't remember you."

"Really, kid, you had your fun and this is getting rude—"

"You were at my school," I pointed at the man again, not really concerned about showcasing good manners.

He smiled again, though it came out with some difficulty. He was slipping.

I narrowed my eyes on his face. "I know for sure you were at my school," I nodded to myself.

"Are you sure you aren't mistaking me for someone else, Miss?" He adjusted his coat with a perfectly crafted polite smile on his face. One glimpse at a lighter in the inner pocket of his coat had my mind flooding with flashes of memories.

A particular memory from Torryn and my date stood out.

"Now, kid that's quite enough, Mr Barnes and I have important things to discuss—"

"Yeah, like how he disguises himself as a homeless man?" I asked, scrutinizing Mr Barnes. This time, he stood up, his coat fluttering once more, nodding at Inspector Bryant.

"Perhaps, I should come back later, this young lady seems to have more to say," He nodded in my direction, all traces of a smile vanishing from his face.

"Really?" I turned to face Inspector Bryant. "You were working with the FBI all this time and didn't even tell me?"

Both men in the cabin sputtered.

"What?"

"Well, he has the badge," I shrugged, pointing at Mr Barnes' abdomen where the said badge was now covered safely by the coat.

Inspector Bryant let out a tired sigh and gestured to a chair. "You might as well take a seat."

And so they had explained to me very vaguely about how the police and the FBI had been pooling in leads and information against the Queen Organization for months. And how I would have to keep my mouth shut.

As for Jax, well, Agent Barnes had thought that a friendly face would help me keep my mouth shut. Though, Agent Barnes must've forgotten that Jax had about the least friendly face I had ever seen.

"And, I was going to tell this to y'all anyway," I raised my hand to calm the upset mob of teenagers I called friends after I had a given them a quick explanation. "I just didn't wanna ruin Valentine's," I mumbled with a small shrug.

"Ugh, you know we can't be mad at you for long, Aria," Ethan grinned, enveloping me in a hug.

"Thanks, Ethan," I grinned back.

"Though, I have to say, I'm so relieved you didn't turn out to be a corrupt officer," Ethan pointed at Inspector Bryant who was watching us with his usual glare.

"What?"

"Uh, nothing," I hurriedly ushered the Inspector to one of the ambulances. "He's just rambling."

"Sure he is," Inspector Bryant muttered under his breath, shaking his head.

"So, Mr Hatter really did plant the bug, did he?" I asked in hope of distracting him.

The inspector grunted, his face coloring with displeasure. "I always knew there was something odd about Alan's family but I did not, for a second, think that he'd actually plant a bug in my office—"

"Yes, yes," I nodded with appropriate sympathy on my face and snatched a free officer. "You can tell," I scrutinized his badge, "Chester, all about it."

Sliding away from the duo, I slipped back between my friends.

"Anyway, now as that's all done, we will be expecting a seven-figure reward for doing your jobs for you," I smiled confidently at Agent Barnes and Jax.

"Hell yeah!" Matt backed me up.

"Right," Jax snorted.

I narrowed my eyes. "Six-figure each?"

"We'll talk about rewards later on, Miss Miller, you all need to get a check up done first," Agent Barnes tilted his head to the ambulance, his face emotionless.

"Look, Cole, your brother is here," I whispered to Torryn.

"I see that almost being shot hasn't changed you," Torryn deadpanned, slipping his hand into mine and dragging me to the ambulance, his gaze still straying to the cars where the goons were all stuffed into.

Recognizing the concern in his eyes, I squeezed his hand and smiled reassuringly. We're out of danger now.

A tired smile came over his face before he raised an eye brow. With you here, will we ever be?

I looked ahead with a secret smile before something occured to me.

"Now that you say it, I was almost shot in that cafe once before as well," I shrugged. "It has gotten old now."

"Damn, I almost forgot about that," Mae commented.

"Quite some time has passed," Owen noted.

"Yeah, Rhea and Mason weren't even troublemakers back then," I snickered.

"We still aren't," Mason whined, pushing up his glasses.

"Yeah, we didn't just tie up a guy and fight off those gorillas," Matt snorted.

"Stop reminding me!" Rhea commanded and everyone shut up like obedient little puppies.

"Aria Scarlett Miller," A voice yelled out as a fury climbed out of a car in the distance and came running towards me at full speed, my dad right behind her. "You have some explaining to do."

"Oh, no," I hid behind Torryn. "She's here."

"She is your mother," Torryn shook his head in amusement. He reached behind him and dragged me to the front, his hands resting on my waist and his eyes soft. "You'll be fine. I'm here." One of his hands reached down and squeezed mine. I squeezed back with an uncharacteristically shy smile.

"Let's hope so," I squared my shoulders and sent down five favourable business deals to Satan for getting me out of this. "Here I come, O agonizing grounded life."

HIYAAAAA!

OKAY SO THERE IS STILL THE EPILOGUE TO COME!

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