Chapter 8 - The Man Leah Left
Leah stared at the ringing phone until it stopped.
Then it rang again.
Grant said, "Don't answer."
She did.
"What do you want?"
Ryan's voice came soft and familiar through the speaker. "I heard you're back home."
Leah's face tightened.
"How?"
"People talk."
"Did you know my mother?"
Silence.
Then Ryan laughed once. "So that's what this is about."
Grant leaned closer to the phone.
Ryan continued, "Leah, your mother was worried about you. That's all. She asked me to keep an eye on you."
Leah's hand trembled. "You told me you never met her."
"Because you were unstable after she died. I didn't want to make it worse."
Grant saw the old reflex in Leah's face: doubt herself first.
He understood the split lip now without needing to ask.
"Where is Victor?" Leah said.
Ryan went quiet.
"Why would I know?"
"Because he has a picture of you with my mother."
Another pause.
Then Ryan's tone changed.
"Listen to me. Your stepfather is building a story because he needs someone to blame. Don't let him drag you into it."
Grant's jaw tightened.
Leah said, "You don't get to tell me what to think anymore."
She hung up.
For several seconds she stood perfectly still.
Then she handed the phone to Priya.
"Take everything off it. Messages, backups, deleted files. All of it."
Priya nodded. "You sure?"
"Yes."
That afternoon, the deleted data came back faster than expected.
Most of it was ordinary: photos, old arguments, apology texts, little digital pieces of a relationship that had rotted slowly.
Then Priya found a hidden messaging app.
Leah had never installed it.
The login account belonged to Ryan.
Someone had used Leah's phone repeatedly while she slept.
There were messages to Victor going back nine months.
RYAN: SHE STILL DOESN'T REMEMBER THE NIGHT OF THE FUNDRAISER.
VICTOR: KEEP IT THAT WAY.
RYAN: SHE SAW CAROLINE GIVE ME THE DRIVE.
VICTOR: THEN FIND THE DRIVE BEFORE SHE DOES.
Leah stared at the screen.
"What fundraiser?"
Grant remembered.
Three weeks before Caroline died, Mercer Dynamics had hosted a charity gala.
Leah had left early after fainting near the service hallway.
She claimed she had mixed wine with medication.
Priya scrolled farther.
The final recovered message was from Victor to Ryan, sent six weeks ago—the same day Leah ended the engagement.
VICTOR: IF SHE GOES BACK TO GRANT, USE TYLER.
Grant turned toward his son.
Tyler looked like the floor had disappeared beneath him.
"Use me how?"
May you like
Nobody answered.
Then the burner phone in Tyler's pocket began to ring.
