I couldn't sleep. Not when the same man's face haunted my laptop screen and my nightmares.
After school, I locked myself in My room, fingers trembling over the keyboard. I had to know who he was—the man who grabbed me that night and warned me to stay away from Sebastian. Something about his voice, the pain in his eyes—it wasn't just a threat. It was a warning. A desperate one.
I started with the obvious: Jonathan Patterson. Sebastian's father.
Powerful. Influential. Untouchable.
Every article screamed prestige—charity donations, academic honors, political alliances. The perfect mask.
The town saw Jonathan Patterson as a visionary. A generous donor. A man of progress. But as I stared at his name, page after page, clip after clip.
But the deeper I dug, the more inconsistencies I found. Minor ones—people disappearing from staff lists, outdated photos, a lack of personal details.
Then I found the video.
Old footage. Shaky. From the funeral of Sebastian's mother.
The camera focused on a small, broken boy—Sebastian, barely eight, clinging to a woman's scarf and crying silently beside his father, who stood motionless. Cold. His eyes scanned the crowd, not once looking at his son. And then I saw him—just behind him—was the man. The same man who warned me. Standing in a black coat, head bowed slightly, just anotMe shadow behind Jonathan Patterson.
My heart froze.
I hit pause. Zoomed in. It was definitely him.
Without wasting another second, I called Luke.
"Liv?" he answered groggily.
"I found him," I whispered. "I need you to see something."
We met at his flat. The place was dimly lit, papers scattered across the table. I showed him the paused video.
"That's Jonathan's old secretary," Luke said after a moment. "No one really knew his name. Everyone called him 'Vince' or something—he was always just… . Silent."
"Can we find anything on him?"
Luke sat back, frowning. "We can try. But if he was close to Jonathan, chances are his records are scrubbed."
We dove in.
Hours turned into days. I barely slept. I drifted through school like a ghost, barely answering when teachers called on Me. My eyes were red, My hands ink-stained from notes I scribbled between classes. In History class, Sebastian kept glancing at Me, worry twisting his face.
He tried talking to Me in the hallway once, reaching for my hand.
"Liv, are you okay? You look… exhausted."
"I'm just studying a lot," I lied, too quickly.
That lie cracked something in him. I could feel it.
Sebastian hadn't been alone with Me in four days. I missed him. But I couldn't let him in—not yet. Not until I understood what we were dealing with.
In those four days, me and Luke went through news archives, university records, scanned digital IDs, even obscure conspiracy forums.
Then came the breakthrough.
Buried inside an old document about a defunct tech firm Jonathan had once funded, I found it—a scanned certificate. "PROJECT ECHO – Authorized Personnel Only." Me stomach turned.
"I've seen this before," I whispered. "In my parents' study."
Luke turned to Me slowly. "Wait. What?"
"It was… years ago. I asked them, and they said it was some research thing. I never questioned it." My voice cracked. "What if they're involved, Luke?"
He didn't answer at first.
Instead, he placed a hand on Me shoulder. "Whatever this is… we'll figure it out. together."
We were so lost in research, we didn't hear the knock. The door creaks open behind us.
"What the hell is going on?"
Sebastian's voice.
We both turned.
Seb and Eve stood in the doorway—Seb's eyes dropped to the table again—at the papers, the photos, the certificate I had found.
Eve was silent
"I... what is this?"
My breath caught.
Then he froze.
His father's name. In bold. Typed neatly beside the words Project Echo.
The color drained from his face.
"You said you will not look into this," he whispered, almost to himself. "You promised me, I. You said you'd drop it."
I stepped forward, voice trembling. "Seb, I—"
"You promised me!" he shouted, louder now, his voice shaking. "I asked you once not to go behind my back. And this is all of it. Every nightmare I've ever had spread across this goddamn table like some fucking science project!"
Luke stood between them. "I was just trying to protect you, Seb."
Sebastian's jaw clenched. "Don't talk like you know what it's like! You think I don't see the way you look at me? Like I'm a bomb that's going to go off any second? And now you're both picking me apart like I'm broken?"
He shoved a stack of papers to the ground. I flinched.
Luke moved toward him, angry now too. "You think I wanted this? You think I wanted to dig into your past and find monsters behind the door? I've been trying to help you for years, Sebastian. But you never let anyone in."
Sebastian's fists were clenched so tight his knuckles turned white.
"I trusted you," he hissed. "Both of you."
Then, softer. "And now I don't know who to be mad at. My father… or you."
Silence rang in the room like a scream.
Luke ran a hand through his hair, his voice lower now. Tired. Honest. "We can't keep this from him anymore, Liv."
I didn't move.
"We can't lie to him," Luke said. "He needs to know everything.
I swallowed hard and finally looked at Sebastian, my voice almost whispering.
"Seb, I have something to tell you."
Sebastian looked at me, his eyes already dimming. "What now?"
"That night," I said slowly, "after the party, someone stopped me. A man. He knew your name. He told me to stay away from you. From the Patterson house."
His whole body stiffened. "What?"
"I—I didn't know who he was. I still don't," I admitted. "He said being near you would get me hurt."
Sebastian stepped back like My words struck him. "And you didn't tell me."
"I was trying to—"
"Protect me?" he cut in, bitter. "Because apparently I'm just some fragile thing that needs shielding from the truth, right?"
I shook My head, panic rising. "No, Seb, I swear I wasn't trying to hide it from you to lie—I didn't know what it meant, and I thought maybe it was nothing. I thought maybe if I stayed close to you, I could figure it out. I thought—"
"That it was okay to keep it from me?" he asked, voice razor-thin. "And let me walk around not knowing someone's threatening the one person who still looks at me like I matter?"
I opened my mouth, but nothing came out.
He turned to Luke. "And you knew?"
Luke looked down, guilt settling in his shoulders. "Yeah. I did."
"Jesus," Sebastian muttered, turning away, dragging a hand through his hair. "I told you both—I told you I didn't want this. I said don't go digging."
My voice cracked. "I found something else, Seb."
He turned slowly, his eyes a storm.
"There's this thing... I found it in my parents' study. A certificate. 'Project Echo.' I didn't know what it meant, but then I started seeing the same name in connection to your father. So I asked Luke to help me."
Sebastian's silence said everything.
I swallowed. "I think my parents were involved. Maybe still are."
Seb's head dropped slightly, like the weight of those words crude something in his chest.
"My best friend," he whispered, "and the girl I—" He couldn't finish. "You were both just... digging through my past. Watching footage of me breaking down beside my mom's body. Printing articles. Searching my family's name like it's some sick puzzle."
"I thought you believed in me," Sebastian said, his voice like glass cracking. "I thought you both—"
"Seb," I whispered, stepping toward him, "we were doing this for you."
"No," he snapped, eyes blazing. "You were doing this because you didn't trust me to handle it. Because you thought I was too far gone."
"That's not true!"
"Then why the hell didn't you tell me the second someone threatened you, I?"
"Because you would've blamed yourself," I cried. "You would've shut down. You would've disappeared on me like you always do when you're scared."
He blinked at me, his expression twisted with pain.
"So now I'm just some pathetic thing you have to fix."
"No," I whispered. "You're the only thing that makes me feel real."
Sebastian looked at Me, really looked, like he was trying to understand Me but couldn't.
"I need air," he said suddenly, his voice clipped and rough. "I need to get the hell out of here."
"Seb—"
But he was already halfway to the door.
I took a step back, Me chest tight. "I was scared , Sebastian! Scared you'd shut down again. That you'd leave."
"I would've left," he said quietly, the words like a confession. "If I thought you were in danger… I would've left you."
Me heart shattered at the sound of his words.
I stepped closer. "And that's exactly why I didn't tell you. Because you keep punishing yourself for things that aren't your fault."
Sebastian's eyes squeezed shut, his hands clenched into fists by his sides.
"I don't even know who I am anymore," he said, his voice trembling. "I look in the mirror and I see him. And now you're telling me the girl I—" He stopped, his breath catching. "The girl I finally let in has been digging up the ghosts I've spent my entire life trying to bury."
I reached for him. "Seb…"
But he stepped back, almost as if he couldn't bear Me touch.
"I can't do this right now," he said, his voice raw.
"Please don't shut me out," I whispered, Me voice breaking.
"I'm not shutting you out," he said quietly. "I just… I need to breathe before I drown."
And then he left.
The door clicked shut behind him, and I just stood tMee, trembling—heart cracking open as Luke reached out and gently touched Me arm.
"We'll fix this," Luke said, his voice low, full of concern.
But I wasn't so sure anymore.
Not when the boy I loved looked more like a ghost than the boy I once held under the stars.
The door slammed, louder this time. Final.
Sebastian was gone.
Again.
And this time, I didn't know if he'd come back.
I stared at the door, the silence crashing in like a wave, the kind that pulls everything under. I wanted to run after him, but my legs wouldn't move. I wanted to scream, cry, say something that would fix all of this—but my throat burned with words I couldn't find.
Behind me, Eve sat down on the edge of Luke's couch like my body couldn't carry the weight of it all anymore.
Luke paced in front of the window, jaw locked, fists clenched, guilt rolling off him like smoke.
"I shouldn't have waited," I whispered.
"You shouldn't have done it alone," Eve said flatly, not even looking at me.
I turned to her. My voice wasn't sharp anymore—it was tired. Bone-deep tired. Like the kind Sebastian carried in his eyes.
"I wanted to protect him," I said, but even as I spoke it, the words felt paper-thin.
Eve shook Me head slowly. "And who protected him tonight?"
That landed like a punch.
Luke finally stopped pacing. "I told him the truth, Eve. Every piece of it."
"And now he's gone," I said, my voice cracking. "Do you even understand what you just did?"
I moved closer, trying to reach me, but I looked at me like I didn't recognize me anymore. "Eve, I—"
"You were digging into our family," I snapped suddenly, voice rising. "Our history. Our pain. Without us. Without me."
"I'm not a stranger to what he's going through, I," I said. "You think I don't hear it? At night? You think I don't know what he hides? I do. I see every bruise. Every time he lies and says he's fine. Every time he sends me away so I won't hear it when he gets hurt."
Tears filled Me eyes. "And I knew you knew too. But I thought… I thought at least we were in this together."
"I didn't want to drag you through this," I whispered, ashamed.
"But I'm already dragged through it!" I shouted, standing. "He's my brother. That house is my hell too. And you and Luke thought what? That I was too delicate? That I couldn't handle the truth about my own damn father?"
I couldn't breathe under the weight of Me grief.
Luke stepped forward, gently. "Eve… we were trying to spare you. Not to hurt you."
"Well, congratulations," I said bitterly. "You failed at both."
I didn't have an answer. I'd ripped the last thread holding him together. Not when Eve, who had spent years standing guard over her brother's heart, now looked at me like I was just another person who let him down.
she turned Me back on us, shoulders shaking, wiping my eyes like I hated the tears themselves.
"I just…" she whispered, voice breaking. "I just wanted him to be okay. And now he's more broken than ever. And I don't know how to fix it."
Neither did I.
Because I had watched him walk out that door, eyes shattered, voice trembling, the air sucked from his lungs. I had watched him leave not because he hated us—but because he loved us, and that love had broken him.
I moved to sit beside Eve, slow and cautious. I didn't speak right away. We just sat tMee, two girls caught in the wreckage of a boy who never should've had to carry so much.
Luke finally spoke again, his voice low. "We'll find a way to reach him. We have to. But not with more lies."
I nodded, numb. "We need to figure out who that man is. Why he's connected to our families. Why my parents' name is on a certificate with Project Echo stamped across it."
Eve turned to me, my eyes glassy but fierce. "And this time, I help."
I didn't argue. I couldn't.
Because now, it wasn't just about secrets or guilt or protection.
It was about survival. For Sebastian. For Eve. For all of us.