Accepting a Loving Heart

Chapter 6: Revelations

Vincent's POV

I went to the bathroom to get ready for bed and changed into my pajamas before taking my phone to check what was in it. I was quite certain that it would have been Max who tried to factory reset my phone. But there was the slight possibility of it being someone else. When I started using Max's phone previously, I didn't bother with checking what was in it because I trusted Max and because I didn't think he would have anything serious on the phone. Anyway, I figured the best way to check why he had a need to reset the phone was to check all suspicious folders. I sat down on the sofa and checked the pictures and videos first to see if there were any embarrassing pictures or videos. Nothing weird was there to my surprise. I frowned at that for a bit before deciding to check the messages.

Since I bought the phone for Max when he joined the school only a few months ago, I was sure there wouldn't be that many messages. I didn't bother checking messages he wrote to his friends. I was looking for anything suspicious, until I came across someone named "Asshole Bully". I clicked the messages to that person and I frowned as I scrolled through it. Most of the messages were like "Let him go or you know what will happen" type messages. I frowned at that as I read through the history. There wasn't a single reply from that person to Max but there were several messages from Max to that person. Max always called the guy "Asshole, jerk or idiot". I went back to the first message Max sent to the person and it said "Meet me after school at 6pm sharp in our club VIP room. We need to talk."

I quickly checked the phone history and saw that the person named "Asshole Bully" called Max sometimes after he sent the messages. But the talk wasn't long. Should I call to find out who it was? Obviously it must be someone in the school if Max asked the guy to meet him after school. Also by "our" club, did Max mean the expensive rich kids' club he joined? Could the "Asshole Bully" be Cade or one of Luc's kids? It was likely.

Hesitantly, I called the number saved as "Asshole Bully". It rang for a while before a boy whose voice I immediately recognized as Cade answered.

"What is it pest?" He said viciously.

"Aren't you asleep yet? What got your panties in a knot this time?" He asked.

I blinked as I waited.

"Why the hell are you breathing into the phone? What do you want? Are you going to threaten us again? Go ahead. I don't give a damn now anyway." He said and cut the call with an annoyed "tsk". I stared at the phone, blinking hard.

What did Cade mean by threaten? How could an eight year old boy threaten a fifteen year old as intimidating as Cade? What was going on? Thinking back on the messages Max had sent to Cade, it did indeed look like Max had something on Cade. What was it though? I couldn't just call Cade and ask what it was. I frowned at the phone wondering if it would have any other clues. I searched all the messaging apps for the name Max called Cade but found nothing. Finally only the songs were left. What could possibly there among songs?

Without much hope, I searched through the music files and all audio files on the phone. Putting on the headset I listened to all audios that didn't look like it had a name of a song. In frustration I looked through the many songs he had as well. Most of it had the artist's name as well. I stopped when I saw a song named "Bully" without any artist's name. I stared at it. Was there a song named "Bully"? I pressed to play the song and was surprised when I started hearing a low sound.

It sounded like punching sounds. Did Max record evidence of Cade hurting other children? I sighed as I shook my head at the sounds. It sounded like a terrible beating. There were punching sounds, slapping sounds, crunching sounds and thunks. I heard the sound of wheezing and groaning of the victim. My god! What kind of child was that Cade? I was about to stop it when the sound of someone speaking stopped me.