Third Person P.O.V
Riley snakes his hand around Aiden's waist, he pushes her against his body, his eyes staring at her. From his hands she looks up at him, her head moves backwards immediately noticing the short distance between them, she furrows her brows squinting her eyes watching him, their chin almost brushing against each other. Riley stays still staring at her his heartbeat beginning to pound again, he bites his lower lip feeling nervous, pursing his lips to a flat line he flutters his eyelids as his cheeks heat up.
"Are you feeling unwell?," Aiden questions watching him closely, she steps back pushing him behind and looks around "That person is gone," she informs as she straightens her jacket.
"Are you ok?," She asks again facing Riley who looks around chewing onto his inner cheek, he faces her when she spoke.
"Yeah...," He replies lowly looking away, his heart still pacing.
"Your skin is red," She states as she sits on the bench near by.
Riley takes deep breaths in and out he places his hand on his chest to calm himself. Looking around one more time he walks to the bench and sits on the other end as the three quarter of the seat is occupied by Aiden's leg. She pulls out her phone and begins to chat with Lisa who keeps on sending texts asking how everything is going.
She fixes her gaze to the phone while typing she says "Mr Mintz has a case tomorrow,"
Riley looks at her and stares back at flowing water in front of them, he remains silent.
"Some people's job is complicated," she states taking a glance at him and looks back at her phone "And somethings cannot be explained,"
"I understand," Riley replies softly, he lifts his right leg and crosses it over his left, his eyes never leaving the lake.
Aiden tosses the phone to the bench immediately and sits straight moving her widely spread legs closer she faces his side features "You do," she asks.
"Yes," he nods in reply and continues "You were right, dad wasn't wrong," he turns to his right facing her "I'm going to talk to him in the evening,"
"To apologize?,"
"Yes," the corners of his lips twitch upwards to a spontaneous smile "You are really good at advising," his head slants a bit as his grin widens.
"Is it?," Aiden chuckles as she looks straight.
"Yeah, just like a grandma," he jokes grinning ear to ear, Aiden passes him a glare and lets out a loud sigh as she averts her gaze back to the nature.
The air around them captures silence for a moment, Aiden rests her elbows on her thighs, clasping her hands with her fingers intertwined, she stares at the view in front of them, her mind thinking about tomorrow. She has to take Harry safe to the court and make sure that no one comes after Riley and Mr Mintz. Riley fixes his gaze to the lake stealing a glance at her every minute.
"What made you regret?," He breaks the silence taking her attention, Aiden leans back and faces him.
"It's....,"
"Don't tell me it's none of my business! I'm just asking you to share something it would be helpful," he raises the brows when she sniffles.
"I couldn't apologize when he died," she states, her tone shows no emotion as it comes out dry as usual but inside she breaks down every time when she thinks about it "He died protecting me," she says and remains silent while Riley stares at her side features, he doesn't know who it is but stays silent leaving his curiosity aside.
"It's my brother," She mentions after a long wait, a slight smile makes it's way on her lips when she faces him "I'm going to meet Mr Mintz, Are you coming?," Aiden stands and stretches her arms looking around not spotting anyone.
The whole drive goes silent as neither of them pulls up a topic, the car comes to an halt by the corner of the main road, they get off and walk to the lane. Aiden waves when crossing the lonely road looking at Mr Mintz who raises his hand in cafe by the transparent glass wall.
"It's my first time to have a calm talk with dad," Riley utters watching his dad smiling at them.
A wide smile plays on his lips when he spots Mintz watching him.
Crash!
Riley freezes his eyes widen in horror, the pupils shrink at the sight in front of him, Aiden runs to the cafe stepping onto the shattered pieces of glass, she walks in her eyes scanning the environment, the empty shop didn't have the presence of the owner. Her heart pounds for the first time, she has been through many cases but neither of them made her fear about what would have happened inside but today she was afraid to see, she was afraid to see Mr Mintz laying on the ground, blood oozing out through his head, his body laying in an uncomfortable position. Licking her lips she squats down slowly her hands begin to tremble when she moves her finger below his nose to feel his breath, but he didn't let out any carbon dioxide.
Riley stands still his mind trying to analyse what happened in a blink of an eye, his vision gets blurry when a crystal layer of tears form on his eyes. The surrounding turns dim as he stares at the lorry which crashed in the shop, he keeps a step ahead his weak legs becoming wobbly, the sound of his racing heart and footsteps echo in his ears and the call out of his name playing at the back of his mind, the voice fading away little by little. He walks lifting his weak legs he tries to reach the destination but the edges of his vision darkens, the weight of his body lightens as he could no longer reel himself, a low gasp leaves his lips when his vision blacks out, his body hits the road the very next second.
He passed out.
People gather around at the incident, the siren of the ambulance plays in the background. Running her hand through her hair Aiden stands letting out a weary sigh, she holds a handful of hair pulling it out of its roots, she looks around. She knew that something was off in the cafe as the owner is not present and the road was strangely empty. Burying her face in her hands she slides it down slowly eyeing at the lorry, she walks towards it to see the driver.
"You are not allowed to go," the cold voice comes from the outside.
"Are you alright?," Blake rushes in, he holds Aiden's arms gently and looks into her moistened eyes "I'm glad you are okay," he sighs in relief.
"I need you to cone to the station for investigation," Eric announces coldly he passes a glance at Aiden and continues to look around.
Blake steps aside and retorts "Why does......," He stops when Aiden holds his hand and he faces her, she gestures him by nodding her head.
"Make sure, Riley is safe," she requests softly following the other two officers to the car.
The station is filled with whispers and gasps, Aiden stares at the bottle of water placed on the table. The passing officers greet her with salute respecting the presence of their leader.
"There is blood stain," Ben hands over a tissue to Aiden, she looks up at him and takes it passing him a smile. She wipes her cheeks "You alright," Ben questions as he moves the chair nearby next to Aiden and sits on it.
Biting her lower lip she gulps down her saliva and faces Ben "He was a good person," she speaks softly.
"I know," Ben nods "He has taken over many cases but never gave up on his clients. You remember the sexual harassment case you last investigated," he continues when she nodded in reply "He was the lawyer, he continued to console the family as he lost in the case," he remains silent for a while "You know, Tony was killed," he share the news oblivious of the truth behind Tony's death. Tony was replaced by another man accusing him guilty, the evidence found and proofs which were handed over to Eric was visibly fabricated.
"At the harbour right, I read that his manly hood was chopped off," Aiden says acting unknown.
"Yeah, he deserves it. Who ever did that is surely a hero and....,"
Ahem!Ahem!
The sound of the person clearing his throat distracts their conversation, Aiden and Ben looks straight, she rolls her eyes when Eric walks in, his venomous eyes staring at them. Ben stands slowly rubbing his hands against each other he steps aside and walks away, escaping the scene.
"Seems like the leader is still the leader after she is fired," Eric scoffs "Seems like miss Aiden is comfortable," he eyes at the water bottle and back at her.
If they are in the animated world right now, the thunder bolt passing in their glares will be lightening the environment. Eric pulls the chair and sits opposite to Aiden his eyes never leaving her, placing his arms on the table he leans forward and speaks coldly.
"You were the only one in the incident, why were you there?,"
Aiden rolls her eyes and remains silent, she grips the top part of that bottle and removes the lid of it, relaxing her shoulders she leans back resting her shoulders on the chair head as she slides away from the seat slightly, her already spread leg, now widely spread. Letting out a loud dramatic sigh she drinks the water emptying the bottle.
"Miss Aiden I request you to answer the questions," Eric grits his teeth his eyes squinting in anger "Or else face the consequences,"
"Consequences?," she repeats as she raises her brows in amusement "Eric," she mentions his name and sits straight placing her arms on the table she leans forward, she snickers "You are questioning with no evidence of me being a suspect," she arches a brow questionably.
"You've still got the same attitude after all what happened," Eric snorts forming his hands into fists, his face turns red "You’re not here only for what happened today, it's also because of Tony,"
"Tony," she mentions curiously knitting her brows "Do you at least have evidence for that?," She smirks "I remember noticing a security camera by the harbour," she chews onto her inner cheek holding her grin watching Eric's expression, she knows that no one can beat Blake in hacking and she is sure that there will be no doubt of the footage being edited.
"Aiden," Eric shouts taking the attention of the officers in the room, he slams his hand on the table creating a loud noise which makes some of them flinch but Aiden stays unmoved, he stands furiously and points at Aiden "You think I don't know what kind of a person you are," He grinds his teeth vigorously "You are not a good person from the beginning," he yells, the words rolling down his tongue swiftly.
"I never told that I'm a good person," Aiden sneers "Did I?," She raises her brows as she purses her lips to a flat line.
"You....," He opens the drawer of the table and grabs the pistol, he lifts it up in the air as he leans over the table aiming the gun point at Aiden's forehead in a short distance. The colleagues stand immediately they gather to the table in astonishment and fear, some of them have their mouth covered in gasps but no one uttered a word in fear. Eric's heavy breaths echoes in the air as he glares straight into her cold black eyes but her action surprises everyone. She never flinches nor moves her shoulders relaxed and her face expresses no sense of fear "You are a monster," Eric whisper growls.
"Sir," Blake retorts running to the table, his presence reduces the tension in the scene, Eric stands straight and turs to his right when Blake tosses three pen drives on the table "The footage shows that Aiden was with the victim's son," Blake explains.
Eric places the pistol on the table and takes the pen drives, he takes a glimpse at Aiden who stands.
"Question me with evidence," Aiden walks to the side in front of Blake, she stands in front of Eric and looks up at him "And yeah," she snorts "I'm a monster like you but the only difference is that I get rid of scumbags and you are one of them."