EIRA'S POV
Oh God, I'm late again.
I rushed through my shower, the weight of yesterday's warning from Mr. Robert pressing against me like a ticking clock.
By the time I settled into my lecture, my mind refused to settle with me. My eyes kept drifting toward the door, searching for Adrian.
It had been five days since he'd last shown up at college, and although I kept telling myself I didn't care, worry gnawed at me relentlessly.
Why did his absence bother me so much?
I hated that I couldn't answer that.
Just as I was about to leave for my next class, I noticed a police officer standing outside Andy's room.
My stomach tightened instantly.
The officer noticed me and offered a polite nod.
"Miss Eira Bain?"
"Yes?"
"I'm Inspector Cole Smith. Could I ask you a few questions?"
The seriousness in his voice immediately made me nervous.
"Of course."
The inspector glanced toward Andy's closed door.
"How well did you know Miss Andy?"
The memory of her smile flashed through my mind.
Then I already like you.
The guilt struck me unexpectedly.
"Not very well," I admitted. "We only spoke once."
The inspector nodded.
"Miss Andy has been missing for five days."
My heart dropped.
Missing.
Not gone home.
Not absent.
Missing.
The word felt wrong.
Dangerous.
The inspector studied my face carefully.
"Did you notice anything unusual on the night she disappeared?"
I hesitated.
Every instinct screamed at me not to say it.
Not his name.
Not Adrian.
But what if Andy was in danger?
What if staying silent made me responsible?
Taking a shaky breath, I told him everything.
The sound.
The broken glass.
The hooded figure.
The phone call.
The words.
Work done.
The inspector listened without interrupting.
"And you recognized the voice?"
My throat tightened.
"Yes."
"Whose voice was it?"
For a moment, I almost couldn't say it.
"It was Adrian Blake."
The inspector's eyes sharpened.
"Are you certain?"
"Yes."
"He comes from a respected family."
"So?"
The answer came out sharper than I'd intended.
The inspector looked mildly surprised.
I swallowed.
"I know what I heard."
For several seconds, he simply watched me.
Then he nodded.
"Thank you, Miss Bain."
I forced a nod and walked away.
But doubt followed me.
Because no matter how many times I repeated it to myself...
Something didn't feel right.
ADRIAN'S POV
The desk before me was covered in photographs.
The broken window.
The scattered books.
The overturned chair.
My eyes moved from one photograph to another, searching for something everyone else had missed.
A red marker rested between my fingers.
Several details had already been circled.
Others crossed out.
Yet the answer I was looking for remained just beyond my reach.
Something was wrong.
Something didn't fit.
I picked up another photograph and compared it with the others.
Nothing.
A sharp knock echoed through the room.
My jaw tightened.
I ignored it.
The knock came again.
More impatient this time.
Annoying.
I dropped the photograph onto the desk and rose from my chair.
The pictures remained scattered across the table, staring back at me like unfinished questions.
I left my room.
The scent of a human reached me almost immediately.
Who could it be?
Another knock.
Persistent.
Unwanted.
I opened the door.
Two police officers stood outside.
"What?" I asked coldly.
The taller one stepped forward.
"I'm Inspector Cole Smith."
I looked him over briefly.
"And?"
"What do you want?" I asked, irritation sharpening my voice.
"I'm Inspector Cole Smith," he repeated, as though my hostility hadn't registered, and stepped inside.
"You know my name already," I muttered.
"Adrian, that's no way to address an officer."
Mike's voice came from behind me.
I glanced over as he descended the stairs.
The atmosphere shifted the moment he appeared.
Mike Blake never needed to raise his voice.
He never did.
There was something about his calmness that unsettled people. The quieter he became, the more nervous everyone else seemed to get.
I'd seen grown men lose their confidence after a single conversation with him.
Mike and Elisa had been with me for as long as I could remember. They weren't my parents, but they were the closest thing I had to family.
"Good afternoon, Officer. Please, sit," Mike said, gesturing toward the chairs.
"We're fine standing, Mr. Blake," the inspector replied coolly. "I need to speak to Adrian."
His attention shifted toward me.
"Do you know Miss Eira Bain?"
At the mention of her name, something dark stirred inside me.
I buried it instantly.
My expression remained indifferent.
I gave a careless shrug.
"No."
"Are you certain? She's in your class."
"Oh, right. Thanks for the reminder."
I let the sarcasm drip deliberately from my voice.
The inspector's eyes narrowed.
"Don't you find it odd, forgetting one of your own classmates?"
"Is that a crime now?"
A faint smirk touched my lips.
A heavy silence settled over the room.
The officer beside him shifted uncomfortably.
The inspector, however, didn't back down.
His gaze remained fixed on mine.
"Miss Andy has been missing for five days. Miss Eira claims to have seen you in Andy's room the night she disappeared."
For a moment, nobody spoke.
The ticking clock on the wall suddenly seemed deafening.
"Did she see me?" I challenged.
"She recognized your voice."
I let out a short laugh.
Cold.
Mocking.
Then I slowly clapped once.
The sound echoed through the room.
"Impressive ears she must have. Is that your evidence? You must be joking."
The inspector's jaw tightened.
Barely.
But I noticed.
People always underestimated how much I noticed.
He glanced toward Mike, perhaps hoping for support. Perhaps hoping someone would tell me to take this seriously.
Mike remained silent.
Watching.
Waiting.
His expression revealed nothing.
"Where were you five days ago?" the inspector asked sharply.
"I was at my friend Drek's place, out of town. You can confirm it with him."
The inspector stared at me for several seconds.
Searching for fear.
He found nothing.
Because I gave him nothing.
Frustration flickered across his face before he finally turned toward the door.
"This conversation isn't over."
"It never is."
The front door closed behind them.
Silence followed.
A dangerous silence.
Mike's eyes settled on me.
"About the girl who told them—"
"I'll deal with her. No one will believe her," I said flatly.
His gaze pierced straight through me.
Far sharper than any police officer's.
"You're hiding something."
My jaw tightened.
Only slightly.
"No," I replied smoothly, though my chest burned with unspoken truths.
The silence stretched between us.
Neither of us looked away.
Neither of us blinked.
Then Mike sighed.
Not because he believed me.
Because he didn't.
Why was she always in my way?
Always appearing where she shouldn't?
I needed to talk to her.
EIRA'S POV
With an hour before my next lecture, I wandered through the college courtyard, my mind restless.
Adrian's name spun endlessly through my thoughts.
Did he hurt Andy?
What connection did he have to her?
So lost in my thoughts was I that I didn't realize I'd wandered onto the restricted top floor until it was too late.
The corridor was empty.
Silent.
The kind of silence that made every sound seem unnaturally loud.
I turned to leave.
Suddenly, an arm snaked around my waist and yanked me backward.
A gasp escaped me.
Before I could react, my back collided with the wall.
A hand clamped over my mouth just as I tried to scream.
Terror exploded through me.
I struggled instantly.
His grip only tightened.
Unyielding.
Impossible to break.
Then I heard his voice.
"Don't scream. I need to talk to you."
Adrian.
My heart stumbled.
Slowly, he removed his hand from my mouth.
But his arm remained around my waist, holding me exactly where he wanted me.
Close enough that escape felt impossible.
Close enough that I could feel every frantic beat of my heart against my ribs.
"Why can't you speak to me like a normal person? Why do you always have to scare me?"
Anger trembled beneath my voice.
His face remained unreadable.
Not angry.
Not amused.
Nothing.
As though every emotion had been locked behind walls I could never reach.
"Just listen," he said evenly.
"No! First, answer me. Why do you hate me? What did I ever do? Why do you insult me every time? You're—"
Before I could finish, his hand silenced me again, catching my wrists and pinning them behind me.
The sudden movement stole the rest of my words.
My back pressed harder against the wall.
His body stood between me and freedom.
Between me and the rest of the world.
My breath caught.
His face was so close.
Too close.
Close enough that I could see every detail of those impossible black eyes.
Dark.
Endless.
Dangerous.
My heart thrashed wildly.
Fear tangled with something far more confusing.
Something I refused to acknowledge.
For a moment, neither of us moved.
The corridor disappeared.
The college disappeared.
The entire world seemed to narrow into a single point.
His eyes.
Mine.
Nothing else.
His gaze remained fixed on me with an intensity that made it impossible to look away.
As though he were trying to understand something.
As though he were searching for an answer he couldn't find.
And whatever it was seemed to irritate him.
The realization only made my heart beat faster.
A muscle tightened in his jaw.
Gone almost instantly.
Control returned before I could fully register it.
"Stay away from Andy's case," he ordered, his black eyes locking onto mine with an intensity that froze me in place. "Do not go to the police again. Do I make myself clear?"
His words were calm.
Yet somehow, they felt more dangerous than shouting.
I pulled his hand away from my mouth.
"Why?"
His eyes narrowed slightly.
"Because I'm telling you to."
"Did you hurt her?"
Silence.
The question settled heavily between us.
Neither of us looked away.
Neither of us moved.
For a second...
Two...
Three...
The air felt too thick to breathe.
His expression never changed.
Yet something about the silence felt wrong.
As though words were trapped behind it.
Answers hidden behind those dark eyes.
Answers he refused to give.
My pulse hammered wildly.
"You're hurting me," I whispered.
For the first time, he froze.
Only for a fraction of a second.
His grip loosened slightly.
As though he'd suddenly become aware of how close he was standing.
How tightly he was holding me.
How neither of us had looked away.
His jaw tightened again.
A silent battle I couldn't understand seemed to rage somewhere behind that cold expression.
Then the walls went back up.
Cold.
Sharp.
Untouchable.
His eyes turned distant once more.
"You ask too many questions."
The words sounded harsher than before.
Forced.
As though he needed them to create distance.
Needed them to remind himself of something.
His grip loosened completely.
The sudden loss of contact felt strangely jarring.
Then he stepped back.
One step.
Then another.
The spell shattered instantly.
And then he vanished—slipping away so quickly that it was as though he had never been there at all.
Leaving me alone against the wall.
My chest rose and fell unevenly.
My hands trembled.
What just happened?
Why didn't I fight him off?
Why couldn't I stop thinking about those eyes?
Why did part of me feel as though I had just stood at the edge of something dangerous?
And why, despite every warning screaming inside my head...
did I want answers more than I wanted distance?