The broken frame still lay on the floor, shards of glass scattered like the fragments of my sanity. I couldn’t stop staring at the photo-the one with Xavier standing behind my father. It was like my whole life had just tilted sideways, the ground cracking beneath my feet.
What was Xavier doing in that picture? How had my father been involved with someone so dangerous, someone whose name now sent shivers down my spine?
I couldn’t sit with the questions any longer. I needed answers-now. And the only person who seemed to know anything was Ethan.
I grabbed my phone, my thumb hovering over Ethan’s number. I hated that I had to reach out to him. Every time I was around him, my chest filled with equal parts longing and distrust. But right now, he was the only lifeline I had.
The phone rang twice before his voice came through, smooth and controlled as ever.
“Alyssa?”
I swallowed hard. “We need to talk. Now.”
Fifteen minutes later, Ethan stood in my living room, his expression guarded. He leaned casually against the wall, arms crossed, but there was tension coiled beneath the surface-like a predator waiting to pounce.
“You sounded urgent,” he said.
I shoved the photo into his hands, watching his face carefully for a reaction. He didn’t flinch, but his jaw tightened just enough to tell me that he wasn’t surprised. Not in the slightest.
“Care to explain?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.
Ethan sighed, setting the photo down on the table. “It’s not what you think.”
“Don’t you dare pull that card,” I snapped, my frustration boiling over. “I’m done being kept in the dark, Ethan. Tell me the truth. Now.”
He ran a hand through his hair, exhaling slowly. “Your father had connections to Xavier’s family.”
The words hit me like a punch to the gut. I staggered back a step, my mind reeling. “What… what are you saying?”
“I’m saying that your father wasn’t just an ordinary man,” Ethan continued, his voice calm but heavy with meaning. “He was involved with Xavier-deeply involved.”
I shook my head, trying to make sense of it. “That’s impossible. My dad… he wasn’t-he couldn’t have been mixed up in the mafia.”
“I know it’s hard to hear,” Ethan said softly, taking a step toward me. “But it’s the truth. Your father had dealings with Xavier. I don’t know the full extent, but they weren’t strangers, Alyssa. They were partners at one point.”
Partners. The word felt foreign and wrong. My father had always been the man who took me to the park, who tucked me in at night with stories about knights and castles. Not… this. Not a man tied to the most dangerous criminal in the city.
I sank onto the couch, my legs threatening to give out beneath me. “Why… why didn’t I know? Why didn’t he tell me?”
Ethan crouched in front of me, his gaze steady. “He probably wanted to protect you.”
I let out a bitter laugh, though there was no humor in it. “Yeah, well, he did a fantastic job of that, didn’t he?”
Ethan didn’t respond. Instead, he waited, giving me the space I needed to process the bombshell he’d just dropped.
After a moment, I lifted my head, meeting his gaze. “How do you know all this? Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
Ethan hesitated, and I knew in that instant there was more he wasn’t saying. My stomach twisted with unease.
“I found out after our first meeting,” he admitted slowly. “I had people look into your background, and that’s when I discovered the connection.”
“So you’ve known this entire time,” I whispered, the betrayal stinging sharper than I’d expected. “You knew, and you let me stumble around blind.”
“I was trying to protect you,” he said, his voice low and earnest. “If you knew the truth too soon, it would have only made things worse.”
“Oh, and now is so much better?” I shot back, rising to my feet. “Do you even hear yourself, Ethan? Every time you say you’re protecting me, all you’re really doing is lying to me.”
His jaw clenched, but he didn’t deny it. “I wanted to tell you when the time was right.”
“Yeah, well, your timing sucks.”
We stood there in tense silence, the air between us thick with unspoken words. Finally, Ethan broke the stalemate, his voice soft but insistent.
“Let me look into this. I can find out what really happened between your father and Xavier. There’s more to this story, Alyssa.”
I crossed my arms, not trusting him, but also knowing I didn’t have many other options. “Why should I believe you?”
“Because I have as much to lose as you do,” Ethan said quietly. “Xavier won’t stop coming for you. If I don’t help you, no one else will.”
His words sat heavily on my chest. As much as I hated to admit it, he was right. Xavier was playing some twisted game, and I was the pawn stuck between them.
“I don’t trust you,” I said finally. “But if you can get me the truth, I’ll listen.”
Ethan nodded, his expression unreadable. “That’s all I ask.”
Hours after Ethan left, the weight of everything he’d said pressed down on me. My father, the man I thought I knew, had been tangled in the same dangerous web I was now caught in.
And then, just when I thought my night couldn’t get worse, the letter arrived.
I found it tucked under my front door, the edges slightly crumpled as if someone had slipped it through in a hurry. There was no name, no return address-just my name scrawled across the front in neat, precise handwriting.
I tore it open, my heart pounding in my chest.
“Alyssa,
You deserve to know the truth. Your father’s death wasn’t an accident-it was a consequence. If you want to know more, meet me at the old pier tomorrow night at midnight.
Come alone. Or don’t come at all.”
The note ended with no signature, just a chilling emptiness that sent shivers down my spine.
I read it again, my hands shaking. A consequence. What the hell did that mean? And who was this person claiming to know the truth?
My phone buzzed, pulling me from my thoughts. I glanced at the screen, half-expecting Ethan or Xavier to have already reached out. But it wasn’t either of them.
It was another unknown number.
The message was short, just three words.
Tick. Tock. Alyssa.