Ghost City

52

"You lied to me!" I angrily yelled at Carter as I stared at her dead body. "You promised me you wouldn't kill her!"

"I changed my mind," Carter shrugged callously.

While shaking my head, I asked, "So what- gonna kill me next?"

"She lied to you and used you!" Carter yelled at me. "Why are you defending her?!"

I glimpsed at her lifeless body and turned my back while saying, "Doesn't mean she needed to die."

Three hours earlier

I closed Carter's laptop and sighed as I let the information I just read process.

"Money makes people do crazy things," mother shook her head before sipping water.

According to the files that Ryan had gathered, Detective Miles had been receiving 'charity' money in small quantities three months prior to my dad's death. The money stopped coming in a week after Detective Miles' death. From Miles' transactions, we were able to find out that the money he worked, in addition to the money he received from the fake charity, was being used to pay for his 10 year old daughter's medical bills and, at the time, life or death surgery. When Miles was betrayed by whomever it was that he worked with, his daughter's chances of surviving died too. She passed a month after.

"I've seen my fair share of that," Carter shrugged. He then checked his phone when the sound of a text message came through. "Miles' wife will be here in about ten minutes. We'll see what she knows and move accordingly from then on."

I nodded in response before stepping out the room to check on Sagacity and Aurora. I sat beside Sagacity and stroke Aurora's cheek. Aurora was laying on her mother's lap, fast asleep.

"How long has she been sleeping?" I asked.

Without looking in my direction, Sagacity answered, "A minute ago,"

"Wanna put her on one of the beds?" Sage asked, and Sagacity nodded, so Sage took Aurora and brought her to a room on the first floor. After a while, she came back and went to the kitchen to continue preparing dinner with her mother.

I looked over at my friends, who were seated nearby, and they offered sympathetic smiles, letting me know that they weren't angry at me but rather sad that I was in this position. City, on the other hand, refused to even look at me.

After sighing, I went on my phone to keep my mind off things. I didn't know how I'd make it up to City, but I needed to not focus on that right now. Solving this case had to be prioritized.

I got lost in the world of music until I saw Carter exiting his office and walking to the front door instead. He opened the door, and in came a guy holding two ladies by the arm. They both had a black cloth bag covering their face to prevent them from seeing the location they were at. I quickly took my AirPod out and stood to walk over to Carter but froze when the bag was removed from both of the ladies' heads.

Under the bags were none other than Sarah and her mom. "The fuck?!" I frowned as I walked over to them, and Sarah diverted her eyes from me.

"Ain't that-" Nico got out.

Natalie finished, "Sarah?!"

It was then that City made eye contact with me before looking at Sarah and Sarah's mother.

"So you know these two?" Carter chuckled. "That's even more fucked up. Office."

I nodded and walked off to join him.

Sagacity's POV

"Natalie, you lying bitch," I gasped. "You said I had nothing to worry about!"

Aria chuckled, "That girl got ass for three."

"Facts," Zach agreed, earning a bad eye from Aria. "Just saying, babe. You know I don't want anyone other than you."

"Whatever," Aria rolled her eyes, and Zach smooched her cheek, causing her to smile a bit.

Natalie shrugged, "Yeah, she's thick, but you and Damien fit way better. She might be winning in the ass department, but you're winning in the all over department."

Nico chimed in, "If Damien liked you when you were 16 and an iron board-"

"Eat a dick, Nico," I rolled my eyes because he was definitely dragging it.

The guys burst out laughing, and even the girls chuckled a bit.

Justin agreed, "What Nico's trynna say is that he liked you before you got curvier. Look at you now compared to 16. The fact that he had a really big crush on you throughout shows that he likes more than just someone's body. He always liked you because of your personality, even if he only experienced it through me and Aria."

"Wait what?" I frowned.

Aria admitted, "Remember when I told you that I only knew he liked you because he was drunk one night and in his feelings when he confessed?" I nodded. "JJ was there too, and after that night, Damien would basically keep tabs on you through us. Even though he'd come to the house a lot to hang with Nico, he didn't get much opportunity to hang with you, so he'd always ask JJ and me what you were like and to share some of our moments with you."

"He tried to know you through us until we encouraged him to try and bond with you," Justin added. "And you were for a year before-"

I nodded, "I pushed him away and started dating someone else."

"First heartbreak he ever had," Justin nodded, "but his feelings for you never changed. Now you're both engaged and have a beautiful daughter."

"Every relationship has its bumps," Nico nodded. "Yeah, Damien kept secrets from you, but hear his reasoning behind them. I'm not saying what he did or planned to do was right, but look at his motives. They were fueled by a dark past that still haunts him today."

Zach agreed, "All of this has been a lot for him, Sa. I'm sure that, deep down, you know that none of this was easy for him. He came clean because he didn't want anyone getting hurt. He didn't want you getting hurt."

A tear trickled down my cheek as I nodded, and I quickly wiped it away.

Vanessa smiled, "I may not know Damien as well as everyone else, but what I do know is that he loves you, Sa. See that too."