𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐘 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐒

𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑

WHEN THE DOOR TO HIS HOME WAS
successfully unlocked and opened, the lack of noise told him one of two things. Either his roommates had fucked off and weren't home, or it was one of those rare times when the place was settled and everyone happened to do their own thing at the same time.

Another few seconds of strained listening confirmed the first option.

Rueben let out an unusually strange-sounding sigh as he shut the front door and walked through the small passageway before arriving at the kitchen. His moping had escalated throughout the drive from the prescient to here over numerous events, but most of them were pinpointed under his sister's name.

He had no idea how to feel about Jonah reopening her case; the mafia themselves, in all their unconventional ways, couldn't find her, so it was unbeknownst to him what a handful of lazy police officers could accomplish.

But even under layers of distaste, he couldn't lie and say he wasn't glad they were giving her the attention she deserved all those years ago, even if it meant he was currently under the heat of the microscope. Maybe they would finally get answers to questions they asked years ago—maybe they would see something he missed and boost the results of his version of his investigation.

His eyes scoured the soft and harsh tones of black that made up his cabinets, the tough greys that coated his kitchen island granite and walls as he decided against ice water and opted for a water bottle. The entire floor plan was exactly the same; nothing too bright, but also not horribly dark.

If his roommates detested his interior design skills, they surely weren't voicing it.

As his fingers wrapped around the cold plastic, and he turned on his heel to make his way to his home office, his mind flicked through the last three years as if it were a scrapbook. Non-stop looking for Lilly, putting his life on pause, was something any older brother would do for their younger siblings.

So why did he feel so guilty?

The practical side of him reassured him that he did all he could—that giving up his search six months ago was the best thing he could have done for himself, but the impractical jumped out and latched onto the fourteen percent chance that she had been alive this entire time and he had been too selfish, living a luxurious life, to care for her well-being.

It was even lower if he considered Matteo, too.

Rueben shook his head, physically removing his mental disparity; if Jonah was serious about reopening the case, then who's to say he shouldn't start his own examination again? He had just as much of a right—the road to his sister's freedom and safety met at the end of his path to proven innocence. If he didn't trust the hands of the law, then served justice would fall on his shoulders.

And he didn't plan on doing it solo—he already had the perfect partner in mind.

A concerning sound startled him out of his thoughts as he reached a few steps shy of his office door. A couple of voices, male and female, began to increase in volume, pressing confusion to his eyebrows and unease to the blood cells in his veins. No one went into his space—if his roommates were the culprits and had been home this entire time, they had done a hell of a job being quiet until now.