"Look, there she is!" Christian whisper yelled, looking out towards the front doors of the café. I lifted my head up, seeing Detective Myers walking towards our table. I fidgeted with the scarf around my neck as I flashed Detective Myers a quick smile.

"Thanks for meeting us here." Christian spoke up as she took a seat across from us. The atmosphere was tranquil and it wasn't crowded. "Where's Detective Collins?" Christian playfully teased.

Detective Myers chuckled. "Unfortunately, he couldn't make it. He's sick. He'll be alright though. I'll let him know you asked for him." She joked back.

We all laughed, but I still felt anxious knowing we were about to discuss Danny's case.

Detective Myers sighed, clasping her hands together as she rested them onto the table. "So, I don't have the best news." Her eyes landed on me. "Nadia, I know you said you're certain your friend Maia Roche-Cruz killed Danny but I'm sure you know that's merely an allegation."

"Your evidence was that Danny told you she wanted to 'ruin' your relationship with him. And according to you, when things didn't go her way, she decided to kill him out of spite."

"Right." I nodded.

Well," Detective Myers trailed off. "Danny's dead. We can't ask him if that is true or not. Secondly, word of mouth isn't exactly, hard evidence."

"But I'm not lying Detective Myers, she was the only person who was secretly out to harm him." I tried not to sound whiny. Christian nodded. "Danny didn't have enemies like that. I would have known if someone else was out to get him."

Detective Myers defensively put her hands up. "Hey, I'm sure you're both being sincere right now but there's only so much we can do. The best way I can help is marking Maia down as a suspect in Danny's death. If we're lucky we can find and arrest her based on your information. It's not much but it's something. We can interrogate her and see where it goes but to be honest with you two," Detective Myers sorrowfully frowned at us. "I don't see this case going far."

"Excuse me for a second." Christian got out of his seat, walking towards the restrooms. I furrowed my eyebrows, glancing at him with a pained look as he walked away. I hoped he wasn't upset.

"Are you gonna press charges?" Detective Myers suddenly asked.

"What?" I felt my heartbeat accelerate.

"Your neck. I saw the bruises when you adjusted your scarf as you smiled at me when I came in."

"Oh." I shifted my gaze away from her, looking out the window. "No." I shook my head. "I'm not."

"Are you scared to?" I could hear the concern in her voice.

"No. It doesn't matter, I'm not with him anymore."

I knew she also noticed my crutches resting against the wall next to our table. Detective Myers slowly nodded, realizing I was shutting her down. I didn't want Leo to get into trouble. I felt like I'd already done enough to him. I didn't know what to think about us. I know it's over but, were we ever gonna talk about what happened? Would he reach out to me?

Would we just, never see each other again?

...

"Hey, you okay?" I spoke softly, gently raking my fingers through Christian's hair, watching it fall back onto his forehead. We were in my living room, seated on the couch. Christian decided to stay with me for a while just to make sure I was doing okay.

"You seemed kinda upset after meeting with Detective Myers." I rested my hand on his shoulder.

He chuckled, turning his head to look at me. "I'm alright. It just hurt a bit knowing there's not much hope in Danny's case. I just wanna see Maia behind bars if she's the one who killed him."

I sighed. "I know, me too."

Christian glanced at my left leg. My ankle was tightly secured in an ankle brace. "How long is it gonna take for your ankle to heal?"

"Six to eight weeks." I sheepishly responded.

"We can wait you know. We don't have to go to Arizona when you're injured."

I shook my head. "I'm fine Christian. I really wanna see this through. Don't worry about me okay?"

Christian lightly smiled, twirling the rings around his fingers. His eyes met with mine again. "You know I can't do that Nadia. Your safety matters to me."

I looked away from him, bashfully smiling as I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. I couldn't keep up with the number of times I got butterflies around him.

There was a sudden knock at my front door and Christian and I simultaneously looked towards that direction. "I'll get it." I slowly began to lift myself up, minding my injured leg. Christian placed a firm hand on my thigh, raising an eyebrow at me. "You don't need to walk when you don't have to. It's okay, I'll get the door."

"Okay." I mumbled, slumping back down onto the couch. I glanced out towards the front door as Christian opened it.

"Oh, Christian, hi. Didn't expect to see you here." It was Amelia's voice.

"Hey man, nice to see you again." Seth was here too. I heard Christian greet both of them.

I sat up, eagerly waiting to see them walk into the living room. "Hey Nadia." Seth waved, flashing a smile at me. "Hey." I smiled back. Seth and Amelia took a seat on the couch across from me as Christian sat back down next to me. "How's your leg?" Amelia asked, furrowing her eyebrows in concern. "It's okay. It doesn't hurt too bad right now." I assured.

"So," Seth clasped his hands together. "I gave Leo back the ring."

I lightly smiled. "That's good. How'd he take it?"

Seth sighed. "Well, when I got there, I could smell the alcohol on him. I told him I knew what happened between you guys. He tried to make it seem like it wasn't a big deal at first."

I could feel the awkward tension in the room from everyone while Seth talked about Leo.

"I didn't want to get too involved because I could see how hurt he was so I gave him the ring before shit got messy."

"How...how sad did he look?" I asked timidly.

"Sad." Seth emphasized. "I could tell he's holding a lot of emotions back."

"Do you feel bad for him?" Amelia suddenly asked me.

I glared at her for a moment, hating that she put me on the spot like that. Seth was Leo's friend, Amelia and Christian knew I cheated on him; I was the reason he was emotionally fucked up. How was I supposed to answer that?

If I say no, I'll look bad. If I say yes, I'll still look bad.

I shrugged, nervously rubbing my arm. "I-I don't know...I guess."

"Well, at least mutually you know the relationship is over." Seth chimed in breaking the tension. I'm sure he was glad Leo and I were through.

At least I could be around Christian without guilt trailing behind me now.

...

Leo's POV

David and I walked up to the front door of a house party. Crashing random parties was kinda his thing oddly enough, but it matched his chaotic energy.

I'm not sure whose house this was or why I even let him drag me along but I guess I could use a distraction.

I looked around as I trailed behind David, politely dodging other people to avoid bumping into them. My eyes adjusted to the colorful lights that were dim and flashed occasionally. David came to a halt as someone in front of him offered him two shots.

He took the glasses from the guy's hands, excitedly turning around to face me with a wide grin on his face. I chuckled, taking one of the shot glasses from David's hand, quickly downing a shot with him. I smiled at the burning sensation in my throat, glancing out towards the living room.

My smile slowly faded and time slowed down as my eyes landed on her.

Nadia was here. On the couch, straddling Danny's brother's lap. His hands ran down her back, stopping at her waist as he pulled her closer to his body, kissing her neck.

Nadia's lips parted as she closed her eyes, tilting her head to the side. My breath trembled as sadness and anger battled to overpower me. It felt like the glass in my hand could break at any moment.

Nadia seductively fluttered her eyes open, locking eye contact with me. The lights flashed red and she had a sly smile on her face and the devil in her eyes like she knew exactly what she was doing to me.

And it made me sick to my stomach.

My body flinched as I woke up. My eyes took a moment to adjust to the darkness of my quiet bedroom. My chest rose and fell as my heartbeat started to slow down. My skin was warm and I cringed at the layer of sweat I could feel.

I ran my hand through my hair, glancing at the empty side of my bed.

I knew it was wrong, but I still thought about her. Yeah Seth was fucking right, it was gonna be hard to move on and I hated that.

I couldn't help but to overthink shit. Over and over again.

I knew I was slowly spiraling.

Did she still love Danny even before he came back into her life? Was he always in the back of her mind all those years we were together? Whenever we fucked and her eyes were closed, did she fantasize about him through me?

What the fuck did I save her from if she never stopped loving him?

It hurt the most because I just knew she was doing so much better than me right now. I didn't know if we'd see each other again. I wanna apologize for the shit I did the other night; I do but I just get so angry remembering the reason I put my hands on her in the first place.

Part of me wished I had just minded my business the night I first saw her at Maribelle's sitting alone at that bar counter. Saying I wish I never met her would be a lie.

But the truth is, I wish I could go back and embrace who she was before the devil consumed her.

I wished I never laid a hand on her, ever.

I wished she weren't broken from being sexually assaulted.

I wished she truly loved me so none of this would have happened from the start.

...
Yea, i cry for Leo. It really just hit me how awful Nadia is lmaoo like i forget as the author sometimes 💀
But feel free to comment/vote if you enjoyed this chapter :)
Thanks for reading <3