Irresistible ✓

30: Heart Breaking Revelations

❝ It's a big bad world outside, carrying our dreams and all that they mean, trying to make it worthwhile ❞

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"There's no way he would leave us like this. He has never done anything like this before." Jack mused, as we all sat in a circle in Susan's small kitchen.

"We can't file an FIR because it hasn't been 24 hours yet." Katie supplied, her hands intertwined with Jack's. Amidst it all, I raised a brow, as she colored, a silent plea passing between us, and I knew she had promised to tell me about it all later.

"I checked every place he might be at; clubs, bars, his workplace, the cliff we'd been at last month. He's nowhere." Jason grumbled, muttering profanities under his breath.

"Oh dear, I don't know what to do any more." A new wave of tears washed over Susan and we all leant forward to comfort her, Olivia quickly placing a glass of water in her hand. "What am I supposed to do now? Has he—has he done something to himself? Did he run away? Was he sick of us? Did someone do something to him?" Nausea washed over me and I grabbed the chair as my knees buckled at the thought of Ray in danger.

"No, he's a tough guy. Nothing will happen to him." Simon stated firmly, eyeing me. "And he isn't stupid enough to leave everything behind, now that he has people in his life he genuinely cares for. He wouldn't do anything stupid." My hands were trembling by now, and Jack gently laced his fingers with mine, giving me a small smile of encouragement.

"Something definitely happened." Olivia paced around in the kitchen as we all stared up at her. "You say his mood changed after he got all those texts and calls from that private number, right?" I nodded, swallowing a gulp. "If I was to take a wild guess, I'd say someone asked to meet up with him, or it had to be something so serious and urgent that he left without saying anything. Most importantly, it was something dangerous or secretive."

We all took a moment to process her words, racking up our brains to come up with anything that could help.

"There was this one time, I think three weeks ago, that Ray got a call." Jack suddenly piped up, as all eyes turned to him. "We were fetching drinks for all of us for lunch, when he picked up the call with a frown. He was tensed. He eyed me and muttered something on the lines of 'I'll meet you up sometime later, so stay the fuck away from her'. Then he cut the call and remained silent all the way."

Susan's breath staggered, but I cut her before she could say anything.

"I—I saw him getting beaten up by two men covered in black. They were demanding money from him." Everyone stilled, as Susan's face now visibly paled. "T—That means something, doesn't it?"

We all collectively glanced at Susan, who by now was an anxious mess. Her eyes were wide and guilt filled, as she wrung her hands in front of her tightly, shaking her head as if telling herself it was not possible.

Olivia placed a gentle hand on her shoulder and squeezed it as Susan looked up to meet her gaze. "You need to tell us everything Susan, if you want us to find Ray. If you are going to keep hiding certain things from us, it's not going to help Ray and his situation. I know it might be difficult for you to speak up, but please keep in mind we only want the best for him." Olivia's voice was soft, but firm, and rightly so.

"I—I," she sat down on the chair, a few stray tears escaping her eyes. "When Jamie died, I was too deep in grief. I blew all the meagre savings Jamie had saved up on alcohol and...and—drugs." A gasp escaped my mouth and the others stilled, casting hesitant glances. "I know it was so wrong of me. One day Ray, a twelve year boy, sat me down and told me he didn't like the way I was behaving. My heart broke and I decided I was going to do well for my kids. But by that time, our money had exhausted."