Jayden watched his sister sit on his bed while he rummaged through his backpack. She turned to her phone and saw Vesper would be at her house any minute. She turned to her younger brother who was flipping through the pages of a text book.
A smile came across his face when he reached a particular page and he turned to her, his smile turning into a smirk.
"You're been creepy" Kaitlyn commented on his actions as he grabbed the chair from his reading desk and kept it in front of her as he sat on it. He opened the text book and brought out a picture.
Turning the picture towards her she found out it was a picture of them with their mother and all their faces were circled. Their faces were circled with blue sharpies while their mother's was with a red sharpie"What does it mean?" She looked at him.
"I have no idea" she rolled her eyes. "I found it in Uncle Nico's study. Dylan asked me to go over to help with a chemistry project he was working on with this chick. Both of them had no idea what they were doing. She was pretty though" he smirked, looking into space as if reliving a memory making her smack his arm.
"Concentrate here" he frowned and turned back to his sister "you can't just go snooping around in his study. You could get caught"
"All that doesn't matter. What do you think this means? What is Nico doing with our mum's pictures? And why are they had burnt and this? But there's a way we can figure out who the message was sent to and probably what it means"
"How?" He twirled the chair and dragged it back to his reading table, switching on his laptop. She followed him as he began typing furiously then placed the picture under a scanner.
"We can scan the picture and find out the exact time and place this was done. If we're lucky enough we can find out what the arrows symbolize"
"And how are you going to do that?" She raised a brow, placing an arm behind his chair.
"It's an app I designed myself. I don't know if it works but we can try"
"An app you designed yourself?" He smiled and cocked his head to look at her.
"Yes ma'am. I wasn't kidding when I said I wanted to be a software engineer"
"You are obviously on your way to been one. What's the name of the app?" He shrugged
"I have no idea. AP350 for now"
"Why 350?" He shook his head at how many questions she was asking as he turned his head back to the desktop. The screen came to life and binary numbers appeared. He typed more of them Confusing Kaitlyn more. "What are you doing?"
"Trying to get the perfect combination to get words out" she sighed and looked as he kept typing furiously on his keyboard. "I got it" she turned her attention to the laptop. "Six pm. Location: Atlanta, Georgia"
"Atlanta, Georgia?" He nodded "is this thing good"
"I believe it's eighty-five percent efficient and only fifteen percent deficient" he pat the laptop repeatedly.
"And what do the arrows mean?"
"Oh" he punched the keyboard again "the arrows seem to be coordinates but I can't find the exact location because they are just two. It means there are more of these. While these circles obviously means our mother's in danger"
"What do you mean our mum's in danger?" He kept quiet, knowing she understood what he meant. A knock on the door made Jayden shut the laptop and Kaitlyn to turn her head towards it and order a 'come in'. Blond hair appeared followed by the fingers. Kaitlyn bit her lip when she saw the valley of rings arranged on each finger as she knew it was Vesper. And true to her guessing, Vesper stepped inside
"Hey" she said, blowing her gum. "Your Aunt Lia said you were up here" she slumped on Jayden's bed.
"Yeah we were just discussing something" Kaitlyn said
"That's great. Time for our own discussion"
"What discussion?" Jayden asked. Kaitlyn thought for a minute before turning to Jayden as Vesper rolled up the sleeve of the brown oversized turtleneck sweater she was wearing.
"Are we going?" Vesper asked, looking around "nice room, Jay. I've never been here before"
"Thanks" he replied and turned to his sister. "What's up with you?"
"Nothing. Do you have something like a fingerprint or DNA scanner?" She asked
"I'm not sure if it works-"
"Can I have it?"
"Why do you need it?"
"What are you up to?" Vesper asked "you're always up to some crazy idea" Kaitlyn glared at her.
"I'm the crazy one here?" She echoed earning a smirk from Vesper and she turned to Jayden "do you have what I need?"
"Only if you tell me what you're up to" Jayden compromised.
"No I won't"
"Then I'm not giving you the scanner"
"Are we really doing this?" Vesper asked. "If he's going to help then why not?"
"The hottie's right" Jayden agreed earning an eye roll from the two girls.
"I'm too hot for you" Vesper countered "you're gonna get burnt"
"I wouldn't mind"
"Jayden!" Kaitlyn warned and he shrugged.
"It's not my fault. Are you looking at her?" He gave her a once over all over again. She was dressed in a brown oversized turtle neck sweater, a black denim one shoulder overall and white sneakers. Her hair was done in a messy lazy top knot bun
"Yeah I can see it" Kaitlyn agreed "well you can come with us only if you promise not to tell anyone. Aunt Lia's going to flip when she finds out"
"I smell danger" she rolled her eyes as Jayden walked over to his closet and grabbed a tablet.
"Come on" and led the way out of the room.
She swallowed hard when they got to the fourth floor and placed a card over the card reader and the door opened. Leading the way inside, she turned on the lights and walked over to the table she and Vesper had dropped the evidence they found.
"Okay, what is this?" Jayden asked.
"We found it in Haisley's murder scene" Vesper answered, folding her arms.
"Whoever did it is trying to frame me I don't know why" Kaitlyn added.
"And you got this how?"
"Breaking into The Jones" she bit her lip "Vesper has a secret door behind the mansion and can also pick locks" Jayden smirked
"I knew there was a reason I liked her" he complimented Vesper who replied with a coy smile.
"Let's see what's inside first" Jayden said and extended his hand to the ziplock when his sister smacked his hand "and what was that for?"
"You can't touch it with your bare hands" Vesper explained and walked over to a cupboard. She flung it open and brought out three pairs of leather gloves. "So you have to use this" she smiled and handed a pair each to the siblings.
"As I said" Jayden said, looking at his sister "you are one hell of a trouble magnet" she rolled her eyes "you're either following trouble or the other way round"
"Can you just shut the fuck up and do what you're here for. Which is obviously not mocking me" he laughed and moved towards the table after fastening the strap of the glove. Bringing out the glass and blood stained receipt he turned each around before bringing forth his tablet.
"And what's this supposed to do?" Vesper asked, leaning over as Jayden scanned the bloodied glass.
"Scanning the fingerprints?" He answered but it came out more like a question.
"You're not so sure of yourself are you?" Kaitlyn asked, peeping over his Shoulder.
"It's a fifty-fifty chance, okay?" He pressed the capture button and the image of the fingerprint at the rear edge of the glass appeared. He pressed the done button and bit his lip.
"Is it supposed to be doing that?" Vesper asked, looking down at the various pictures flashing on the screen.
"No, it's not. It's just supposed to show the owner of the fingerprint within 2.5 seconds" Jayden explained "it's not supposed to be doing this. It's like it's malfunctioning or something"
"I appreciate that you tried but let's just do this the old fashioned way" Kaitlyn said "I'm sure some day you'll make it work"
"What do you mean the old fashioned way?" Vesper asked.
"Finding evidence" she answered in a 'duh' tone and vesper rolled her eyes.
"It's really so annoying" Vesper said, groaning and leaning on the table while Kaitlyn placed the items back into the ziplock. "I know Haisley's a bitch but I didn't know she was so bitchy that someone would murder her in cold blood with a baby inside of her"
"That's just so cruel and inhumane" Kaitlyn added, taking off her gloves. "And I'm been framed. To top it all, the legal system isn't doing its job well. How else would they have missed that?"
"It was obviously intentional. Mum said the case would be close she's tired of all the fake promises. Dad is still pissed with Haisley cause of her boyfriend and the pregnancy. I know he misses her though" she rubbed her arm.
"What about her boyfriend?" Jayden asked, looking up from his tablet for the first time since its malfunction. "Wasn't he questioned?"
"He was. Turned out he was out of the state when the crime took place" vesper explained "he's off the suspect list"
"I'm the main suspect, lol" Kaitlyn said, returning the gloves into the cupboard. "I don't even know how all this involves me. Haisley called me over to tell me something and when I went there she was already dead; laying in a pool of blood"
"Whoever did it clearly made a foolproof plan" Jayden said and Kaitlyn scoffed.
****
Alfred sat in the silence staring at his boots as she events at the restaurant flashed through his mind. Troy was one of his best friends. It didn't make sense what he was feeling and thinking. He knew the both of them were close but the feelings of jealousy were just beyond his control. What was the need for them to pretend to be a couple in front of Victoria? He knew Troy said it in the heat of a moment to avoid telling the truth to Victoria but still.
It was a foolhardy thing for him to do. He should have let her come up with any other explanation apart from that.
"Kaitlyn was dying every single second that you weren't around, she was waiting for you and this is how you're going to repay her. Maybe I shouldn't have let her go to you. I should have at least fought for her-"
Troy had said he should have fought for Kaitlyn; what he meant by that was something Alfred was still trying to figure out. Was Troy in love with Kaitlyn but didn't say anything because him and Kaitlyn were in love with each other? If so, when and how? Troy had always been hung up on Natasha and blindly trusted her. She had broken him and his trust, it wasn't possible he was still in love with her.
But then Troy always had a certain glow on his face whenever he was either talking about or to Kaitlyn. The same one Alfred had on his face whenever the girl was mentioned.
He knew he was overthinking the situation but he couldn't help it. He had no claim over Kaitlyn whatsoever as he was engaged to Victoria, he had pushed her away; whom she was with or who was in love with her shouldn't matter to him.
Who was he kidding? He would do anything to he with her. Marriage was just a formality he was in love with Kaitlyn and would always be.
Footsteps made him raise his head from the concrete and boots he was staring at to the direction of the sound. From the dim fairy lights he made out that the silhouette was Troy's and shook his head to clear all previous thoughts which made the beanie on his head fall on his forehead slightly. As he adjusted it, Troy stopped in front of him and smiled, his hands in the pockets of his jacket and sat beside his friend at the other end of the bench with a heave.
"So what are we here for?" Troy asked, straight to the point. Just one look at him and he knew what was bothering him. Alfred turned to glare at his friend who just smirked at his reaction. "Tell me. I'm all ears" Alfred sighed, not knowing how to put his feelings into words. He knew he was been childish but couldn't help it.
"Do you, I mean, are you and Kaye by any chance-?" Troy laughed.
"I'm sure you've realized how silly you sound" Alfred groaned into his hand. "I don't know why you're still after Kaitlyn even after you're getting married to Victoria. Make up your mind, man" he finally turned his body so he was now facing him.
"You don't understand. I love Kaitlyn. I love her but I have no other option but to leave her. My mother could kill her"
"Do you think she'll still spare her even after your wedding?"
"There's a high chance of that. Me been with Kaitlyn increases the chance of her getting hurt. What she's going through now is only temporary. What will happen to her if this doesn't happen will be permanent. She'd rather be alive and unhappy than dead"
"Do you believe you're making the right choice?"
"I'm afraid not. The two people inside are dead. They only existed with each other. When one dies, the other follows"
"Yes, I am"
"Well you should know that no matter what happens I'll always be with Kaitlyn. For better or worse" maybe I should put my jealousy aside and try seeing through Kaitlyn's point of view, Alfred tried to reason within himself if Kaitlyn's going to be with anyone I'm glad it's Troy.
He bit his lip and turned to his friend with the thought still in his mind.
"I think I can trust you on that. I've always been a dickhead to her but you've always been there to pick up the pieces I've destroyed. And when you do, I'm back in again trying to destroy her. Maybe I never really deserved her from the very beginning. Maybe it's better this way" I wish I wasn't so selfish, Troy thought then maybe I could tell both you and Kaitlyn how I really feel about her.
"You know no matter how much you say that it's not true. No matter how far apart you and Kaitlyn go, you'll be the one in each other's hearts. I'm sure she'll accept you even if you go now. All you have to do is explain the whole situation to her. I'm sure you two will be able to figure something out"
While his words provided relief and certainty to Alfred, they gave him a stab in his heart. He was honest with what he said which was what hurt him. The truth behind them. He knew no matter how much he tried, he'd never be able to impact Kaitlyn the way his friend had. No matter how much time they spent together or how far the distance between the couple was. He'd always be a third wheel to them.
However, all he wanted was for Alfred to tell her what was going on or at least a hint. And as long as he wasn't willing to do so, it wasn't in his place to do so either.
"I can't. It's impossible. I can't risk her life. I'm that selfish"
••••••••
Thoughts 💭
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