Chapter 69
Aurora dropped both bags by the door of her room and didn't bother moving them.
The room was quiet. Dark except for the soft light coming through the curtains. She kicked off her shoes and sat on the edge of the bed.
The shopping bags sat there untouched.
She didn't even remember what was in them.
She took out her phone to read the text.
Still there. Still annoying. Still him.
She locked the screen and dropped the phone beside her.
She sat for a moment, just existing in the quiet.
Then her eyes grew heavy.
She didn't fight it.
She lay back slowly, still in her clothes, and let the exhaustion pull her under.
★
[KIARA'S PLACE]
Kiara's phone chimed, it was a text from a coursemate that hired her to copy notes for him.
~ Are you done?
She scoffed and typed back.
"Why ask when you getting tomorrow anyways?"
~ I like my business done properly. And it better be fucking readable.
Her brows dipped.
" Boy. You checked my handwriting before giving me this job and you're yapping about obvious things. The fuck is your problem!? Are you bored?" Her fingers hit the screen angrily as she typed.
~ Yeah yeah. Just do it right and you get paid. And you know what? You could get more money if you do more things for me... You know what I'm sayin?
"Bloody bastard" She muttered and archived his chat immediately.
She picked up his book from her table and threw it across the room.
She was just so pissed today. In fact, her mood for the rest of her life is ruined.
Her phone chimed again, and she groaned loudly with her head thrown back.
She checked it and saw that it's a text from Roseanne.
She frowned deeply, cursing inwardly.
Then she blocked her. No reply. No acknowledgement. Nothing.
Blocked.
Her mind wandered back to the guy's text earlier. She went back to his archived chat and typed...
~ What exactly do you mean?
★
[LEONARD'S DARK VILLA]
The secret room glowed blue.
Three screens. Multiple open files. The low hum of systems running quietly in the background.
Leonard sat back in his chair, shirtless, bottle in hand. His tattoos caught the blue light as he moved, dark ink mapping his arm like a second skin.
He had his contact on speaker.
"We've been searching the same zones for weeks," the voice said through the line.
"Sinaloa. Sonora. Baja. Nothing. Every lead dies before it goes anywhere."
Leonard took a slow drink. "So what are you saying."
"I'm saying what if we're looking at the wrong part of Mexico entirely. What if he's not where we think he is. What if Zane moved the whole operation somewhere we haven't touched yet."
Leonard was quiet for a moment.
"Then find the parts we haven't touched," he said simply. "Pull in whoever you need. I don't care how many people it takes. Find the location."
"That could take-"
"I know how long it takes," Leonard said.
"Do it anyway."
A pause.
"Understood."
"And tell your people in the field to stop assuming. Start eliminating. Every zone that comes back clean is a zone we don't have to check again. Work smarter."
"Copy that."
"Call me when you have something real." He hung up.
The room settled back into its quiet hum.
Leonard set the bottle down and turned to face the wall screen fully.
Three files open.
Zane Saunders on the left.
Bianca's file on the right.
Ginny's in the center.
He looked at Ginny's for a long time. The photo.
And then his brain did what it always did when he sat in this room long enough.
It went back to that night.
FLASHBACK
The room smelled like alcohol and something worse.
He'd pushed the door open not knowing what he was walking into. He never knew what he was walking into that night.
She was on the bed.
He crossed the room slowly, hands visible, voice low.
"Hey. Hey. I'm not gonna hurt you. I'm here to help. Okay?"
She flinched when she heard him. Pressed herself further back against the headboard, shaking so hard the whole bed moved with her.
Her hair was plastered to her face. Her eyes when they found his were the most terrified thing he had ever seen.
He took a step closer.
She cried.
He stopped. Stepped back. Gave her the space she needed.
He looked at her properly then. Really looked.
Blood on her forehead. Her nose. Her lips. Her shoulders. He could see it even in the low light.
And then his eyes dropped and he saw the blood trickling from her thighs and his entire body went cold.
Whoever did this had either done it with her clothes on, ripped several times or did already and put her back in her clothes.
It was horrifying.
She was still crying, small broken sounds that didn't sound like they belonged to someone her age, and then mid cry her eyes rolled back and she went completely limp.
He moved before he thought about it.
Scooped her up. Both arms. Her head fell against his chest.
She was so light it terrified him. He ran.
Blood soaked through his shirt as he moved. Hers. From her thighs, her forehead, everywhere. It soaked them both and he ran anyway, through the corridor, through the chaos of people.
He was still running when someone in uniform stepped in front of him.
"Give her to us."
He didn't want to.
He didn't know why he didn't want to. He didn't know her. He didn't know her name.
He didn't know anything about her.
But he didn't want to let go.
He did anyway.
And he watched them take her.
END OF FLASHBACK
Leonard exhaled hard.
The bottle was empty. He didn't remember finishing it.
He set it down on the desk and leaned forward, elbows on his knees, eyes back on the screen.
Ginny's file. Bianca's file.
He thought about Aurora walking through college every day. Glaring at him. Eating ice cream with it on her lips. Sleeping in his passenger seat on the way home.
Not knowing.
Not remembering.
But he already knew. Yes, he did. Zane had his way with her in the worst way ever, in a way that would suck the sanity out of her if she recalled.
And whatever was stopping her from remembering... trauma, intentions, it's gonna fade somehow.
He threw his head back slowly, relaxing on the chair.
He knew, immediately Aurora told him on the rooftop that day, immediately he figured out she was the girl he rescued.... The girl he found in a horrible situation...
She had said that the last thing she remembered from that night was the click of the door being locked. And that's it.
"You don't know, or rather... you don't remember..." He muttered, staring at the ceiling with dead eyes. " But when you do... Your parents might have to spend the rest of their life taking care of a mentally unstable daughter."
He chuckled, sarcastic.
"Three girls." He mumbled. "Three. Lured one, murdered one, assaulted one."
He closed his eyes.
TBC...