April
Iwas tired of the lies. It was time for them to end.
Last night with Jason was…I wasn’t ready for how it made me feel. If there had been any doubts of my feelings for him, that did away with them.
And him telling me that what Shauna had said was a lie, that I hadn’t been just one among many—it was another revelation on top of many more. It was like I was in the middle of a jungle of lies, and the only way out of them was cutting through with the truth.
I was alone at the house, Jason at work and Willa off at school. I was going to tell Jason that night.
My only saving grace was that I hadn’t gone too far with the plan. The hard drive was still in my room, and it wasn’t going anywhere. I’d pick Willa up from school and when Jason came back from work, I’d tell him everything.
I had no idea how he would react. But it had to be done. The truth had to be revealed, and whatever price I had to pay, I would pay it.
An hour or so before it was time to pick up Willa from school, my phone rang. The number was unlisted, the same way it had been the times I’d received calls from Anton or Michael.
“Hello?” I stepped out onto one of the balconies.
“April! Holy shit!”
“Mike?” It was him. And he sounded…happy.
“You came through. I can’t fucking believe it, but you came through. I mean, I didn’t want to doubt you or anything, but you know.”
“Wait—what’s going on?”
“What?” he sounded surprised. “I’m with Anton right now—they’re letting me go.”
“Are you serious? Why?”
“Wait, what? Because of the information. Anton got the hard drive—it was all there, everything he needed.”
I felt the color drain out of my face. I was stunned.
“The information?”
“Yeah, you know, the info that they were going to kill me over? What’s wrong with you, April?”
Something was seriously, seriously wrong. But I needed more.
“Um, they’re letting you go?”
“Yep. I’m there now. Anton wanted to meet with us both to talk about our ‘compensation’ or something. I don’t know. But he wants you to come here as soon as you can.”
“OK. Do you have an address?” I kept my voice as cool and calm as I could.
“Uh, yeah. I’ll send it as soon as we’re off the phone. See you soon, sis!”
The line went dead, my phone buzzing a few moments later as he sent the address. I didn’t know the Upper West Side all that well, but it was nearby.
What. The. Fuck.
I ran upstairs to my bedroom and pushed the mattress aside.
The hard drive was gone.
Someone had taken it. And there was only one person I’d told about the thing.
Shauna.