Chapter 1: Now

The rain fell in a fine mist as Anthony James Tremonti stepped out of his car. He looked up at the cold, grey sky as he pulled on his overcoat. "Perfect weather," he thought to himself, as he raised the collar of his coat to protect himself against the elements. He closed the door to his rental, turned, and headed up the hill, where the burial was taking place.

Arriving at the gathering, he consciously remained at the back behind the main group. There were not many people there surrounding the coffin, the priest, and the hole in the ground; only twenty or so, but Anthony had made it a habit of drawing as little attention to himself as possible. It was a necessity in his line of work.

As the priest began the rites of burial, Anthony looked around at the people that had gathered. Most he did not recognize, but, even after ten years of being away, there were some that he did. Standing with the group nearest the funeral, he supposed he'd have recognized them had it been two or three decades since he'd seen them last. Donatella Dellucci and Allison Peterson. As physically opposite as two stunningly beautiful women could be, back then they were the alpha and the omega of the high school social scene. Now, a decade later, while they had definitely matured, he could still see the girls he'd known so many years before.

That he'd heard about the funeral at all was mere coincidence. He had been watching the national news one night, absent-mindedly, while he went over some business details, when the words of the anchor had drawn his attention:

" ... and in Detroit today, Jonathan Poundstone, brother of prominent business owner Paul Poundstone, was brutally gunned down outside a suburban grocery store. His death has been attributed to the growing organized crime problems the city faces, and no suspects have been identified. Services will be held Friday at..."

A decade ago, John Poundstone had been one of Anthony's closest friends. Anthony had taken John, then two years his junior, under his wing, and they'd enjoyed a close friendship. John's older brother Paul, at least back then, had been captain of the football team, and had been the on again-off again boyfriend of Ali Peterson. At least until the incident ... but that was neither here nor there.

When Anthony heard about John's death, he felt he owed it to his friend to be there for the ceremony. While it was wishful thinking at best, he had hoped he wouldn't run into anyone he knew. Explaining his sudden departure and how he'd spent the last ten years was not something he particularly was interested in doing.

Shaking himself from his thoughts, Anthony noted that the priest had finished with his rites, and the pallbearers had begun to lower the casket into the ground. It was only then that he noticed Paul Poundstone, John's brother, standing by the graveside. He was flanked by two large men, bodyguards by the look of their size and the cut of their jackets. Anthony squeezed his arms together; in doing so he felt the reassuring bulk of the Sig in his shoulder holster dig into his side. It was his constant companion these days, and had been for some time now.

While Anthony's attention had been focused on Paul and his body guards, he had missed the fact that by chance, Donna Dellucci had happened to look up from the scene and see him, standing alone by himself, out away from the service. Something about the man's frame, the square of his jaw, the icy blue eyes she'd never forget, forced her memory to dredge up thoughts from long ago; memories of a person she never thought she'd see again. She was shocked at the sudden recall, and stunned by what had initiated it.

As the service ended, the crowd began to pay its last respects and move off. Finally, when all that remained was the gravedigger and the priest, Anthony made his way forward, coming to stand by the hole in the earth into which his old friend had descended.

"Via con dios, old friend," he said, as he dropped a single rose into the maw.

Lapsed Catholic though he was, Anthony still believed in a higher power, though he and they were not quite on speaking terms these days.

As he left the grave and headed back to his rental, the moment he'd hoped to avoid came to pass. He heard the voice call to him.

"AJ?" she said, her voice as dulcet to his ears as he remembered. It stabbed into his chest like a white hot lance. "AJ, is that really you?"

Anthony, or, as Donna remembered him, AJ, turned to face the girl he'd known in what felt like a lifetime ago. When his cold blue eyes met her sparkling green ones, she knew she had been correct in her assumption.

"Oh my God, AJ," she said, covering her mouth with a delicate hand in astonishment, "Oh my God. AJ, what happened to you?" She walked up to him and stood there. He still outstood her by a good seven to ten inches, and eight years in the Marine Corps and various other... activities had made sure he'd filled out.

"Hi, Donna," AJ said, plainly, with as little emotion as he could. "How have you been?"

Donna, for her part, was almost speechless. Here was the boy, no, the man, that she had thought she loved so long ago, only for him to disappear off the face of the earth after that horrible day ten years prior. And now, just like he'd gone, out of the blue he'd returned. She reached out with that same hand and touched his face, as if to make sure he was really there, and not just some figment of her imagination. Her finger traced the length of the two-inch-long scar that bisected his cheek just below his right eye.

"AJ, where have you been?" she asked, not knowing if she could quite control the emotions that threatened her composure right then. "Where did you go for ten years?"

AJ had thought this was the worst case scenario. Of all the people he could have run into, Donna was the one person he didn't want to see, or more appropriately, didn't want to see him. Now, here she was.

"It's ... complicated," he said, his voice a deep baritone. "I needed to get away after ... what happened."

"Are you home, here ... back, I mean, to stay?" she asked, her voice betraying the hope in her heart.

"No," AJ replied, decisively. "I just came to pay my respects to John."

"Oh." Donna visibly sagged at his response. "I'd forgotten that you knew Paul's brother."