MY SUGAR MUMMY IS A BEAUTIFUL VAMPIRE

Tessa and Josh were cuddled up on the cozy couch in Josh's new apartment. Josh looked around the spacious living room with a big smile on his face.

"Can you believe how well our lives are going, Tess?" he said, squeezing her hand gently. "Things have really turned around since we got together."

Tessa nodded happily. "You're right, things have been going quite alright," she agreed. But then she remembered something and gave Josh a curious look. "Speaking of things going well, how did you get the money to move into this nice big place? "

Josh's smile faded a bit and he shifted uncomfortably. "Oh, you know, I've just been saving up for a while," he said with a dismissive wave of his hand.

Tessa narrowed her eyes suspiciously, sensing that Josh might be holding something back. But she decided not to push it further for now. "Well, this place is really nice," she said, looking around appreciatively. "You've got great taste."

Josh grinned and moved closer to her on the couch. "You know what else I've got great taste in?" he murmured, running his finger along her jaw line.

Tessa laughed and playfully swatted his hand away. "Down, boy! I'm working, remember?"

Josh groaned loudly. "Again with the work? What case are you even on now?"

"Still the Shelly case," Tessa replied, her expression turning serious.

Josh's face instantly fell and he stared at her in disbelief. "The Shelly case? Again? When are you going to quit your Shelly obsession and just move on?"

"Move on?" Tessa shook her head firmly. "The company might be shut down and Blake might be in prison, but something about this whole thing still doesn't feel right to me. It all seems too...easy."

"Too easy?" Josh threw up his hands in exasperation. "What more do you want, Tess? It's over! You got your bad guys locked up."

"But that's just it," Tessa insisted, leaning forward intently. "I have this gut feeling that something went wrong along the way. There are still unanswered questions, loose ends. I'm not giving up until I find the truth."

"The truth about what?" Josh demanded. "Shelly is gone, her company is finished. What else is there to find?"

"I don't know..." Tessa chewed her lip pensively.

Josh opened his mouth to argue further, but Tessa cut him off with a stern look. "I know you don't understand, but this is really important to me. I have to see it through."

An uncomfortable silence stretched between them, the tension thick enough to cut with a knife. Finally, Josh sighed heavily and threw up his hands in defeat.

"Fine, do what you have to do," he muttered. "But don't expect me to be happy about it. This Shelly obsession of yours is getting old."

Tessa felt a pang of hurt at his callous words, but she pushed it aside, her determination unwavering.She knew Josh would never truly understand her drive to uncover the truth. To him, the case was closed, the bad guys put away. But to Tessa, it was so much more than that.

She owed it to her dad's memory to find out what had really happened, no matter how many obstacles were thrown in her path. If Josh couldn't accept that, well...that was on him.

Tessa sat on the edge of the couch, her brow furrowed in deep thought. "It just doesn't add up, Josh," she said, shaking her head. "Someone like Rose, with all her power and resources? She wouldn't go down that easily."

Josh sighed heavily, running a hand through his hair. "Come on, Tess. You're reading too much into this. The case is closed, the bad guys are behind bars. What more do you want? Really?"

"A conspiracy," Tessa replied, her eyes narrowing. "I can smell it. There's something bigger going on here, and I'm going to get to the bottom of it."

Josh moved closer, draping an arm around her shoulders. "Enough about work for now," he murmured, nuzzling her neck. "Let's focus on us."

Tessa gently pushed him away once more, her expression firm. "Not now, Josh. I'm in work mode, and I need some space to concentrate."

Josh's eyes flashed with annoyance. "Well, you can't do that shit in my house," he snapped. "This is my place, my rules."

Tessa felt her temper flare. "Excuse me? I'm not some child you can order around!"

"Maybe not, but you're sure acting like one with this obsessive Shelly crusade!" Josh shot back, his voice rising.

The tension in the air was palpable, crackling like static electricity. Tessa clenched her jaw, fighting back the angry tears that stung her eyes. Without another word, she grabbed her laptop bag and stormed towards the door.

"That's right, get your Scooby-Doo ass out of here!" Josh called after her. "And maybe fix those daddy issues while you're at it!"

Tessa froze, her hand on the doorknob. The blood drained from her face as Josh's cruel words sliced through her like a knife. She turned slowly, her eyes blazing with a mixture of pain and fury.

"Daddy issues?" she spat, her voice shaking with barely contained rage. "At least my daddy didn't abandon me like yours did!"

Josh recoiled as if she'd struck him, his face contorting in anger. "Don't you dare bring up my father!"

"Why not?" Tessa challenged, taking a step towards him. "Afraid of the truth? Or are you just ashamed that without me, you'd still be a loser living in that cramped little rat hole you called an apartment?"

Josh opened his mouth to retort, but Tessa barreled on, all her pent-up frustrations pouring out in a torrent.

"Don't think I don't know about you and Becky," she hissed, her finger jabbing the air accusingly. "Sleeping together, trading information that I busted my ass to get. This fancy new place? It was bought with my hard work, Josh. Without me, you're nothing."

A tense silence fell over the room as Tessa's words hung in the air like a noxious fog. Josh's face had drained of color, his eyes wide with shock and guilt.

Without another word, Tessa turned on her heel and wrenched open the door. She paused for the briefest of moments, her shoulders trembling with barely suppressed sobs.

"I deserved better than this," she whispered, more to herself than to Josh.

Then she was gone, the door slamming shut behind her with a resounding finality.

The drive home passed in a blur of unshed tears and fragmented thoughts. By the time Tessa arrived at her house, she felt hollow, drained of all emotion.

Dropping her bag by the door, she sank onto the couch, burying her face in her hands. The silence pressed in on her from all sides, suffocating in its intensity.

She couldn't do this, not tonight. She needed comfort, familiarity. A safe haven to lick her wounds.

Grabbing her keys, Tessa was out the door again, her car peeling away from the curb with a squeal of tires. The familiar route to her childhood home played out like a well-worn record, each turn and twist ingrained in her muscle memory.

Her mother greeted her at the door with a warm hug and a concerned frown. "Tessa, darling, what's wrong?"

Tessa waved off the question, forcing a tremulous smile. "I just...needed to come home for a bit. Is that okay?"

"Of course, sweetheart." Her mother ushered her inside, her arm draped comfortingly around Tessa's shoulders. "You know you're always welcome here."

Later that night, after a hearty home-cooked meal and several glasses of her mother's famous sweet tea, Tessa found herself wandering the dimly lit halls of the old house. Her footsteps led her, as if by instinct, to her father's study.

The room was just as she remembered it – cluttered yet meticulously organized, with stacks of files and papers covering every available surface. A lifetime of work and obsession, all contained within these four walls.

Tessa trailed her fingers along the spines of the leather-bound tomes lining the shelves, a sense of wistful nostalgia washing over her. She could almost picture her father hunched over his desk, poring over case files late into the night.

A glint of metal caught her eye, drawing her gaze to a framed photograph on the desk. It depicted a group of smiling scientists, her father among them, standing before an idyllic tropical backdrop.

Tessa's breath caught in her throat as she studied the image more closely. There, etched into a wooden sign beside the group, were the words she'd been searching for:

"Malaqui Island Research Facility."

Her heart pounded in her ears as the pieces began to fall into place. That was it – the missing link, the key to unraveling the entire Shelly conspiracy once and for all.

Tessa's fingers trembled as she reached for the photo, her mind already whirring with possibilities. Whatever secrets Malaqui Island held, she would uncover them. For her father, and for herself.

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*Author's note*

Thanks for the golden tickets!!

I appreciate all the support!!