By five o’clock, Kylie was standing outside Emilia’s dorm room with a small overnight bag hanging from her shoulder.
She had packed lightly.
She knocked twice.
A few seconds passed before the door opened.
Emilia stood there.
The moment Kylie saw her, her expression softened. "Hey."
Emilia gave her a small smile. "Hey."
Kylie stepped inside and immediately looked around. The room was quiet. She closed the door behind her and glanced toward the other bed.
"Where’s Rowan?"
"She stepped out."
"Where?"
"She took her guitar."
Kylie nodded. "Okay."
She slipped her bag from her shoulder and walked toward the closet.
"I’m dumping this in here before I forget it somewhere."
Emilia watched as Kylie opened the closet and shoved the little bag onto an empty shelf. When she turned around, Emilia was still standing near the bed.
She looked nervous.
Kylie immediately noticed.
She walked toward her. "Okay, darling." Her voice softened. "Tell me what happened."
Emilia stared at her.
For a moment, she seemed to struggle with where to begin. Then she exhaled.
"Adrian was supposed to go to a charity event on Sunday evening."
Kylie raised an eyebrow. "Okay?"
"He didn’t want to take me along, and I understood that." Emilia looked down at her hands. "I mean, this is an illicit affair. He can’t exactly walk into a charity event with me and announce that I’m his sex partner."
Kylie remained silent.
Emilia swallowed.
"But he could have at least told me that he’d be with someone else."
Kylie’s eyebrows drew together. "Someone else?"
Emilia nodded.
She walked toward the bed and sat down.
Kylie followed.
Emilia reached into the pocket of her sweater and pulled out her phone. Her fingers trembled slightly, as she unlocked it.
"I got these."
She handed the phone to Kylie.
Kylie looked at the screen. The first photograph appeared. It had Adrian in it, and a woman stood extremely close to him.
Kylie’s expression changed immediately.
She swiped through the photographs, and her eyes narrowed. "Where did you get these?"
"Someone sent them to me."
"Who?"
"I don’t know."
Kylie continued looking.
The woman was standing close enough to Adrian that the photographs could easily be interpreted the wrong way.
Kylie looked at Emilia. "Did he tell you about her?"
"No."
"Did you ask him?"
Emilia shook her head. "I haven’t spoken to him."
Kylie looked back at the photographs. "Okay." She swiped through the remaining images.
Her expression grew more serious. "Emilia, these pictures are clearly meant to make you think something happened."
"I know."
"Do you know who she is?"
Emilia shook her head. "No."
Kylie handed the phone back.
Emilia stared at the screen. "There’s more."
Kylie’s eyes lifted.
Emilia opened another conversation. "I got these on the night of the charity event."
Sixteen photographs appeared.
Kylie’s face went still.
The first showed Emilia getting into Adrian’s car. The next showed the same car outside another location.
Kylie slowly swiped through them. "Someone’s been following you." She muttered with a frown.
"I know." Her voice cracked slightly.
Kylie continued looking.
There were photographs of Adrian picking Emilia up.
None of them were intimate. They didn’t need to be. Together, they told a story. A story that could be interpreted in exactly the way whoever had taken them wanted.
Kylie looked at the message underneath.
Her expression hardened.
"I can send this to the school authority, or we can make a deal."
She looked at Emilia. "What deal?"
"I don’t know."
"You didn’t respond?"
"No."
Kylie returned her attention to the phone. "Did they give you a deadline?"
Emilia nodded. "They said I have two weeks."
Kylie’s jaw tightened. "Two weeks to what?"
"Make the deal."
Kylie stared at her.
Emilia’s eyes became glassy. "I don’t know what to do, Kylie."
The words came out barely above a whisper.
Kylie immediately moved closer. "Hey."
Emilia looked at her.
"Come here." Kylie wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer.
Emilia leaned into her. "But what if they send it to the school?"
"We’ll deal with that."
"What if—"
"Emilia." Kylie gently caught her face. "Look at me."
Emilia lifted her eyes.
Kylie brushed her thumb beneath one of her eyes. "Whoever is doing this wants you scared. That’s the point."
Emilia nodded faintly.
"And you’re not going to make decisions while you’re terrified."
Emilia looked down.
Kylie waited. She asked quietly, "Did you tell Adrian?"
Emilia immediately shook her head. "No."
"Why?"
"I don’t know how."
Kylie stared at her. "You don’t know how to tell him that someone is blackmailing you?"
Emilia winced. "When you say it like that..."
"Because that’s exactly what this is."
Emilia looked at the floor. "I don’t even know how to start the conversation."
"You start with the truth."
"It’s not that simple."
"Yes, it is."
Kylie took the phone from her hand.
Emilia blinked. "Kylie? What are you doing?"
"I’m fixing the part you keep avoiding."
Kylie opened the photographs again. She selected the sixteen images.
Emilia’s eyes widened. "Wait."
Kylie looked at her. "You haven’t told him anything. He needs to know."
"Kylie—"
"Emilia, listen to me." Her voice was gentle, but firm. "If someone is watching you, threatening you, and trying to use your relationship against you, Adrian needs to know."
Emilia stared at her. "What if he gets angry?"
Kylie scoffed. "Then he gets angry."
"What if he thinks I should have told him earlier?" She asked. "He isn’t my boyfriend, and this feels so complicated."
"Then you tell him why you were scared."
"What if—"
"No more what-ifs." Kylie selected the photographs. "He isn’t Noah. You hear me?"
Emilia swallowed. "What if this has to do with Noah? I can’t possibly make this Adrian’s burden."
"Adrian is also in the photograph." Kylie simply shrugged.
Emilia watched her.
Kylie opened Adrian’s contact.
Her thumb hovered over the keyboard.
Then she typed four simple words. "Someone sent me this."
She attached all sixteen photographs to those four words.
Emilia stared at the screen.
Her heart pounded.
Kylie looked at her, and then she pressed send.
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