Erin lay in bed that night, her thoughts swirling like a storm. The encounter with Liam in the garden replayed over and over in her mind. The way his eyes had darkened with something unreadable… Was it pain? Regret? Or a memory he couldn't speak aloud?
The silence between them had stretched like an invisible rope—tense, fragile, threatening to snap. Yet still, there was something about him that made her hesitate, something that felt oddly… familiar.
She turned over, groaning softly into the pillow. Her phone buzzed on the nightstand. She squinted at the screen—an unknown number.
Who calls at this hour?
She hesitated, then picked up. "Hello?"
A breath. And then, a man's voice. Low. Rough. "Erin?"
She sat upright. "Yes. Who is this?"
A short pause. "It's… it's Ian."
Her heart stopped.
Ian.
The man she had once trusted more than anyone in the world. The man who, according to the old Erin's memory fragments, had betrayed her in the most unforgivable way.
"What do you want?" she asked coldly.
"I just… I heard you're back in the city. I thought—maybe we could talk."
"There's nothing left to talk about."
"Please." His voice cracked. "I need to explain."
Explain? Erin clenched the blanket tighter. "Explain how you left me to drown in a scandal you helped create? Or how you let me take the fall while you climbed the corporate ladder?"
He sighed heavily on the other end. "I made mistakes. But I didn't know everything back then. I didn't know about Liam. Or the accident."
The mention of Liam's name made her breath hitch.
"What do you mean, you didn't know?"
Ian sounded cautious. "Erin, I think… you were set up. Back then. It wasn't just a random accident."
Her stomach dropped. "You're lying."
"I have proof," he said. "Meet me. Tomorrow night. 9 PM. The old library."
Before she could respond, the line went dead.
Erin stared at her phone, a hundred thoughts colliding in her brain.
Was he telling the truth?
Could the accident that changed everything not have been an accident at all?
And what did Liam have to do with it?
She glanced at her calendar. Tomorrow marked exactly two years since the crash that had nearly taken her life—and her voice.
Maybe it was time she found out the truth.
But as she set her phone down and crawled back under the covers, she couldn't shake the feeling that something dangerous had just been set into motion.