The early morning sirens echoing around the streets had my eyes opening like my building was on fire. I jumped out of bed, swinging my arms around. My blurry eyes focused on the room around me as a sticky note dangled off my forehead.

I ripped the note off, looking at the bright yellow paper with Dieter's messy handwriting. After reading it a few times, I believed it read. "Stay put. I will be back."

"Fuck that," I said, crumping up the sticky note and throwing it across the room, stumbling toward the bathroom.

After a good hour of trying to find clothes that fit my new body, I looked hot for once. With a bright smile, I was doing circles in the mirror, checking myself out. I went from unfuckable to bombshell and dying was the only thing I had sacrificed. With my new black hair and almost white eyes, I was unrecognizable as the girl I used to be.

Scarlett Cline was dead, and now Apple Red would make this city wish she never did. I smiled an evil grin at myself in the mirror, then grabbed my coat from the couch.

As I used the ladder to get my feet on the ground in the alley, the sirens echoed louder. To my nosy bitchy self, I walked toward it. Who doesn't want to know why police officers are around to make or break someone's day?

As my heels echo down the street, I notice about five cop cars, a fire truck, and an ambulance parked. The end of the road sported caution tape, trapping people out. The building above the street cast a shadow on the officers below. I strolled closer to the scene, watching the yellow tape blow around in the wind.

I approached a group of citizens, trying to figure out what was happening. A brown-haired girl caught my attention, my neighbor and Duff's new mommy. I stepped closer, realizing she stood in the worst spot possible as rain from the night before dripped from the rooftop.

Clearing my throat. "Hey, you know what's going on?"

She looked over at me with her green eyes. There was still makeup smeared underneath and her hair in a messy bun. She glanced away, then shyly pulled her coat tighter around her torso. "I'm not sure yet," she replied.

The man next to us perked up, looking at me like a piece of meat. "They found one of the missing girls in the sewer," he said, stepping in front of the girl, ignoring her existence. "It's a scary world out there, beautiful." His eyes roamed around my body. "Did you need me to walk you home?"

I let out a deep breath of frustration, eyeing the wedding ring on his hand. "I don't think your wife at home would appreciate it." I stepped up to him. "Being a perv doesn't get you anywhere."

"Come on, why are you mad?" he replied, making me pinch the bridge of my nose.

"What? Did your hormones shrink to the size of a peanut? So, now you are out here hitting on women because you don't know what else to do?" My comment made him step back, huffing out. I brought my hand in the air, waving him along. "Fuck off."

I smiled over at the girl with my hand out. "My name is Sccc- Rory?" I said, more like a question, stating my biological mom's name.

She took my hand, laughing. "You sure it's Rory? You seem to be questioning it."

"Ha! Yes, Rory," I said.

"Well, I'm Alice. Nice to meet you," she said, pulling her hand away.

I scooted closer to her while we both watched as a police girl ran by us toward the scene. "Do you think they found the body of one of the missing girls?" I asked Alice.

"I'm not sure, but it seems like they did," she responded as her eyes drifted toward a black, fancy car driving past us.

The brand-new Mercedes-Benz pulled up to the side, parking right behind a police car. A man in a gray fitted suit stepped out, putting on his sunglasses. His captivated statue about him had all the women gawking at him. He smiled and waved at a few officers, then glanced at Alice and me.

"Who's that?" I asked Alice, hoping she would know the answer.

She smiled, bringing her hands to her cheeks. "That's detective Koa Mailo. He is the head detective in Seattle."

Koa kept talking to the man beside him, but his eyes bounced to us every so often. "How do you know that?" I asked her.

"Oh, he was big in the Seattle Times a few months ago. Hottest detective in the city." Her response had me spit laughing.

"What, him?" I questioned with my hands in the air, already lying to myself. "He looks like The Rock and Jason Momoa had a kid that didn't follow their workout plan."

Alice laughed into her hand. "What?"

"Yeah, like the non-jacked son, they don't want to claim," I said.

Alice brought her hand to her heart. "No, he's super sexy," she said, looking over at me. "The magazine had a shirtless picture, and he's got all those tattoos."

I looked at him as his eyes glanced right at me. "Okay, I will admit, he is cute," I said to Alice as he finished his conversation and walked toward us.

His dark gray suit fitted perfectly to his body. His detective badge hung from his waistband like all the cool cops in the movies. Once Koa was a couple of steps from us, he removed his sunglasses, smiling with his perfect white teeth.

"Hello, ladies," he said with his hand toward Alice. "I'm detective Mailo."

"H- H- Hello, detective," Alice stuttered, shaking his hand. "Alice."

He smiled over at me, then put his attention back to Alice. "Alice Reed?" Koa questioned her.

"Um, yes," she hesitantly said.

He perked up, pointing over his shoulder. "Great, they informed me you live around here."

"Oh, yeah," she said, playing with the sleeves of her shirt.

Koa shined his white teeth at her. "Okay, we might have some questions for you later on. Could I get your information?"

Alice gave him her personal information as he wrote it down. My eyes wandered around the buildings. Seattle was full of skyscrapers, and being down on the streets always made me feel so small in this world. As I bit the inside of my cheek, Koa waved his hand, trying to get my attention.

"Yeah?" I question detective sexy back.

"Could I get your information as well?" he asked me, pulling his phone out of his pocket.

"Oh no," I nodded toward him. "I don't live around here."

Detective Mailo took a step closer to me. His eyes under the shadowing building were a dark hazel color, but as the sun shined through the cracks, they would show a tint of gray. "I was asking for personal reasons," he said, holding a hand out. "I'm Koa."

My eyes bobbed between his hand and his smirk. "Rory Smit," I responded, taking his hand.

"And could I get your number?" He was smooth with the way each word flowed from his tongue, unlike Dieter, that fucker. "If you don't already have a boyfriend."

Quickly, I shook my head. "No, no boyfriend," I said, tucking my hair behind my ear. "But also, no," I replied with a smirk.

"What?" Alice asked in shock next to me.

Koa touched his bottom lip with his finger, then pointed at me. "Rory Smit," he said, stepping in reverse away from Alice and me. "I know your name now. You can't run from me."

I tilted my head with a wide smile. "I'm counting on it," I said, looping my arm with Alice and pulling her away.

Alice kept looking back at the detective as we walked away. Her face said it all. She was in shock that I declined detective hot ass. I understood why, because even up close, he was like a Samoan God. But the last thing I needed was trapping myself into another relationship, with the last one ending abruptly.

Alice pulled her arm away from me. "How? What? Why?" she asked with her mouth gaping open.

I bopped Alice's nose. "I have learned a lot after being-" I looked at the sky. "Dumped," I said, glancing over at the dumpster in the alleyway. "And men need to learn that we are in charge. He can't just ask and expect me to crawl around with a leash, doing what he says."

"Oh, I'd crawl around on a leash any day if he asked me," Alice responded.

I pointed at her. "Same, but that's beside the point," I said, as Dieter walked around the corner. He made eye contact with me, rolling his eyes. I waved in his direction, causing Alice to look over. "Hey, Dieter."

Dieter stomped his grumpy ass up at us. "Vill you ever visten, voman?" he asked, storming by, climbing the fire escape to the apartment.

Alice did a double take toward him, then looked back at me. "What did he just say?" she asked.

I waved my arms around, mocking him. "Vill you ever listen, woman?" I wrapped my arm around her shoulders. "Dr. Asshole is hard to understand, but you get used to it." I smiled at her. "But he can build you a new ass if you want him to."

Alice shrugged off my arm. "No, thank you," she said, pointing to where he had just went. "Isn't that the missing girl's place?"

I straight-smiled at her. "Oh, yeah." I looked up, trying to figure out a lie. "That's my new apartment," I said, looking away from her. "I forgot the landlord said some girl went missing before us." I scratched the top of my head. "Did you know her?"

Alice looked down. "Oh, no, just saw on the news about her."

"It's a tragedy," I replied, walking away from her. "Anyway, I'll be seeing you around." I grabbed the ladder, pointing up. "Got to make sure Dieter doesn't destroy the apartment."

She looked at me, confused, tucking her loose hair behind her ear. "Um, okay, bye."

I darted up the fire escape before she could ask any more questions. May have put Dieter and me in a pickle with this one. I didn't even know when Roy would arrive back at my apartment. Let alone find him for my revenge. At the end of the month, the landlord will look for rent.

I know the landlord was some middle-aged money-hungry man. Maybe I could seduce him into giving me the apartment for free. I could kill him instead. Seems easier than the other.

Total book word count: 9,371

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