Half-Truths: New York Times Bestselling Author

by Contreras, Claire

  It had been exactly three days since I’d seen Logan and I still wasn’t sure who was to blame for our fight. Probably him. Maybe me. Definitely both of us. It would’ve been over by now if I’d called him, but after he left my apartment, I just kept getting more and more upset. I’d ranted to Nora over the phone and she listened quietly, but I got the sense that she was on Logan’s side of the argument. Unlike Logan, she’d kept that to herself and just listened. In his absence, I’d met the other two members of The Eight, Annette and Beatriz. We met over Skype, because they were both away for a semester abroad in Scotland. Nora had already filled them in on Logan and my relationship, which of course, they were shocked about.

  Also, in his absence, I’d been stalking Nolan’s social media and overanalyzing everything in the background of his photos, but it was just the usual—Nolan grinning at the camera and Logan in the background sulking over a sweaty drink. It gave me peace to see the infinite scowl on his face. Every once in a while, in an Instagram story or snap chat video, I’d catch him checking his phone in the background and that really made me smile, and then cry softly, because I really missed him. I was getting to the library, where I told Hailey I’d meet her after she sent me a series of text messages I could only classify as absolutely manic. My phone buzzed in my hand. I’d been waiting for a call from my brother via my mother’s phone. She hadn’t given him his phone back because she was afraid it would be too much, so whenever we spoke it was through hers. It wasn’t a call though, it was a text message, and it wasn’t from my mother’s phone, but from Logan’s. My chest tightened before I even swiped to read the message.

  Logan: I’m sorry.

  I stopped walking and leaned against the nearest column, closing my eyes and letting out a shuddering exhale. He’d never apologized before, not that he’d ever done anything worth apologizing for, aside from the times he was a jerk before we actually got together. It wasn’t a Logan thing to do though. I knew that from every single interaction I’d seen him have with everyone around us. His apology actually meant something. My eyes popped when a second text came through, but I stayed leaning against the rough column.

  Logan: I was an asshole.

  Me: I’m sorry too.

  Logan: I miss you so fucking much

  Me: I miss you too

  My phone rang. I answered his call quickly.

  “Does that mean you didn’t go looking for someone to share a bed with?”

  I laughed. “I hadn’t gotten around to printing out the flyers with my number.”

  “Good. That’s less people I have to kill when I get back.”

  “How many do you currently have to kill?”

  “Just Paper Boy. He uploaded a picture of the two of you together and I’ve been envisioning punching him in the face since.”

  “Logan.” I laughed. “Max is like your number one fan.”

  “You think that’ll stop me?” he asked and I swore I could hear the scowl coming through the phone line. “I want you to be my number one fan.”

  “I still know nothing about hockey. I guess I’ll get there if we’re going to stay together.” I pushed myself off the column I’d been leaning against and kept walking.

  “If?” He sounded offended. “We’re staying together.”

  “I don’t like to jump to conclusions. For all I know, I’m just a footnote in your college experience.”

  “Oh, Mae.” He sighed into the phone. “How could you be a footnote when you’re the whole damn textbook?”

  My heart skipped. He said things like that all the time, little glimpses of just how serious he wanted us to be. I loved that about him. My ex-boyfriend had always been too cool to talk to me in front of his friends and God forbid he ever said anything that sounded remotely like he wanted us together forever. He’d said, I think I can fall in love with you, once. It was what made me decide to follow him to college. Like an idiot. Logan didn’t say anything as if it was something he thought. He said it all with clarity, so there was no room for confusion, and he only said things he meant. I wished so badly I could tell him right now, but I was too scared. What if those three little words, that held such promise, were what would scare him away?

  “Hey, Logan,” I said quietly, heart pounding loudly in my ears. “You should just come back right now.”

  “Yeah?” He chuckled. “Did I say the right thing?”

  “Yep.”

  “I’ll be there . . . ” He stopped talking. Someone in the background started shouting at him. “Coach wants me to get off the phone. I’ll call you tonight.”

  “I’ll be waiting. In my red lingerie.”

  “Jesus, Amelia,” he groaned. Another shout came from the background. “Fuck. I gotta go.”

  I laughed at the sound in his voice when he hung up and continued on to the library. Hailey had said she wanted to meet with me because she’d found some things in her mother’s home office pertaining to Lana. To say it had piqued my interest was an understatement. I hadn’t seen her since the incident at the toga party, not for her lack of trying. A part of me had been really turned off by the way she’d screamed at Logan and me, even though I knew where she was coming from. She was jealous because I’d caught his attention when she hadn’t. Every girl on campus had been watching me like I was some kind of wizard, the girl who managed to tame Fitz. What they didn’t understand was that I had done nothing. I hadn’t tamed Logan. He’d decided he wanted to settle down when he met me, hopefully because of me, but I hadn’t pushed him to get there.

  I spotted Hailey outside of the library. She was on the phone, smoking a cigarette. That gave me pause. I didn’t even know she smoked. Her head snapped in my direction. She flicked the cigarette away and waved a hand at me, as if I’d miss her, even though she was blocking the entrance.

  “I didn’t know you smoked,” I said as I closed the distance between us.

  “Only when I’m nervous.”

  “Why are you nervous?”

  She raised an eyebrow, lifting a yellow manila envelope in her hand. My heart quickened. Instead of wasting more time with questions out here, I pulled the door open and held it for her to walk through. The vacant tables basked in the sunlight coming from outside. Unlike every other day this week, which had been cold and gloomy, the sun was out today, slightly warming the crisp temperature. We sat down side by side and pivoted to face each other.

  “I printed this out. It was on her desktop.” Hailey’s hand shook slightly as she handed the envelope over. “I don’t know what to make of it.”

  I opened the envelope and took out the few sheets of paper inside, my eyes scanning the words on the first one before moving on to the next. They were email exchanges between Lana and Ella Valentine. I could instantly see why Hailey had been so ominous about it over the phone. In one email, her mother basically told Lana she no longer needed her at the paper, while Lana responded that it was illegal for her to fire her just because of jealousy. Jealousy. That stood out amongst the sea of words. I glanced up at Hailey, who was now chewing on the tip of her thumb. The move startled me. It was something I often did. A habit I’d tried to break countless times to no avail. I moved on to the next page. Another email exchange, this one between Max and Lana.

  “I guess my mom has access to all of the emails sent within the system,” Hailey explained before I could ask.

  I nodded and continued reading. Lana had apparently been sending Max all of her locations. He didn’t always respond, and when he did it was a mere thumbs up or “got it”. What could this mean? I thought back to when I sent Travis my location and what my mindset had been then. I’d been scared. Terrified. And he’d been the only one I trusted. According to these emails, he would have had to be the last person she emailed and it would have been a location. The last email was sent to him May 23rd. She’d been reported missing May 24th. Max had said they emailed back and forth, he just never said what about.

  “Do you think Max told the police about these?” I looked up at Ha
iley, who was still chewing on her finger.

  “I don’t know. Should I tell them? I should, right?” she asked, knee bouncing, replacing one nervous twitch with another. Had she always done this or was she mimicking the things I did when I was nervous? Seeing her made my own knee start bouncing.

  “I think we should take it to them.”

  “Do you think it’ll incriminate my mom?” she whispered. “I mean, you see the emails. What if she had something to do with it?”

  I thought of Ella. Of all of those pictures and paintings of her and my father that adorned the locked study of The Lab. This seemed like the exact thing that would drive a jealous woman to the brink of insanity. But then again, dad was married. He’d been married. I didn’t know how long their affair had lasted, but he’d been married for the majority of it. He left her for my mother when they were in college, and at some point, they’d started hooking up again, but then they’d stopped. Was it because of Lana? Because of the other girls that were part of the rumored sugar daddy ring? The next page held names of girls. Lana Ly was the only one that stood out to me amongst the eight names on it. I knew without a doubt that this was that list. Maybe it was the mentorship list, but either way, it didn’t change the reality of what went on there. It wasn’t a coincidence that there were exactly eight names on here. It wasn’t a coincidence that Lana’s was one of them. Suddenly, I didn’t know what to do. Reporting this to the police meant possibly exposing The Eight and I couldn’t do that. Not when I loved everyone involved. They were my family. I’d pledged loyalty. My palm itched. I thought of Lincoln. He said he’d made her jump. At least that was the memory he’d held. I thought of what he said about the cloaked person injecting him with the drugs. Could it have been my father? No. He wouldn’t. My father was a lot of things, but a murderer wasn’t one. Poor Lana. I couldn’t imagine what she’d gone through.

  “You should take this to the police,” I said finally. “Turn it in anonymously. Your mom won’t know it was you.”

  “But I will.” Her brown eyes widened. “Are you willing to throw your dad under the bus? This will incriminate him for sure. My mom could probably get away with saying she was accumulating proof, which could very well be what’s happening, but your dad? His name would be tarnished. He may even go to jail. You’d be okay with that?”

  I thought of mom and what she must have suffered in silence because of his indiscretions. I thought of Lincoln, who had a long road to recovery and in my opinion, had only gotten into this mess because he was trying his best to stop my father. He’d pledged his loyalty to The Eight, and hadn’t been afraid to act out when it came to doing the right thing. I wasn’t sure who had tried to kill my brother, but I couldn’t deny the connection to my father. Facts couldn’t be ignored, and getting rid of my brother would eliminate the possibility of people finding out about Lana and the other girls. Disgust twisted in my belly. My mind went back to the black cloak. Would he have tried to kill his own son to silence him? Hailey was still staring at me. I reminded myself that she’d asked me a question. Was I willing to throw my father under the bus?

  “I don’t know,” I said quietly. “But all of this could lead to Lana. She could still be out there.”

  I thought of the texts I’d been getting since moving here. This was bigger than I could imagine. I felt that in my bones. Whoever was behind those texts knew truths I couldn’t fathom. I wasn’t sure I was willing to find out what that entailed, but I owed it to Lincoln and to Lana to turn these into the authorities. That much I knew. I’d do it anonymously. In their wildest dreams, the police couldn’t possibly find The Eight. If they did a thorough investigation, these girls would be linked to The Labyrinth Initiative through the mentorship program, but even that wasn’t connected to The Eight. Not on paper anyway. So, what was the worst that could happen? The Lab Initiative would shut down. They’d start a separate corporation under a separate entity and continue to fund members of The Eight and the charities they were responsible for. Dad would lawyer up. The other members that played a part in the sugar daddy scheme would get lawyers. The rich never suffered as much as the regular folk. I stood. Hailey followed suit.

  “You’re really going to go to the police?” She asked, wide-eyed. “You’re willing to throw your father under the bus?”

  “I can’t think of any other solutions.” I put the papers back in the manila envelope and started walking back toward the entrance.

  “Let’s go this way. It’s faster,” she said, walking in the opposite direction, typing on her phone as I followed. “I just don’t know about my mom, you know?”

  “What don’t you know? You saw the exchange between her and Lana.”

  “That doesn’t mean she’s guilty of anything.” She glanced at me, opening the side door that led to one of the tunnels. I walked in first, and she followed behind me, our feet tapping on the stairs as we walked down at the same pace.

  “So you think she’s innocent?”

  “I think she was probably jealous, but I can’t imagine just handing this over and letting her take the fall for that.”

  “But it could be what saves Lana,” I argued. “If she’s still alive.”

  The halls were dark, a sign of no people walking through them, which wasn’t uncommon on a Sunday afternoon. The overhead lights flickered when they sensed our approach, buzzing as they illuminated over us. Unlike in the past, when I’d been nervous about walking these halls, I felt no fear. The adrenaline overrode my sense of everything else, even direction. I was following Hailey, hoping she knew where the hell we were going as we spoke. We took a right turn at the end of the tunnel and were met with another dark set of stairs. The lights flickered on as we approached and we ran up, Hailey ahead of me. She opened the door and stepped out, holding it for me.

  Once outside, two things happened simultaneously: I tried to assess where we were and realized we were nowhere near the streets and that the exit had led us to the entrance of the woods. The other thing I registered was that Deacon was there, smile on his face as he looked at me right before he whacked me on the side of the head with a shovel.

  Chapter Forty-Two

  I was floating.

  No.

  Falling.

  Moving.

  Swaying.

  My head felt like someone was pounding on it from the inside and out. I groaned. Or maybe someone else did. My movements weren’t my own. My body rocked back and forth. Someone was carrying me. As I tried to peel my eyes open, I could see the trees above me, the sun peeking through the branches. I focused on the sounds of crunching on scattered leaves and branches beneath us. The person carrying me was wearing boots. I opened my eyes wider. Deacon. Deacon was carrying me. I tried to scream, but it came out a groan.

  “Pretty doll.” He looked down at me and smiled.

  I shook my head, the dreadful thought of him doing something to me sending a jolt through me. I moved my body, tried to thrash in his arms so that he’d drop me, but he held on tighter. I realized, the moment I tried to lift my arms, that they were tied. My feet were tied as well. I stood no chance. Not with the massive headache and disorientation I felt. Not without knowledge of where we were going or even a voice to ask. My tongue felt like dead weight in my mouth. Where was Hailey? Where the hell was Hailey? I looked around, my eyes moving to and fro, but saw nothing. I focused on the crunching beneath us, trying to figure out if someone else was walking with us, but couldn’t tell. Why would Hailey let Deacon do this to me? So that I didn’t go to the cops about her mother? Jesus. She could have asked me not to say anything to them. She could’ve not brought this information to me in the first place. The swaying was lulling me to sleep. The swaying and the headache and the heaviness of my eyes. I shut them, my head hitting Deacon’s chest with the movement. He smelled like farm animals and mechanic. It was the last thing I thought of before I completely passed out again.

  Chapter Forty-Three

  I awoke to the sound of two female voices. Hailey.
Hailey and Ella? I tried to make out what they were saying in their hushed whispers and quick chatter. The sun was setting now. I could barely see the trees above my head. I’d been set down though, no longer in Deacon’s arms.

  “Hailey.” My voice was scratchy and weak.

  They stopped talking. I heard the sound of boots pounding into the fallen leaves and branches as someone walked up to me, then saw Hailey as she crouched beside me.

  “You want to know why I’m doing this,” Hailey said.

  “Hailey.” I wheezed.

  Fuck. I hadn’t needed my inhaler in a long time, but my chest felt tight and knowing I didn’t have it on me made me feel eager for it.

  “Why don’t I give you the run-down?”

  “Hailey, I don’t like this.” The voice came from the person she’d been talking to.

  It was a soft, melodic sound that shook, and vibrated inside me when I realized it was not Ella. I fought to look at the person. Hailey acknowledged my curiosity and put a hand beneath my neck, lifting me slightly, gently. Lana came into view. Lana. Alive. She wasn’t dirty. She wore jeans and a cashmere coat. Her hands seemed to be tied, but other than that, she looked fine. Lana was alive. She hadn’t jumped. What the hell had my brother seen?

  “You’re alive,” I choked out.

  “Of course she’s alive.”

  “Hailey, I don’t like this,” Lana repeated, tears in her eyes.

  I hadn’t known Lana on a personal level, but she’d always been kind to me. The Lana standing here was a contradiction of the high school Lana, popular and bright. She was a contradiction to the naked, naughty Lana I’d seen in pictures at The Lab. This Lana was frightened, and off. Something was wrong with her, but I couldn’t pick up what. Was she drugged? Maybe. A loud thump made me turn away from Lana, toward where Deacon stood. He was wiping his forehead with the sleeve of his jacket, a shovel in his hands before he started digging. My eyes widened. A strangled noise built in my throat. I coughed again and it seemed to go on forever. I felt like the dirt beneath me was weighing down on my chest. Was Hailey planning on killing me? Burying my body? Or was that what she was doing to Lana?