Dark Princess | K. Jones

𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑓𝑜𝑢𝑟

hyperion heights, present

Courtney was the last person in the newspaper office. After telling them about her idea to write about the Eloise Gardner case she was allowed to use the computers there to type up her story. But getting it right was taking a lot longer than she thought it would.

She wanted this story to be perfect. She needed it to be. Because it wasn't just her story. Detective Rogers worked so hard on this case and she wanted whatever she wrote to reflect that.

Deciding she needed another cup of coffee if she was going to finish, Courtney saved her progress before grabbing her purse and heading out the door.

As soon the door closed behind her there was a loud explosion as Courtney was knocked off her feet and fell face first. There were shards of glass everywhere as flames danced in the window.

She groaned, feeling the heat of the flames, as she pushed herself up. When she turned and stared at the scene behind her, she was shocked, unable to move.

Passersby ran over, helping her to her feet as others called 911 to report the fire. But all Courtney could think about as The Post went up in flames was that someone deliberately did this. And they weren't just trying to destroy the newspaper, they wanted to kill her.

─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

"What the bloody hell happened? Are you okay?" Rogers asked as he rushed over to Courtney who was sitting on the back of an ambulance, an ice pack on her wrist.

"I'm okay. It's just sprained. I was already outside before the place practically exploded" she told him, gesturing to the building that was basically just burnt brick and ash.

Rogers was back at the station when the call came in about the fire. Hearing it was at The Post, he rushed over knowing that Courtney would probably be there.

"Did you see anything?" he asked her.

Courtney shook her head as she sighed. "No. Nothing" she said.

"Well, it was definitely deliberate. But the cameras were destroyed" he told her.

"We don't need cameras. We all know who did this" Courtney said.

"Belfrey. If it was her, she wouldn't have done this by herself" he said.

"She has half the city in her pocket. It's not gonna be easy finding out who it was" she said.

Rogers nodded as he looked back at the scene. "I'm sorry about your paper," he said.

"Don't be. Lucky for me, Belfrey's not as smart as she seems. God bless the cloud. I still have everything I need to keep writing" she told him.

"You're still going to take on the story?" he asked.

"I have to. Victoria doesn't want Eloise to be found so badly, she hired someone to blow up a building. She wouldn't have done that if she wasn't scared" Courtney said. "But unfortunately for her, I'm just more invested than ever. Now, the only person who wants to find Eloise more than you is me."

─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

That night, Courtney showed up at Roni's after getting a text from her saying that it was urgent.

"Hey. What's going on?" she asked, seeing Henry was also there.

"I have something to show you. Both of you" Roni said.

"Sounds ominous," Henry said.

"But first, um, listen I answered a text on your phone from Ivy...and met her at me her at Belfrey Tower," Roni said, looking at Henry.