Chapter 15: Too many unknowns
1349 Words
Jace
He hadn’t meant to shut her out.
But how do you explain to someone like Lexi that everything she touches could go up in flames—literally?
Jace stared at the cracked screen of his burner phone. No texts. No missed calls. Just that one message: Later.
Coward’s move. But it was easier than typing out the truth.
The air in his garage apartment felt thick with smoke, even though the fire had been two years ago. He still woke up choking sometimes. Still remembered the screams. The way his foster brother who was 8 at the time looked at him, all tears and guilt, and said, “You told me not to play with matches. I’m sorry.”
Jace had taken the fall because he’d thought it would fix things. Because he thought protecting his foster brother meant it would all eventually fade away.
It hadn’t.
His foster brother disappeared and when he asked his father where he was he'll always tell he was with the right people.
Now someone was clearly determined to rip his past open like an old wound and make him bleed all over again.
He dropped his head into his hands, the creak of the old metal chair beneath him the only sound. Until—
Buzz.
Another message.
Blocked Number:
You should’ve let your brother burn.
This time, I’ll make sure Lexi feels it too.
Jace’s body went cold.
Not just because of what the message said.
Because of the image attached.
Lexi. Again. This time… asleep in her bed. The angle was low, like the camera had been inside her room.
“f**k,” he whispered, hands shaking as he gripped the phone tighter.
This was no longer about him now.
It was about her.
And he knew—he knew—that whoever was doing this didn’t just hate him. They wanted to erase him. Brick by brick. Starting with the only person who made him feel like he was more than the label they’d slapped on him at fifteen.
Lexi.
He had to tell her everything.
Even the part he’d sworn he never would.
Even the part about the girl who died in that fire.
His hands fumbled for his keys. He barely made it down the rickety stairs before he froze in his tracks.
Another envelope.
Plain, cream-colored, and tucked into the gap of his doorframe.
Inside: another photo.
Lexi again.
But this time… Jace was in it too.
Kissing her behind the bleachers.
It was taken from a distance, but there was no mistaking it. No mistaking the angle—someone had been watching them at school.
And on the back of the photo, scrawled in jagged black ink:
“She burns next.”
---
Jace didn’t remember starting the car.
Didn’t remember pulling out of the lot, running that stop sign, or the way he nearly clipped the side mirror off an old Volvo. His vision blurred at the edges. Heart hammering. That photo still clenched tight in his hand, creased from his grip.
> Someone was watching.
Someone had been there the whole time.
And worse—Lexi had no idea.
She trusted the people around her. Smiled at them in the hallways. Shared secrets in whispers under bleachers. Not knowing one of them had been documenting her life like a sick project.
Jace didn’t know where to go first—Lexi’s place? The school? The police?
No.
He couldn’t involve them. Not yet.
Because if this was what he thought it was, the sealed records were out, and because they were out… then anything he said could paint a target even bigger on her back.
> "Think, Jace. f*****g think."
His burner phone buzzed again. He snatched it off the dash without stopping the car.
Blocked Number: Fire doesn’t lie. But you did.
Attached was another file.
He hesitated, thumb hovering. Then tapped it.
This time, it wasn’t Lexi. It was a scanned page.
Official Record — Arson Investigation
Name Withheld (Minor)
Cause: Accelerant Found in Bedroom. Suspect Confessed.
Casualty: Female, 9 years old. Identified.
Jace’s stomach turned.
They’d found it. The report. The one that was sealed, buried, locked away by lawyers and court orders and the one mercy his father had ever bought him.
Someone had it.
Someone wanted him to suffer with it.
> “You told me not to play with matches. I’m sorry.”
He remembered those words like they were whispered into his ear now.
But this wasn’t just about guilt anymore. This was vengeance. A twisted vendetta, years in the making. And it was getting too close. Too personal.
He slammed his palm against the steering wheel.
Lexi didn’t deserve this.
> This was someone inside.
Someone who’d been close. Trusted. Invisible in plain sight.
And Jace had a feeling.
A sick, gnawing suspicion.
Savannah? Bitter? yes! Petty? Definitely. But she wouldn't go that far. Or would she?
Jace’s foot hit the gas harder.
First stop: Lexi's house
Lexi
It was too quiet.
Lexi hated the silence of her house at night. The creaks in the walls, the hum of the fridge, the way shadows stretched a little too far when the lights were off. Her mom was working a double shift, and her father was out of the city for work.That left her alone with her thoughts—and those weren’t much better.
She sat cross-legged on her bed, trying to read, but her eyes hadn’t moved past the same sentence in ten minutes.
Nothing from Jace.
She tossed the phone aside and leaned back on her pillows, staring at the glow-in-the-dark stars still stuck to her ceiling. From when she was twelve. From before the whispers. Before the locker stares and fake pity and before falling for a boy with too many secrets.
She trusted him, though.
Even now.
Even with the distance.
And that was the scariest part.
Another sound—this one outside. A soft scrape. Like a foot against gravel.
Lexi sat up straight. Her bedroom window overlooked the side yard. She crept toward it, barefoot, heart thudding.
Nothing there.
Just the motion-sensor light flickering on. A stray cat maybe.
She turned back—then froze.
Her closet door was cracked open.
She didn’t remember leaving it that way.
> Stop it.
You’re being paranoid. You’ve seen too many horror movies.
She crossed the room and pushed the door shut, heart racing just a little faster now. Just as she clicked it into place—
Bang bang bang.
Lexi yelped, spinning toward the front of the house.
The front door. Someone was knocking—no, pounding.
She hesitated, her breath caught in her throat.
Then a voice—low, urgent, and painfully familiar.
“Lexi—it’s me. It’s Jace. Open the door.”
She rushed out of her room, nearly slipping on the hardwood in her socks as she reached the door. Fumbled with the lock. Yanked it open—
And there he was.
Jace, chest heaving like he’d run miles, eyes wild.
“You okay?” he asked, looking her over like she might fall apart.
“I—yeah, I’m fine,” she breathed. “Why? What happened?”
He didn’t answer. Just pulled her into him, arms tight like he hadn’t been sure she’d still be here.
“Someone sent me a photo,” he said into her hair. “Of you. Sleeping. Someone’s been in your room, Lex.”
Her blood turned to ice.
“No. That’s not possible. The window’s locked. The door—Jace, I would’ve known.”
He pulled back enough to look her in the eye, jaw tight. “He said you’d burn next.”
Lexi went cold. “What?”
Jace’s phone buzzed. Again.
He looked down. His hands were trembling.
Blocked Number: Chill. Just a joke. You’re so dramatic, bro.
Followed by a grinning emoji.
Lexi saw the look on his face harden.
It wasn’t a joke to him.
It wasn’t funny.
And whoever was behind it had just made the biggest mistake of their life.
Because Jace wasn’t running anymore.
- Writer
