The Truth You Deserve
Lila’s breath caught in her throat as she stared at the message on her phone. The words blurred together, but the weight of them was unmistakable. Her fingers trembled as she hovered over the screen, her heartbeat thundering in her ears. You don’t know me, but I know Elias. And I think you deserve to know the truth. The truth. Her stomach twisted. “Lila?” Elias’s voice pulled her back to reality. She looked up, blinking rapidly. He stood in the hallway, his brows knitted together, concern etched into every sharp angle of his face. “Everything okay?”
Lila swallowed hard. She didn’t answer. She couldn’t. Instead, she turned the phone toward him, her pulse hammering against her ribs. His eyes flickered to the screen, his jaw tightening as he read the message. For a split second, something passed over his face something unreadable. Then he lifted his gaze to hers. “Who sent that?” “I don’t know,” she admitted, her voice barely above a whisper. A muscle in his jaw twitched. He reached for her phone, but she pulled it back. “Lila” “Do you know who it could be?” she cut in, her voice sharper now, cutting through the air between them.
Elias hesitated. Just for a moment. Just long enough for something cold to settle in her chest. “Why would someone say this?” she pushed. “Why now?” His expression darkened. “I don’t know. But people like to mess with things when they see something good.” She frowned. “That’s not an answer.” His hand ran through his hair, tension radiating from him. “Lila, I don’t know who that is. I don’t know what they think they know, but” He exhaled. “You trust me, don’t you?”
The question hit her like a slow-moving wreck. Of course she trusted him. Didn’t she? She searched his face, looking for something, anything that would put out the fire now burning inside her. The phone buzzed again. A second message. Ask him about the night at the hotel. The air in the hallway grew suffocating. Elias went completely still. And in that moment, she knew. Her hands went cold. “Elias…” His throat bobbed, his fingers curling into fists at his sides. “I don’t know what they’re talking about.”
It was a Lie. She knew him too well. Knew the way his voice changed when he was hiding something. She took a step back. “What happened at the hotel?” “Nothing,” he said too quickly. “Lila, don’t do this. Whoever this is, they’re trying to get in your head.” “But why would they send this?” Her voice cracked. “Why would someone send this unless” She couldn’t finish the sentence. Couldn’t even breathe past the weight pressing against her ribs. His silence spoke louder than anything. Her vision blurred. The walls of her childhood home felt like they were closing in. “Lila,” he said, stepping forward.
She took another step back. She shook her head. “Just tell me the truth.” Elias’s hands clenched. His eyes burned into hers, a war raging behind them. He looked like he wanted to fight, to argue, to say anything to stop this moment from crumbling. But then, something shifted. His shoulders sagged. His breath came out unsteady. And he whispered, “I can’t.” A sharp, strangled sound escaped her lips. She felt everything unravel in real time. “You can’t?” she echoed, voice breaking. He reached for her, but she flinched away.
“Lila, it’s not what you think” “Then what is it?” Her voice cracked like thunder. “Because right now, it looks a hell of a lot like you did something you can’t take back.” His silence was a knife to the ribs. Her hands trembled. The phone buzzed again, but she didn’t need to read it. She had all the answers she needed. And suddenly, she wasn’t sure if she could stand to look at him anymore. “Lila, please,” he rasped. “You know me.” She let out a shaky breath, trying to keep the storm inside her from spilling over. “I thought I did.” Then she turned and walked away. Leaving him standing there, watching her go.
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