Flora (Dark Romance)

35

Chapter 35// 'Til death do us part

She's dead.

She's dead.

She's dead.

Those two words played over and over and over again in his mind.

...She's dead.

Alex couldn't believe it. He refused to believe it. Flora wasn't gone. He would know if she was gone. He would feel it in his heart. His gut. His soul. Flora was his soulmate, and if his soulmate was dead, he would feel something. Anything. All he felt was hollow. All he felt was a numbing pain. She was still alive. She had to be. He knew it.

Alex found himself outside of Flora's house. He needed answers. He needed something. He needed to know the police were doing their jobs. He needed to know they had leads, clues, evidence. He needed to know there was still hope.

He knocked on the door and was met with the one person he didn't want to see right now.

"What're you doing here?" Brad asked with blatant irritation laced in his words.

"I'm doing what you should be doing right now. I'm looking for her, what the fuck do you think?" Alex stepped inside the house, shoving Brad against the door with his shoulder as he walked past. He wasn't in the mood for bullshit — and least of all Brad's bullshit.

"Alex, it's good to see you," Flora's mother spoke with genuine excitement as Alex stepped into the living room. Though, a heavy cloud of sadness still loomed over her, extinguishing most of her enthusiasm.

"You too," Alex forced a smile onto his face, trying not to seem so broody all the time, but considering the circumstances he didn't really mind.

"I wanted to know if the police found any leads yet?"

Flora's mother motioned for him to sit on the empty couch cushion and Alex knew her answer wouldn't be hopeful. Hope, hoping, hopeful...he was saying these words so often the last few days they were starting to sound strange.

"Nothing yet, but Brad and I are still searching everyday."

Her mother was a petite woman naturally, but since Flora disappeared she became frail and meek looking. She no longer appeared vibrant and youthful like she had when Alex first met her. She aged ten years in the last three days. Alex's heart broke for her. He lost his girlfriend, but she lost a daughter — her only child. Alex couldn't even begin to fathom that kind of pain.

"I have to go to work," Brad entered the room, giving Alex a filthy look as he shrugged his jacket over his shoulders.

"On a Saturday?" Flora's mother probed.

"It's just business, Elle," Brad huffed. He seemed absent-minded and stressed. Alex raised a brow at his behaviour, he couldn't care less about Brad, and usually he would be happy to see him leave, but his sudden shift in demeanour seemed off.

"What kind of business?" Alex questioned.

"Not any of yours," Brad retorted.

Flora's mother quickly stepped in, sensing the rising tension in the room, "I thought the auto shop was closed on weekends."

"It's a different kind of work," Brad shoved his feet into his boots. Alex noticed a ring on his index finger that looked eerily similar to the initiation ring you get from joining a gang—and Alex would know, that was him just a few years ago.

"Where did you get that ring?" This time Alex was the one to probe.

Brad's entire body stiffened, and for a few noticeable seconds, he stood frozen in place.