𝐏𝐈𝐄𝐑𝐂𝐄𝐃 // 𝐇.𝐒.

40.

She eyes me, lifting her chin before then informing me, "August has been missing for a few days now. I understand that you know her very well?"

Tucking hair behind my ear, I try to maintain eye contact—I try to remain put together. "Yeah... She was my roommate. I'm sorry, did you say missing?"

"Do you have any idea where she could be, Miss D'Amore? Her parents are worried sick, as you can imagine."

"Well," I begin. "I haven't spoken to her... not since I moved into this residence. But that's—" I pause. Shaking my head, I can't find a word to depict any sense of worry.

"You don't seem surprised that she's missing," the detective reads my face.

"Well, being my best friend for four years... She's very spontaneous. Um, there was this one time she took off to Hawaii on her own without telling me," I say, which had been true. Though, now that I'm recalling, she wanted to escape to Hawaii with me. When I told her I couldn't go, she left anyway. "It's not that I'm not surprised. I could only hope she's... having the time of her life right now."

The detective is nodding, mentally taking notes of August's spontaneity.

"So, you believe she'll turn up again?"

I feel sick.

"I do," I simply say.

"Do you know if there's anybody else in August's life? Say, a boyfriend, girlfriend, or other friends?"

To make all this go away, I can easily tip off Matthew. I can easily direct the detective towards him and tell her that I caught them in bed together and because of it, I broke up with him. But betraying him in that form isn't in my blood. No matter what Harry suggests, it isn't something I can do.

I shake my head at her question. "Not that I know of. She's always been private about who she dates," I then say, but it's a lie. She wasn't private at all over those few days she 'dated' Harry. "But, um, I can try her? I can try calling her or reaching her through social media? Sorry, it's just- I've warned her before... I've told her to at least check in with someone if she plans on leaving like that again. How are her parents doing? Mr. and Mrs. Reed."

Detective Rachel reaches into the inside of her blazer. She pulls out a card. "Her parents, like I said, have been worried. According to them, they haven't slept, ate, etcetera... You let me know if you get a hold of her, will you?" She hands the card over. "I'm available on my cell at any time, Miss D'Amore and I thank you for your time."

I nod after accepting her contact information. I look down at the card as Detective Rachel walks around to get to the inside of her car. I turn to start walking again. I begin to worry if my act was believable or not. It's possible that woman could've seen right through me. As I make my way to the metro station, I'm cursing Harry under my breath again.

It's not that I blame him for all of this. Killing August was purely in self-defense, but I hate the position he's put me in. I hate the fact that we cannot say it was self-defense without him facing the consequences of being a part of Dante's gang. He's saving his own ass after saving mine, but little does he know this secret is ruining me more than it's ruining him.

I don't call him. I continue waiting for him to call me. He could be busy keeping his word, for all I know. I think Harry misplaced my check while he was losing his mind over Finnegan and now he feels guilty. I hope that's the case and I hope he finds a way to get it back to me.

I make it to Fine Line Designs after a metro rail ride and a short walk. I feel the nerves and the flutter of anxious butterfly wings infesting my belly as I get closer to the glass doors. The moment I step in, I see Niall.