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"A police officer just parked his bike outside our house," Mynt reported, her face still glued to the window.

They all looked at each other uneasily, not one of them able to think of any reason someone from law enforcement would need to speak with them.

"He's coming up to our door now," Rue whispered.

Pippi's heart was beating so hard and fast she could barely hear her thoughts. "I'm sure it's nothing." She stood up, her sense of responsibility making her feel she should take charge of the situation. "You guys sit tight. I'll answer the door."

Astrid started to protest, and so did Vik, but Pippi's frown had both women reluctantly settling down. Vague recollections of local crime reports assaulted her mind as she walked towards the door.Wasn't there recently news about a policeman who had gone berserk and started shooting down civilians for no reason?

The thought caused her fingers to shake slightly as she turned the knob, and she barely managed to keep her voice from croaking when she saw how much taller and larger the officer on their front door was. "H-Hello." She found herself staring straight at the name embroidered in big yellow letters over the cop's breast pocket -C. Ostume- and this had her imagination going into overdrive for some reason.

What if he was a Japanese police officer sent to the United States as part of a secret joint operative program targeting a criminal mastermind who happened to be one of the guests checked in at—-

She heard the officer cough,politely,and the sound made her realize that panic had her gaping at the cop for no apparent reason. "S-Sorry." Pippi forced herself to look up, just in time to see the officer remove the dark glasses covering his gaze.

He looked familiar, she thought uneasily. Was that bad or good?

The glasses were tucked into an empty pocket before the officer turned black-as-midnight eyes on Pippi, and her jaw dropped.

Bad!

This was definitely bad!

She rubbed her eyes, but the vision didn't even waver. It really was Acheron, dressed in a police uniform, and God help her, he looked soyummy sexy hotwrong!

He looked wrong!

Absolutely wrong!

"Hello, Pippi."

His voice was alluring as ever, but the sound of it was more than her heart could bear. Suddenly, everything - every darn little thing that had to do with him and her - came rushing back, and before she even realized what was happening, a lone tear was already trailing down her cheek, followed by another and another until it became an endless stream wetting her skin.

No!

I don't want to cry in front of him!

Acheron whitened at seeing Pippi cry."Pippi—-"

She let out the tiniest sound of pain, but it was more than enough to have her whole family rushing to her aid.

"Pippi?"

"What's wrong?"

"Pi?"

They careened into her all at once, and Pippi found herself falling as she inadvertently lost her balance.

"Gotcha." She had fallen into the safety of his arms, and as Acheron slowly pulled her upright, she had a sinking feeling that this man had caught her...for good.