Chapter 25
I exhaled through my nose. “It’s not valuable or anything.”
He paused. “But someone gave it to you?”
I didn’t answer right away. Finally, I said, “It’s the only thing I have left from my family. My real family. My parents. There’s a little picture inside. That’s all.”
Richard didn’t say anything. He just kept searching.
We scoured the bushes for what felt like forever. My knees were damp. My hair clung to my face. My hands were
covered in dirt.
“I don’t think we’ll find it,” I said, finally sinking to sit on the edge of the sidewalk.
Richard didn’t answer. His head turned sharply, eyes narrowing.
Then he reached into the base of a shrub and pulled back a low-hanging branch.
“There,” he said.
He crouched low and reached between two rocks. When he stood again, the locket dangled from his fingers.
It was scratched and the gemstone was gone.
But it was mine.
I rushed forward, my breath catching. “Oh my god. You found it.”
“Barely,” he said, brushing a leaf from the chain. “You sure it’s not expensive?”
“Positive,” I said, taking it in both hands like it might shatter. “It’s never been about the worth. It’s just…
familiar.”
He nodded once, slowly, watching my face.
I swallowed hard. “Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it.”
The next few days were… tense. I tried texting Jenny. Once. Twice. A third time. Each more careful than the last.
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No response.
I saw her in the hallway outside the comms office. She looked right at me, then walked the other direction.
I scribbled a note and asked one of the aides to pass it along. Short, apologetic, hopeful.
She threw it away without reading it. I knew because I saw it crumpled in the bin outside her door.
I stopped trying.
A week later, I got a message from the apartment manager. Apparently, Adam couldn’t even tell me himself—
he had Mr. Grant do it for him. There were still a few of my things in the closet, and I needed to pick them up.
I didn’t want to go. But I needed to. It felt like one more loose thread I could finally cut.
When I got there, I realized I’d forgotten my key. I stood on the steps, debating whether to knock or just leave.
Mr. Grant, the manager, poked his head out the office door. “You looking for Adam?”
“No,” I said. “Just here to grab a few things. I used to live here.”
He nodded, recognition dawning. “Right, right. You’re the one who moved out fast. Want the spare key? I know
he’s usually out this time of day.”
“Yeah,” I said quietly. “Thanks.”
He handed it over, and I walked up the steps. My heart thudded with every one.
I let myself in gently. The place looked the same. Lived in. Slightly messier.
I moved toward the hall closet.
Then I stopped.
A sound.
Rhythmic, wet. A gasp-punctuated and breathy, like it was meant to be heard.
A low male groan followed, rough and lazy. Then a high-pitched laugh. Moaning. The creak of bed springs in
motion.
I went cold.
No.
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Chapter 25
No, no, no.
I backed up slowly, every footstep muffled under the weight of dread.
+25 BONUSTA
Another moan, louder this time. Higher-pitched, a little too perfect. Practiced. The kind of noise meant to be
overheard.
And I knew.
I didn’t want to believe it, but I already knew.
I stood frozen in the living room, not breathing.
Adam’s voice and hers.
Jenny’s.
The name clanged through my skull like a dropped bell.
I didn’t cry, I didn’t scream. I just stood there as the betrayal bled through my chest like something physical.
I dropped the key on the floor.
I didn’t even know what I was doing. I stood there, frozen in the middle of the living room, the sounds from the
bedroom still echoing like a sickness in my ears. My feet wouldn’t move. My breath came shallow, shaky. I
couldn’t bring myself to walk out-not yet. Not while Jenny’s laugh was still bleeding through the walls.
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