At this point Brian had nearly crawled out of his skin. He had never felt so nervous in his life. Who would have thought that a celebrity, a singer, a family man, a Christian (and all of the things that encompassed his being that had NOTHING to do with crime) would be in a situation where he was literally hiding for his life? He couldn't fathom the thought that his entire life was on the line, and depending merely on his ability to keep still and quiet. Sure, he could have walked outside that morning and been hit by a bus but he'd never deliberately walked out in front of a bus and that was how the situation was significantly different.

It had been a while since he heard the discussion of finding Toni's body, and listened to the sound of the three men walking away from his hiding place. Now could be the time to come out but with the three of them lurking around he didn't want to press his luck.

"Your goons obviously aren't very good at hide and seek," Valerie smirked sarcastically at her adversary, and he seemed to be at the end of his rope.

"Enough of this bullshit!" Josh exclaimed, pulling a pistol from his belt, "I know you're in here! Come out now or I kill your partner!"

And with that he swung around and pointed the gun at Valerie's head.

"How much do you value her?" he screamed again, knowing in his gut that whoever was in the warehouse was an accomplice of hers, "Because I don't give a shit about her, and her death is only going to mean less chance of me getting caught. Come out now and she lives a little longer, stay hidden like the fucking coward you are... and she's dead."

Brian hadn't known until the moment he heard her voice that Valerie was in any kind of danger, but he knew things (well, he thought he knew things) about her. If he went with what her Grandfather said he could leave her to the proverbial wolves and hope for the best. What if he was wrong though? What if he really was letting a woman die?

Breathing deeply Brian tried to decide. If Valerie was really like Nick, she couldn't possibly be killed but if she wasn't, and that guy hurt her, it would be on his shoulders.

It was not an easy decision by any stretch of the imagination. When given the choice of probably die and maybe die he didn’t know what to pick. How could anyone know? If he kept hiding he might get caught, and they would probably kill him. If he came out of hiding he would definitely get caught and they would definitely kill him.

He wished Nick were there to help him decide what he should do. As he thought more about his friend he came to the sad realization that Nick never got to be in this position. He never had the choice of whether to live or die. He never got to walk away from the situation; he was thrust head first into it. So really, Brian had it better than a lot of people would have. No one got to choose when they got cancer, or whether they’d step out in front of that bus, or have an ex-girlfriend with a crazy mobster boyfriend. What they did get to choose was what kind of person they left the world as. He wanted to leave the world as a good man, not as someone who ran away when the pressure got high.

He told himself to be brave, and he really wanted to be but Brian couldn’t stop himself from shaking with fear.

His legs shook as though he’d just run a marathon as he started to move from his hiding spot.

Overall, it was a bad decision, he knew. He just wasn’t sure if it would be the last bad decision he’d ever get to make. But, he just didn’t feel right about leaving Valerie potentially defenceless. Ghost or not, she deserved to know that there was someone there who would die to protect her. He wished Nick had known that when it came down to the end.

Cautiously he stepped into the open, coming up from behind the men who were looking for him.

“YOU HAVE 30 SECONDS!” Josh yelled angrily and as Brian got closer to the open floor of the warehouse area could see the cop had his gun pressed into Valerie’s left temple.

“Okay!” Brian called out, trying to keep his voice from failing him, “I’m here! I’m right here! Just don’t hurt her!”

In a flash the man in the blue coat grabbed him and he was pulled and dragged over to a crate next to where Valerie was sitting. He was forced into a sitting position and just as quickly he found himself with guns in his own face, something he never thought he would ever experience.

“Who the fuck are you?” Josh asked initially before taking a moment to really look at Brian’s face, “Wait... you’re that guy... the guy in the boy band! You were the one always poking around for information about your little friend.”

“I still want information,” Brian relayed in his shaky voice, “That’s the only reason why we’re here. I’m trying to find out who killed my friend.”

Josh rolled his eyes dramatically, “Cry me a river. What is it with you people and having to know every detail about everything? Your friend is dead,” he turned to Valerie, “The man you claim is your father is dead. Get over it, already!”

“We deserve some justice!” Brian said boldly. He went to stand but the two thugs standing next to him threw him back down onto the crate with a thud.

“You don’t deserve shit,” Josh shook his head, reaching up with one hand to scratch his temple; “I can’t believe you people. Why did you think you wouldn’t end the day in the ground next to your beloveds?  There’s really no way we can let you leave alive... you know that right?”

“Wow, the bodies sure do pile up around this place,” Valerie sarcastically contributed and Brian looked over at her, still unsure about where she stood in the whole plot.

Taking a deep breath as to hold back his emotions Brian looked up at his captors, “I don’t care what happens to me anymore. I just need to know what happened to my friend.”

“Brian, don’t say that. You don’t know what you’re saying,” Val muttered under her breath just loud enough for him to hear her.

Suddenly out of the quiet of the room there was laughter. Santino was laughing right at Brian as if he’d just told a funny joke.

“Do you have something you want to say to me? Why is that funny?” Brian asked, suddenly feeling a little more confident now that he’d basically admitted he was ready to die for the information.

“Yeah, I do have something to say to you,” Santino nodded and stepped up so close to Brian he could smell the cheap cologne on the man, “You want to know what happened to your friend? I’ll tell you. He pissed his pants, cried like a little girl, and begged for his fucking life right before I took it from him. Your friend was a pussy, and he died that way. There you go... something to remember him by.”

It only took a split second for Brian’s emotion level to increase from cautious to out of control.

“You asshole!” he yelled before lunging at the other man. He managed to get Santino onto the ground before he was tossed to the side. He went to go at him again but a pistol pressing to the underside of his chin stopped him short.

Santino, embarrassed by the fact he’d been taken down by someone much smaller than him, kicked Brian while he was down on the ground, “Kill this fucker already!” he yelled at Josh.

Josh motioned to Brian, who was now holding his side protectively, to get up off of the ground, “Hold your horses,” he told Santino, “I’ll give him that one outburst. The guy has been searching for answers for a year only to find out his friend died a coward... he’ll get a free pass on that one.”

Santino shook his head, glaring at Brian, “No free passes Josh! Why are you stalling? We don’t need them. We need to get rid of them before Mr. Esposito gets here!”

“It is broad daylight,” blue jacket reminded the other man, “there’s no way we could get out of here with three bodies without anyone noticing.”

“Like who?” Santino asked sarcastically, “the police?”

“Enough!” Josh snapped, “You’re right, I get it. We don’t need them.”

“Kill her first,” Santino encouraged, smiling smugly at Valerie, “I can’t stand the look of her any longer.”

Valerie, who had been strangely quiet during the whole ordeal just smiled in return as if they weren’t talking about her impending death. Turning to Brian her smile turned sour, “I’m sorry,” she told him, “I really am.”

“It’s okay,” Brian sighed, feeling tears bite the back of his eyes, “At least if I have to die it was trying to get justice for Nick. It’s not really like I’ve spent the last year living by any stretch of the imagination. I’ve been dead to everyone I know for months.”

Valerie shook her head, “You’re not going to die Brian,” she told him and he nearly bought it.

“Oh spare me,” Josh groaned, “This is excruciating. Buddy, I’m thinking we may have done your friend a favour. If I wasn’t sure he was dead, I’d think he was hiding. You two are painful to listen to!”

“I think Mr. Esposito is finally here. I heard his car,” blue jacket suddenly spoke, and Josh dismissed him with a wave of his hand, “I’ll go let him in.”

“Whatever, I don’t care,” Josh muttered, “I just need to take care of the garbage first.”

Without another word Josh lifted his weapon, holding it perfectly steady in Valerie’s direction. She sat, unflinching, waiting for him to pull the trigger.