disturbed [book three] ✔️

[chapter five - timeline]

~CORA'S POV:~

"What did she say to you Cora? You have to tell us." Detective Hudson sat in front of me with his eyes locked with mine. It's been at least an hour since Demi left and I've been stuck on the couch ever since.

Nick who was sitting next to me adjusted his position then let out a sigh, "Bug.. you have got to let us know what happened, the detectives need to know."

I glared over at the gigantic blood stain that was stained into the carpet, it's been at least thirty minutes since the police took the body away but for some reason, I could still picture it laying there. My eyes focused back on Detective Hudson, "Demi was here.." I croaked.

Nick's eyes widened as frustration came across his face, he turned to face Detective Hudson, "You all said she was dead. You found Demi's fucking skeletons."

"Demi said she had that escape planned out for days... something about paying off a medical examiner..." I slowly explained, "She said she'll see me again soon and something about how she can't touch me.. then she had one of her men kill Maia. I don't know."

Detective Hudson shook his head and looked up at the other officer that was standing by him, "Get in contact with Maia's parents and then head over to her house. Make sure everything is alright over there, please."
Another officer came walking back into the living room with a confused expression on his face, "There's no need sir, Maia is right here."

Maia pushed past the officer and made her way over toward Nick, Detective Hudson and I, "I asked my Mom to drop me off, I wanted to make sure Cora was okay." She explained, "Also I have some good news."

"Wait. You're not dead? Oh my God." I blurted out, "You're not dead."
Maia smiled, "Demi can't get rid of me that easily. The minion she has was supposed to kill me didn't want to, he's only with her because she's threatening them. My brilliant self was able to come up with a plan, he'll be helping us out from the inside."

"How?" Detective Hudson questioned, "Do you even know his name or where they're staying at?"

"No... now that I think about it I never even saw his face," Maia confessed, "But he's decided to come to my house at certain times and days so we can communicate, he's trying to keep a low profile with this because if Demi finds out that I'm still alive and stuff... she'll kill him and his son that he's trying to protect."
"Alright." Detective Hudson agreed, "We'll go with this for now."

"Also Nick.." I hesitated, "Demi had a baby bump. She's still pregnant..." I spoke gently not knowing how he'd react.

Nick inhaled then exhaled deeply as he rested his hands onto his knees, "Did anything else happen?"
"She said something about my Mom, sort of. I don't know it was honestly all a blur." I replied.

"I think that it's time for me to figure out how to tell you about the things that I know Cora, I wanted to wait a bit longer but I don't want Demi trying to put any stupid shit into your head." Nick looked over at Detective Hudson, "This might benefit you too now that I think about it, before I didn't think it was as important. I'm sorry."

"Your Mom wasn't a slut, Cora. It was one night when Demi was away on a press tour and your Mom went over to her house to check on Demi's old dog, Buddy. Joe was supposed to be away that weekend to spend some time at Kevin's but he ended up staying at the house and getting drunk instead." Nick explained, "Your Mom went over and found Joe, she tried to help him get his shit together and get him to go to his bed. Yet he ended up forcing himself on her and took advantage of her. When Joe found out what he had done he felt terrible about it and tried to apologize to your Mom so many times but she said she wanted to act like it had never happened, and tried to avoid him since."