Whispers were the first thing Tiffany heard when she walked into school that morning.
They slithered through the halls like smoke, impossible to catch, impossible to stop.
By third period, she had already overheard her name twice. Once near the vending machine, once in the bathroom stall beside hers.
“That’s the girl whose stepdad—”
“Someone said she seduced him. That’s why the other girl’s missing.”
“I heard he filmed them.”
Tiffany gripped the edge of the sink, trying to hold herself steady. The hallway outside was a blur of backpacks, footsteps, and phones raised just a little too long to not be recording.
Her hands trembled.
Someone had talked.
Maybe Riley. Maybe Landon himself. Or maybe the truth was just leaking on its own, like a dam beginning to crack under the pressure.
