NOLA POV

It was New Year's Day, and she chose to spend it all alone at home.

Tennille was back in L.A., and so was Sarena and her family for a vacation slash she needed to do some work with Tone and Ginger.

Even Kitty and Icee took the babies on their first flight, across the sea to spend with Krystle and her family. They invited her to come along, but she was not in the mood.

She preferred to sulk at home all alone. She could have called Ronan or Drew or Tori to hang out with on New Year's Eve, but felt she would be Debbie Downer. She read textbooks she found on more serial killers.

Interesting stuff to her. By definition, a serial killer is a person who committed a series of murders. Often times there was no apparent motive, but they always were in a pattern. She believed that there were many serial killers out there, uncaught, continuing to do crimes under the radar. The missing children and women that no one was looking for.

Was there a such thing as the perfect crime?

Yes. Most authorities in crime would say no, but then, how do you explain killers never getting caught, Innocent people in jail for crimes they did not commit, only to find out they never did the crime, but the killer was still free.

The perfect crime.

How could criminals get away with it for years? Mostly, they did the murder and never spoke of it to anyone. They were normal enough that they lived their life with no red flags. They could be your next door neighbor, your teacher, or even your pastor at your church. It always was the ones you never suspected.

It gave her the chills. Because of that, she looked at the people around her that could be psychos. Not counting her family. They were crazy but for different people.

The rest of the Facts. T-Zack and Freezy. She had little to no interaction with them. They had no familial bonds with Tucker or AKA. They were just groupmates, all connected by Icee and Craig. T-Zack was now divorced from his wife, thanks to him telling her about his affair. They had split custody of their three kids. He seemed to be a good guy, despite the affair with her sister.

Freezy was a quiet man. But she did her research into him. He had secrets he was hiding, but nothing pointing out that he was a killer.

Then there were the two guys she was dating. Ronan was in class with her studying criminal activity, Wouldn't that be a great cover? Learn the techniques and use them to commit the perfect crime. That's what she would do. He never talked much about his family. She did not either, so that was no excuse.

What about Drew? A small-town boy with a family that sounded like they were not close at all. Being a bi-racial kid that could pass, how did that affect his childhood? Around racists who talked freely about their hatred for Black people.

She wondered about Tone and Riyah and their situation. Tone decided to stay with Riyah and pretend to the world they were one hundred percent in love and okay. That is what most reality shows are these days, fake. She wanted no part of it.

Riyah was certifiable crazy. Tone had to live with that. She was so glad she avoided being attached to him, although she still cared for him as a friend. He could keep his distance from her as long as he was with that bitch.

"I need you to stay focused and not think about some boy."

That was Victor, of course, telling her how to live her life as soon as he touched back down in Springfield and came to the house. It never occurred to him that she could give two shits about any guy. Not Drew, not Ronan, and for damn sure not Tone. One was an ex and the other two were just guys she saw casually. No feelings were involved on her part.

"Which boy are you referring to, and why not?"

"That buster that likes to stalk you."

This was news to her. What boy was stalking her?

"See, if you had your eyes open you would know which one I am talking about. What do you know about that boy you brought to our family Thanksgiving?"

Ronan? He was harmless. She checked him out herself and he had no question marks in his background.

"I like Ronan. I thought you already did his background search before I even invited him to dinner. Why would you say something like that about him? Even all my sisters like him."

Victor grunted. "They've been wrong before...plenty of times, that's why I am here."

Her brother-in-law made himself at home, going into the kitchen and grabbing a beer out of the fridge, leftover from who knows when. When Victor was growing up, he lived next door and would come to their house often and have meals. Her mother cared for Victor like he was always part of the family.

Victor was close with his parents, yet they let him come and go as he pleased. They were older, so Victor basically raised himself a lot of the time. Though his parents sold the house and moved back to their hometown of New Orleans, Victor was there several times a year visiting them.

She never knew them that well.

"Tell me what Ronan did?"

"He's like a little puppy, always following you around for attention."

That made her laugh. She remembered the first time she ran into Ronan, or rather, her roundhouse kick. Creeping after her and following her to her car.

"He's sweet, I like him a lot."

"Those are the ones to watch out for, the sweet ones."

She ignored him. "How was L.A. with the family? See any celebrities?"

"They don't impress me." Victor sat on the sofa while she hovered near. "The girls were happy to tag along with Rena and see her in action. I just hope to God neither of them wants to go into show business."

From what she knew of her nieces, they were very talented in a lot of things. Brandy was a phenom playing basketball, and Monica was an artist, always drawing something. Plus, they both could sing like all the Kelly girls. Whatever they decided to do, they had a family with the means to help with their success.

They would probably go into the family business, entertainment of some sort. Unlike her, the odd girl out that wanted to do her own thing.

"You didn't like your time in Hollyweird?" Victor even chuckled at her, something he rarely did.

She ignored him because he knew she hated working on that Tone and Riyah mess. "No more crazy stalking cases. No more entry-level shit unless you have me staking out some real criminals. Not this low-0level solve it with my eyes closed, baby cases. You know I can do more."

"You're not ready."

"Vic!" she yelled at him. "Stop treating me like a baby! I may be the baby of the family, but you know I am better at any self-defense than all my sisters. You said it! And, I know how to use my guns."

"Having a gun and having to use them... nothing to brag about." He finished his can of bear and crushed it to a pulp with his bare hand. "That's why you're not ready to do any real fieldwork. Leave it to the professionals."

She started to stomp away from him but he immediately snapped his fingers at her, and she knew that meant stop whatever she was doing and give him her attention again. She walked back over to him.

"Sit down."

She sat on the other couch across from him.

"I know you are the best. I know you have been training. I know you think you know it all, but you don't. You want to catch bad guys, that shit can get you killed. Do you know how many times I've been shot at? And that's here in this country-ass city. You want to work with the Feds and the bigwigs, that's a whole other territory. You're not ready."

She begged to differ. What else did she need to learn? As soon as she finished college she would apply to the FBI and she was going to get in first shot. There was no guarantee, but she had a feeling this was her destiny.

"It feels like everyone else is going on with their lives and I'm at a standstill. Maybe if I decided to major in criminology in the first place, I would be finished by now and entering the academy."

"No, you're exactly where you need to be, lil sis."

"Then if I am stuck here, doing nothing but twiddling my thumbs, let me date whoever I want. Ronan, Drew, or any other guy for that matter. You have to trust me that I know how to take care of myself...if they ever try some slick stuff."

"Oh, I know," he said with a grin at her. "You're the one I know will handle any situation that comes."

A/N: Nola is in a rush to start a dangerous career. And can we really trust Ronan? He seems so sweet.