Chapter One

I admit, I was wrong.

I said some things in the break-up message that didn't look too good on my part, and maybe I meant each and every thing I said.

But I didn't kill that son of a- I mean, poor departed soul.

The guy was a lying cheating douche and I maybe had come up with multiple murder plans in my head, but I have my own a life to deal with. Why throw it away for someone not worth it?

I mean, I was sad that he's dead and all, and I felt guilty that it was only two days after I ended things in a very verbose text message, but oddly I felt normal.

One might've said that I was heartless and even though things ended badly between us, I should've still been even the least bit affected. But I wasn't. Maybe it just hadn't sunk in yet, or maybe I was actually cold hearted. And that very same nonchalant unemotional expression of mine was only bringing me into deeper shit with the authorities.

"For the last time, I didn't kill him!" I shouted exasperated. I was getting really annoyed at the situation that I was in, and I felt like I would actually kill someone for real this time.

I was handcuffed to a table in a pathetic room with a police who seemed to have had too many doughnuts guarding the door. No one was listening to me, and I hated being ignored. Hated it. Especially when I knew I was right.

"Will you at least free my hand? I see no reason why I need to be cuffed to this raggedy ass table."

"That mouth of yours is going to get you in a lot of trouble Miss Leir" the officer that brought me here said while entering the room.

"I have my rights. I deserve a phone call" I shot back, ignoring her statement since it was very much true.

"There's no need for a call. You're only here for questioning."

"So why aren't I being questioned?" I asked, raising my free hand in irritation. "I've been here for an hour and no one but Mr Grumpy over there has paid me any mind. This is terrible customer service"

If I didn't know better, I would've thought that she almost laughed, but she composed herself quickly. "This is not a store Ms Leir, and you will be out as soon as the detective gets here"

Great. The last thing I needed was for another old grumpy person to sit here in front of me and question me for another hour.

"I'm not answering anything without my lawyer" I stubbornly declared, crossing my free arm over my chest.

"You know if you would just calm down this will be way easier for both of us right?" She mumbled in a bored tone.

"Well Officer Pam, my hand hurts, my electricity bill is going up for no reason since you gave me no chance to turn everything off before you basically dragged me here, and I'm pretty sure that I left something on the stove. So if my house is in flames, I'll make no hesitation to do the same to yours" I gritted out, and her eyebrow shot up in surprise and a little amusement.

I had no clue why this seemed funny to her.

"Do you know that threatening an officer is a felony?"

"Did you know that dragging me here without the least bit of decency or a proper way of doing things is unprofessional? I mean, not even an introduction"

"Well you said-"

"I know what I said okay? But that was before I knew he was dead" I cut her off by saying. She actually smirked at me this time.

"You really are a good one." She mumbled before pushing back the chair and exiting the room. I huffed in annoyance and tapped my feet loudly on the ground, growing really impatient.

To my delight, a familiar face appeared at the large glass window and a smile took over my lips. His expression was completely opposite to mine, but I was happy to see him.

"This is ridiculous! Whatever you have my daughter held here for, she didn't do it. I demand you let her go now!" My dad shouted at the officer guarding the door.

Mr Grumpy, however, didn't look even the least fazed and looked anywhere but my dad as if he didn't even notice him. The officers at this station are unbelievable.

My dad looked over the man's shoulder and met my eyes soon after that. His eyes softened as he saw me, and my smile only got bigger.

It has always been me and my dad.

We only had each other for the past twelve years, and I didn't mind one bit. After my mom left when I was ten, he did his best to take care of me and we became the best of friends. I still visited my mom and her new husband occasionally, and our relationship was decent, but me and my dad were the dream team.

"Don't worry baby girl. I'm calling Larry right now " My dad told me over the man's shoulder as he took out his phone. Larry was my dad's lawyer and old friend. He was the one who helped us with the case when my mom tried to take everything from dad after the divorce.

"I'll have him come right away," he added.

"There will be no need for that " A deep husky voice echoed from behind him that almost sent shivers down my spine.

My dad peered behind him to see where the voice came from, and even I tried to break my neck just to get a look at where it came from.

Finally, the owner of the voice stepped into the room wearing big black boots and simple jeans. My gaze lingered at how low they sat on his waist, yet it didn't in the least way look unprofessional. Somehow.

I lifted my gaze even higher to his toned chest that seemed to be barely hidden under the plain black t-shirt that he was wearing. A trench coat sat neatly on his broad, hard shoulders, giving him the perfect finishing look.

My eyes then trailed to his face, and that's when my breath hitched for a moment. If gorgeous was a person-

His dark brooding eyes were staring intensely into my soul, and his dark brown messy hair was a bit damp from the light rain that was outside. His jawline was just perfect, and so was the light stubble that was spread across it.

All in all, he was sexy. If the detective doesn't get here soon, I'll probably get arrested for real this time for kidnapping.

I eyed him carefully as he walked over to me after closing the door threateningly slowly. He took a seat in the chair in front of me without saying a word, as his eyes studied me for a good minute.

I was utterly confused, but I wasn't complaining. The view was nice.

"Hello Miss Leir. I am Detective Deckor and I have a few questions for you, if you don't mind" He introduced, shocking me right out of my skin.

"Yo-you're the detective?" I asked as he took a pen and notepad from his coat.

"Yes, is there a problem?" He questioned with a perfectly arched eyebrow. I didn't answer, I just regarded him for a while longer. I didn't want to believe it.

"Is this some kind of trick for me to fall all over you and tell you the 'supposed truth' about everything?" I used air quotes as I spoke, though if that was the case, they were very much succeeding.

However, I wouldn't let him know that of course. I wasn't an easy girl.

He leaned back in his chair with a small smirk on his face. "Tell me the truth, yes. Fall for me? Not particularly"

"Aren't you a little young to be a detective?" I asked, leaning on the table.

"Aren't you a little chatty to be a murder suspect?" He shot back in a surprisingly calm tone.

"Are you stereotyping all murderers to be quiet and suspicious?" I squinted my eyes accusingly as he chuckled lightly.

"I don't know. Are you admitting that you are not a murderer of such nature?"

"I'm not a murderer at all" I smirked, seeing how he was trying to use his brain on me just now.

"Touché"

I chuckled lightly at that, liking how easy he was to talk to unlike those intimidating detectives you see in movies. But then I wondered, was it just a way of getting me comfortable enough so he could break me? Well, I didn't do anything wrong so he wouldn't get anything from it anyways.

His demeanour suddenly became stiff and his face became stern as he pulled out a small recorder and opened his notepad. I became alert at his sudden change in everything and straightened my back also. He looked to the recorder then to me with questioning eyes, and I simply nodded, telling him that I didn't mind.

"As I mentioned before Miss Leir. I would just like to ask you a few questions" He started, all playfulness gone from his tone.

"Please, call me Cianna" I offered calmly as I got ready for whatever questions he had to ask.

‘Keep a lid on your attitude Cianna. Don't be sarcastic. Don't be suspicious.’

I chanted the words in my head over and over again as I waited for him to begin. I had a tendency to let my mouth get the best of me, especially when I didn't like the situation I was in.

Hot detective or not, this might get messy.

"Okay Cianna. Where were you yesterday, October four at 11 p.m.?" He asked and I had to try really hard not to roll my eyes.

"Sleeping " I answered sweetly, and he seemed satisfied with that simple answer, but of course I wasn't.

‘Don't do it, don't do it, I told myself’, but I just couldn't keep my mouth.

"-like any normal person" I added, face palming myself mentally. I just had to say it.

His eyes lifted from his pad to me for a while before letting them fall again as he continued to scribble. I let out a breath I didn't notice I was holding, happy that he let me outburst go.

"When was the last time you saw Sheldon?" I raked my mind for the last time I saw him and I remembered it clearly.

" It was three days ago. We went on a date in the evening. He left me in the restaurant for like half an hour and when I went to look for him, I saw him locking lips with some bitc- I mean woman. I left, didn't see him again after that. I sent him a break up text the day after" I told him truthfully.

"A very savage text" He added, not looking up from his notes.

"In my defence, he was cheating on me after being together for six months with some woman. Why isn't she here for questioning huh?"

"Calm down Cianna. I was just saying" He defended, raising his hands in surrender. "I'm not the enemy here"

I stubbornly looked away as he cleared his throat. Silence fell upon us for a while before he asked his next question. "What would you say your relationship with Sheldon was like?"

I shrugged. "We acted like any average couple. We would both work most days, but we talked when we were free at nights and went out on weekends. We would have the occasional sex every month but we were pretty normal"

He raised his eyes from his pad to look at me. "You had sex once a month?" He asked, though I didn't see how that helped the situation but I nodded nonetheless. He dropped his eyes back to his notes again with a ghost smile on his lips.

"And you say the reason for your breakup is because of cheating?" I could see that he was trying hard not to let his smile show, and it slightly annoyed me. It was weird how he could switch from professional to playful so easy.

"Yes" I replied stiffly.

He asked me a few more casual questions; nothing intimidating but nothing easy either. I could see that he was a man full of surprises, and that peaked my interest a bit.

He wrote down jottings on his paper for a few seconds while tapping a pencil on the table with his other hand. I surprisingly wasn't despising the idea of being questioned anymore, but the silence was deafening.

"Last question... Is there anyone you would've guessed that would've wanted him dead? "

I shook my head. "No he was a simple guy I guess, but maybe. It's obvious that I didn't know him as well as I thought anyways. "

"And you know why you are a suspect right?" He smirked, causing me to roll my eyes.

"I sent a few empty threats, said a few things. So what?" I threw my hand up in exaggeration, but I couldn't help but smile.

He stared at me, not saying a single word as if he was analysing me from the inside out. I tried not to look at his face to avoid the intensity of his eyes, but slowly I was losing it.

Finally, he stopped the recording then slowly unlocked the handcuffs that were on my hand.

"You are free to go for now. I'll keep in touch" He offered me a curt nod, meeting my eyes quickly, but his fingers lingered on my hand that was still resting in the cuffs.

My eyes darted to them before slowly letting them rise to his face again. I smirked at him before pulling my hand back and standing up slowly. Whatever game he was playing, I surely liked it.

"Are you gonna lock me up now, Mr. Deckor?" I asked lowly and playfully.

"Behind bars or somewhere else?" He shot back with a hidden smirk of his own.

I plopped my finger on my chin as if I was thinking, then I shrugged casually. "Maybe behind bars. Who said I wasn't the killer?"

"Are you?" He probed, though he knew I didn't mean it.

"Maybe you should keep me around a bit longer. You know, just to be sure" I simply stated with a wink as I waltzed to the door.

"You're trotting dangerous grounds Cianna" He called out and I threw my head over my shoulder to give him one last smirk.

"Maybe I like a little danger."