Rickson went back to the mansion to see her children, them having just woken up from a nap their father had put them down for before heading out. She knew it'd be another handful of hours before she returned for the night properly and she'd already left early that morning so they had hardly seen her.

Never would she put anything first before her children - things would always need to pause.

None of the girls were home, and Rickson went to the screen room, where her twin girls were sat on either side of her husband with their son on his lap, snuggled into his chest.

The five-year-old was a sucker for affection.

"Guess who?"

At the sound of their mother's voice, Kinsley, Kiera and Kane all simultaneously turned to face Rickson as she came down to greet them.

"Mom!" Being ten now, the girls had transitioned from calling her mommy very quickly but having little Kane eased the heart sore a little bit.

"Mommy." Rickson hugged both twins then took her youngest into her own arms, kissing his forehead lightly while watching her husband stand.

Kyson and Rickson had been together for two years in college before getting married once they had graduated. It was easy to fall into the routine of starting a life together and when a year had passed for the newlyweds - they tried for a baby.

Successful, they conceived two within a few weeks of trying and had had their family since, welcoming their only son once juggling twin girls seemed bearable.

"Hey," She smiled and kissed Kyson softly, bouncing her son around from habit but Kane welcomed it as he pressed his lips to her chin for his own kiss.

"Everything okay?"

She nodded at the question and then looked at the girls who had gone back to watching whatever it is that they had been watching so she set Kane between the two and pulled her husband away for some privacy. "I'm going to go check something for Jamie, so I wanted to see them just in case I wasn't back for bedtime."

"Need me to come with you?" Kyson placed his hands on her waist but she shook her head as her arms wound themselves around the back of his neck.

"No, I can handle it." He frowned but didn't argue.

Kyson was a businessman, who made investments and founded more than a set number of businesses in his less than forty years of living. The world of business wasn't the cleanest at times, so he wasn't new to criminality, especially knowing who his wife was but she still preferred he continue things on his own path while she did the same.

Unless she really needed his help, which he was always willing to help out.

"I'm gonna eat lunch with you guys then I'll head out."

"Anything about your mom?"

"Not yet, no. But we're on it."

"You're being smart, right?" He held her cheeks and she nodded.

"Of course." Her charming smile graced her features so he took to believing her then pressed a firm kiss on her lips. "Relax, everything's fine."

"Unless your mother is dead, then you'll have to take over an entire criminal empire that even fears the letter 'D' because of your surname."

This had been a problem for a while... They had kids and Kyson wasn't comfortable with his wife having a higher position in the business than she did right now. "Kids, what do you want to eat?" Rickson spoke without looking away from her husband's green eyes, a slight jutted frown on her lips that let him know he'd made her upset with his comment.

"Pulled chicken sandwiches?" Kinsley suggested.

"Chicken mayo!" Her sister Kiera corrected then Kane went left entirely and exclaimed,

"Chicken nuggets!"

"At least it's all the same poultry." Rickson said to herself before pulling away from her husband and stepping out of his reach when he reached for her. She walked out of the room to go to the kitchen without looking back, even when she heard him follow after her.

"I'm sorry."

Ignoring her husband, Rickson looked for some chicken breasts to defrost then found some nuggets Yasmine had stocked.

"I'm not saying that Yasmine isn't alive—"

"That's not the problem." She interrupted simply and he sighed.

"I know."

"You know I wouldn't do anything to put our children in danger. They are safe. My mom used her position to make sure of that and if I had to step up to the position, nothing would change."

"I'm sorry." Kyson watched his wife gather her ingredients together and work on getting the chicken out of its iced state. "I'm just worried that you're gonna have to take this on while they're still so young."

"You sure?" Rickson had to ask but knew it was the truth. This was her life, the man she loved always accepted their circumstances.

"I do love you, don't I? I'm always sure."

"Yasmine Davenport hasn't died yet so..." Rickson smiled to let him know they were okay. They never held grudges, even if old arguments flared - they never carried much momentum.

"Do you believe that?"

This man truly knew her. "Well my sisters do, does that count?" He just smiled and nodded.

"It's gonna be fine, okay?"

"Okay."

.....

Jamie was dropped off at the scene of the explosion where Hitter was speaking to somebody on the phone while standing beside a woman she recognised as an assistant of some sort who worked with her mother.

Anne opened the door for Jamie and let her out before closing it and climbing back inside herself, watching as the Davenport daughter walked over.

"Miss Davenport." The woman spoke with respect, her tone quiet since Wolf was still on the phone beside them. She had a bruise covering her eye and some of her cheek - not bothered to be covered just framed by a long line of eyeliner and some eyelashes.

"Hi." Jamie looked her up and down then moved to stand between the two, taking out her phone and opening up her notepad.

Rikki may have a lead, she said she'll let me know about it later on. I don't know what that's about.

She handed the phone to him and he read the words quickly then held up a finger and walked away. "Your hair is nice." Jamie turned to the female again, who had a black bob in curls framing her face.

"Hm?"

"You've grown out your hair, it looks very nice."

"Oh right. Thank you." She turned a dismissive shoulder but the woman spoke up again,

"Mr Hitter was asking me a few questions about your mom since a few of us have kinda been surveying the area since the accident."

"What was your name again?"

"Briana?"

"Are you asking me?" One of Jamie's eyebrows raised but other than that, her face stayed blank.

Briana's eyes widened, "No, I'm not. It's Briana."

"Okay, Briana. Were you here that day?"

"I was responsible for getting Niall Davenport from the scene."

"Makes sense. My sister can be wild." Jamie shared a small smile.

"She head-butted me, so yeah." They laughed and Jamie held her hand out.

"Jamie."

Briana's eyes went wide at the welcoming to call her boss' daughter by her first name and grabbed her hand to shake immediately. "An honour."

"James." There's the reason why she'll never introduce herself by her full name again.

"Hitter." She turned and tilted her head.

"While you were gone, I went to see the remnants of the car as well - which is why I didn't meet you and your sister - and found an escape door on the bottom. The car..."

He walked a few steps away and stopped. "Was parked right here. That door was angled around here." He crouched and set a hand on a manhole.

"Why didn't anybody think of this sooner?" Jamie spoke more to herself than anything, jogging to her car and waiting for Hitter to unlock it with the keys before she climbed in - the windows tinting a moment later.

Hitter looked at Briana who watched the car curiously. In two minutes, Jamie climbed out of the car in workout shorts, a tight tank top and sneakers, a gun strapped to her waist and another in her hand as she checked the ammo.

Her hair was pulled in a low ponytail, a flashlight held between her teeth as she walked over again.

"Still up to consume changing tricks, I see." At the reminder of their first time meeting, Jamie laughed and then palmed the flashlight again and smirked at her boyfriend.

"Nothing about me has changed. Take this, you can have one too." Jamie handed over a mic-attached earpiece and pointed to her own. "Talk to me. Only come if I call for you."

"Be careful."

"When am I ever not?" She smiled cheekily then went to the manhole which he helped remove the lid of. "Wish me luck." Were her last words before disappearing into the darkness.

Splash. She landed in ankle-deep water, but it smelt fresh which relieved her as she clicked on her light to pan around the tunnel.

"What do you see?"

Jamie scanned her eyes over the slimy walls and vacated spaces with three different breaks in the room that lead down different paths.

"Nothing really. There are three paths to go down..."

"Do you wanna test them out?"

"I think I should."

"Okay, I'm right here. At any sense of danger though, you come back."

Jamie laughs and doesn't respond, beginning to walk forward with her heavy and loaded firearm held up in front of her.

"Jamie." Still no reply.

The further she walks down the tunnel, the quieter and the more detached it gets from the sounds out of the pothole.

There wasn't anything to separate the underground from any other sewer which made her hope die down quickly that her and Wolf could have been on to something. Anything.

"Mom?" She calls out, her voice casting an echo in the closed area but no response came -not that she expected one- but still she tried again. "Is there anybody down here? Mom!"

"You're going to attract unwanted attention." Hitter's voice filled her ear and she rolled her eyes but refrained from yelling any more.

"Five more minutes then you come back. I'll send somebody if we have to but, we should get going soon."

"Yeah okay. Hopefully, Rickson is having better luck than I am."

.....

Rickson was driving herself, one hand on the wheel with her heel-clad foot easing over the gas as she drove down a familiar road.

Her kids had been helping their father make dinner for everyone when she left, and she promised to call them for bedtime endearments.

Since it was dark, she flashed her headlights and tried to focus on the road ahead better than her distracted mind managed to let her but it was a struggle because of that.

Arriving at her location, she used a remote to open the tall double gates then drove inside towards a house she'd come to visit once it had became a third home - after Yasmine's and the one she built with her husband and their children.

Once parked in front of the door, she turned the engine off which plunged the car in silence as she sat there and stared at the house.

It's now or never.

She picked up her phone and opened up her phone cover, revealing a single key which she got out before climbing outside and locked up.

As Rickson sauntered her way to the front door, she crossed her fingers and could almost feel the sound the rhythm of her heart pounding in tune of her clicking high heels before she stopped and inserted the key into the lock and turned.

Pushing into the house, it was dark and lifeless.

"Mom?"

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