Chapter 57

Andy's POV

After Bree had given me details about how her day with Dominic went and after gushing over it and being excited about the way their relationship was heading, we had bade each other a good night's rest.
I was now in the bathroom, brushing my teeth half heartedly. I was staring at my reflection in the mirror, my mind swirling with the thoughts that had been nagging me- the picture of me and Jason kissing that had been sent to me by an unknown number.

Everything was suffocating me and I didn’t know how to get out of it all. Suddenly, my phone beeped from where it was in the bed, the sound drew me out of my thoughts as I hastily finished my brushing and ran out of the bathroom. I took the phone from the bed, hoping it was Jason that had sent a message about an update on the situation.

But it wasn’t Jason. It was the unknown number again. I hadn’t replied their message since the sent the picture and I had been expecting them to say something.

I swallowed, feeling my stomach twist as I opened the message. It read: “Guess who?”

A wave of unease washed over me, and my fingers trembled slightly as I typed my reply: “Marissa?”

It had to be her. She had been the one threatening to ruin my life, she’s the one who wanted to make me miserable to the point of shame. I sent the message and waited for a reply from them.

Almost immediately, they replied and it was a series of laughing emojis before they finally sent another message; You sure do have a lot of enemies.

My chest tightened. If it wasn’t Marissa… then who? I tried to think of anyone else that could be interested in ruining me but I could not think of anyone. Marissa was the only person who’d ever been vindictive enough to pull something like this. If not her… was there someone else?

My fingers flew across the screen as I replied: “What do you want?”

The response came almost immediately, the words chilling me to my core: “Oh, nothing. Just wanted you to be aware that I’m going to ruin your life.”

I kept looking at my screen and my heart was beating wildly against my chest. I wanted to ask why they were doing this but I thought against it. Whoever this was, they wanted to see me panic. They wanted to see me scared. And as scared as I was, I was not going to give them that satisfaction. I was not going to beg or be at their mercy.

So I just dropped my phone as I tried to ignore the nausea that washed over me. I sat down on the bed as I took deep breaths to steady myself but before long, my phone buzzed with a other notification. This time, the message read: “Have a goodnight, Andrea.”

They knew my name. Of course they knew me. Whoever this person was, they had it out for me, they knew that this picture was a great implication and they wanted me to know that they knew.

I didn’t reply, I was about to drop my phone but my phone buzzed with another notification. This time, it was Jason. I let out a small breath of relief, I had been wanting to talk to him but we were not alone in the house so I had to resort to texting him. I had it in mind to text him and coincidentally he texted first, perfect timing.

“Hey,” he’d typed.

I quickly replied: “I was just about to text you.”

“What’s up?” he asked. “Did something happen?”

I paused, staring at the screen, and then I decided to just tell him everything. “No… but the person texted again.”

His reply came immediately. “What did they say?”

I didn’t try to explain it to him, I just went to the message from the unknown number, took a screenshot and sent it to him. A few minutes passed before he eventually replied.

“Well, for starters, now we know it's not Marissa.”

I frowned, my fingers moving quickly over the screen as I replied. “How can we be sure it’s not Marissa? She could be lying.”

“She’s been home mostly. And even when she went out, it was to the beach,” Jason replied. “The private investigator was on her tail. There’s no way it could’ve been her. It has to be someone else, maybe someone she hired… or someone else entirely.”

I let that sink in, feeling my heart rate slow, if only a little. If it wasn’t Marissa, then maybe… just maybe, we still had a chance to get to the bottom of this without blowing everything up.

“Oh.” I typed, feeling the weight lift just slightly.

Jason must’ve sensed my unease because his next message was gentle. “Hey, everything’s going to be okay. Don’t worry too much, alright?”

I wanted to believe him. But I was already balancing so much- keeping this secret from Bree, dealing with the fear of being exposed. The weight felt unbearable.

“How can I be calm, Jason? The one thing I’ve been trying to avoid is finally happening. I’m terrified of Bree’s reaction when she finds out.”

Jason’s reply was immediate and resolute. “Bree would not find out about this. I’ll do everything I can to make sure she doesn’t.”

I was relieved to hear that but I was still scared, we were walking on thin ice. Everything was this close to falling apart. I was caught up in a mess I had tried so much to avoid, I let out a sigh and immediately, his message entered.

“I have people on it, checking security cameras in the area where we were,” Jason texted. “But it’s hard. There aren’t many cameras out there, and some have been broken for a while.”

“Okay,” I typed, trying to muster up some semblance of hope. Maybe he’d find something that could help us.

A while later, another message from him entered: “Do you want to come over so we can look at the footage together tomorrow?”

I hesitated for a while as I bit my lip. The thought of being seen with Jason again made my stomach turn.

“Do I have to? Won’t that risk us being seen together again? Plus, I probably wouldn’t recognize anyone there anyway, since I barely know anyone here”

I waited for his response, feeling slightly guilty but also exhausted by the constant anxiety that followed every interaction we had. But Jason seemed to understand.

“Good point,” he typed. “I’ll watch it and let you know whatever I find.”

I let out a small sigh as I felt relief wash all over me. At least for now, I could avoid any more close calls.

“Thank you,” I replied, feeling the exhaustion settle in my bones. The tension, the secrets, the fear- it was all too much.
“Please, just keep me updated.”

“Of course. Get some rest, Andy. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

I dropped my phone as I let out another sigh, laying down on the bed as I tried to force myself to sleep but I just couldn’t. My head kept swirling with different thoughts ranging from who was behind the unknown number to what would happiness if everything gets out into the public.

I took a deep breath as I shut my eyes tightly forcing myself to sleep as I prayed and hoped everything would go back to normal soon.