Chapter 9 DIGGING OUT HER DETAILS
MATTHIAS POV
The corner office on the forty-second floor of Kane Tower overlooked all of Meridian City. I stood with my hands in my pockets, watching the morning traffic inch through the financial district below like blood through clogged arteries.
My PA knocked twice before entering. Reed had learned that lesson the hard way.
"Mr. Hale." He crossed the room and set a manila folder on my desk, not meeting my eyes. "Everything you requested is in there."
"Good." I didn't turn around from the window. "Leave it."
He left without another word.
I waited until I heard the door click shut before I moved. Then I walked to my desk, sat down, and opened the folder.
The first thing I saw was a photo. Security camera footage from The Brew House, grainy and washed out from the overhead lights.
I set the photo aside and pulled out the report.
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CONFIDENTIAL BACKGROUND REPORT
Subject: Nova Marie Sinclair
Prepared by: Tobias Reed
Date: December 25, 2025
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│ BASIC INFORMATION
Name: Nova Sinclair
Age: 24 (DOB: March 3, 2001)
Current Status: Missing – Last seen November 28, 2025
Last Known Address: 2847 Warehouse District, Apt 3B (evicted)
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│ FAMILY
Mother: Isabella Sinclair (deceased)
• Died June 12, 2017– single-car accident, Route 47
• NOTE: Police report shows inconsistencies. No skid marks, no braking. Case closed in one week. Suspicious.
Father: Unknown – not listed on birth certificate
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│ EMPLOYMENT PATTERN
Past 6 years: 20+ different jobs, all cash-paid and transfer.
│ FINANCIAL STATUS
• No bank accounts seen.
• No credit cards
• No credit history
• Evicted November 30 for non-payment
• All belongings left behind/disposed of by the Landlord in garbage bags.
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│ SOCIAL CONNECTIONS
Social Media: None. Zero digital footprint.
Known Associates:
• Marcus Anthony (ex-boyfriend) – No history about his whereabouts.
Friends/Family: None identified
Emergency Contacts: Never provided on any forms
Interviews conducted: Former landlords and employers describe her as "quiet," "kept to herself," "seemed like she was running from something"
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│ BEHAVIORAL ANALYSIS
Subject has spent 6 years actively avoiding detection:
• Constant relocation
• Cash-only lifestyle
• No permanent connections
• No digital presence
• High-level sustained paranoia
• And putting herself through community college.
Disappeared three weeks ago
Pattern indicates she is hiding from someone.
— Information compiled by PA Reed —
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I read through it twice, my jaw tightening with each line.
Nova Sinclair had spent six years making herself invisible. And she'd been good at it too—no mistakes, no trail, nothing that would lead anyone to her.
Until she quit her job three days after I walked into that coffee shop.
The door opened without knocking and I looked up, already knowing who it was. Only one person walked into my office without permission.
Eva stood in the doorway in a cream-colored dress that probably cost more than most people made in a month, her auburn hair falling in perfect waves past her shoulders.
She'd had it done this morning—I could tell by the way it caught the light, still stiff from whatever product she'd used.
"Matthias." She smiled but it didn't reach her eyes. It never did anymore. "I thought we could have lunch together.”
I closed the folder and slid it into my desk drawer. "I can't"
Her smile faltered. Just for a second, but I caught it. "Oh. Right. Of course you're can't."
She walked into the office anyway, her heels clicking against the hardwood with that particular rhythm she'd perfected—confident but not too loud, present but not demanding attention.
Everything about Eva was carefully calibrated. Her father had raised her that way.
"You're always working lately," she said, stopping a few feet from my desk. Close enough to be intimate, far enough to retreat if necessary. "More than usual, Is something wrong?"
"No."
"Matthias." She moved closer and I watched her hand go to the diamond pendant at her throat, her thumb rubbing against the stone.
She'd been doing that more often lately, that nervous tell she thought I hadn't noticed. "You can talk to me. Whatever it is."
But we both knew that was a lie. There were things I didn't tell Eva. Things she was better off not knowing.
"It's nothing. Just business." I picked up a pen from my desk and clicked it once, twice. A dismissal.
But Eva didn't leave. She stood there, her hand still worrying that pendant, her eyes searching my face for something she wasn't going to find.
"You're lying," she said quietly.
I looked up at her. "Excuse me?"
"You heard me." Her voice was steady but there was something underneath it. "You're lying. You have that look you get when you're obsessing over something. Or someone."
I set the pen down carefully. "Eva."
"Is it a woman?" She laughed but it came out wrong, hollow. "God, that would almost be better, wouldn't it? At least then I'd know why you barely look at me anymore."
"I'm not having an affair."
"You're not here. Even when you're sitting right in front of me, you're somewhere else."
Her hand dropped from the necklace and she wrapped her arms around herself. "We've been engaged for two years, Matthias. Two years. And we still haven't set a date, we barely speak, and you look at me like I'm... like I'm just another piece of furniture in your office."
She was right. All of it was right. But I didn't have it in me to lie to her about this, not when the truth was already written all over her face.
"What do you want me to say, Eva?"
"I want you to tell me the truth." Her voice cracked. "Do you even want to marry me? Or am I just... convenient?”
I should have lied. Should have stood up and held her and told her everything she needed to hear. But I was tired of pretending, and she deserved better than another lie.
"You're all of those things," I said. "And you'd make a good wife. Your father's connections would be valuable. You're beautiful and intelligent too."
Her face went white. "That's it? That's why you asked me to marry you?"
"Yes."
She stood there for a long moment, not moving, not speaking. Then she laughed again and this time it was worse—sharp and bitter and nothing like her real laugh.
"I've loved you for five years," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. "Five years, Matthias. And you just... you don't feel anything for me at all, do you?"
"I care about you."
"That's not the same thing." She was crying now, tears sliding down her cheeks and ruining her makeup, and she didn't even bother to wipe them away. "That's not even close to the same thing."
I stood up and walked around my desk toward her, but she stepped back, holding up one hand to stop me.
"Don't. Just don't." She pulled the engagement ring off her finger—three carats, flawless, set in platinum—and set it on my desk with a small click. "I'm done, Matthias. I'm done pretending this is something it's not."
"Eva—"
"No. You don't get to keep me around like some... some accessory that looks good on your arm while you obsess over whatever or whoever has actually caught your attention." She grabbed her purse and headed for the door. "I hope she's worth it. Whoever she is."
The door slammed behind her.
I stood there for a minute, staring at the ring on my desk. Then I picked it up and dropped it in the top drawer next to the folder on Nova Sinclair.