Page 9 of Unfold
“You’re not a very smart girl, Kat, are you?” he asked, eyeing me as I sat boneless on his bed.
“I don’t… what’s going on? How come no one knows about you, and how do you know my name?”
He rolled his eyes, clearly exhausted with my questions “A few people know about me, it’s just best if most people don’t. I know your name because Mason won’t stop talking about you whenever he comes to see me.”
“Comes to see…?”
“Ugh, enough already.” He pushed back his hair in frustration. Suddenly his eyes lit up.
“If you help me, I can tell you everything you want to know,” he said with a mischievous smile. I nodded like a zombie, drained of emotions.
“What do you need?”
His chair whizzed toward the laptop and he removed the flash drive connected to it, cutting off the video that had been playing on the screen.
“Those were your parents, in the video, what were they…?”
He cursed under his breath. “Help me, and I’ll tell you everything I know,” he repeated, and I nodded. I needed some answers.
“I need you to take me to this address,” he handed me a piece of paper.
“Don’t ask why and don’t wake Miss T and Mason. If you do it, I’ll tell you everything you want to know.”
I would have said no if I had known what was about to happen. I would have refused. But I had been so desperate for answers that I didn’t question him. I simply snuck Connor out of the house quietly.
It was when we finally reached the address - which was a warehouse - that he told me everything.
“Listen carefully, Kat. There’s no time to explain why my existence has been kept a secret from you until now. Hopefully, Mason and I will be able to do that later in the day. But I’m about to do something dangerous, and I need you to contact the cops just in case something goes wrong.”
“What?!” I panicked. “You told me you’d give me answers! You didn’t say anything about involving the cops. Are you some sort of drug dealer vigilante?” I asked, despite knowing my assumption was stupid.
“There’s no time Kat. I’m sorry for involving you in this, but I didn’t want Mason to have anything to do with it, and you already saw the video.”
“Yes, the video. Explain to me what in God’s name that was.” Everything was happening so fast and I was so confused.
“Knowing will only put you in more danger. Now do as I’ve asked and call the cops,” he ordered, wheeling himself into the building as I made the call, hoping the cops would arrive soon because I was starting to get really scared.
I stood outside, contemplating whether to go in or to run while I had the chance. I had just decided I couldn’t leave Mason’s brother here all alone when a muscled hand suddenly yanked me inside and I felt a blow to my face.
I screamed, pain piercing through me as I fell to the ground. Scrambling to my feet, I tried to run from whoever had punched me, but they grabbed me by both ankles and twisted them. The sound of my bones popping out of their sockets echoed through the room, and I shrieked in agony. The shock came over me and I lapsed into unconsciousness in a matter of seconds.
CHAPTER TEN
Funny how life works, I thought.
Just days ago, only a few people knew about the existence of Connor Welsh, Mason’s paralyzed twin brother whose parents had kept a secret because they didn’t want their public image tarnished. That same son had died protecting their legacy as I later found out the flash drive had been an incriminating video to blackmail their parents.
Connor had been receiving threatening emails from the people that wanted the video. When it became clear that Mason’s life would be in danger if he didn’t do something, he bravely put himself in the line of fire. Now, half of the town stood in the cemetery watching a boy we all barely knew being lowered into his grave. The cops had rescued me, but they had been too late for him.
Jake came to stand beside me, his hands offering me support so I could forgo the crutches for a while. “You okay?” he asked. After my brush with death, I had made up with Jake, even giving him my blessing to be with Noelle. He didn’t need it - Jake would do what made him happy - but I wanted him to know I was happy for him too.
Was I okay? I didn’t think I was, but I was so tired of the pitiful looks everyone had been giving me that I didn’t mind lying. “Yes, I’m fine,” I said to him, offering him the ghost of a smile.
“You should go to Mason, he’s all alone.”
We both turned to watch my boyfriend, who stood between his stoic parents. My heart ached for him, but I still couldn’t bring myself to talk to him, not after what I had done. If only I had confronted him about Connor instead of leading him to his death.
“I can see what you are doing, so stop it. Mason doesn’t blame you for anything that happened and you shouldn’t blame yourself either. We can’t change what has happened, we can only move forward.”
