Is he really a bad boy? [English]

~Chapter 74~

"Try to call her again!", I said to Mia and turned at the traffic light. Meanwhile, we just drove through the streets of Miami and looked for this sick motherfucker and my girl. We had also called all kinds of hospitals, police stations, hotels and other public places where they could have been, but unfortunately, they were swallowed off the face of the earth.
"Okay, thank you. Have a nice day!", Jake said to the person on the phone and hung up. "Nothing.", he said to me.
"Do you think we should call Nica's fath-?", she asked.
"No!", I said immediately before she could even finish talking. "Not yet."
"He could help us.", Jake said to consider.
"He wouldn't be able to help us because he would collapse as soon as he found out that James had Veronica.", I replied, "She'd been gone about 30 minutes, we still have some time."
"Any minute now may be the last, Max. We have to do something!", Jake urged.
"I know it! I know it for fuck's sake!", I shouted desperately and hit the steering wheel. "We have to find her! I have to find her. I just have to find her.", I repeated the same thing over and over again. Every time I became quieter and quieter until my voice broke and I couldn't make a sound. I drove to the side and stopped. Full of sorrow I leaned my forehead against the steering wheel and covered my face. I had really no desire to cry in front of them. I had promised not to leave her alone anymore. I had promised her and myself to always be there for her and not to leave her alone anymore. And again I had let her down. I should have just stayed with her, then we would have gone to school together and that son of a bitch couldn't have gotten her. I could have protected her.
"She is really important to you.", I heard Mia say from behind.
"I wouldn't look for you for sure, just to be clear.", I replied to her question and wiped tears from my face. "I still don't understand why all this time you've accused me of not caring about her and not deserving her, even though you are the ones who are so fucked up to her!", I accused them.
"You have no holy light either!", Mia said.
"I never said that either.", I replied, "Everybody made mistakes, I made mine and you made yours. And now shut the fuck up and think where we can find her!" I started the car and drove on again. Somewhere they had to be. They couldn't have just disappeared. Swallowed by the ground.
"Was there any spot or place where he used to like to be? You knew him, didn't you?", I asked the two of them.
"If they met then at Nica's home."
"Or at his home. But we were already there.", Mia added, unfortunately, that didn't help me at all.
"Didn't they do anything else?", I asked and had to suppress my gag reflex; the thought of calling my girl and this sick psychopath a couple almost made me puke.
"As if you are doing more.", Jake said. I pulled over to the right and stopped the car with screeching tires. Angry, I grabbed him by the collar and looked at him. "Never. Dare. Again. To. Compare. Me. With. This. Son of a Bitch. Did you understand me?", I asked him and was ready to break his nose on the spot.
"Yes, sorry.", he raised his hands in front of his chest and I let him go.
"Oh my God!", it suddenly came from Mia. "His father's apartment!"
"In the Black Building! Of course!", Jake agreed now.
"Max, we have to get to the Black Building! James' father has an apartment there. He's been living there the last while. His father is never there. The last time they were there, too."
"The last time? Do you mean the day he beat her up and raped her? Do you mean that time?", I asked her angrily and was now back on the street, on my way to the Black Building.
"Raped?! He raped her?", I had forgotten that he didn't know. Veronica had only told Mia. And me.
"Yes", Mia replied. I didn't know if she answered my question or Jake's. Probably she meant both of them. Anyway, nobody said anything anymore. There was a strange silence. Not even music played. It felt like we were on our way to a funeral. And I knew exactly what this path felt like.

"How do we get in now?" Jake asked, "We don't have a key." We were standing in the Black Building, a few steps from the reception. The Black Building was a huge skyscraper with lots of apartments. As the name suggests, it was shiny black from the outside. The Black Building was not completely unknown to me. I had met here several times with Sarah and Jade. Jade had rented an apartment here; whenever she was in Miami, she lived here. "That's it!"
"What?", Mia asked. I took my phone out of my pocket and dialed the number. "Which apartment is it?" I asked the two before she answered.
"67H," Mia answered at the same time as Jade's "Maxim?"
"Jade! I need your help!", I shouted and muffled my voice as soon as I realized how loud I was. Mia and Jake looked at me confused.
"What is it?", Jade asked.
"Something happened to Veronica!"
"Oh my God, is she all right?", she asked worriedly.
"That's what I'm trying to figure out right now. Listen, I'm in the Black Building right now and I need to get into an apartment. I don't have a key card and the person shouldn't know that I'm going into the apartment."
"And what do I have to do with it?", she asked.
"You know the owner, don't you? Of the BB."
"I understand," she said, "you want me to call the reception and get you the key."
"Yeah, something like that!"
"Maxim, that's illegal. That's burglary."
"I know," I replied and could practically see her judgmental look in front of me.
"Which apartment?"
"67H.", I told her relieved.
"Give me a minute."
"Jade, you're the best!"
"I know.", she replied and hung up.
"Who is Jade and how does it help us?", Mia asked. Meanwhile, I saw the phone ringing at the reception. I couldn't help grinning.
"Jade is my best friend...and my new manager. She's just taking us into the apartment.", I told them and walked up to the lady behind the counter. I waited for her to put the phone down before I approached her.
"Are you Mr. G?", she asked me. Jade had really done it.
"Yes, I am.", I replied.
"I should give you this key," she handed me the key card and I thanked her as charming as I could be. I went to the elevator and told Mia and Jake to follow me.
"How did she manage that?", Mia asked in surprise as we stood in the elevator.
"She has her own ways and methods."

My heart almost jumped out of my chest as we stood in front of the apartment. We pushed the key card towards each other, none of us dared to open the door as we all expected the worst. But at some point, when my nerves almost seemed to burst, I ripped the card from Mia's hand and opened the door. Before I entered the apartment, I held my breath. Why didn't I know, it was just a kind of reflex. Mia and Jake followed me silently. The apartment seemed normal at first sight. A bit cold perhaps, but that was due to the air conditioning, which was set too low. We separated and looked around in the different rooms and with each room, the lump in my throat became bigger and bigger; they were not here.
"Oh my God. Max, Jake! You have to see this!", it suddenly came from Mia. Instantly I left the bathroom and ran to Mia who was in the office.
"Shit!", whispered Jake, he arrived in there before me and stopped abruptly. The wall exactly opposite the door was full of pictures. Veronica's pictures, to be exact. Close-ups of her face, long distance pictures of her crossing the street, pictures of Veronica together with Mia and Jake, pictures of Veronica and her father, pictures of Veronica and me and photos of Veronica from a time when I didn't know her yet. Beside the pictures, there were notes with some words and street names. At the top. Black Building. Nine. Baby Girl. Some pictures and photos were marked with a red pen. In the pictures where I was seen, my face was crossed out and even torn. This sick, abnormal motherfucker was not only a psychopath but also a fucking stalker.
"This is so disgusting!", Mia said. I said nothing and went to the desk where I discovered more pictures. The first thing I noticed was a photo of Veronica with a guy, arm in arm. She smiled and seemed happy. However, she was a bit younger there, her hair was shorter and lighter. I had paid very little attention to the guy before, but when I took a closer look, I realized that I knew him from somewhere.
"Is that the guy?", I asked them and showed them the picture, "Is that James?" Mia nodded and Jake confirmed it with a short "Yes". I put the picture back down and started opening the folders that were on the table to get any additional information that might help me somehow to find them. When I opened a folder and saw the pictures in it, the folder fell off by itself. I slapped my hands in front of my face and shouted into my hands.
"THIS SICK SON OF A BITCH! THIS FUCKING MOTHERFUCKER! AHHH!" Mia shrieked up and began to cry. Jake took her in his arm and closed his eyes. There were photos of Veronica in the folder; he had photographed her after he had beaten her up. He had photographed himself while he was... while he was raping her and she was lying unconscious on the floor.
"Call her again!", I yelled at Mia. "Call her again!" She freed herself from Jake's embrace, wiped away her tears and called Veronica again. Out of rage, I drove through my hair and kicked the chair standing next to me. "Mailbox. Not even a dial tone. Immediately the mailbox."
"Her phone is either turned off or they're somewhere where there's absolutely no reception," Jake said. Where is no reception? Any place without reception or Internet. Where is no reception? Where is no reception?
"Of course! Black Building! At the top! They're on the roof!", I exclaimed.
"He was always on the roof when he wanted his peace. Do you remember?", Jake asked Mia and she nodded.
"Call the police! And security! Immediately!", I shouted and ran off. I pressed the elevator button about a million times, but it just didn't come. That's why I ran to the stairwell. Thanks to anger and adrenaline, I managed to run up the whole 12 floors without being out of breath. I tried to open the door to the roof but this motherfucker had locked it. So I stepped back a few steps and kicked the door with all the strength I had in my body. It jumped open with a bang. I heard a female scream and a shot.

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