21. Breaking The Code

At school, the five girls stood infront of Daniella's locker, as she told them that she had managed to arrange the two thousand dollars Jonah wanted.

"We're giving him all of it?" a sceptic Emily asked, "Two thousand dollars is a lot of money".

"Emily, if he can finally tell me who A is I would hand over a million" Spencer stated.

"Yeah, I agree with Spencer" Daniella said.

"How'd you get the money so fast?" a confused Emily asked Daniella.

"I loaned it" Daniella lied.

"From who?" Aria asked, looking at her sister with suspicious eyes, knowing she was hiding something.

"From a friend that you have no idea about" Daniella replied, she hated lying to her sister and friends but she couldn't tell them that Jason gave her this money, because then she would have to tell them about Jason knowing about Jonah and her promising to tell Jason everything Jonah tells them, something told her the girls wouldn't take it well.

"Is it a sketchy friend?" a concerned Aria asked.

"No" Daniella immediately defended, "It's a, rich friend".

"Ooo, when do we get to meet this rich friend?" Hanna asked.

"I have no idea" a sheepish Daniella replied.

"Forget that Dani, what time did Jonah say to meet him?" Emily asked.

"Six, but guys not all of us can go" Daniella replied, "I think it's for the best that only me and Spencer go, we'll tell you guys everything afterwards".

"Why just you two?" a confused Hanna asked.

"Because I'm the face that he knows and the bank, and Spencer's the back up in case Jonah tries anything shady" Daniella replied.

"If we crowd him, he's gonna think something's up" Spencer added.

"Something is up" Emily stated, "Well, we're finally gonna find out who's been torturing us, since Ali's funeral and hello, I kind of wanna be there for that".

"Volume" Spencer warned, just as Mona walked over to the girls.

"Hey, ladies!" Mona greeted.

"Hey" the girls greeted in unison.

"Okay, um, Hanna can I borrow you for a sec?" Mona asked, Hanna nodded and walked away with Mona.

***

Daniella and Spencer sat on the bench of the park Jonah had asked to meet them at.

"How long have we been here?" an anxious Daniella asked.

Spencer looked down at her watch, "About ten minutes".

"What if he doesn't show up?" Daniella asked, also feeling very worried.

"Dani relax" Spencer said, "He said to meet him here at six, it's only five fifty eight".

Daniella sighed, she then started looking around hoping to spot Jonah, which she finally did, "We have incoming" she informed Spencer, as Jonah walked towards the two girls.

"Who's this?" Jonah asked Daniella, gesturing towards Spencer.

Spencer stood up from the bench, her arms crossed against her chest, "I'm her backup" she said, glaring at Jonah, daring him to do anything shady.

Daniella also stood up, "No offense, but you're a stranger, I wasn't coming here without backup".

"Yeah whatever, where's the money?" Jonah asked.

"Unh-unh, not until you hand over the info" Spencer stated.

"No way, I've already been burned once" Jonah protested, "It's not gonna happen again".

Daniella sighed, she pulled a white envelope out of her jacket pocket, "Here" she said, handing Jonah the envelope.

Jonah looked inside the envelop and after making sure the money was actually in there, he turned back to the two girls, "You hear from Vivian yet?" he asked curiously, Daniella and Spencer looked at each other with a slight panicked looked, they prepared for everything, except that question, "You don't owe me answers" Jonah assured, seeing the girls silence, he then held out a paper, "But she does".

After Daniella took the paper from his hand, Jonah walked away from the two girls.

"Here goes everything" Daniella whispered, opening the paper Jonah gave her, opening it both her and Spencer were disappointed when they realised it wasn't a name Jonah had given them, it was an address, 2672 Southampton Rd. 19116.

"Hey wait, no, whoa, wait!" Spencer yelled, as the two girls ran after Jonah, "There's no name, there's no number, this is just an address, where's the rest of it?".

"The text came from a burner phone" Jonah informed, "I was only able to trace the location".

"I don't believe this" a frustrated Spencer said, while Daniella shook her head, things could never be easy for them.

"That's all I gave Vivian, she was happy with it" Jonah said.

"Yeah, but we're not, okay" Spencer snapped, "You need to give us half the money back because we only got half the information".

"That was the money that was owed to me" Jonah argued, "The way I look at it, you got the address for free".

As Jonah walked away, Spencer went to follow but Daniella grabbed her arm, stopping her from following after Jonah.

"Spence relax" Daniella said, "We might not have gotten A's name, but we did get something".

Spencer sighed, she then pulled her phone out of her pocket and started typing the address in, "It's twenty minutes from here" she informed.

"Then let's go" Daniella said.

Spencer nodded, the two girls went to leave the park when suddenly their eyes landed on Garrett, who was sitting in his car, keeping an eye on the two girls.

"How long do you think he's been spying on us?" Daniella asked, really hoping Garrett hadn't seen their interaction with Jonah.

"I don't know, but there's no way that we're going to that address right now" Spencer said, not wanting Garrett to follow them there, Daniella nodded her head in agreement.

***

The five girls sat in Spencer's room, Hanna just having finished telling them that the reason she never got charged with shoplifting because Wilden asked to sleep with her mom in return for Hanna to be free which her mom agreed on, and now A is using that information to blackmail Mona.

"And suddenly it makes sense as to why Wilden didn't charge you with shoplifting" Daniella whispered.

"Okay, you know what? Please, no jokes, no judging" a panicked Hanna pleaded.

"All of this was over a pair of designer sunglasses" a shocked Spencer said, making Hanna give her a look, "I'm sorry, I'm just still processing".

"God, if my mom knew that I told you guys this--".

"We'd never judge her! She took me in, she's amazing" Emily assured, "My mom would have driven me to the station and offered to take the mug shot".

"Yeah, the real question is why is A suddenly going after Mona?" a confused Spencer asked, "What, we're not enough?".

"A knows we're getting closer" Emily said, as Hanna sat back on the bed with the other girls.

"And they can't turn us against each other so they're using our friends to hurt us" Aria said.

"How much did you tell Mona about A?" a curious Emily asked Hanna.

"Nothing, I didn't say anything" Hanna clarified, "I mean, I feel like I should, we all know what A's capable of".

"Yeah, that's exactly why the less Mona knows, the better" Spencer said.

"Guess you're right" Hanna realised, "I just feel bad lying to her".

"Where you going?" Spencer asked, as Hanna stood up from the bed.

"I haven't eaten anything all day" Hanna informed, "I'm starting to get a twitch".

"When you go down there, could you look outside and see if Garrett's car is still out front?" Spencer asked.

"Yeah" Hanna assured, opening Spencer's bedroom door and walking out the room.

"He followed me home" Spencer informed the other girls.

"Creep" Daniella commented as Spencer stood up to shut the door again.

"A sent my dad a letter trying to get him to catch me and Ezra and now my mom's on the hunt to find out who A is" Aria blurted out, shocking the three girls present in the room.

"Wait, whoa, wait, back up" a confused Spencer said, turning to face the middle Montgomery.

"Why the hell would A send dad a letter about you and Ezra?" a confused Daniella asked, "I thought you and Ezra weren't seeing each other?".

"I am still seeing him" a guilty Aria admitted.

Daniella looked at Aria, a betrayed expression on her face, "And you hid that from me?" she asked.

"Dani, I'm sorry, okay? I really wanted to tell you, I wanted to tell all of you" Aria said, "I just, I thought it'd be dangerous".

Emily placed her hand on top of Aria's, "We understand" she assured.

"No!" Spencer and Daniella yelled at the same time, Daniella standing up from the bed and glaring at her sister.

"Speak for yourself" Spencer told Emily, she then turned to Aria, "Didn't we have, like multiple conversations where we talked about how heartbroken we were over losing Toby and Ezra?".

"And how many times did I sleep on the floor of your room to make sure you were okay?!" Daniella asked, "You didn't think to inform me about you and Ezra, it would have saved my back a lot of pain Aria!".

"Guys, I'm so sorry" a guilty Aria whispered.

"As you should be" Daniella snapped.

"God, you deserve an Oscar for that performance" Spencer taunted.

"Look, I'm sorry, okay, but if it's any consolation my dad is doing everything he can to make sure Ezra's out of my life and Rosewood for good" Aria informed.

"Oh and that's supposed to make you lying to me all okay?" Daniella asked, furious at her sister.

Before Aria could say anything to her sister, Hanna yelled from downstairs, "You guys, come down here!".

The four girls exchanged a confused look between but nonetheless walked downstairs.

"Caleb sent me an e-mail" Hanna informed, seeing her friends walk down the stairs while on Spencer's laptop, "He told me to open the attachment immediately, can I do it on your laptop?".

"Yeah" Spencer assured.

"What is this about?" a confused Emily asked, "Did he crack more of A's phone?".

"If Caleb did crack A's phone then I want the two thousands dollars I gave to Jonah back" Daniella stated, as the girls started watching the video Caleb sent.

"What are we supposed to be looking for?" Emily asked.

"She's coming upstairs" the girls heard a panicked Jenna say to Ian and Garrett as the camera fell to the floor, with the door in it's view.

"Are we about to see Alison get killed?" a slightly scared Hanna asked.

The girls let out loud gasps when they saw the door to Alison's door open and Melissa appear.

"Where is she?" a furious Melissa asked.

"Oh my god" a shocked Emily said, all the girls having a hard time believing what they just saw.

"It's Melissa" Spencer whispered, not knowing what to make of this.

***

"Okay, we need to hurry and take this video to the police before A comes and erases it" Daniella stated, as the girls stared at Melissa's face in the paused video.

"I agree" Emily said.

"Yeah, me too!" Hanna added.

"Same" Aria agreed.

"No" Spencer blurted out, making the girls look at her in both confusion and shock.

"Why not?" Daniella asked.

"I, I need to talk to Melissa first" Spencer replied, "We need to find out what she was doing in Alison's room".

"Isn't it obvious?" Emily asked, "She was a part of that night, they were all after Alison".

"Okay, you don't know that, she, she just" a panicked Spencer turned her back to the girls, not knowing how to defend her sister, "She could have just been looking for Ian", she turned back to the girls who were currently giving her an are you serious look, "Look, okay, I know that Melissa had her issues with Alison but I'm not about to turn in my pregnant sister".

"I will, watch me" Hanna stated.

"Hanna, you just asked me not to be so quick to judge your own mother, and now you're ready to throw my sister behind bars!" a frustrated Spencer yelled.

"Spencer, Melissa has lied to you so many times" Aria reminded, "Why do you think she's gonna tell the truth now, huh?".

"Because I haven't always been so honest with her either" Spencer defended, "But maybe if I come clean and I tell her what we saw--".

"She'll come up with a bigger lie" Emily interrupted.

"Not if she knows what's at stake" Spencer snapped, "Please, okay, just, give me this one night to talk to her".

Daniella looked at her sister and her two best friends, all three reluctantly nodding their heads, she then turned Spencer, "Fine, you have one night to get Melissa to come clean about the night Ali disappeared, while us four will try to figure out where A was sending those texts from".

"Spence, talk to her, now" Hanna demanded, as the rest of the girls grabbed their bags, ready to leave.

As soon as the four girls left her house, Spencer pulled out her phone from her back pocket and immediately dialed her sister, hoping and praying that she didn't murder her best friend.

***

At night Daniella, Aria, Hanna and Emily decided to pay a visit to the address Jonah had give Daniella and Spencer.

"We're here" Daniella announced, as the four girls arrived at Froelich Williams & Lang Law Office.

"There's no way we're gonna get in here" Emily realised, looking at the chained up gate which Aria was trying to remove, when suddenly Hanna pushed open the other side of the gate, while Daniella and Hanna stepped into the property, Aria and Emily exchanged a look, both amused at their stupidity, before they finally decided to follow Daniella and Hanna.

The four girls walked up the porch and Daniella tried the front door but quickly realised it was locked.

"Now what?" a confused Emily asked.

"Let's look around" Hanna suggested, and with that the four girls tried to look around, Aria's eyes landed on mail sticking out of the door, she went to grab it when someone pulled it inside, looking at the small window, Aria let out a scream seeing an old man standing there and she fell backwards, just as a loud alarm started going off.

"Aria!" Emily yelled, as the other three girls rushed to the middle Montgomery.

Hanna and Daniella helped Aria stand and the girls rushed off the property as fast as they as could just as the front door opened and the old man who scared Aria came out of the office.

"That's definitely not A" Emily said, as the girls stopped to look at the man.

"Come on, let's go" Hanna said, the other girls nodded and quickly left the premises before anyone could recognise them.

***

Aria sat on the Marin's kitchen counter, tending to her injury.

"Ow" Aria hissed in pain while putting a cotton pad on the cut on her shin, "Remind me to never run backwards on a porch ever again, please".

Hanna grabbed the one envelope Aria had managed to grab before she fell, "FWL law firm, have either of you heard of it?" Hanna asked, sitting on a chair next to the kitchen counter, her laptop opened infront of her.

"Nope" Daniella replied, sitting next to Hanna, "All of this was for nothing, this law firm is nothing but a dead end, you know what? I want my money back from Jonah, it's the least he can do for making us go on a wild goose chase".

"I don't think it's a dead end, I'm gonna google it" Hanna said, typing FWL law firm into her laptop, hoping to find something about it.

"So what?" Aria asked, grabbing the envelope, "What, A's a lawyer now? Give me a break! Everybody that works here has got to be over thirty".

"Found it" Hanna informed, "It closed down three months ago".

"Why is Emily taking so long in bringing our food?" Daniella asked, she was too hungry to think about anything but food, "I'm starving, my brain is not going to work till my stomach gets food".

"Here's a list of employees" Hanna said, continuing her research, "Charles Lang, hey, isn't that, um, Crystal's father?".

"No, Crystal's last name is Lee, not Lang" Aria corrected, "Hanna, face it, we got scammed".

"So that's it?" a frustrated Hanna asked, "A wins? Either my mom goes down or Mona does".

Daniella sighed, "I'm sorry Han, but don't worry, we'll figure something out, A can't win every single time".

"But A does win every single time" Hanna retorted.

Daniella and Aria looked at each other, knowing Hanna was right, no matter what they did, no matter what proof they got in their hand, somehow, someway, A was always one step ahead of them, somehow A always won.

***

Next day, Jason ended up picking Daniella from school.

"So you guys got scammed?" Jason asked, driving Daniella home as she told him about Jonah giving them an address that led them to absoluetly nothing.

"Yeah" Daniella whispered, "Jason I'm so sorry, your money went to waste, we found nothing except an address to a stupid shut down law firm".

"Law firm?" Jason asked.

"Yeah, FWL law firm" Daniella informed, "Me and the girls went to check it out but we found no one except a creepy old man, nothing about the person who Ali was terrified of".

"FWL law firm" Jason whispered, "Where have I heard this name before?".

Daniella looked at Jason, "You know this law firm?".

Suddenly Jason's eyes went wide, he finally remembered where he had heard this name before, "I've heard about this law firm from Ian".

"Ian?" a shocked Daniella asked, "Are you telling me all of this connects back to a dead man?".

"No" Jason replied, "It connects to Melissa".

"Melissa?" Daniella asked, wondering if she heard Jason right or not, "As in Spencer's sister?".

Jason nodded in confirmation, "I remember Ian telling me about Melissa doing a summer internship at this law firm".

"Oh my god" Daniella whispered, realising the possibility of Spencer's sister being their tormenter was increasing with each passing second, she doesn't know how Spencer will help her sister out of this one.

***

Presenting 2x21 of We Belong Together!

How was the chapter?

Thoughts on Daniella not telling the girls that Jason gave her the money to give to Jonah?

Thoughts on Daniella and Spencer meeting up with Jonah?

Thoughts on the girls seeing Melissa in Alison's room the night she disappeared?

Thoughts on the girls visiting the law firm Jonah gave them the address tp?

Thoughts on Jason telling Daniella that Melissa used to work at that law firm?