CHAPTER 9 The Enemy of My Enemy #2
Mason rubbed his jaw.
“Derek’s twenty minutes away.”
Silence.
Then Noah said, “Derek?”
“You heard me.”
“What the hell is he doing in Seattle?”
“Apparently ruining my day.”
Noah swore.
“Don’t let him leave.”
Mason laughed.
“That sounded almost like teamwork.”
“Don’t get excited.”
The call ended.
I looked at Mason.
“You two are charming.”
“Still not funny.”
“It’s a little funny.”
He didn’t smile.
Instead, he walked toward me.
“Emma.”
I knew that tone.
“No.”
“I haven’t said anything.”
“You’re about to tell me to leave.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
His jaw tightened.
“This isn’t about control.”
“I know.”
That softened me.
He touched my arms.
“Someone threatened you.”
“Yes.”
“I can’t think clearly with you standing in the middle of this.”
My chest tightened.
“Mason.”
“I know that isn’t fair.”
His hands tightened slightly.
“But I need you safe.”
I looked up at him.
“And I need you not making stupid decisions because you’re scared.”
“I don’t make stupid decisions.”
“You punched a man into intensive care.”
He stared.
“Low blow.”
“Effective.”
His mouth almost moved.
Almost.
I placed my hands against his chest.
“We handle this together.”
His eyes held mine.
“That wasn’t in the rules.”
“It is now.”
He exhaled.
“Fine.”
“Fine?”
“Yes.”
“Growth.”
“Don’t enjoy it.”
A knock hit the front door.
Three sharp impacts.
Mason moved in front of me instantly.
“Stay here.”
“That I’ll allow.”
He checked the security camera on his phone.
His expression hardened.
“Derek.”
I moved beside him.
The man on the screen looked like Mason if someone had taken all the softness out of him.
Older.
Maybe mid-thirties.
Dark hair.
Same gray eyes.
A scar near his jaw.
Mason opened the door but kept the chain engaged.
Derek looked at him.
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“You think I came to hurt you?”
“No.”
His gaze moved past Mason.
“To her?”
Mason’s entire body changed.
“Careful.”
Derek smiled faintly.
“Still dramatic.”
“Why are you here?”
“To help.”
“Try again.”
“I mean it.”
Mason opened the door fully.
Derek walked in.
His eyes found me immediately.
I understood why Mason had never mentioned him.
They looked alike enough to be unmistakably related.
But where Mason’s intensity had warmth beneath it, Derek looked sharpened by years of expecting disappointment.
“Emma.”
I crossed my arms.
“You know my name.”
“I do.”
“Stop texting me.”
“Already stopped.”
“Someone didn’t.”
Derek nodded.
“That’s why I came.”
Mason closed the door.
“You have five minutes.”
Derek walked toward the kitchen.
“Still giving orders.”
“Four minutes fifty seconds.”
Derek looked at me.
“How do you tolerate him?”
“I haven’t decided.”
“Good answer.”
Mason glared.
“Derek.”
“Fine.”
He removed his phone.
“I asked someone to trace the message numbers.”
“Who?”
“Friend.”
“What kind of friend?” I asked.
Derek looked at me.
“The kind who doesn’t ask why.”
“Very reassuring family.”
Mason sighed.
“What did he find?”
“Numbers were activated within the last week.”
“Location?”
“Seattle.”
My stomach tightened.
“All of them?”
“No.”
Derek swiped.
“One Portland.”
Mason’s face changed.
“Which?”
“The one that sent the photo from the game.”
I stared.
“That wasn’t a random sports account?”
“No.”
“But the post was public.”
“Because someone sent the image to several accounts.”
Derek looked at Mason.
“Someone wanted the story to explode.”
“Why?”
“To isolate you.”
Mason frowned.
“What?”
“Think.”
Derek leaned against the counter.
“First they make your relationship public.”
My face heated at the word relationship.
Not relevant.
“Then they send Emma pieces of your worst history.”
He continued.
“Then Noah gets a threat.”
Mason stared at him.
Derek’s expression hardened.
“Someone is pushing all three of you.”
“Toward what?” I asked.
“No idea.”
The front door knocked again.
Mason checked.
“Noah.”
Derek smiled without humor.
“This should be fun.”
“It won’t.”
Mason opened the door.
Noah walked in.
He saw me first.
“You okay?”
“Yes.”
Then Mason.
Then Derek.
His expression became ice.
“Jesus.”
Derek smiled.
“Bennett.”
Noah stepped toward him.
“You shouldn’t be here.”
“Nice seeing you too.”
“You threatened Travis.”
Derek’s expression changed.
“So?”
“So he disappeared.”
“Here we go.”
Mason stepped between them.
“Enough.”
Noah looked at him.
“You believe him?”
“I believe he didn’t send today’s messages.”
“How do you know?”
“Different numbers.”
“That proves nothing.”
“It proves enough for now.”
Derek crossed his arms.
“Travis is dead.”
Noah froze.
“What?”
Mason looked at him.
“You didn’t know either.”
“No.”
Derek explained.
Shorter this time.
Idaho.
Remains.
Exposure.
Identification.
Noah sat slowly on the edge of a chair.
“Why wasn’t this public?”
“Why would it be?” Derek asked.
“He wasn’t famous.”
Noah stared at the floor.
I watched the years of guilt rearrange themselves on his face.
For both men.
Travis had been a ghost hanging over their history.
Now he was simply dead.
And whatever was happening to us had nothing to do with him.
Probably.
Noah looked at Mason.
“You think someone is trying to scare Emma because of you.”
Mason’s jaw tightened.
“Yes.”
Noah stood.
“Then she comes with me.”
I closed my eyes.
There it was.
“No.”
Both men looked at me.
Noah frowned.
“Emma.”
“I am standing right here.”
“Someone threatened you.”
“Yes.”
“So you’re not staying here.”
“I agree.”
Mason turned.
“You do?”
“Yes.”
Noah looked relieved.
“For once—”
“I’m not going with you either.”
Both men stared.
Derek laughed.
I pointed at him.
“Do not encourage this.”
He lifted his hands.
I continued.
“I’m going to Claire’s.”
“No,” Noah said.
Mason said, “Actually—”
I turned.
He stopped.
“Continue.”
He reconsidered.
“Claire’s could work.”
Noah looked betrayed.
“You’re agreeing with her?”
“She’s not connected to hockey.”
“Exactly,” I said.
“No one watching Mason or Noah expects me there.”
Derek nodded.
“Smart.”
Noah looked at him.
“You stay out of this.”
“Still friendly.”
I grabbed my coat.
Mason followed.
“You’re not driving yourself.”
I stared.
“That one I’m not negotiating.”
“Why?”
“Because if someone follows you, I want a security driver.”
I considered it.
Reasonable.
Annoying.
“Fine.”
Mason blinked.
“Fine?”
“Don’t get used to it.”
Noah almost smiled.
Then his phone buzzed.
He checked it.
His face changed.
“What?”
Noah turned the screen toward us.
A new message.
No photograph this time.
Just words.
**Good. Now you’re all together.**
Cold moved through the room.
Derek pushed away from the counter.
Mason looked toward the windows.
Noah immediately closed the blinds.
Another message arrived.
**Ask Derek why he really came back to Seattle.**
Derek’s expression changed.
Subtle.
But enough.
Mason saw it.
“So,” he said slowly, “why did you really come?”
Derek didn’t answer.
Noah stepped closer.
“Cole.”
Derek stared at the message.
Then looked at Mason.
“I was going to tell you.”
“That phrase has never improved a situation.”
Derek exhaled.
“I got something three days ago.”
“What?”
He pulled a folded envelope from inside his jacket.
Placed it on the table.
No return address.
Mason opened it.
Inside was a photograph.
Lily.
Alive.
Standing outside a restaurant.
The timestamp in the corner was dated three days after the night she died.
My stomach dropped.
Noah went pale.
Mason stopped breathing.
“That’s impossible,” he whispered.
Derek looked at him.
“I know.”
Mason grabbed the photograph.
“This is fake.”
“Probably.”
“Probably?”
“I had it checked.”
“And?”
Derek’s face hardened.
“The image itself is old.”
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“Not AI. Not generated.”
Noah stepped closer.
“But the timestamp?”
“Added later.”
Mason turned the photo over.
There were three words written on the back.
**YOU MISSED SOMETHING.**
Silence swallowed the room.
Noah stared at Lily’s face.
Mason looked like someone had struck him.
I stepped beside him.
“What restaurant?”
He shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
Noah suddenly reached for the photo.
“Wait.”
We looked at him.
“I do.”
His face had gone completely pale.
Mason’s voice became dangerous.
“Where?”
Noah stared at the picture.
“That’s not Portland.”
“Then where?”
Noah lifted his eyes.
“Seattle.”
My stomach tightened.
“And?”
Noah swallowed.
“That photo was taken the week before Lily died.”
Mason stared at him.
“How do you know?”
Noah didn’t answer.
Mason stepped forward.
“How do you know?”
Noah closed his eyes.
“Because I took it.”
Everything stopped.
Mason stared.
“You?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Noah looked toward me.
Then Derek.
Then back at Mason.
“Because Lily came to see me.”
Mason’s face went blank.
“What?”
“Without telling you.”
“When?”
“Six days before the accident.”
“Why?”
Noah swallowed.
“She wanted help leaving him.”
Mason stepped backward.
Like the floor had shifted.
“You never told me.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because she made me promise.”
Mason’s expression turned furious.
“She was my sister.”
“I know.”
“She asked you for help and you said nothing?”
“She asked me not to tell you.”
“Why?”
Noah’s voice broke.
“Because she was scared of what you would do.”
Silence.
Mason looked devastated.
Noah continued.
“She knew you’d confront him.”
“I should have.”
“And she thought it would make everything worse.”
“So she went to you.”
“Yes.”
“What did you do?”
“I helped her find an apartment.”
Mason stared.
“What?”
“She was planning to leave.”
My chest tightened.
This changed everything.
Noah looked down.
“She had signed papers.”
“Where?”
“Seattle.”
“Why Seattle?”
“She wanted distance.”
“From him?”
Noah looked at Mason.
“From both of you.”
That hurt him.
I saw it.
“She loved you,” Noah said quickly. “But she said she needed to make one decision without you fixing it.”
Mason turned away.
His hands clenched.
Derek became unusually quiet.
I looked at the photograph.
“So whoever sent this knows Lily’s private plan.”
“Yes,” Noah said.
“Who knew?”
“Me.”
“Anyone else?”
“The leasing agent.”
“Her boyfriend?”
“No.”
“Mason?”
“No.”
Derek looked at Noah.
“Then whoever sent that either got into Lily’s things…”
He paused.
“Or she told someone else.”
The thought chilled me.
Mason turned back.
His face was pale but controlled.
“Did she move anything into the apartment?”
“No.”