chapter one.

THREE YEARS. That's how many years Spencer and Anna-Jane have been next door neighbors in their small apartment complex in Quantico, Virginia.

TEN MINUTES. That's the total span of time that they ever saw each other- a total of ten minutes within three years. And the majority of that time only counted when they past each other in the building, either one rushing out of the building to go to work or the one trudging in the building, returning from work.

ONE WORD. They've only shared one word to each other and it was "morning", neither of them having the time or energy to say "good" before the morning bit. And when that word was shared, it was mumbled or rushed on their way out of the apartment.

They both know each other's names, but that's only because Spencer's name to his apartment is right above her name at the front of the building and her mailbox is right next to his, which surprisingly, they never got mail at the same time. Neither of them ever sat down and considered that what they do is odd as neighbors, but instead they just assume they like their own privacy and they do. Especially Anna-Jane.

"I can't that day," Anna-Jane sighed into her phone, "I have to be with a client that day."

"The entire day, AJ?" She heard from her ex-fiancé, Parker, as he huffed into the phone, "All I'm saying is that I just want to sit down and have a conversation with you."

"Look, if we can discuss this on the phone, why can't we have the conversation you want on the phone as well?" She asked, placing the phone between her ear and shoulder as she began organizing the files on her desk.

"Because," He breathed harshly, "Because you're always dismissive on the phone."

"I'm dismissive in person too, Parker," I scoffed, "And this isn't convincing me in any way to speak to you any longer. I might hang up right now."

"AJ, can you just stop being so damn difficult right now?" He snapped and she froze, her folders clutched in her grasp. When she didn't responded, he sighed, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"Parker, I have to go," She bluntly told him.

"Wait, Wait AJ," He rushed, "How about today, after work? I can pick you up when you're done."

"I don't know-"

"I want to make this right, Anna," He mumbled, "Let me make it right to you."

Silence engulfed the two momentarily before she nodded to herself, "Okay, we can grab a drink. That's fine?"

"Perfect," She could tell he was grinning through the phone, "See you then." Without a response she hung up the phone, immediately regretted her decision. She didn't understand why she was so willing to see him again after months of not speaking the calling off of their engagement that was almost a year ago, but then she remembered that goofy smile of his and his almost perfect smile when-

"Stop," She whispered to herself, placing her head in her hands.

"Stop what?" Her head instantly snapped up to see her assistant, Hilary, with more folders in her hands.

"I-uh, nothing," AJ dismissed, "It's nothing.."

"Okay, well here's the cases you asked for." She then proceeded to place the files on her desk, "I looked through them like you asked and I only found one that could really be worth your while."

AJ raised a brow as she picked up one folder and held it out to her, "What's it about?"

"Name is Charlie Richards," She began, "Accused of murdering everyone in his family. He says he didn't do it, but when cops arrived to the family house, he was soaked in all their blood."

I suddenly smiled, "You want to make my job hard, don't you?"

"The more difficult, the more fun," Hilary laughed before leaving AJ's office. Anna-Jane was a criminal defense attorney, meaning she had to defend people charged with criminal offenses. At the start of her career, she wanted to be a prosecutor and for a time, she was, until she was tired of seeing the government and herself put a lot of innocent men in prison. Though, she didn't expect to help actual criminals with very clear evidence against them when she became a D.A. instead.

For the rest of her day, she read through these cases until Hilary stepped into her room again, but this time with her coat on and her umbrella and purse in her hands, "I hope you're not staying the entire night here again."

AJ chuckled, "No, I'm going out soon. Just waiting for someone."

"I hope that 'someone' isn't Parker," Hilary stated and raised a brow when AJ didn't respond, "Just be careful this time then, okay?"

"I will, don't worry," AJ assured, "It's just for drinks."

Hilary nodded and told AJ goodbye before leaving her in her office alone until Parker called her business phone, "I'm downstairs." He simply told her, and she rolled her eyes at his monotonous voice, not even acknowledging that that wasn't him on the phone.

Regardless, AJ grabbed her coat and her other belongings before closing up her office to go downstairs. She put on her coat before she left the building completely, but as she stepped outside, she saw no one outside. Before when he would pick her up from work, he be at the front entrance, already waiting for her with flowers and a bag of take out food for them to eat in his car.

She furrowed her brows and reached for her phone to call him, but once she put the phone to her ear, it went straight to voicemail. That's weird, she told herself, thinking of how his phone never did that before until she got a text message from his phone:

'In the parking lot. By my car.'
(read)

She couldn't help but scoff at the message. He's become a real dick since we broke up, she thought before she walked to the parking lot, looking around for his car that she ended up seeing as the end of the parking lot. At first she didn't think it was his until he turned his car blinkers on and she saw his beat up navy blue Honda that he still refuses to give up for a better car. She walked down the parking lot to his car, noticing the inside of his car was dark and that there was no light except for the blinkers outside of it.

"Did you really have to park this far down, Parker?" She asked him, "Or was this on purpose as some sort of payback?" She heard no response, causing her to get agitated as she opened the passenger door, noticing that he still didn't turn on the light inside the car and that he was looking straight ahead. She got inside the car anyways, and fix herself before buckling up her seatbelt, "So, I thought that we can just go to this bar around the corner. I can't stay too long though, I have to get up early tomorrow and work on this new case."

Again, no response and she glanced over at him, "How is it that you beg me to talk to you and now that I'm less than five feet away from you, you haven't said a word to me?" He kept his eyes on the road ahead, even as they reached a red light. By then, AH was pissed, "Look, Parker, I'm done with your shit. I'm getting out the car because you're being a complete asshole."

She turned to reach for the door, but she froze at the tight grip on her hold the kept her in the car. She turned back to see an unknown face, fear instantly replacing her anger.

"You're not Parker," She stated, but more to herself as she tried to pull her arm away from the stranger, "Who are you? Let me-"

Before she could finish, the stranger let go of her arm to grab the back of her head, forcefully shoving her face into the headboard, knocking her unconscious and leaving her limp against her seat before the light turned green again and he continued driving.