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But something inside me was cracking.
Because the timing—God, the timing.
The way Emily had gone silent when she saw the message.
The way she didn’t immediately defend herself.
The way she looked at me… not angry, but scared.
My voice came out lower. “Even if any of that were true… you think vandalizing my car was the right way to handle it?”
He shrugged again. “You wouldn’t have believed me otherwise.”
“That’s because you’re not trustworthy!”
He nodded slightly, like he accepted that. “Fair.”
A long silence stretched between us. The street felt too quiet now. Too normal for what was happening.
Finally, I asked, “Where is she now?”
“At her mother’s,” he said.
My chest tightened again. I grabbed my keys off the roof of the car, mind racing.
“I need to talk to her,” I said.
Daniel stepped aside, but before I walked past him, he spoke again.
“I hope for your sake I’m wrong,” he said.
I stopped, but didn’t turn around.
Because I didn’t know what scared me more.
That he was lying.
Or that he wasn’t.
The drive to Emily’s mother’s house felt longer than it ever had before. Every red light felt personal. Every second in traffic felt like it was pressing down on my chest.
By the time I arrived, my hands were numb on the steering wheel.
Emily’s car was parked outside.
I got out slowly.
Before I even reached the door, it opened.
Her mother stood there, looking worried.
“She’s upstairs,” she said softly. “She’s been crying.”
My stomach twisted. “Did she tell you anything?”
Her mother hesitated. “She said… she didn’t expect this to come out now.”
That wasn’t a denial.
That was confirmation of something.
I climbed the stairs like my legs didn’t belong to me anymore.
Emily was sitting on the edge of the bed, hands folded tightly in her lap. When she saw me, she flinched slightly—but didn’t run.
“I saw it,” I said.
She closed her eyes.
“I saw what he said,” I continued. “And I saw the messages.”
Silence.
Then finally, she whispered, “I didn’t mean for it to happen like this.”
My voice broke. “Is it true?”
She looked up at me.
And that was the moment everything changed.
Because she didn’t say yes.
She didn’t say no.
She just started crying harder.