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I was just supposed to have her to my house, show her how I lived. I wanted to see if she felt comfortable in my life like I felt comfortable in hers. I wanted to bring her back into my bedroom to break in my bed. I wanted to cuddle in bed after and see if she made comments about spending more time here.
Because I planned to marry that woman.
I didn't give a fuck if it seemed too soon to others.
I knew it in my gut long before I knew it in my head, in my heart. She was the one that was different. She was the one I could see sharing my future with.
It was idiotic to be thinking that way, of course, when I was acutely aware that one day, I was going to need to tell her the truth. I was going to need to take her anger and her confusion and her hurt. I'd even resigned myself to likely needing to give her space for a while, so she could come to terms with what I told her.
But in every single one of the many scenarios I'd created in my head, we ended up together.
Hell, even after the shock and fear wore off when I'd realized she'd put the pieces together herself, I figured she would take some time and space, and that eventually, she would give me a chance to explain it all.
Then some fuckhead came along and thought he could take that away from her? From me? From us.
No.
No, I couldn't stand for that.
We were going to find her.
The police might have proven pretty useless in a lot of these cases in the past. But Lloyd was motivated because he knew her personally, because he was likely feeling guilt at not having walked her to her car after their meeting, despite it being the middle of the day. There were also Poppy's legions of fans on the lookout. The other true crime content creators were running with this story because it was one of their own.
And on top of all of that, there was my team.
We'd all done a lot of shit over the years. Things no one would ever know about. Things others would think were impossible.
But we'd done it.
We could do this.
Even if it wasn't our forte.
We were a force to be reckoned with.
Especially Nia.
Nia, with her very specific skills. Nia, with her ability to learn everyone's secrets. Nia, with her tenacity.
With that, I made her another cup of coffee, and walked back into her office, this time moving behind the desk to get a look at her screen. I half-expected her to hiss at me, never liking anyone looking over her shoulder, but she was being patient with me, given the situation.
"Are you in the police station's cameras?" I asked. I was still trying to get my bearings, but it seemed like the angle of the image on her screen had to be coming from the NBPD building itself.
"Please, they haven't bothered to update their security system in two years. A baby hacker could have gotten in."
"When is this?"
"About five minutes after Poppy went into the building," she said, rolling the image back to show me the part where a very determined, yet very exhausted-looking Poppy was making her way up the steps of the building. At the top, she paused to take a deep breath, seemed to mutter something to herself, then disappeared inside.
"She comes back out about half an hour later," Nia explained, speeding up the playback. "Right... there," she said, pausing the frame.
And there she was.
She looked smaller than when she'd gone in.
It was probably the angle, but a part of me couldn't help but wonder if it was from the defeat of the meeting, from learning no one was going to believe her story, let alone help her solve the case.
Again, her head lifted to the sky, but this time, it seemed less like she was looking to the universe for strength, and more like she was rapidly trying to blink back tears.
My heart ached in my chest at that look. She was not a woman who felt defeat easily. And the only reason she was doing so then was because she'd let herself invite me into her life, her home, her body, her mind, and her soul. Maybe, if it wasn't too pathetic to hope it, her heart.
I'd caused that look on her face.
"No," I hissed when Poppy walked out of the frame, only realizing I'd said the word aloud when Nia paused the video.
"That's it. That is the last I've been able to pick her up so far. Unfortunately, that side street isn't heavy on the security concerns. There seems to only be one store that has one. But the fuckers actually used a decent pass code on it. I'm having trouble getting in."
