The Message

Kael didn’t look away.

“Who is texting you?”

His voice was calm, but there was something serious underneath it.

I slipped my phone into my bag.

“I told you. Nobody.”

Kian looked between us.

“That’s obviously not true.”

I frowned.

“Why does it matter?”

“It doesn’t,” Kael said.

His answer came too quickly.

I studied him.

“Then why did you ask?”

He didn’t answer.

Kian leaned back in his chair, watching his brother.

For once, he wasn’t smiling.

I hated the feeling settling in my chest.

Everyone seemed to know something I didn’t.

My roommate knew things about the twins.

Their family knew things about my mother.

And now some stranger was sending me messages about the one person I had spent years trying not to talk about.

I stood.

“I need some air.”

Kian immediately got up.

“I’ll come with you.”

“I can walk by myself.”

“I know.”

“Then why are you following me?”

He smiled.

“Because I want to.”

I shook my head.

“You really don’t take no for an answer.”

“Not when I’m worried.”

That stopped me.

“Worried about what?”

His smile disappeared.

“You.”

For a moment, neither of us spoke.

Kael gathered the papers from the table.

“We’ll finish the presentation tomorrow.”

I nodded.

“Okay.”

I walked out of the library.

Kian followed.

⸻

The evening air was cool.

We walked across campus without speaking for a while.

I wasn’t sure why I had agreed to let him come with me.

Maybe because I didn’t want to be alone.

Or maybe because, despite knowing him for only a few days, I trusted him more than I should.

“Are you going to tell me what the message said?” he finally asked.

I looked at him.

“No.”

“Fair enough.”

I expected him to push.

He didn’t.

Instead, he changed the subject.

“Do you miss home?”

The question caught me off guard.

“Sometimes.”

“Your mother?”

I stopped walking.

He immediately looked regretful.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.”

I looked toward the trees lining the walkway.

“I miss her every day.”

Kian was quiet.

“What was she like?”

I smiled faintly.

“Stubborn.”

He laughed.

“Sounds familiar.”

“She was kind, though. She could be difficult, but she always believed I could do anything.”

“She sounds like a good mother.”

“She was.”

I swallowed.

“That’s why I wanted to come here.”

“Because of her?”

“Partly.”

I looked at him.

“She wanted me to have a life bigger than the one we had.”

Kian nodded slowly.

“Then you should.”

I smiled.

“That’s the plan.”

We continued walking.

For the first time since receiving the messages, the knot in my chest began to loosen.

Then Kian’s phone rang.

He looked at the screen.

His expression changed.

“Everything okay?” I asked.

“Yeah.”

He stepped a few feet away to answer.

I watched him.

His voice was too low for me to hear.

A moment later, he ended the call.

“Family?”

“Yes.”

“Everything okay?”

He hesitated.

“Just something at home.”

I nodded.

Neither of us said anything else.

But something had changed.

We had both lied.

And we both knew it.

⸻

That night, I sat on my bed staring at my phone.

The unknown number was still there.

I opened the messages again.

Do you still have your mother’s photograph?

Your mother didn’t tell you everything.

I stared at the words until my eyes hurt.

Then I opened my wallet.

The photograph was still there.

My mother’s face smiled back at me.

I traced my finger along the edge.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

There was no answer.

Of course there wasn’t.

I put the photograph back and closed my wallet.

My phone buzzed.

Another message.

My heart jumped.

I opened it.

Ask Richard Blackwood what happened twenty years ago.

I stopped breathing.

Richard Blackwood.

The twins’ father.

I read the message again.

Then again.

A cold feeling settled over me.

How did this person know I’d met him?

And why did they want me to ask about twenty years ago?

I typed a response.

Who are you?

The message showed as delivered.

No reply came.

I waited.

Five minutes.

Ten.

Nothing.

Eventually, I put the phone down.

I tried to sleep.

But every time I closed my eyes, I saw Richard Blackwood’s face from dinner.

The way he had stared at me.

The way his expression had changed when I mentioned my mother.

And the words he’d spoken afterward.

I’ve heard that name before.

For the first time, I wondered if my mother’s death had left behind more questions than answers.

⸻

Across campus, Kael stood in his bedroom with his phone in his hand.

Kian entered without knocking.

“You got it too?”

Kael looked up.

“Yes.”

Kian held up his phone.

Same unknown number.

Same message.

Except theirs had been different.

Keep Aria away from your father.

Kian’s expression hardened.

“Who knows about her?”

Kael stared at the message.

“I don’t know.”

“Does Dad?”

“I don’t know.”

Kian walked toward the window.

“We need answers.”

Kael looked toward the university lights in the distance.

“Not tonight.”

“Why?”

“Because Aria is already suspicious.”

Kian turned.

“And what are we supposed to tell her?”

Kael’s jaw tightened.

“The truth.”

Kian stared at him.

“Which truth?”

Neither brother answered.

Because they both knew the same thing.

Their father had recognized Aria’s name.

And now someone was warning them to keep her away from him.

For the first time, the Blackwood twins had a problem neither of them could solve with money, influence, or charm.

They didn’t know who was watching.

They didn’t know what that person wanted.

And most importantly—

they didn’t know why Aria Vale was at the center of it.