Chapter 40
Chapter Forty
ENZO
Lola
I'm here.
I stare at my screen.
It is to the Alex number, and I'm confused.
I haven't texted her from Alex since earlier, and that was just to try to settle her, offer her some kind of reassurance she had someone in her corner, at least until this was all over and Alex needed to turn into a ghost and vanish.
Like I was thinking to maybe make him meet someone?
But that shit is a while off.
First, I need to get through this.
"Read through today's texts between Lola and Alex."
My phone's app AI starts to read them, and all I learn is I'm a moron, and I haven't lost my mind.
Not completely.
Because clearly, I didn't ask her to go anywhere or anything like that.
I don't know, maybe she means she is still in Silas's house and is trying to reassure Alex.
Of course, it could be some kind of weird code.
But code for fucking what is what I would like to know.
I figure the first thought, Lola trying to reassure Alex she is fine, is the right thought.
I keep driving. I have gone a circuitous route, just in case someone has decided to follow. And weaving through town, going back on route like I'm lost is a good way to catch anyone following me.
No one is, though.
Suddenly, a nasty thought jumps into my head.
It is so awful I pull over by the side of the road once more, and this time, I have to will myself not to shake. After all, I might be wrong.
It takes me a few quick security checks to find out my nasty thought is right, and my blood turns cold.
Someone hacked into my phone.
It is something I should have noticed. Something I would.
Actually, it is something someone shouldn't be able to do.
But they didn't hack into the cloud or my physical phone.
They hacked into the circuitous system I have the Alex shit on.
I punch the steering wheel of my car.
"Fuck!"
How the hell could I make such a fucking rookie mistake?
You check things. You just do.
And even the most secure phone is notoriously not as secure as people believe.
I know this.
I make a fucking living off hacking and copying contents of phones. It is an easy way in.
The fact I got scammed into that happening isn't such a big deal. No, the big deal is I didn't notice.
There are all manners of excuses, like I have been busy trying to protect Lola.
Fuck.
I call Cade, but his phone rings out. So, I start the car, pedal to the metal, and I drive like a demon back to the fucking beach house.
I'm about twenty minutes out because I have been patting myself on the back for evasive route taking. But why the fuck would anyone follow me when they have got what they want?
Lola.
"Or," I tell myself silently, "think they have got."
I have no way of knowing what was said on the phone.
I almost swerve into another car as realization and a wave of blood-curdling nausea hits me hard.
Alex hasn't ever called Lola.
And when we met up, I made it a point to keep dialogue to a minimum—as much as possible when I'm also using words and commands to direct the scene and play. But all the fucking things I said to her in person were done in a whisper.
I punch the wheel again.
"She doesn't know my voice. Alex's voice. So, she will have no idea that she's been played."
Shit.
"Call Lola."
It rings out, and I grit my teeth. She is not about to pick up if she thinks I'm a fucking stalker.
"Call Silas."
He picks up after the second ring. "Yeah?"
"What the fuck, man? You heard from her?"
He is quiet for a beat. "Why the panic?"
"Because someone hacked my fucking phone and called her as Alex."
To his credit, he doesn't give me a plethora of told-you-sos. He just says, "She texted for information. Called, too. She's scared. That's what her text said."
"And you didn't text back?" I push out, furious at the entire world.
But the one asshole I'm the lividest at is me.
"You said not to."
"No. I said not to tell her anything but say you're working on it." I want to break something. "Why couldn't you tell her not to be scared? That I'm not as bad as she might think?"
"Look, dickwad, I didn't get you into this situation. You did. You. All by your fucking self...well, you and your dick."
I'm too scared to shoot him down with a comeback. The panic there too, cloying in my mouth. "Someone called her as Alex."
"Look—"
"She doesn't fucking know Alex's voice. She doesn't know it isn't him...me, I mean."
"Shit."
"And I can't get hold of Cade or my sister. Can you text him? And call? I'm driving."
"On it."
He disconnects the call.
She doesn't know Alex's voice. The thought won't stop spinning in my head. She won't know she is being played.
I call her as I slam my foot down on the accelerator and speed back to the beach house.
"Don't be too late. Don't be too late."
In between each call, I try Cade, who also doesn't fucking pick up.
Then I try Lyndall.
No fucking answer there.
Maybe they all went out for ice cream.
An empty, vicious laugh claws at my throat.
But I keep trying.
Lola.
Cade.
Lyndall.
Over and over.
Best case scenario is she is doing what any girl would most likely do to a man she thought was stalking her. A man she most likely thinks manipulated her into sex, even though she made most of the moves.
She is the one who turned up at my place...
Yeah, because Alex lightly pushed her in that direction.
But best-case scenario is she is fucking ignoring my calls.
Worst case?
I'm too late.
Fuck.