🗝️Detective Ryker Viltarin must uncover dark secrets before he loses not only his heart but also his life.🗝️
You're on your own, far from home
The wind is blowing in the top of the pines
A gloomy sky where the sun never shines
Deep...
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As soon as the door closed behind him, Ray pulled the red-haired woman back into his arms. He couldn't help himself. He held Eve against his chest in a tight embrace for a little longer than necessary, almost as if he needed to ensure she was safe. He needed this time to calm down to some extent.
He inhaled the air deeply—strawberries, fresh hair dye, syrup... and alcohol. And yet, at the moment, he couldn't think of anything he would have preferred to smell. He carefully stroked the ruby-red mop of hair and the wild curls, brushing a few strangely stuck together. Only then did he detach himself from her enough to look at her.
Only now, in the hallway's light, could he make out anything more. His eyes widened immediately when he saw the faded traces of makeup. He could still see pale evidence of dried tears on her cheeks, and the once soft strands were sticky and still slightly damp. His gaze slid deeper of its own accord, and now he also recognized the telltale sticky residue on her neck, shoulders, and clothes. So that's why she smelled so strongly of alcohol ...
"What happened? Why are you so ... wet?" he asked cautiously. His heart almost dropped with worry as he lifted his hand to place it against her cheek. Eve's skin was cool under his fingers, and his thumb immediately stroked the tear ducts.
What had happened?
Who had made her cry?
His words made Eve, lying in his arms, flinch slightly as if he had taken her by surprise with his care. She stared at him momentarily, opened her mouth, and closed it again. Her beautiful green-blue eyes were slightly red, and her pupils were treacherously dilated. Ray almost said that the cloudy veil of alcohol was over her.
Only then did she seem to remember that he was looking her straight in the face, and her hand shot up to hide her scar and milky eye. But he was quicker. His fingers wrapped around hers, stopping her from pushing the strands into her face. He shook his head slightly.
"Don't do that," he whispered.
He could see Eve swallowing, apparently trying to sort out her thoughts. Her chest rose and fell with heavy breaths; then she restarted: "Nothing. It was nothing," he heard her stammer as she staggered back. She almost tripped over her own feet as she backed up.
