Chapter 6 –" His Name Echoes. "
716 Words
Ashlyn’s POV
We didn’t have much.
No address. No phone number.
Just a name—Ryder.
And memories I wasn’t even sure were mine anymore.
Lily and I sat cross-legged on my living room floor, maps, notebooks, and an open laptop scattered between us like puzzle pieces from a life I never knew I had. The rain outside was soft this time, almost as if it was trying not to interrupt.
“This feels like chasing a shadow,” I murmured, fingers curled around my coffee mug.
Lily gave me that signature glare of hers—the one that said stop underestimating the fire inside you.
“You’re not chasing a shadow. You’re chasing the truth. And we’ll find him, Ash. I promise.”
I nodded, though something deep inside me shivered.
---
We started with the Blackwood name.
Everything about them screamed power, secrecy, and legacy.
The internet was no help. Articles about the Blackwood empire were polished, perfect, sterile. There were mentions of Asher—press photos, charity events, business deals. But Ryder?
Nothing.
Not even a whisper.
“Are you sure they were twins?” Lily asked, tapping the screen.
I paused. “Mrs. Harper said they were. And now that I think about it… Asher used to disappear sometimes. No calls. No texts. Just gone. He always said it was business. But maybe… it wasn’t him at all.”
Lily leaned forward. “Maybe it was Ryder stepping in. Maybe they switched.”
The thought hit me like ice.
What if the man I loved... wasn’t always the man I thought I knew?
---
Two days later, we were sitting inside a dusty café near downtown. One of Lily’s friends—Jason, a tech genius who could hack into heaven if he wanted—slid a flash drive across the table.
“I pulled this from the Blackwood family’s archived school records,” he said, voice low. “There’s no public mention of a Ryder Blackwood. But… I found this.”
He opened his laptop and clicked on a grainy photo.
Two boys. Identical. Standing side by side in an old school hallway.
My breath caught.
They were both there.
Same smirk. Same jawline.
But only one name was listed in the records: Asher Blackwood.
Lily whispered, “They erased him…”
Jason nodded. “Looks like the family went to great lengths to remove Ryder’s existence from everything public. It’s like he was… hidden. Buried under Asher’s spotlight.”
“Why?” I asked, more to myself than to them. “Why hide one son?”
Jason hesitated. “There’s a rumor. Ryder left the family years ago. Some kind of fight—bad enough that they cut him off completely.”
My heart thudded hard.
“He didn’t just leave,” Lily whispered. “He was erased.”
---
That night, I sat by the window again.
The city lights blinked in the distance, but my thoughts were locked in the past—his voice, his laugh, that nickname Ash no one else ever used.
What if it was always him?
What if Ryder was the boy I met at the library?
What if I married one brother… but lost myself in the other?
And then—
Tap. Tap.
My head jerked up.
There it was again. That same gentle scrape across the window.
A new letter.
But this time, it wasn’t slid under the glass.
It was taped to the outside.
The handwriting was different. Sharper. Faster. Like it had been written in a hurry.
I tore it open, heart racing.
---
Ashlyn,
You’re getting close.
Too close.
Please stop.
Not because I don’t want to see you.
But because if you find me… you’ll know everything.
And I’m not sure your heart’s ready for that.
I never stopped writing.
But this is the last one you’ll get.
Don’t look for me.
— R
---
R.
Not Asher.
Not Blackwood.
Just… R.
Lily came running when she heard me sob.
But these weren’t grief-tears anymore.
They were made of truth. Of clarity.
And something darker.
I looked up at her, my voice flat.
“We’re going to find him. No matter what.”
Lily nodded. “And this time, we won’t knock. We’ll break the damn door down.”
- Writer
