Chapter Twelve: Buried Things
717 Words
The man in the photo hadn’t crossed Emery’s mind in years.
But the second she saw his face, her stomach turned to ice.
It wasn’t just anyone.
It was Wyatt.
Her mother’s ex-boyfriend. The man who’d haunted Emery’s childhood with slammed doors, empty bottles, and fists that hit walls just a little too close. The reason they fled town when Emery was fourteen with nothing but a duffel bag and gas money.
She hadn’t seen him in six years.
And now his photo was being passed around Halston’s underground forums like a grenade with the pin halfway out.
Natalie sat across from her on the bed, stunned. “Why the hell would he show up now?”
“I don’t know,” Emery said, barely above a whisper. “I don’t even know how anyone found out about him.”
“Was he dangerous?”
Emery nodded. “He used to get drunk and scream that my mom owed him money. That I was just some charity case he got stuck with.”
Natalie’s expression shifted from concern to cold fury. “Okay. That’s it. We’re telling Luca.”
⸻
But Emery didn’t have to.
Luca was already at her door.
He looked like hell. Windblown. Wild-eyed. Holding his phone in one hand and something small and black in the other.
A flash drive.
“I know who posted the photo,” he said without even saying hello.
Emery froze. “What?”
“The deepfake. The dorm break-in. This latest post about your past?” His voice was flat, deadly. “They weren’t all Brielle.”
He handed her the drive.
“I pulled the metadata from the student network. Took it to one of the computer science guys who owes me. Guess whose login was used?”
She looked down at the label.
T. Maddox.
Trey.
Trey — her lab partner. The guy who was always just a little too curious. The one who made excuses to study late. Who offered to “help her fit in.” Who once said, “You really think Luca’s the kind of guy who sticks around?”
“No,” she whispered. “He wouldn’t…”
“He did,” Luca said. “Because he wanted you. And when you chose me… he wanted revenge.”
⸻
It all fell into place.
The anonymous envelope.
The fake video.
The photo of Wyatt.
All planted by Trey.
And now, he had brought the one person from Emery’s past who could unravel her completely right to Halston’s doorstep.
But why?
“Because he thinks you’ll break,” Luca said, voice tight. “And if you break, maybe I go down with you.”
⸻
That night, Luca did what Emery was too afraid to do.
He went to find Wyatt.
The address had been posted in a private thread that Trey didn’t know Luca had access to — an old motel off Route 6, barely holding together, the kind of place no one asked questions.
Luca walked into the lot like he belonged there. Found the room. Knocked once.
Wyatt opened the door, beer in hand, eyes bloodshot.
“You her boyfriend?”
Luca didn’t answer. Just stared him down.
“Thought so.” Wyatt smirked. “She still as mouthy as she was at thirteen?”
Luca didn’t say a word.
He just punched him. Once. Square in the jaw.
Wyatt stumbled back, crashing into a cracked headboard, beer spilling.
“You go near her again,” Luca said, low and lethal, “and I’ll make sure you don’t walk away next time.”
Wyatt wiped blood from his mouth, laughing. “You think I’m scared of some rich boy with daddy’s name?”
“No,” Luca said. “But you should be scared of what I’d do without it.”
Then he left.
Because Emery had asked him not to fight her battles — but this?
This was protection.
And Luca would go to war for her without a second thought.
⸻
Meanwhile, back at Halston, Trey was already spiraling.
He’d seen Luca’s post. Heard about the meeting. The foundation fallout. The press.
His plan hadn’t just failed — it had backfired.
And now the very secrets he thought would destroy Emery?
Were about to destroy him.
- Writer
