1: Turning 24

KATHY

"Forgive me, father, for I have sinned" I said, the words leaving my mouth for like the millionth time.

And honestly, every time I said it I meant it a little differently and today it was about a man I shot last Tuesday. I didn't kill him...but still...

The guilt every time I shot someone sits in my chest like a stone all week until I go to church and confess. I mean can you really blame me? I'm a catholic, born and raised, that's what my Nana taught me.

The church today was empty, the morning sunlight was filtering through the stained-glass windows in the church, making Jesus look like he was wearing a crown of fire.

The incense was giving me a headache and the kneeler was destroying my knees and yet, here I was, Katherine Bishop, turning 24 years old today, a detective asking God for forgiveness. But I was so damn proud of myself.

The moment I stood up from the kneeler and stepped outside the confession booth my phone rang and I frowned.

"Of course I just can't have one peaceful morning" I mumbled walking out of the church.

"Katherine" Harris barked the moment the phone touched my ear, "we've got eyes on Petrov"

"Where" I asked my pulse quickening.

Harris sent me the location immediately and my eyes widened because I was only 10 minutes away.

"Move fast, this is our last chance" Harris said.

I hung up immediately and jumped into my car, driving as fast as I could.

Alexei Petrov. We've been looking for this criminal for seven months, seven. He was like a shadow. We had been tracking him for months and nothing but cold dead ends.

When I arrived, officers had already flooded the area, Petrov spotted us immediately and ran.

"Damn it" I yelled, pulling my gun out.

I ran after him.

The chase was too chaotic for me.

He was too fast but how? He was big and looked like he ate cars for breakfast, so how could he run so annoyingly fast.

We ran through an alleyway, jumped over a fence and he squeezed through spaces that should have been impossible for him to pass through.

Until we hit a dead end. I was running too fast, I was too eager to catch him and I had made a mistake.

Just when I didn't expect him to stop, he did, and he was now pointing a gun to the back of my head.

'Okay. Okay. Think Katherine. Think.'

"Put the gun down Petrov" I said, with both my hands in the air and my gun pointing towards the sky.

"My team is seconds away, there's nowhere to run" I said, trying to sound as calm as possible.

He laughed.

"Looks like the great detective Katherine isn't so great after all" he sneered.

I clenched my jaw.

I couldn't be fast enough, I could not outrun a bullet. Being held at gunpoint was the worst thing to happen to me on my birthday.

"Duck" someone said and my eyes widened.

Without thinking, I obeyed, I didn't know why I did that, I just dropped straight to the ground and a shot rang out the moment my palms hit the ground.

I heard Petrov scream, he was down, holding his knee. Well now he wasn't going anywhere.

I quickly looked up at my saviour, a member from my team maybe.

Big no, not a police officer, a man, he was wearing a dark coat, tall, gray eyes and completely unbothered.

For a moment my brain completely stopped working. I knew his face.

And then it hit me.

Viktor.

I recognised his face from the files. Files so thick they needed their own shelf. The man the entire department of the force had been trying to catch for years and he made us look like absolute fools every single time we thought we were close.

I stared. Still in shock.

And he just stood there, staring back.

I heard Petrov mumble something and I turned back to look for just a second, before I could turn again, Viktor was gone and my team was already with us.

The precint was chaos for the rest of the day. Everyone celebrated the arrest, everyone congratulated me. Random slaps on the back, someone even brought cake.

I was the hero of the day, I smiled and accepted the praise but I never brought up the fact that I saw Viktor. Not once.

Not even to my supervisor, Harris who was most proud of me.

Why? I didn't know. Was it because he saved me? I just had this feeling I couldn't shake off and every time I blinked I saw him. Gray eyes.

So I buried it. Kept quiet and headed home at the end of the day but unfortunately the day wasn't over.

I turned 24 today and I hadn't really celebrated besides the precint.

I took a shower and wore a new dress I shopped just some days ago with Gabriella. Wore my best heels and dolled up.

Daniel, my boyfriend had been acting strange for the past week. Secretive, nervous, distracted.

With my detective skills, I knew he was going to propose. My best friend Gabriella was so sure about it. And we had already made plans to meet at his place.

A small smile spread across my face at the thought.

So I drove to his house and was there in no time.

His front door was unlocked.

That was unusual.

I walked in, then called out his name, but no answer.

When I walked in further, I heard moans and my heart skipped.

I was pretty sure it was nothing, just the TV, maybe he was just getting ready for me. I chuckled nervously.

When I got to his bedroom door and opened it...

It wasn't the TV.

Daniel, and a woman, naked on his bed. Not just any woman, my childhood ex best friend.

The same one that betrayed me.

The same one I told Daniel about and how I couldn't forgive her. On the bed, with my boyfriend.

"Katherine..." Daniel called out to me.

I just stood there, staring at them.

Unable to breath or think. And then my eyes met his.

Suddenly, being held at gunpoint earlier was no longer the worse thing that had happened to me on my birthday.