Chapter 14: What Halcyon Knew

Dani sat up in the dark with her phone in one hand.

Her message had gone through.

On the nightstand, his phone showed the same words back at her.

She picked it up and held the two screens side by side.

They matched.

Nolan woke at the small sound of the phones touching.

He saw her face first, and then what she was holding.

He did not say a word.

He sat up slowly, and the sheet slid off his chest, and he looked like a man waiting for a verdict.

"Say it," Dani said.

"Dani..."

"Say it out loud. Who are you?"

"Halcyon," he said.

The word hung in the room.

"For how long?"

"Three years."

"How long did you know it was me?"

He closed his eyes for a second.

"A month," he said. "Maybe less."

She stood up and found her shirt on the floor.

Her hands were steady, which surprised her.

"A month," she said. "And you knew about Beacon by the second."

"Yes."

"You knew he took my name off the screen."

"I knew the day it happened."

"You watched me go to his parties."

"I watched you smile beside him," Nolan said quietly. "I watched it in every photo for three years."

"And you said nothing."

"I said run the tests twice."

"That's not funny."

"It wasn't a joke."

She turned on him, shirt half on, and the anger came up so fast it shook her teeth.

"Do you know how many nights I told a stranger I was fine?"

"Yes."

"I told you the one thing I told nobody, Nolan. I told you I loved him."

"I know. I read it a hundred times."

"And you let me! You knew exactly who he was. You knew he was robbing me while I typed it."

"You made me promise," he said.

His voice cracked on the last word.

"You said you would never expose him. You said it was your life and your choice."