Nicolas sighed and placed his coffee cup on the wooden surface of his desk. "You want me to tell you what happened?"Detective Arron nodded his head. "Yes, it will help us to put it together. We need all the pieces before we can go any further in solving this case. Besides, once the FBI arrives, we'll have to be thorough and follow up on every angle. Especially since we don't know what they're looking for.""If you say so," Nicolas said hesitantly. "So, first of all, I arrived at his house. My colleague, Lieutenant Gwen Miller, drove me there. When I knocked on the front door, Keenan himself opened the door, but he said he didn't see anyone.""What did he say?" Detective Arron pressed."Not much. Just that someone came to visit him today.""Did she say who?""No, but judging by the way she acted and reacted to my questions, I assumed that it was an outsider. According to her, no one has visited her in recent times.""How many visitors came earlier? Was it more than one person?""It co
"I thought you were going to take me home," said Nicolas after he had climbed into the passenger seat of the car parked in front of the office. "Aren't you forgetting something?"Ressler turned towards him and smiled. "Not a thing." A second later, however, he realized that he hadn't answered the question and cleared his throat slightly. "Well, actually, there is something I forgot to do," he confessed.Nicolas raised his eyebrows and waited for his explanation."It's more complicated than I expected, and there's still a lot I don't know, but..." Ressler looked thoughtful for a brief moment before continuing. "I want to talk to you about my mother.""My mother? What about her?""Why did she suddenly decide to move?"Nicolas shook his head. "I don't know. I'm sorry. She never mentioned to me that she wanted to leave.""Did she ever say anything about wanting to visit you or asking you questions about what had happened that day when you came home to find your mother dead?""I don't reme
Dianne left for the office with Nicolas this morning, but as usual the girl got off at the bus stop near the office building because she didn't want anyone to see her and Nicolas the CEO together on a morning like this. She didn't know why people thought it was so scandalous, but she'd been working at the company since last year, and had never been more than a few minutes in private with the man before. He worked closely with his employees but always kept to himself. The only person who ever really saw him around was one of the managers, a middle aged woman named Annabelle. Everyone else seemed just fine not seeing him. Even though he was usually surrounded by a small retinue of assistants. But today, even Annabelle seemed to be avoiding him - well, not avoiding him exactly… Dianne wasn't sure what she meant exactly. But Dianne knew that they had avoided each other. It made her nervous because of how she felt about it all and yet, if Annabelle was uncomfortable then maybe Nic would no
But it was enough. For the most part, they both loved their jobs and each other, despite having little social interactions beyond work.They had no idea how much they really cared about each other until they started knowing each other, but now that it was true, there was nobody else that either of them would rather have in their lives.Nicolas still worked as the CEO, but he wasn't at all interested in it now. He wanted to remember his last memory. It was all he could talk about lately and, though Dianne never understood the appeal, she knew he want it.Dianne just wants if he finds something he enjoyed in his life. She loved him more than he deserved anyway. They shared many memories together, and they spent hours playing video games on Saturday mornings.Dianne knew that there was no real need for him to keep working, and that was why she'd suggested he move into one of their guest rooms. He'd turned her down, of course, but she figured that if he didn' want to move in, then at leas
"So, what are we doing next?" A small girl asked the tall man walking beside her. The woman who she was holding onto smiled happily. "We could do whatever you want to, sweetie! We don't have to hang around here all day. What should we do? We could watch a movie? Go see another movie? Play a game?" Nic's heart fluttered at the way the little girl clapped her hands and grinned widely. "Oh yes! Let's play some games!""I'm thinking we should go play some board games, but I know you don't like those, and I don't wanna force you to play anything. How 'bout we just sit on the sofa and relax? That sounds like a good compromise, don't you think?" Nic suggested and the child agreed easily. They walked inside the arcade after leaving the diner. The girl ran around excitedly while Nic sat on the couch scrolling through his phone, watching her run around and occasionally laughing quietly to himself. He'd been doing that quite often the past couple of days. It was almost endearing. When she got ti
The next day Dianne decided that she would give Nicolas some space after the way he acted during breakfast. She knew something was going on between them and it was beginning to worry her more by the second.After spending the whole day working she decided that she needed some time to herself and she headed to bed early to try to get some rest, only stopping to eat some food that she'd bought from the store on her way home from work earlier. Her sleep however was plagued with nightmares, most likely because of all the stress of the last week. Some nights it was just random images or memories, but on others, she could remember specific events.Sometimes the ones she remembered had to do with the previous night, other times they involved people she cared deeply for who were either dead or missing. She tried to block most of it out after waking up in the middle of the night, but it never seemed to work completely, which always ended in her crying herself back to sleep, only to wake up sc
Dianne's heart ached as she contemplated the truth she was about to reveal. She knew that once the words were spoken, their lives would change forever. But the weight of her deception had become unbearable, and she knew that honesty was the only way forward.As the morning sun filtered through the curtains, casting a warm glow over the room, Dianne took a deep breath and mustered up the courage to wake Nicolas from his slumber. She gently shook his shoulder, and he stirred, his eyes fluttering open."Good morning, my love," Nicolas murmured, his voice still heavy with sleep. He stretched his arms and yawned, unaware of the storm that was about to descend upon their relationship.Dianne's heart raced as she looked into Nicolas' eyes, searching for the strength to speak her truth. "Nicolas," she began, her voice trembling ever so slightly, "there is something I need to tell you. Something I should have told you a long time ago."Nicolas sat up, concern etching lines on his forehead. "Wh
“You are a cruel woman, Dianne!”~o0O0o~“NO!!” Dianne woke up with one hand reaching up and the girl realised that she had been dreaming. Her breathing was ragged as if she had been chased by a dog, Nicolas' anger felt so real but again it was just a dream.She was now sitting on her bed, in a dark room with only the moonlight coming through the white curtains.Dianne woke up with a start, her heart pounding against her chest. Beads of sweat lined her forehead as she tried to catch her breath. She thought it was just a dream, but the fear still lingered in her mind.In her dream, Nicolas, the man she had been pretending to be engaged to, was furious with her. Dianne had been living a lie, taking advantage of Nicolas' amnesia following a hit-and-run accident. She had claimed to be his fiancée, weaving an intricate web of deception to protect herself from her past.Dianne looked at the ceiling with teary eyes. Her heart was heavy and full of regret. As Nicolas' secretary, she had alway