Three Months Until Goodbye

The warning

MARA'S POV

By the time I got back to the Elordi manor from Rising star corp, I was exhausted. Not just physically, but mentally as well.

Evie went out with Williams, so I had the whole house to myself. I crashed on the couch for about an hour or two, scrolling through my phone without actually paying attention to anything on the screen. Every now and then, my mind wandered back to what happened at Silas’s office. To Silas. To my father. To the way he looked at me when I asked him what he knew.

I eventually gave up pretending to decompress and headed upstairs.

I tossed my phone on the bed and just stood in the center of the room for a moment, staring blankly at the beige walls. My thoughts returned to what happened today. I couldn’t believe I had spent all night anticipating the answers I’d get, only to walk out with more questions. Silas’s words replayed in my head.

“He left because he had to.”

I frowned.

“What could he possibly mean by that?” I whispered to myself.

If my father had chosen to leave me, then why did Silas make it sound like he had no choice? For years, it was easier to tell myself that my father simply didn’t want me. Painful, but easier. If he willingly walked away from his family, then there was nothing left for me to understand. Nothing left to wait for.

He made his choice and I spent years learning how to live with it. But what if that wasn’t the truth? I shook my head.

“No.”

I don’t even know why I said it out loud.

Maybe I was thinking too much. Maybe Silas didn’t know as much as I thought he did. I sighed heavily and plopped face down onto the bed. Maybe I actually was thinking too much. There was no reason to suddenly rewrite sixteen years of my life just because of one strange conversation.

I got up, changed out of my dress, took a shower, and climbed back into bed. After the day I had, I just wanted to have a normal night.

I reached for my phone and set an alarm for the next morning cause I had to get up early to accompany Evie to her wedding dress fitting. I was about to set my phone down when it dinged in my hand. I glanced at the screen. Unknown number.

I stared at the notification for a moment. I considered ignoring it, it was probably spam. But curiosity got the best of me. I opened the message.

“Your father didn’t abandon you.”

My brows pulled together. That’s odd. It was almost as if this person knew about my conversation with Silas. But how? I hadn’t told anyone what he said. Not even Evie. I typed a response before I could think better of it.

“How do you know my father?”

I stared at the message for a few seconds before tossing my phone on the nightstand. “This is ridiculous.” I said to myself.

I pulled the covers over my head and switched off the light. I refuse to give whoever was behind these messages the satisfaction of me losing sleep. It’s obvious they want my attention. They have it. But they weren’t going to get anything else from me.

At least that’s what I told myself.

I closed my eyes. Ten seconds passed. Then thirty. Then a minute. I opened them again and reached for my phone. No reply.

I placed it back down then a few seconds later, I grabbed it again. Still nothing.

“Seriously, Mara”, I muttered to myself. “Go to sleep.”

I tossed the phone farther away and turned onto my side. I was just starting to relax when it vibrated against the nightstand. I immediately flipped over and grabbed it. Another message. I sat upright.

“Ask Silas Elordi what happened the night your father disappeared.”

I read the message again. And again. And again.

Why does this person think Silas knows? I thought back to our conversation. He never said anything about my father disappearing, just that he had to leave. So how did this person know there was something to ask about?

I stared at the screen until my eyes began to hurt.

Why was this person so interested in making me find out what actually happened? What did they want from me?

I slowly lowered my phone. If this person knew something about my father, why not just tell me? Why hide behind an unknown number?

I unlocked my phone again and opened my contacts. My thumb hovered over Evie’s name. I should call her and tell her everything, but what would I even say?

“Hey, Evie. Some mysterious person is texting me about my father and telling me not to trust Silas?”

She’d probably start asking questions I wasn’t ready to answer. I locked my phone. I wasn’t going to tell anyone. Not yet, at least.

I laid back down and stared at the ceiling.

“Ughh, this is so frustrating.”

I dragged a hand down my face. “This whole situation is going to send me spiraling.”

I almost threw my phone across the room. Whoever this was had a twisted sense of humor. I didn’t find this funny at all.

I climbed out of bed and walked toward the windows. I’d forgotten how quiet Westbridge could get at night. I rested my forehead against the cool glass. Five years away, and somehow this place still had a way of making me feel eighteen again. I closed my eyes.

After everything that happened today, I allowed myself to consider something I had been too afraid to think about.

“What if my father hadn’t abandoned me?” My heart began beating faster.

“And if something did happen to him, why did everyone seem to know something except me?”

My stomach twisted. There’s something Silas wasn’t telling me. I didn’t know what it was yet, but I was beginning to understand something. My father’s disappearance wasn’t as simple as I thought it was.

My phone buzzed again. I slowly turned around, already dreading the message that awaited me. I knew I wasn’t going to like whatever was waiting for me.

Slowly, I walked back to the bed and picked up my phone. It was another message.

“Don’t trust Silas Elordi.”

I stopped breathing. For several seconds I couldn’t move.

“What the f**k is going on.”

I slowly lowered my phone. This was all getting out of hand. Every alarm in my head was going off at once. A part of me wanted to call Evie and tell her everything. Another part of

me wanted to do the exact opposite. I knew I wanted answers, not just half truths but real ones. I wanted to know what happened to my father. And if Silas truly knew something, I was going to find out what it was. Unfortunately for him, I wasn’t going to stop looking. Not anymore.