Dismissing Dakota | ✓

»24. Off My Mind«

Silvia's P.O.V.

For the timing, it couldn't be more perfect. The house was still and calm, lifeless of much activity. I wasn't the only one home. Lenard was upstairs in the spare bedroom, snoring away the afternoon. His flight back to Maine was this week. With him reentering society since his treatment was completed, we talked about what he'd be doing once he settled in. He applied to local community classes in our hometown, taking up courses in business and mathematics.

My stepmother and dad were out of the house, too, enjoying brunch with my grandmother at the country club in Winchester Hills. I didn't know the exact location of my twin stepbrothers, making me anxious as I let Heath come into my house. I hoped this didn't take too much time. I wouldn't want any of my family members to walk in, more so because I couldn't guarantee what state I would be in once I learned the truth.

"Do you want anything to drink?" I offered, walking around the dinner table. He set his laptop on the dinner table, turning it on and bringing out a composition journal. "We have chips and cookies if you'd prefer something to snack on?"

"I'll take a glass of water," he answered, connection a flash drive into the USB port. I returned from the kitchen with a full glass, half full of ice. He took it graciously, and for the first time since he got into the house, I saw him smile at me. He walked into the house with a grim look painted on his face, haunting me the entire time and filling me with pure dread.

"Thank you." He said, taking a sip. "You're going to need to take a seat before I start."

"Right," I breathed, wiping my hands on the front of my shirt and yanking out the chair, crashing into it with air trapped in my throat. I had wanted to know the extent of what Dakota did with Segg. It had rattled my thoughts for weeks, consuming me in every possible way. Now that the moment was here, I couldn't handle the fear quaking through me. Could I withstand it? Could our relationship? Things were just starting to get better.

"I'm going to start from the beginning." He cracked open his journal, trailing a finger over the page. "I went as far to list things in chronicle order on when it happened. I haven't talked to Dakota about any of this, but rather going based off timestamps."

"I'm aware you haven't spoken to him about this. He said he wouldn't try to interfere."

"Maybe that's for the best," he murmured. "For one, with some help with Ronnie, I was able to locate Finn's black book which helped organize the timeline. It was tricky, but we got it. I got access into his computer, too, leading me to find out who made the first contact. Finn contacted Dakota, taunting him with information about Diana if he agreed to do an outsourced prank for an unnamed member."

Heath angled his computer to me, showing me the message that was addressed from Finn to Dakota. Dakota replied rather fast, saying that he was up for the challenge. That was when Finn disclosed what he had to do.

"It started off with making those drawings for you, acting as if he accidentally dropped them." Heath explained, and I could see it all before me. They had planned it out in the body of an email. Even the attack from Carmen was entirely constructed by Segg so that Dakota could stop the fight. I inhaled deeply, holding on to the edge of the table.

"He sketched them weeks into the school semester, but was told to date them a few days before the party you met him to make it seem like he was in to you from the start. He wasn't. That was a lie. A complete lie. And that's not even the worst part."

My lips pressed together, becoming a flat line as rage struck me like a strong wind. If I wasn't sitting down, I would've fainted by this point. The lies piled up. The fights we had were constructed by Finn, advising Dakota to never let me believe we were official and to appear as though commitment was what he feared.