257

257
  Chapter 257
  Mason Craig 
  ~•~
  I had been restless ever since I realized that Riley was missing. 
  At first, I thought she finally gave in to her father’s wishes and ghosted me. I tried reaching out to her. I even tried reaching out to her roommates but I couldn’t get a hold of her. 
  I was so desperate that I even had to reach out to her friend from class, Liam. I wasn’t really his biggest fan. I was always jealous that he got to be with her every time in class. 
  When Liam told me he had no idea where she was or hadn’t heard from her, I thought he was just saying it to make me back off. 
  But little did I know he was actually telling the truth. 
  It was only when Riley’s family reached out to me that I knew something was wrong. Then earlier in the morning, the news of her disappearance was all over the internet. 
  I felt so terrible and I couldn’t help but wonder where she had wandered off to. I blamed myself for everything that was happening in her life. 
  It was my fault. 
  I was the reason she left her house. I was the reason she got into an argument with her father. If only I had stayed away from her, she wouldn’t be missing. 
  I had messed up and needed a way to fix it. 
  The fact that I couldn’t even get updates about what was happening as they searched for her was making my stomach churn. 
  I only knew that her parents were at the station, I had no idea if they had even gotten any lead on finding her. Or if they had even made any progress. 
  The thought of asking my parents for help crossed my mind but I couldn’t even go to them. I knew it wasn’t something nice to think about, but the possibility of my parents being behind her disappearance crossed my mind for a fleeting moment. 
  It took everything in me to hold myself back from going to my father’s room to ask him about Riley. I wanted to know if he had taken her hostage out of spite. 
  But I didn’t want to accuse them wrongly. 
  Our relationship was already strained because of the last time I accused them of something. Even if my accusations were true, they were still mad at me. 
  I just hoped they didn’t have anything to do with it, or it was just going to make everything worse. 
  But my parents didn’t have any reason to harm Riley. 
  At one point in my life, they cared about who I wanted to be in a relationship with, but after the incident where I stood up to them and confronted them about what they did to Burke’s company, they didn’t care anymore. 
  ‘I know you’ll move out very soon, the same way your siblings did. It’s your life and we can’t control you anymore. Just make sure you know what you’re doing.’ 
  My mother’s words replayed in my head. 
  Even if she sounded so disappointed when she was saying it to me, I was happy that they had finally given me a little bit of freedom. 
  I was even lucky they didn’t have my bank cards and access to their money taken away from me. My parents loved me but they could be a lot to handle most of the time. 
  It was a good thing I stood up to them a few months ago. It was even better because Tristan was there to back me up too. Everything changed from that day. 
  I needed to find another way to figure out who was behind Riley’s disappearance. I wanted to contact her brother and ask him to keep me in the loop, but I wasn’t sure he liked me. 
  I didn’t want to put myself in a situation where I would embarrass myself. 
  I let out a scoff when I realized that I had been standing at the front of my door for about twenty minutes. I was trying to contemplate going to my parents or not. 
  Letting out a deep sigh, I decided to meet my parents. 
  I wasn’t going to confront them or ask if they had anything to do with Riley, I would just simply ask for help concerning her. 
  Their reactions would tell me everything I needed to know. 
  I twisted the door knob and opened the door. My fingers were crossed as I walked through the quiet hallway. I was hoping that my parents weren’t part of it and were willing to help. 
  As I got to my father’s room, I knocked gently on the door. 
  I waited a few minutes to hear him speak and ask me to come into the room. 
  “The door is unlocked.” His husky voice echoed through the other side of the door. 
  I opened the door and walked into the room. 
  “Hey, Dad,” I said as I approached my father who was lying on his bed. 
  “Mason.” He looked up from his phone and stared at me. “What do you need?” He asked as I settled down on the couch across from his bed. 
  I sighed. “Riley Burke is missing, I need help finding her.” I went straight to the point. 
  My father dropped his phone and looked at me, his expression unreadable. “Riley Burke? That’s the girl who you chose over your family?” He asked. 
  I held back a scoff. “Yes, Dad. She’s the one.” I replied. “But I didn’t choose her over my family.” From my father's reaction, I could tell he didn’t have anything to do with Riley’s disappearance. 
  I mean, he didn’t even know her name. He only figured out who I was talking about because of her surname. I let out a relieved sigh and continued. 
  “I’ll be grateful if you help me.” 
  My father narrowed his eyes on me. “What exactly do you need my help with?” He asked. 
  I shrugged. “I have no idea. Just talk to some of your detective friends and see if they can help find her.” 
  My father chuckled. “The girl’s father is a billionaire. I’m sure they already have access to the best detectives in New York.” 
  He was right but I still felt I should be doing something about it from my end too. I couldn’t just sit at home while the girl I liked was missing. 
  Who knows what she was even going through at the moment? What if she was in pain? She has been missing for over two days. 
  “The more, the better,” I replied, my voice cracking slightly. 
  “You really like her, huh?” My father asked, raising a brow at me. 
  I bit my lips to stop myself from smiling, then I nodded my head. “Yes, I like her a lot.” 
  Talking to my father about my love life was a little bit awkward but I was happy that he was interested in having the conversation with me. 
  I could tell he was in a good mood because we mostly argued whenever we were having a conversation. 
  “Okay, okay.” He nodded his head. “I’ll see what I can do.” 
  I let out a breath I had no idea I had been holding. “Thank you so much.” I expressed my gratitude before leaving the room. 
  I was relieved by my father’s response. I was expecting him to disregard my demands but he proved me wrong. I was happy to see a different version of him.