CHAPTER FOUR
963 Words
THE UNKNOWN NUMBER
Lila stared at the message.
She read it once.
Then again.
Her fingers remained frozen around her phone.
Because he never told you the whole truth.
She swallowed.
The house suddenly felt too quiet.
A clock on the wall ticked slowly.
She looked toward the door Brian had walked through only minutes ago.
Her first thought was to call him.
Her second thought was to delete the message.
She did neither.
Instead, she saved the number.
Then another message came.
Don't trust everything you've been told.
Lila's heart began to beat faster.
She typed.
Who are you?
She waited.
Nothing.
She tried again.
What do you want?
No reply.
Lila stared at the screen until it went dark.
She looked around the living room.
For the first time since she could remember, she wondered if there were things about her own family that she didn't know.
She didn't like the thought.
Not one bit.
Brian drove through the city without turning on the radio.
His hands were tight around the steering wheel.
He had received the call less than ten minutes ago.
He still couldn't believe what he'd been told.
He turned into a narrow street and stopped in front of an old building.
Two men were waiting outside.
Brian stepped out.
"What happened?"
One of them pointed toward the building.
"Someone broke in."
Brian looked at him.
"Who?"
"We don't know."
"Anything taken?"
"No."
Brian frowned.
"Then why break in?"
The man shook his head.
"We found this."
He handed Brian a small envelope.
Brian didn't open it immediately.
He already had a bad feeling.
He looked at the front.
There was no name.
Just one word.
BRIAN.
He opened it.
Inside was a photograph.
Brian stared at it.
His face changed.
It was old.
Very old.
His parents were standing outside the Kane residence.
His mother was smiling.
His father stood beside her.
And between them was a young boy.
Vincent Kane.
Brian's fingers tightened around the photograph.
He had seen this picture before.
But not like this.
Someone had circled Vincent's face in black ink.
Underneath it was a date.
The same date his parents died.
Brian looked up.
"Who found this?"
"We don't know."
"Who else knows about it?"
"No one."
Brian folded the photograph and put it in his pocket.
"Burn the envelope."
The man nodded.
Brian turned toward his car.
"Brian."
He stopped.
The man looked nervous.
"There was something else."
Brian slowly turned around.
"What?"
"The person who broke in didn't take anything."
"Then what did they do?"
The man hesitated.
"They left something."
Brian waited.
"A phone."
Brian frowned.
"Where?"
"Inside."
Brian walked back into the building.
The room was almost empty.
A broken chair.
A dusty table.
Old boxes.
And on the floor, beside the wall, was a small black phone.
Brian stared at it.
It wasn't his.
He picked it up.
The screen lit up.
One unread message.
He opened it.
His expression changed.
She knows.
Brian's heart dropped.
"Who?"
The phone vibrated again.
A second message appeared.
Not yet. But she will.
Brian stared at the screen.
Then his phone rang.
Lila.
He answered immediately.
"Where are you?"
"Home."
"Stay there."
"Brian, what's going on?"
"Nothing."
"You keep saying that."
"Lila."
She was quiet.
Then she asked,
"Do you know someone named Vincent Kane?"
Brian stopped breathing for a second.
He looked at the photograph in his hand.
"Why?"
"I asked you a question."
"Where did you hear that name?"
"At school."
Brian closed his eyes.
"Stay away from him."
"Why?"
"I said stay away."
"Brian, you can't keep telling me things without explaining them."
Silence.
Then Lila said something that made his blood run cold.
"Someone sent me a message."
Brian's grip tightened around the phone.
"What message?"
"They said you never told me the whole truth about our parents."
Brian didn't speak.
"Brian?"
He looked down at the photograph.
For years, he had tried to protect his sister from the truth.
Now he wasn't sure if the truth was protecting her anymore.
"Delete the message."
"What?"
"Delete it, Lila."
"Why?"
"Just do it."
The call ended.
Brian stood in the middle of the empty room.
His breathing was slow.
His face had gone cold.
One of the men approached him.
"Boss?"
Brian didn't respond.
He looked at the black phone in his hand.
Then at the photograph.
Someone was playing a game with him.
And whoever it was knew exactly where to hurt him.
Lila sat on her bed.
She hadn't deleted the message.
She couldn't.
She opened it again.
You should ask your brother what happened the night your parents died.
She stared at the words.
Then she heard something outside.
A car door slammed.
Lila stood.
She walked toward the window.
A black car was parked across the street.
She couldn't see the person inside.
The engine was running.
Lila watched.
The car remained there.
She moved closer to the curtain.
The driver's window slowly came down.
A man looked toward the house.
Lila stepped back.
She didn't recognize him.
The window went back up.
The car drove away.
Lila stood still.
Then her phone vibrated.
Another message.
She looked down.
Her face went pale.
There was no text this time.
Only a photograph.
She opened it.
It was a picture of her.
Taken that morning.
At Ivy College.
Lila's hand began to shake.
But that wasn't what frightened her most.
Someone had taken the picture from very close.
And in the corner of the photograph, partly hidden behind her, stood Vincent Kane.
Lila zoomed in.
Her eyes widened.
Vincent wasn't looking at her.
He was looking directly at the person taking the picture.
And written underneath the photograph were three words.
He knows too.
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