2.6 - Good Intentions

“Gavin.”

I snapped awake. I was on the beach again, in the same spot, at the same time. It seemed like time hadn’t moved forward from the last time I was here.

I spun around to find the same girl that found me the last time I was here, surrounded in darkness. She smiled. "Hello."

I averted my eyes from her dark blue wings. "Who are you?"

She smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I guess you don't remember me. It's been a long time. The last time I saw you, you were just a kid." She took a deep breath. "My name is Stacius. I'm your family's guardian."

I stared at her. "What does that mean, you're my family's guardian?"

She gave a single, but quiet, laugh. "I was instructed with protecting your family after your mother moved to Starlight Shores after her father died. My job is to protect you and make sure your family is on the right path."

I scoffed. "Yeah, right."

Stacius shrugged. "You believed me when I visited you when you were younger."

I continued to stare at her. "You visited me? When?"

"You were a child. I don't think you remember."

"Why did you visit me?"

Stacius crossed her arms. "Because I like to visit the family I'm protecting every once in a while."

"Does anyone else know about you?"

Stacius sighed. "Just your mother. But I haven't been able to speak to her at all lately. I'm lucky I'm being able to talk to you now."

"Why?"

Stacius frowned. "Because of the darkness that surrounds her heart."

I sighed. "Why can't the others talk to you?"

"That is a secret that I can't reveal just yet."

"Okay...so what are you, exactly? A fairy?"

"Not quite. I have the appearance of a fairy, but I have more of the attributes of an angel. Not to toot my own horn." She said with a wink.

"So, you said you were instructed to protect my family. Instructed by who?"

Suddenly, Stacius frowned. She sighed. "The darkness is closing in. I'm being cut off. I'm sorry I couldn't say everything." She gave a weak smile. "Just know that the darkness will end soon. When it does, we can talk about everything." Stacius rose above the ground and moved her hands over my eyes. 

I lost consciousness, immediately forgetting about Stacius and everything we discussed on the beach.

"Villiers." A rough voice woke me.

I startled awake, rubbing my eyes. I struggled to remember what I was dreaming about with no result.

"Sleeping on the interrogation, Villiers? Not enough sleep last night?" Walter asked.

"Now, why don't we go over what happened again?" He insisted.

I groaned. "I told you. I wasn't going to follow through with the promises I made her. It was a trick to try and get her back here without a fight."

Walter scoffed. "It seemed like you two were pretty close. And I guess you would be, considering the two of you were best friends back home."

"Look, I told you what I can tell you. It was never going to happen. I was doing my job. She would have gotten away if I didn't buy time, and then we would have been back at square 1." I snapped. "I don't know why I'm even here in the first place."

Before Walter could retaliate, Arnold opened the door to the interrogation room. "He's free to go."

Walter jumped up from his chair. "Like hell he is!"

Arnold held his hands up in an attempt to calm him down. "The chief said to release him. He informed one of the officers of his plan."

Walter gaped at him. "Which officer?"

"Officer Wicker." He said plainly.

"You're off the case." Wicker said quickly. "The deal's off. We're reclaiming your apartment, as well as your badge. I expect all of your belongings to be out of the apartment by the end of the week."

My heart dropped. This can't be it. After all of this, this can't be where it ends. I didn't spend all of this time to end up without a result. "Sir-"

"That's all I'm going to say on it, Villiers. You've screwed up."

"Sir, with all due respect, you know I'm not directly involved with this crime! I no longer have any ties with Grizella Rein. I was using my past relationship with her to get some results, but I only did it because she's a convicted felon with multiple charges!"

"Your past relationship with her is why I'm taking you off the case. You were directly involved with two of the suspects in this case, and I would have switched your case in a heartbeat had I known. You wouldn't have even started the investigation, and I would have transferred you somewhere else. But, you didn't. The agency is threatening to shut us down. If you hadn't told my daughter about your little stunt, you'd be joining your dad in prison and the entire program would be shut down. You're lucky you're getting off with a free trip back home."

"But sir, the entire reason I came here in the first place was to reduce my father's sentencing! I can't go home without making some type of progress."

Wicker shook his head. "You've ruined the whole case. There's a chance Rein could get off scott-free because of what you did. I can't reward that. Goodbye, Villiers."

I walked outside of Wicker's office. Autumn stood by the wall close to the front door, in the same dress she was wearing the night before. I felt a pang of guilt. This is all my fault...

I slowly approached her. "You covered for me?"

Autumn nodded. "Even if you did screw up the case, I know you're not on the other side of things. I know you too well. Even if it meant lying to my father, I was willing to do that than to see you get carted off to jail."

I gave her a weak smile. "Thank you."

Autumn narrowed her eyes. "That was incredibly stupid."

"What? My empty promises to Izzy?"

"No. Getting involved in this case." Autumn began. "You should have went straight to the chief when you realized Eli Martinez was involved, because that relationship with him alone made you a liability. He would have switched your case, and this wouldn't have happened. Now, the case is ruined and your father's sentence stays the same." Autumn crossed her arms. "Congratulations." she said sarcastically.

I didn't have a response. I just looked down at the ground, avoiding her gaze. I couldn't apologize, I couldn't do anything.

Autumn sighed. "How long did he give you?"

"A week."

Autumn nodded. "Listen, Vinny...Despite what happened last night, I really do think you're a great guy, but you're going home, and..."

I looked back up at her. "So, is this it? This is when everything ends?"

Autumn shrugged. "Maybe we were a mistake. It was stupid of me to get involved in something I knew wasn't permanent."

"Is that really how you feel?" I asked, my heart breaking.

The front door opened behind me. I spun around to find my older brother and sister walking in. Khloe's eyes narrowed when she saw me.

"What are you two doing here?"

"We were called. What the hell is going on?" Khloe demanded.

"What the hell happened, Vinny?" Khloe demanded. "The both of us got called down to be 'interrogated?' Interrogated for what? What the hell happened?"

My eyes darted from Ryder to Khloe. "Izzy is the one behind the crimes happening in the city."

"Izzy...Grizella? Grizella Ghee?" Ryder asked, astonished.

"Yes. I've been looking for her since the day I found Eli in jail. I've been out of my mind searching for her, but I never found any leads."

"Okay, so what happened?" Khloe asked.

"Last night, I went out to this restaurant with Autumn. I saw Izzy there ordering a drink." I began. "I tried approaching her, but she ran. I followed her to this abandoned warehouse at the edge of the city. I had to find some way to bring her back to the station without a fight, so I made some fake promises to try and get her back. The cops showed up and arrested the both of us because they thought I was working with Izzy. They brought me back, and..." I looked to Ryder. "Long story short, they let me go. But the chief told me I screwed up the case and he kicked me off. He's taking the apartment back." I looked sadly to my siblings. "I have to go back home."

"What about Dad's sentence?" Khloe asked.

I looked sympathetically at her. "It won't be changed."

Khloe's eyes widened. She put her head in her hands. "Vinny...why would you be this stupid?"

"I had to find Izzy! I wanted to be done with this whole damn thing!" I yelled in exasperation.

"You could have let somebody else handle it! It's the police's job to hunt her down, not yours!"Khloe yelled.

"I am the police!"

"You're a detective! You don't work in forensics!" She looked back up at me. "What were you thinking? Why were you that obsessed with getting her back?"

I stayed silent. Ryder looked at me with sympathy. "Gavin."

I looked up at him.

"I think it's time to tell her."

A harsh anger gripped at me. "No! That isn't for you to decide!"

Khloe grabbed onto my shoulder. "What is he talking about, Gavin?"

I didn't answer.

"Gavin!"

"BECAUSE I'M THE ONE WHO PUT DAD IN JAIL!"

Khloe's eyes widened. "What...What do you mean?"

I sadly looked at Khloe. I sighed. "Back in Starlight Shores, back when we were kids, I was there the night Katie died."

Both Khloe and Ryder fell silent.

"I was there with Izzy and Eli. We were at the movies, and Izzy saw Katie go to the back of the theater to call somebody. I guess they weren't on good terms. Izzy just...killed her. I couldn't do anything to stop her, neither me or Eli. It took a lot to keep it a secret this long, but-"

She turned to Ryder. "You knew?"

Ryder sighed and crossed his arms. "He told me. He was scared, he needed help."

Khloe started to raise her voice. "I was scared! I needed help!"

"Khloe..." Ryder pleaded.

I moved towards Khloe. "Khloe, I'm so sorry-"

Khloe pushed me away. "Get away from me, you asshole!" she yelled. "Dad's in prison because of you! He's going to live out the rest of his life without ever seeing us again! This is all your fault!" Khloe yelled.

 She turned away from me and bolted out the door.

I started to run after her, but Ryder stopped me. "She needs to digest the news. If she doesn't come back in a couple of hours, we'll go out to look for her."

Ryder and I spent the entire day searching for Khloe. She wasn't answering her phone, and the two of us went all around town looking for her. At around 5, we ended up at the bridge. We decided to take a break, and I leaned against the railing, overlooking the water.

Ryder walked up to me. "Are you okay?"

I shook my head. "She's right. This was all my fault." I tried to control my breathing. "I got dad arrested. I ran away from home when Mom needed me the most. I did it to get Dad out, but I even managed to fuck that up, too."

Ryder put his hand on my shoulder. "Listen, we'll figure all of this out. I think it's awesome that you even came here in the first place. I know 'it's the thought that counts' isn't going to work very well in this scenario, but..." He trailed off, not really knowing what to say next.

Still, I couldn't help but smile. "Thanks, Ryder."

He smiled at me, "No problem, bro."

Just then, my cell phone started to ring. I immediately grabbed for it and saw that Benny was calling. I haven't heard from him since the night of the kiss...

I picked up the phone. "Hello?"

Benny's voice, sounding desperate, left no room for silence. "Vinny! Quick! You need to get down here! Rein broke out of the interrogation room and killed two of the officers! 

"She took one of their guns and she has Autumn hostage inside of the compound! She's gonna kill her!"