Page 3 of Offside Angel

I slam the fridge closed and pour myself a glass of water from the tap instead.

Daniel sighs. “Have you considered—I mean, the P.I. you’re working with is legit, right? If she was out there to be found, he would’ve found her. Maybe she isn’t… Maybe she’s…”

“Dead?” I snap, whipping around to face him. “You can say it. It’s not like I haven’t thought it a thousand fucking times. Mira could be dead.”

Her apartment was ransacked.

The window was open.

No one else knows about Mira’s dad or her brother. Taylor thinks the apartment was probably broken into while Mira was living with me. A run-of-the-mill robbery.

I’d be inclined to believe her… if I didn’t know better.

I assumed she escaped, but maybe her sadistic brother caught up to her. Or maybe he dragged her away from the open window and hauled her back to his car.

I’ve considered every possibility, theories constantly running through my head while I’m in the shower and lying in bed and strapping on my skates. But the only one I can allow myself to think about is the one where Mira got away. Where she’s safe, but on the run.

The only theory I can stomach is the one where she comes home to me.

Daniel leans on his elbows. “You know I don’t want that to be true. Not even just for you. For Taylor, too. She doesn’t show it, but she’s been a wreck since Mira left. But I hate seeing you like this.” He droops. “But the team—Coach, especially—is worried.”

I narrow my eyes. “I don’t give a shit about how I’m playing. Mira is missing. That’s more important than hockey. If Coach wants to bench me, then he?—”

“They’re worried about you,” Daniel cuts in. “I am, too. We want to find Mira, but we also want you to be okay if, at the end of this, that doesn’t happen.”

I sag back against the fridge, suddenly exhausted. “It’s not me I’m worried about.”

As if on cue, a small voice echoes down the hallway.

It’s my son.

“He hasn’t woken up once since I got here,” Daniel says. “Do you want me to go talk to him or do you?—?”

“I got it.” I wave him towards the door. “Thanks for coming over so late. I appreciate it.”

Daniel smiles. “What are best friends if not middle-of-the-night babysitters? I was just doing my job.”

I let him out and set the alarm. I’ve trusted the building’s security since I moved in a couple years ago, but with everything that has happened, an additional security system seemed like a good idea. I would’ve up and moved Aiden by now—got us somewhere outside the city center, somewhere with a yard—but if Mira comes back, I want her to know where to find us.

I lean against the wall for just a second as a new wave of disappointment craters my chest, hollowing me out. I need to sleep and eat a real meal. Everyone around me is right to be a little worried. I feel like I’m barely holding it together.

Then I shove off the wall and walk to Aiden’s room.

The closer I get, the louder his voice is. When I crack open the door, his room is still dark, but I can hear him… singing?

It takes me a few seconds to place the song. To realize the words he’s sniffling through are Italian.

It’s the song Mira taught him. The Italian lullaby.

My skin feels sticky from just stepping foot in that seedy motel, but I drop down onto the bed next to Aiden’s lump in the middle.

His voice cuts off. A second later, he pokes his head out of the top of his covers. His eyes are red-rimmed and glassy. “I had a bad dream.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

He frowns, considering it. He blinks back more tears. “We were at the park. Mira was there. She went down the slide with me.”

A few weeks before Mira moved out, we all went to the park. Aiden convinced Mira to go down the tall metal slide with him over and over again. When they were finished, we crowded onto a blanket and ate sandwiches Mira made for us.

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