Page 70 of Ruin

“Claire! Stop! Please!” Arik screamed behind me. He certainly couldn’t use his speed to stop me in front of the officer.

As I made my way toward the body, Sam stretched his arms out, his shoulders casting a broad shadow that obscured the scene. “Claire. Really…do not look,” he pleaded with a dominance I had not seen from him before.

When my feet stopped in front of Sam, my eyes lowered. There she was. Jennifer. Face up, eyes open, and turned to a haunting shade of gray. Her body was bloated and pale, no longer warm with life, as seaweed and sand gathered around her neck. Her long, straight black hair was now curly and wet, framing her face like a crown of death. Her red dress tattered across her body; the neckline ripped into shreds exposing her nude lace bra over one breast. Bruises wrapped around her arm, collarbone, and neck like purple tattoos sunk deep into her.

She had been alive. I had seen her alive. And now she was dead. Here. On Arik’s beach.

“Please, Claire. No more,” Arik whispered into my ear as he pulled me around and pulled me into his chest. His fingers brushed through my hair as an arm wrapped around me, keeping me tight against his body. I was starting to fear that he may never let me go.

I stood silently, my arms at my side, unable to move.

“Miss. We really can’t have you at the crime scene,” the officer said, pulling me back into reality.

Arik’s voice cut through the ringing that filled my ears. “Officer. Is it okay if Sam takes it from here? I really should get her inside.”

The officer must have nodded because suddenly, Arik had me in his arms again. Except this time, instead of wrapping my arms around his neck, I found myself limp. I didn’t know Jennifer well. She certainly wasn’t the nicest person I had ever met. But she certainly wasn’t a monster. She didn’t deserve to die.

As Arik’s footsteps moved across the sand, my mind began to race. She washed up on Arik’s beach. At the same beach I witnessed his bloodshed. Women have been going missing from the hotel, now Jennifer is dead on Arik’s doorstep.

I lifted my head up and made eye contact with another officer walking down the stairs from the terrace above.

“Officer?” I called.

Arik’s brow rose as he looked toward me. I felt his gaze burning into my face, but I couldn’t look at him. Looking at him would take every single cell of strength I had at this moment.

The officer nodded in my direction, raising his eyebrows as he used his fingers to comb his sleek hair back into place. “Yes, Miss?”

Arik stopped carrying me and looked at the officer, panic filling his eyes.

I had to run.

“You have to go back to the hotel to investigate more, right? Since she was a guest?” I asked, my expression still twisted with confusion and sorrow.

“Yes, Miss.” He nodded back, giving me the impression he was struggling with my English.

This is it.

“Would you mind taking me back with you? I am staying there. I could answer questions and tell you about the last time I saw her,” I said firmly.

“What’s your name?” the officer said as he pulled a spiral pocket notebook from his chest pocket and pulled the pen clipped to it.

“Claire Bailey. I would love to help. This is a heinous disregard for human life,” I quipped as Arik released me from his grasp and set me on the beach.

“Come with me, Miss Bailey,” the officer replied as he nodded to Arik and led the way up the staircase, back to the villa above.

I could feel Arik’s glare sinking into my back. I imagined him standing there, jaw tight, fists clenched, eyes filled with either sadness or anger.

With each step it became harder to hold in the tears.

My heart and head were officially in an all-out war. But I was done staying neutral.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Arik

Imaterialized beside Sam, my arrival causing him to gasp and press his hand to his chest. His reaction was almost endearing, a testament to how little he had grown accustomed to my sudden appearances. The surprise in his eyes mirrored the chaos within me—a chaos I struggled to conceal behind a façade of control.

The sun was beginning to set in the sky above the garden of the hotel, casting eerie shadows of roses and long, pointed thorns across the stone walkway that connected the villa suites to the main building. I stared intently at Claire’s door, the weight of the situation settling heavily on my shoulders as my jaw tensed. The silence beyond that door felt oppressive, a reminder of the uncertainty and emotional turbulence that had marked our recent interactions. I had desperately hoped that my actions had not irrevocably damaged what fragile connection we had begun to build. But my thoughts were tangled, each thread pulling me in a different direction.