On the way back home, I felt like a huge burden lifted was lifted off of my chest. Watching Lenny reunited with his parents really made the danger we went through worth it.

I personally apologised to Lenny too for the misunderstanding and wrongly suspecting him. At first, he was shocked but knowing that we rescued him later, he forgave me.

Jordan decided to go directly home since he still left a little rusty. I was glad that he supported us even though he's just gotten out of jail.

Brianna fell asleep in the car and so I called her mom and informed her that she'll be staying with me. All of us were tired to drop her home.

The car halted and Brianna woke up with a jerk. I immediately held her hand and told her we were safe and she didn't have to panic.

We didn't waste another minute and all got out, making our way to the bed. But that didn't work out when we saw Derek sitting on our pouch, his head resting in his hands.

"Derek?" I whispered, grabbing his attention and he immediately got up.

"People like you don't deserve phones. I called you like a hundred times, why wouldn't you pick up?" Brianna gritted.

"I was busy," he shrugged.

Derek's response made me roll my eyes and go inside my house. I checked my parents's room and smiled when they were sound asleep.

"Are you mad at me?" Derek asked me and stopped me from walking away.

"Look, I've had a long night. I can't deal with you right now." I answered, but his grip didn't loosen.

"Val, what did I do?"

I scoffed at his cluelessness. He really knew how to appall me. "What did you do? Derek, we all could have died tonight. We busted our asses to make sure Lenny was back safe, just like we have been busting our asses to catch who killed Rosalind, but you are busy with your own life. If you didn't care so much, why did you even ask to be a part of the group?"

"I tried to get out, but I couldn't. This is as important to me as it is to you. Please don't think that all this doesn't matter to me," he said. His voice was low and had a hint of guilt in it.

"Does it really matter?" Brianna interjected and stood right next to me, her hands folded and her eyes staring straight into Derek's soul. "There is this thing known as 'priorities' and it clearly looks like it's a foreign concept for you. I almost got fired because I was busy here and had to cancel my concerts. I had to record a new song, but I didn't even do that because Blake told me Valerie was in the hospital. I dropped everything to be here and all you have done is suggest ONE good plan."

"Dad is naming his company in my name. His original plan was to give it to Rosalind, but since she is not alive anymore, he is giving it to me. I was busy finishing all the formalities so that later I can give my undivided attention to this case. And since my father was involved, I try making excuses because I didn't want him to know the truth." He explained. His eyes did not dare to meet our angry ones.

"More excuses," I scoffed. "I get it that you getting a company is a big deal, but don't you already have yours? And couldn't you have delayed all of this? Brianna literally just told you that we have paused all our lives so that we can put the murderer behind the bars! I'm sorry if I sound unreasonable but I'm just really mad at you right now."

"Did you ever think about what I'm going through? First, I discovered my sister's dead body and blamed myself for not being there for her through her difficult time because I thought she committed suicide. Then, I find out that there is a person out there who killed Rose and has been sending you clues to solve it. I'm sorry if I've been living in denial. I forgot that everyone has to be mentally strong like you." Derek said.

There was nothing else left for me say. I've been so busy finding the killer that I didn't realise he never knew from the beginning.

Taking my silence as his answer, he left the room and made his way back to the car. None of us moved, until I knew what I had to do.

I followed him outside into the dark and tried stopping him. "Derek! Please, stop. I'm sorry I said those things." None of it worked, so I ran and stood in front of him. "Don't go like this."

"What do you want, Valerie?"

"I want to apologise. I shouldn't have said all that."

"Then why did you say it?" He asked.

"Because we are failing!" My breathe hitched as I controlled the tears. "If you haven't noticed we have no suspects and whatever we do, we coming back to square one. We have been through this before and I was the one who told everybody that no matter what happens, we can break through and find out who the killer is, but I can't keep it together anymore. Not after I was attacked."

"You don't have to-"

"Yes, I need to get it all out," I cut him off and continued. "I was sleeping in my hospital room, when the killer entered and kept one of the notes on the table. That was when I knew that we were losing and no matter what we did, the killer always had the upper hand. I don't know how he finds out everything, but he just knows. Today when we went to save Lenny and one of the guys hit me and Brianna in the head, you have no idea how much I panicked. Waking up in that dark room brought all those horrible memories of me getting beaten up. I'm not not as strong as you think I am. I'm just good at hiding it."

Derek scanned my eyes, finding all the pain that I had been hiding all this time. The more he stared, the weaker I felt.

Finally, unable to hold the tears back, I let time roll down my cheeks. Derek didn't waste another second and pulled me in his arms, gently patting my back. I buried my face in his shirt and cried like there was no tomorrow.

"I'm sorry," I whispered.

"It's fine," he said and kissed the top of my head. "Tell everyone to be at Picasso tomorrow for lunch. We'll do something about the killer problem."

I laughed and moved a little, allowing him to get in the car and wave at me one last time.

I stood still until his car was no more in my vision. A familiar hand slid on my waist, making me turn around.

"Blake," I smiled and placed a small peck on his cheek.

"Let's get you inside," he smiled.

I plopped on my bed after that knowing that the entire gang was back together and this time, there was no stopping us.

Hello Angels!

The gang is back. I'm excited to write the next chapter.

What'd you think of this chapter?

Don't forget to vote, comment and share.