Chapter 47 Don't trust him
Asher didn't say anything else regarding Damian. They walked in silence. Suddenly, Asher stopped and checked his wristwatch, “Oh shit! I have a class. Let's see later.” With that he walked away.
Lila watched him until he disappeared, she bit her lower lip. “He didn't get to explain his warning.” She turned towards the opposite direction and went for own lecture.
An hour later, Lila walked out of a building and she was headed to another. The moment she stepped on the library stairs, her phone vibrated. She pulled it out from her bag and she checked the notification. It was a text from an unknown number.
“Don't mind him.”
The message burned in Lila’s mind long after her phone stopped vibrating.
She kept staring at it as if the words would somehow rearrange into something safer, something ordinary.
“Don’t trust him.”
Just three words, simple, cold, and terrifying.
The world around her seemed to blur.Her fingers tightened around her phone. Her pulse thudded in her ears.
Don’t trust who?
The question circled her mind like a whisper she couldn’t silence.
Roy?
He’d been kind, almost too kind. He always appeared when she needed help, always smiled at her like he was trying too hard to keep her calm. Could it be him?
Or Asher?
He cared, maybe too much. Always worrying, always hovering. Sometimes she couldn’t tell if it was friendship or something else entirely, like something darker hiding beneath concern.
Her thoughts shifted. Beckett?
He’d always been cold, and too quiet. His eyes had a way of seeing through her, like he was studying not just her words but her fear. Could the message be about him?
Then again, Damian?
The golden boy. The new friend. The charming athlete who made her laugh. Maybe too easily. Maybe that was the point to make her lower her guard.
Her stomach twisted.
Each name brought more confusion and more panic.
Her thumb hovered over Asher’s contact name. For a second, she considered ignoring it. Maybe she should handle this alone. Maybe that’s what the killer wanted for her to reach out and expose herself.
But she couldn’t help it. Her hands were shaking. She needed someone to listen, to tell her she wasn’t losing her mind.
She pressed the call button.
“Asher?” Her voice came out smaller than she wanted, when he answered the call.
There was noise on his end, wind, footsteps. Then, his voice: “Lila? What’s wrong?”
“Can you come to the library?” she said quickly. “Please.”
Something in her tone must’ve told him enough because he didn’t ask questions.
“I’m on my way.”
She ended the call and tried to steady her breathing. She sat at one of the study tables, pretending to read while her mind kept replaying that text over and over.
Her chest tightened with every passing minute.
Ten minutes later, Asher appeared in the doorway, his hair damp from running through the drizzle outside, eyes scanning the room until he found her. He hurried toward her, concern written across his face.
“What happened?” he asked, sliding into the seat next to her. He wondered if she missed him and wanted him to be with her, because he was with an hour ago. After Damian's invite, Asher had excused himself to attend a lecture.
She handed him her phone without saying a word.
He glanced at the screen. His jaw tensed. “When did this come in?”
“Just before I called you.”
“We were together an hour ago.” Asher said, he paused to look at her face. “Where did you go after I left?”
“I don't understand, Asher.” Lila responded instantly. “ I attended a lecture and I decided to come over to the library to get materials for Prof. Beckett's essay and I got the message.” She explained.
He nodded and turned the phone toward the light. The message glared back, the same, bold, clean and short message. No sender name, no number she recognized.
“Unknown number,” he muttered.
“Yes.”
He exhaled slowly, his eyes moving around the room as if expecting to see the sender hiding behind a desk. The low buzz of other students filled the silence pages turning, whispers, footsteps echoing. Everything ordinary, everything normal. Except her heart pounding like it wanted out of her chest.
“Did you tell anyone else?” he asked quietly.
She shook her head. “No one.”
He studied her for a long second, then pushed the phone back toward her.
“You can’t let things like this get to you, Lila.”
Her brows knit together. “Get to me? Someone’s warning me not to trust someone, Asher. That’s not just some random prank.”
“I know,” he said gently, “but that’s what they want. They want you scared. Whoever keeps doing this, the messages, the gifts, they’re feeding off your reaction.”
Her throat tightened. “But what if they’re not lying? What if..”
“Then we’ll deal with it,” he interrupted softly, but firmly. “But you can’t start suspecting everyone around you. That’s exactly how they win.”
His calm tone was almost enough to ground her almost. She sighed, staring at the floor. The glow from her phone reflected faintly in her eyes, like a tiny, cruel reminder.
“Let’s get out of here,” he said after a moment. “You need air.”
She hesitated. “You really think I should just ignore it?”
Asher looked at her for a long second, then nodded. “Yes, don’t give them control.”
She didn’t answer, but she followed him.
Outside, the air was damp and cool. Clouds had gathered over the campus, turning everything gray. Students hurried past with umbrellas, the wet pavement shining under the fading daylight.
They walked side by side in silence. Each step seemed louder than it should have been.
Lila’s thoughts were everywhere tangled between fear and exhaustion. She kept hearing the message in her head. Don’t trust him. It echoed until she started to wonder if she’d ever stop hearing it.
“Asher?” she said softly.
He looked at her. “Yeah?”
“What if it’s someone on campus?”
He didn’t stop walking. “It probably is.”
“That doesn’t make it better,” she muttered.
He gave her a small smile. “It’s just reality. But we’ll be careful. You don’t have to face this alone.”
She nodded, though her shoulders stayed tense. The words helped, but only a little.
They passed the main courtyard. Someone strummed a guitar near the steps of the student center, and for a brief second, the sound made her chest ache.
Ruby had sometimes played soft, quiet tunes when she studied late at night. Lila remembered sitting on her bed, watching her sister hum and strum like the world was something that could still be beautiful.
She blinked hard. Don’t cry here.
“Are you okay?” Asher asked again, noticing her silence.
She forced a smile. “I’m.just tired.”
He didn’t press further, but his gaze lingered. He was cautious and watchful.
They turned down a narrow path toward the dorms. The trees rustled lightly overhead. The world felt quieter here, almost too still.
Asher’s phone buzzed. He stopped to check it, his brows knitting together.
“Is everything okay?” she asked.
He nodded quickly. “Yeah, just a message. Nothing serious.”
“Do you have female admirers?” She asked teasingly. “Ohh, my baby is now a grown up man.’
Asher smiled,he was relieved to see her smiling too.