“They are different,” she agreed softly. “You don’t have to carry that weight anymore. You know the truth now.”
She leaned up on her tiptoes, pressing a soft, lingering kiss to my cheek, right at the corner of my mouth. “Drive safely, honey. Call me when you get to the dorms. Not your father. Me.”
I nodded, gripping the handle of my suitcase. I opened the front door, the cold Portland air rushing in, shocking my system. I walked out to my car, the gravel crunching beneath my boots, feeling like a completely different person than the boy who had pulled into the driveway two days ago.
I tossed my suitcase into the back seat, climbed into the driver’s seat, and started the engine. The headlights cut through the dark, misty evening. As I backed down the driveway, I looked toward the house. Sophia was standing by the large bay window of the living room, her silhouette framed by the indoor light, watching me leave.
I turned onto the main road, the tires humming against the wet asphalt. The highway back to campus was mostly empty, the dark trees lining the road like silent sentinels. My mind was racing, replaying every moment, every touch, every word. The fear of returning to the college rumors had faded, replaced by a strange, intoxicating confidence.
An hour into the drive, my phone, resting in the center console, buzzed sharply.
I glanced down, expecting a text from Sophia checking in on my drive. Instead, the screen illuminated with a notification from an unknown number.
I picked it up at a red light, swiping the screen open. It was a video file, accompanied by a single line of text.
My blood turned to absolute ice as I read the message:
“You forgot about the smart-home security cameras in the living room, Liam. Your dad is going to love the weekend recap. If you want the cloud storage deleted, you have exactly one hour to transfer $10,000 to the link below. Don’t bother calling Sophia. She’s next.”
My breath hitched. With trembling fingers, I tapped the video preview. The screen flickered, and there, in perfectly clear, high-definition night-vision, was the living room hearth. The time-stamp on the bottom right of the video read: Saturday, 03:42 PM.
