Page 118 of Die for You

When I climb the stairs, Finn and Knox are already waiting for me. Finn shaking his head, Knox morose. “She’s not here.”

If she’s not here, where else could that asshole have taken her? Maybe he’s got her tied up in the trunk of his car. Maybe he knows we’d come after him and he’s taken off with her, heading for the other side of the country.

Maybe she’s already?—

“No,” I confirm. “She’s not.”

Chapter 32

Knox

Under the warm,early May sun, the seven of us hang up missing person flyers, each of us taking different corners of the campus. The first seventy-two hours are the most crucial for finding a missing person, and we’ve been spreading the word on social media since we reported Aurora missing.

Jeremiah’s parents’ home turned up nothing, and his parents have already turned over the camera footage from their home to the police, along with GPS access to their Mercedes, the only car available to Jeremiah.

After we ambushed him, the paramedics took him to the hospital. His parents picked him up and brought him home. Other than a visit to their attorney’s office the next morning, the only places he’s been are home and work.

When the police spoke to Jeremiah, he denied being involved, and Aurora wasn’t with him.

According to the police, they have no reason to suspect him. Impossibly, I’m starting to doubt it too.

Her in-person audition at Juilliard is fast approaching, and if we don’t find her soon, she might miss it.

All we have left to go on is her phone, and Finn still hasn’t been able to track it. The thing could be dead by now, and our chances of finding her drop that much lower.

Damien’s still convinced Jeremiah is behind this—it’s the most obvious answer. But how could there be zero evidence pointing to him otherwise?

Maybe no one took her at all. She told us not to look for her after we got out of jail. She could’ve left of her own accord. She could already be in New York, and maybe she doesn’t plan on ever coming back.

I shake the thought away. She wouldn’t do that to us. She wouldn’t leave us.

My jaw is about to snap. We should be able to do more than post flyers and tell people on social media to help us find a missing girl. I’ve never felt more powerless in my life.

A yellow sedan rolls up into the parking lot behind me while I stick another flyer to a lamppost outside the University Center. My teeth grind together. As if this day wasn’t already shitty enough.

“Hey, Knoxy! Whatcha got there?” Monica saunters up to me with a smirk until her gaze lands on the flyer and her face falls. “Oh my god. Is Aurora missing?”

“Don’t pretend like you give a shit.”

She holds out her hand. “Here. I’ll help. Let me hang some.”

When I don’t move, Monica takes a stack of flyers from my hand and the tape hanging from my belt loop. Without another word, she busies herself taping a flyer to the back of a bench.

“Why are you helping?”

Monica doesn’t do anything unless there’s something in it for her. She’s already made it clear she doesn’t want me and Aurora together. The Monica I remember would be gleeful, damn near dancing at getting what she wanted.

Finally, Monica fixes her gaze on me, expression wounded. “I wish you didn’t see me as such a monster.”

I shrug. “I wish you didn’t act like one.”

She shakes her head, biting her lip like my words actually managed to sting. “I’ve changed. High school wasfour years ago, Knox. People grow up; they figure their shit out. I’ve been trying to prove that to you.”

I rack my brain, trying to remember anything Monica has done to prove she’s not the same horrible person she was in high school. She encouraged me to end things with Aurora and get with her. But she’s helping to hang some flyers about a missing girl she doesn’t like. And she was the one who stepped in when Jeremiah showed up on campus to go after Aurora. She took Aurora somewhere safe and bought her a drink to calm her nerves until we showed up.

“I get that you don’t want to be with me.” The words leave her mouth resolute. Like she’s finally accepted it. “I don’t deserve a second chance. Not after the way I treated you. But I still care about you, and I want you to be happy.” She nods at Aurora’s smiling, beautiful face on the flyer. “And if Aurora is missing, she could be in danger, so of course I want to help you find her.”

I could still tell her to fuck off. Tell her to stay away from me, no matter what’s going on. But Aurora is more important, and the more people we have looking for her, the better.