16

"So this is the plan—"

"Wait up, I don't think you heard me," Daniella interrupts. "I'm not going to play detective with you two, I have things to do."

"But we need you," I groan, giving her my best attempt at puppy dog eyes, which I know damn well don't work on her. She simply raises an eyebrow. "We need a car that won't make its presence known from miles away."

"Oh, so you don't need me, you need my car."

"Precisely," Soph butts in. "I mean, you don't need to come with us — you just need to let us drive it instead."

"Over my dead body."

"So, you're coming with us," I say, high-fiving Soph, I knew this would work.

"Where's the 'I'm not going and not letting you drive my car' option?"

"So, my dad has been coming home later than usual," I resume, ignoring Daniella's exasperated expression. "He says he's been working extra hard lately but he's a lazy ass, I doubt it."

"Don't you think he'd tell you if he's seeing someone?" Daniella asks, apparently giving up and just going with it. "You two are pretty close."

"Exactly, but I'm guessing he thinks I'd be mad that he's replacing mom in some way or another, he hasn't been with anyone since — that I know of. I've asked him multiple times if he wasn't thinking of dating someone but he just squiddadles himself out of the conversation, it's impossible."

"Or... he's seeing someone he isn't supposed to be seeing," Soph says, sounding a whole lot like a conspiracy theorist. "Like when you were seeing Dani here, you tried to hide it from him — hell, you even hid it from me."

"A married woman perhaps?" Daniella asks, joining Soph on her conspiracy. Who would have thought that adding some gossipy vibes into it was all it took to make her instantly interested.

"My dad would never date a married woman," I butt in. "I'm thinking sexy boss."

"Isn't his boss a man in his 60s?" Soph says gagging. "Maybe it's a man."

"I'm a lesbian, why would he hide it from me if that was the case?"

"Or, hear me out and keep an open mind, maybe he's just working over hours to either get a promotion or a vacation and you two are reading too much into it," Daniella sighs, slouching her back on the sofa.

"That's boring."

"Right, we don't know, that's why we are going to investigate," I say pointing to a random place on the map, pausing for a few seconds so I could locate anything on it. "Yeah... We won't need this."

"Called it," Daniella groaned from her couch cocoon, it seriously looks like she's being swallowed.

"He texted me earlier telling me he'd be working till late again today, so the plan, for now, is to go in there and see if he's still in. He parks his car in the building's garage so there's no way of knowing if he's still in there unless we ask or go down there. The excuse I'd give is that I was walking by and just wanted to say hi, it's something I just randomly do already so I'm pretty sure it won't come off as suspicious."

"And why do you need me for that?"

"Well, that's when we truly put our plan in action," Soph says with a smirk. "If he's in the office, we wait for him and follow him to see if he goes home or goes somewhere else."

"And if he isn't?"

"That's plan B," Soph grins triumphantly. "We start the search."

"This is ridiculous."

⁂

"Alright, I'm going in, Soph you come with me to make it more believable — since I wouldn't be walking around here alone for no reason," I say, as Daniella parks her car a few blocks away from the Phoenix Law office building. "Ray-bae, you stay here watching out."

"Ah, yes. Thank you for giving me an important role in all this."

"This is an important role."

"Uhum, just admit I'm your chauffeur," she groans.

"That's also a very important role."

"No time for love bird bickering, you two, we have a mission at hand," Soph says, already opening the car door. I plant a quick kiss on Daniella's lips before following Soph to the building. I'm pretty sure she's more excited about carrying this on than I am, but that's just how she is.

We quickly made our way into the building, briefly stopping at the entrance. To get to my dad we must first go through the front desk secretary — but we don't exactly need to get to him. "Hey, Mrs. Smith," I say with my best good girl voice. This woman is horribly rude, but as my dad always says, 'you must fight rudeness with politeness, and they'll see how unreasonable they're being', and it works — sometimes.

"Miss Krause, if you're here to annoy your dad, he left half an hour ago."

But definitely not with her.

"Oh? Any idea where he might have gone?"

"That's not my job," she says annoyedly, going back to what she was doing on the computer. I bet she's playing solitary, this useless rag.

"Thank you," I simply smile, rolling my eyes the moment Soph and I leave the building.

"This bitch is a bitch," Soph laughs as we sprint back to the car.

"Let me guess, he isn't in and now we're going to have to drive all around town looking for him?" Dani asks the moment Soph and I make it into the car.

"Actually no," I say. "We'll never find him if we don't know where he is."

"Then what?"

"I'm going to confront him tonight, and if that doesn't work—"

"Then we'll start following him around like creeps."

"Don't say it like that," Soph says, squeezing her head in between the two front seats. "We're detectives, not creeps."

I simply hum, not really listening to what any of them is saying anymore. So my dad really is lying to me... I started this investigation as a joke because I didn't really think he'd be hiding something from me but—

"Anna?"

"Huh?"

"So we'll regroup tomorrow to see what the next move is?" Soph asks, eyeing me with a confused expression, I'm guessing because of my sudden change in mood.

"Yup, I'll text you to let you know what the outcome of the conversation is," I say, pushing all those pesky thoughts aside.

"Fine, I'll drop you off first, Soph," Daniella says, starting the car's ignition. It would make more sense for her to drop me off first since their houses are only a few streets away from each other, but I'm guessing she wants to talk — if her worried expression is any indication.

Something in me really hoped his car would be in the driveway but it wasn't, completely shattering my hopes once and for all.

"Do you want me to stay?" Daniella asks as she parks her car on the empty driveway.

"It's ok, weren't you the one with so many things to do?" I joke, making her roll her eyes. "It's best if I do this alone, if you're here there will be a higher chance he won't say anything."

"That's fair," she sighs. "Look, don't let yourself get too upset about this, and maybe you should wait until he's comfortable enough to tell you — or maybe he'll never do it... there's a chance your dad is just lonely and—"

"Are you suggesting my dad is seeing prostitutes?" I laugh, not resisting it after seeing her cheeks turning a shade or two darker as she spoke.

"Not in those words exactly," she clears her throat. "What I'm trying to say is... do you really want to catch your dad if that's the case scenario?"

"It'd be awkward, sure but if that's the case we'll just leave and pretend nothing happened, he'll never know."

"You're impossible," she lets out an amused groan.

"I'm paying him with the same coin — he'd spy on me through the window all the time. Mind you, that's how he found out about us."

"Like father, like daughter," she chuckles, shaking her head. "Fine, you do you. Let's just hope he admits it tonight because I'm not looking forward to being the chauffeur in all this, I miss all the interesting parts."

"I promise I'll give you more interesting roles," I say, knowing damn well she's being sarcastic. "I'll call you later."

"Alright," she mumbles as I plant a few kisses on her lips, she lets me get away with it for a while until she just holds my face in place giving me a single long kiss instead.

"Don't kiss me like that," I groan, breaking up the kiss.

"Why?" she asks with an all-knowing expression.

"You know damn well," I say, playfully trying to get away from her embrace but that only prompts her to pull me in for another kiss, this one a bit more heated.

"Know what?" she asks, pausing the kiss only for the duration of her words, not really allowing me to answer.

"Dani, c'mon," I manage to say, correction, I'm able to mumble the words as her lips moved against mine.

"What?" she asks again feigning innocence, this time fully stopping.

"You're such a tease," I groan, wanting to keep this going but there's no way she'd agree to do it in my house again, not when my dad could come anytime soon. She just enjoys seeing me suffering, I'm pretty sure.

"I'm just kissing my girlfriend, don't you want me to kiss you?"

"I do, but—" she cuts me off with another kiss, this time resting her hand dangerously close to my crotch, her warm hand felt like it was burning a hole in my jeans.

It was only when I thought 'screw it, let's just do it' and started running my hand up her shirt that she broke the kiss, letting herself rest back on her seat and clearing her throat. "Ok, don't forget to call me later on."

I simply stood there right where she left me, trying to make something out of the situation for a few embarrassing seconds. "How dare you leave me like this?"

"Like what? Are you going to tell me a simple kiss is all it takes to leave you all hot and bothered?" she asks, an evil smirk on her lips.

I suppress the urge to jump on top of her and make her pay for it, leaving that for after my conversation with my dad. Also, I'm not sure I want to be fined for public indecency. "Daniella Evans, you're playing with fire."

"Oh?" she smirks, raising one of her eyebrows.

"I'll have my revenge," I chuckle, opening the door but inclining towards her for my last words. "Don't think that I don't know you're as much or perhaps even hornier than I am, have fun with yourself." I plant a quick kiss on her lips before hopping off. Usually, she'll leave the moment I close my front door but it took her a bit longer this time around to recompose.

I'll take that as a win.

Even though it took me a good hour and a half and an ice-cold shower to cool my body down. I thought of calling Dani to see what she was up to but I'm sure it'd be worse, and honestly, I should be thinking of other things other than jumping Daniella's bones... Like my dad, just as an example.

It was nearly 11 PM when he decided to show up, and I'm guessing he thought I'd be sleeping in my room already if his terrified expression after seeing me waiting by the door is of any indication.

"Oh, Anna, you scared me," he chuckles awkwardly, closing the door behind him.

"You came so late today."

"Ah yes, I stayed till late and then went to have a drink with some colleagues," he says, obviously trying to play it cool.

"But I happened to pass by the office earlier today and Mrs. Smith said you had left already, how come?" I ask, crossing my arms and resting my back on one of the living room walls. It's at this point that he looks at me like a deer that has been caught between the headlights of a truck.