Abigail

The door opened and Finnegan walked right back in, taking a seat next to me. "What’s wrong?"

"He’s saying the case could be scrapped out," I blurted out without giving it a thought.

"What do you mean scrapped?" Finn questioned him, a look of confusion on his face.

Benjamin glanced at him warily and sighed.

"Whoever is behind this has resources and power." He tapped a closed folder in his hands and slid it towards us. "Your parents’ case file has already been flagged for archiving. The judge assigned to make that decision has a hearing date set."

"And when is that?!"

A large warm hand covered mine and I glanced at Finn to see green eyes gazing softly at me. He gave my hand a warm squeeze and I sunk my teeth into my bottom lip trying to fight the anger surging though me.

At least I had him on my side. I was grateful for that.

"Thirty days," Benjamin muttered, shaking his head. "It could be less if someone pushes the timeline. I’m telling you because I have to be honest with you. The truth is, once that case is archived it becomes nonexistent. No court will touch it. No investigator will be assigned."

This had to be one of the sickest jokes the universe had pulled on me. Whoever this person was was really powerful.

What on earth did my parents see? Were they some kind of politician? Why were they so bent on hiding what had happened years ago?

How was I supposed to find the murderer in thirty days? How could I...

"Hey hey," Finn murmured, tugging me closer. I dropped my head on his chest, drawing in a slow breath.

"If I find who did this, before the case gets archived, will it still be relevant?"

"As long as there is concrete evidence of course. But it’s a very short period. I’ll do my best to help, of course, but without evidence I have nothing to take to anyone. Whatever you can find in the next thirty days, bring it to me directly. Don’t go through the police." Benjamin glanced at the door. "Some have been compromised."

"Yeah tell me about it," I sighed as he gathered his folder and rose.

"I’ll leave you both to talk, Miss." He nodded at me, then at Fin. "Mr Wolfe."

He strutted out of the room swiftly.

"Abigail?"

"It’s fine," I whispered. "He just said I had thirty days to find whoever did this or the case gets buried."

Finnegan’s arm wrapped around me, pulling me even closer, his scent soothing me. "Don’t worry, I’ll have someone find who is pulling the strings."

"Thank you," I whispered, burying my face in his chest. But I couldn’t wait around for that. Every second that was wasted meant I could never get justice for my parents.

I knew what I had to do. And whoever these bastards are,they might as well have to kill me before they could bury the case.

***

An hour later, Finnegan dropped me outside my building, his eyes gazing softly at me from the backseat.

"I’ll call you tonight," he said through the window.

"Okay." I smiled at him, waving him off.

James pulled away and I watched the car until it turned the corner and disappeared. Then I pulled out my phone and opened the Uber app.

The ruins of my parents’ old company were some minutes away.

I hailed a cab and got dropped off in the Industrial district where the Lander company, the place my parents worked before they were killed, had been running.

The last time I had been here, I had just scanned through the place. It was terrifying, knowing this company was probably still running after all these years.

But right now, fear was the last thing on my mind. Something felt off.

I crept closer, passing the side of the building. There had to be a reason why Gavin was always around this place. There had to be reason why the government hadn’t destroyed the building too after saying they would for so many years.

My heart hammered as I peeked through one of the smashed walls of the ground floor when the sound of footsteps had me ducking to the floor.

Shit.

I held my breath listening to the footsteps walk into the building. Praying to all the saints above that I don’t get my ass caught, I rose slowly to peek.

There was a man in a black suit walking briskly toward an elevator door that looked abandoned. He swiped a key card and the doors opened.

My eyes widened. I couldn’t possibly be seeing things right now, right? How on earth was the elevator still functioning? Was the rest of the building still functioning?

The building looked abandoned on the outside, but it was clearly still very much in use. I slipped through a broken side entrance on the ground floor, the musty smell of dust and old smoke hitting me hard.

The outer areas were still wrecked, there was crumbling concrete all around but I could see several fresh shoe marks leading toward the elevator. I rushed to it and tapped the buttons but the doors didn’t open.

I needed a key card. How on earth would I get one? The sounds of heels clicking against the floor had me darting behind a partly collapsed wall near the elevators.

"No, the boss will not be happy about this. All the cash must be turned in my Sunday," A woman in a black dress strutted past me to the elevator. "Good, see that you do."

She ended the call and swiped her card against the sensor. I just needed a key card and this was my one freaking opportunity.

Before I could overthink it, I grabbed a heavy piece of broken concrete from the floor, stepped out behind her, and swung. The sound of her skull hitting the concrete made my stomach turn. She crumpled instantly to the floor.

"Oh God, I’m so sorry," I whispered, shaking as I dropped to my knees beside her. "It’s nothing personal, I swear. I just... I need to know what happened to them."

My hands trembled as I unclipped the key card from her and dragged her limp body back to the abandoned section of the ground floor, hiding her behind a pile of old filing cabinets where she wouldn’t be easily spotted.

My stomach pusled with nausea. Kate Thomas, her name gleamed on the key card as I swiped over the elevator sensor. The doors opened and I stepped inside pulling my hair forward to cover most of my face.

Sorry Kate Thomas. She was going to wake up wth the nastiest headache ever.

The elevator was sleek and modern, completely out of place in this ruined, scorched building. I hit the button for the lowest floor. When the doors opened again, I almost passed out.

There was a whole ass company hidden inside a burnt up building! What on earth was going on?