Chapter 39 Ash And Honey
Becca’s POV
The wind felt strange that evening. Too soft for October.
My heels clicked against the cracked pavement as I walked toward my porch, my mind still replaying the chaos of the day, Mark’s face in the boardroom, the disbelief, the accusation.
His eyes had held a kind of rage I’d never seen before… one that came from fear.
I didn’t see the old woman until we collided.
“Oh, I’m so sorry, dear!” she gasped, her voice trembling.
Her shopping bag spilled open, glass bottles clinking against the ground.
“It’s fine,” I said quickly, kneeling to help.
But she snatched them up fast, almost panicked. Her scarf slipped a little, revealing a pale streak of hair near her temple.
I caught the faint smell of vanilla and cedar. It was an oddly familiar fragrance.
Before I could say anything, she straightened, gave me a nervous smile, and hurried off.
Weird.
Well everything felt weird lately.
I shook it off and unlocked the door.
The silence inside felt heavy.
No messages from Mark. No calls. Just the steady hum of my phone battery dying faster than usual. .
I plugged it in, but the screen flickered, then flashed a strange login ID: MA-Vault.
“What the hell…” I whispered, heart pounding.
The letters vanished before I could screenshot it.
I told myself it was just another glitch. That was easier than believing my phone had turned into someone’s window.
I couldn't sleep.
By morning, Danielle showed up with two coffees and her usual soft smile.
“How is your new job,’’ I smiled as I got the coffee from her.
“It's great as a partimer, the lady is oddly nice and the pay is outrageous compared to the task I deliver,”
“What's the name?”
“Mmm…I don't exactly remember,”
“It's fine,” I sipped my coffee.
Then he walked in.
Asher.
The slam of the door made the mugs rattle.
“What are you doing here?” I whispered, every muscle in me going cold.
He didn’t answer. His eyes were bloodshot, his breath reeking of whiskey. He had my phone in his hand.
“Funny thing,” he said, waving it. “Your message to Mark didn’t deliver. You wanted to warn him about me?”
My throat went dry.
“Asher, please—”
He hit me. Just enough to remind me who had the power.
Then again, harder, until the taste of blood filled my mouth.
Danielle screamed, running to the counter.
He smirked, scrolling through my photos. “Let’s show your lover who you really are.”
He opened the video, the one I’d begged him to delete. “Maybe if I post this, he’ll finally see what kind of trash he’s been protecting.”
“No!” I grabbed his wrist, but he shoved me away. My shoulder hit the wall.
And then, there was a crack.
A sound like thunder in a small room.
Danielle had swung the police baton—the one I’d confiscated from Asher weeks ago. It connected with the back of his skull.
He turned, confusion clouding his eyes, blood streaming down his temple. Then his body crumpled.
The world froze. The only sound was Danielle’s shallow breathing.
“Is he?”
“I don’t know!” she cried, shaking. “Oh God, Becca, I didn’t mean to…”
I crawled to Asher’s body. He was breathing barely. Not dead. Just unconscious.
“Becca!!!!,” Danielle yelled and I jerked to reality.
“Where is he?”
“Who? There is no one here. You just zone out in the middle of our conversation,”
Hold on
That was just my hallucination.
I couldn’t shake the image of Asher probably dying because we didn't take swift actions or the old woman’s scent lingering in my porch light. The world had started closing in again.
“What if he's dad?
“What if his neighbor didn't see him,”
Fear began to crawl into my bones and I shivered the more I stayed in the house.
“I will be back Danielle, I want to see someone,” I muttered as I picked my coat and left the house.
At Kira’s house, I sat on her couch, numb.
She made me tea, soft music playing in the background.
“It’s over,” she said, rubbing my arm. “You’re safe now.”
But my gut twisted. “Kira… how did you know Asher's place,”
She smiled, too calmly. “I had seen him couple of times going in there so I guess so,”
I wasn't convinced by her answer.
Later, when I showered, I left my phone on the counter to charge.
Through the misty glass, I saw her reflection moving near my things.
When I came out, she was stirring her tea, the phone in hand.
“I’m just charging it,” she said with that effortless grin.
More explanation when you're guilty. I didn't ask for any explanation.
I nodded, pretending to believe her.
But something in her eyes looked like calculation, not care.
I fell asleep sometime after midnight.
When I woke, my phone was warm in my hand.
Someone had been using it.
I checked the call logs. A few unfamiliar pings had been sent out around 2:14 a.m., to an encrypted number. I didn’t know it yet, but it was already too late.
My brain clicked. There was a secret recording I made of Daniel before he went on stage concerning some of Davenport's group.
I quickly went to the recording, it was gone..
I sat there for a long time, staring at the blank space where it should’ve been.
Kira walked in wearing her silk robe, a perfect, lazy smile on her face. “Try to sleep okay?”
I nodded slowly. “Yeah… thanks for everything.”
She leaned down, kissed my forehead gently. “You’re stronger than you think, Becca.”
When she left the room, her phone buzzed besides me
Unknown Contact: “Is she still in the dark?”
And my eyes gleamed at something it shouldn't have seen.
An older message from Kira to the contact.
“She still trusts me. Phase 2 can begin.”