Chapter 23
A Couple Days Later
After that incident when Solei woke up screaming, the shit had been bothering me.
I wanted to know what she was keeping from me.
I needed to understand why she was the way she was.
That was why I took the time out to plan her a date.
She needed to be more comfortable around me.
Time was winding down. I didn’t see any traces of her falling in love with me yet.
Sure, she was warming up to me, but love . . . ? No.
I thought that I had all the information on Solei, but I didn’t think that I fully knew what I was up against. The door on the command room opened, and Ghost strolled inside.
“What’s wrong with you?” He questioned me as he shut the door behind himself.
“I need you to do something for me.”
“Okay.” He leaned against the wall, giving me his undivided attention.
“I want every single thing that you can get on Solei. I mean down to when she lost her first fucking tooth. Some shit not adding up, and I’m gon’ figure out exactly what the fuck it is.”
Ghost nodded and peeled away from the wall. I knew I could always count on him to get the job done. That nigga could find dirt on a speck of dirt if he needed to.
I went back to the monitors that showed Solei at work.
She was sitting behind her desk at her computer, looking beautiful as ever.
Her hair was slicked back in a bun at the nape of her neck.
She wore this powder-pink blouse and white pencil skirt.
Someone knocked on her door and poked their head inside and said something to her.
I’d been staring at her for over an hour, going about her daily routine when my phone vibrated. Ghost. That was quick as fuck.
“Talk.”
“I found something.”
My eyes narrowed. “Already?”
“It ain’t much, but it’s enough to tell me somebody been cleaning up after her.”
That gained my attention.
“What you mean?”
“I mean there are gaps.”
I leaned forward in my chair. “What kind of gaps?”
“School records disappear for almost a year when she was fifteen. Counseling records sealed. Medical records restricted. Police report that got filed and then magically vanished three days later.”
The muscles in my jaw tightened. People didn’t erase records unless they were hiding something.
“Keep talking.”
Ghost sighed. “It gets stranger. During the same year, her mama pulled her out of school for a while.”
I stared at the screen. Solei looked happy—the kind of ‘happy’ that people forced when they were trying not to think.
“When she came back?”
“Different.”
I frowned. “Different how?”
“Grades dropped. Stopped participating in extracurricular activities. Started getting into fights.”
A knot settled in my stomach. Ghost continued. “Teachers documented a personality shift.”
My gaze stayed locked on Solei. Something happened to her. Something big.
“What about Rochelle?”
“That’s where it gets interesting.” Of course it was. Ghost lowered his voice. “Everybody around town got the same story.”
“And?”
“They scared of her.”
I leaned back. “Scared of Rochelle?”
“Not scared of her. Scared of what she knows.”
Now I was listening. “Explain.”
“There was a state senator back then. Big name. Rising star. Everybody thought he’d be governor one day.”
The air in the room suddenly felt heavier.
“And?”
Ghost was quiet for a second.
“Rochelle used to threaten people with his name.”
My eyes narrowed. “What the fuck does that mean?”
“It means every time somebody started asking questions about whatever happened to Solei, Rochelle would shut it down.”
I sat motionless. The monitor glowed against my face. Solei laughed at something someone said.
“What questions?”
“Nobody knows.”
I hated that answer.
“Find out.”
“I’m trying.” Silence grew on the phone. “I’ll keep digging.” The call ended.
I stared at the monitor long after the screen went dark.
For the first time since meeting Solei, I wasn’t thinking about making her fall in love with me.
I wasn’t thinking about the deadline or the deal.
I wasn’t even thinking about the fact that she stabbed me.
I was thinking about the fifteen-year-old girl whose entire life seemed to split in half overnight.
Whatever happened during that year was still living inside her.
And for the first time, I wasn’t sure I wanted Ghost to find the answer.
Something in my gut was telling me that when I finally learned the truth, . . . somebody was going to die.