Chapter 4

Late that night, Derek's breathing settled into a slow, steady rhythm. He was asleep.

I lay on the other side of the bed, staring at the ceiling in the dark, wide awake.

Why would his mom's coworker target me? I'd never met the woman. We had no history and no reason to be enemies. Why would she go to so much trouble for a complete stranger? Covering the security camera. Stirring up the residents' group chat. Making up lies.

Unless... someone else had put her up to it.

I turned to look at Derek. He was fast asleep. His phone screen lay face down on the nightstand.

I sat up slowly and picked up his phone. The passcode hadn't changed. It was still the birthday date I'd memorized long ago.

I unlocked the phone and opened his messages. I scrolled through his contacts. Nothing stood out. I tried searching for Patterson. Nothing. I tried "Mrs." Still nothing. I paused for a moment, then typed "Mom."

Two conversations appeared. One was Mom. The other was Patty.

I tapped in.

There weren't many messages. The most recent ones were from last night.

Derek wrote, "Patty, sorry about today. My girlfriend doesn't know any better. Please don't hold it against her."

Patty replied, "Derek, don't take this the wrong way, but your girlfriend has quite a temper. I'd hardly said anything before she wanted to call the cops. How are we supposed to be neighbors after that?"

Derek agreed, "You're right. I'll talk to her."

Patty continued, "I haven't told your mother about this yet. You'd better sort it out yourself."

Derek promised, "Don't worry, Patty. I'll take care of it."

I stared at the messages, feeling as if someone had punched me in the chest.

He'd told me to apologize and keep the peace. Then he'd gone behind my back and apologized on my behalf. He knew Patty had targeted me on purpose. He knew I'd been falsely accused. And yet he'd apologized for me, admitted fault on my behalf, and begged her to let it go.

I scrolled farther up.

Messages from two months earlier.

Patty asked, "Derek, sweetheart, I heard you have a new girlfriend."

Derek answered, "Yeah, not too long ago."

Patty asked, "What about Natalie? Didn't you promise you'd get back together before the end of the year?"

Derek typed, "Natalie and I are over. That's all in the past."

Patty asked, "In the past? Natalie's waited for you for two years, and now you're saying it's over? Don't forget, you were the one who wronged her. She still cares about you, and this is how you repay her?"

Derek went silent for a long time before replying, "You can't force feelings."

A few days later, Patty sent another message. "If you've really moved on to someone else, don't blame me for not being nice about it."

Derek never replied.

I kept scrolling. Last December, Patty had sent another message. "Your mom said you're coming over for Christmas dinner this year?"

Derek replied, "Yeah, Mom said it's been a while since she's seen Frank."

Patty wrote, "Good. My health hasn't been the same these past couple of years. All I want is to see Natalie settled down with the right person."

Derek replied, "Don't worry, Patty."

I stared at the words "hasn't been the same," and suddenly everything clicked.

She wasn't just trying to stand up for her daughter. She thought she didn't have much time left, and she wanted to see her daughter settled before she was gone.

I held the phone tightly, my fingertips ice-cold.

Natalie. Derek had never mentioned that name to me.

I kept scrolling through their messages. Little by little, the whole story came together.

Natalie was Derek's ex. She was Patty's daughter. They had dated for three years before Derek cheated on her and got caught. After they broke up, Natalie never moved on. Both families kept trying to get them back together. But Derek didn't want to go back. Instead, he started dating me.

Natalie's mother couldn't accept it.

She hadn't been targeting me because of who I was. She was targeting me because I was Derek's new girlfriend. She didn't want my apology. She wanted me out of the picture, so Derek would go back to her daughter.

And Derek? He knew. He'd known all along. He knew why Patty had been making my life miserable. He knew his ex-girlfriend's mother had planned the whole thing. He knew the whole thing was an elaborate setup.

He knew everything, but he said nothing. He made me apologize. He let me humble myself. He let me take the blame for something I hadn't done. Because he didn't dare upset Patty or make things awkward for his mother at work, and most important of all, he didn't dare to let Natalie know it was truly over.

So he chose to sacrifice me.

I quietly put his phone back where I'd found it. Then I lay down and stared at the ceiling.

This had never been about a noise complaint. From the very beginning, it had been about a mother desperate to get her daughter back with her ex, a coward too afraid to face the consequences of his choices, and an innocent stranger chosen to take the fall.

Starting a rumor costs nothing. A few words were all it took to force someone to exhaust every resource proving they'd done nothing wrong.

I wasn't going to waste any more time proving my innocence. I was going to make them pay.

Beside me, Derek rolled over, mumbled something in his sleep, and fell silent again.

In the darkness, I smiled.

Fine. If they wanted to play games, I'd play all the way to the end.