Questions for Answers

Chapter Twenty Two

I followed his instructions and got myself ready. Once I finished, I grabbed my bag and we headed out the door. He returned his key to the front desk and we got in the car, making our way to a breakfast cafe. We found one not too far away, made our way inside, and got sat down by the hostess.

Once our food arrived, Tristen clasped his hands, "So...your birthday's in two months. Have any idea what you wanna do?"

I chuckled, "That's still two months away, Tristen. I try not to think about getting older. I still feel like I haven't accomplished much."

He looked offended almost, "Are you kidding me? You've accomplished so much. Who cares if you don't have any medals to show for it? We've been through so much and yet...we're still here—together. Plus, you're only eighteen. There's nothing wrong with not having done a lot. It's easy to compare yourself to others, but you know and I know that God doesn't make mistakes. You've come so far."

I blushed as I heard him speak and looked away to avoid his sweet eyes. He was so good at talking to me and helping me work through my issues. He made me a better communicator. I finally looked back at him, "Thank you. Seriously."

"Of course", he said digging into his food.

After a good thirty minutes flew by, my phone buzzed and I checked to see that Benny had texted me. My eyes widened in shock because I did not expect to hear from him any time soon—or at all. When I read his message, I couldn't believe my eyes, "No way."

"What's going on?" Tristen asked.

I looked up at him, "Oh, uh, it's just Benny."

"Who?" He asked with his brow raised.

"Benny Armani. He just texted me about the rooms."

"Rooms?" He asked confused again.

"Oh, you don't know, I forgot! So, Natalia has a friend named Benny. He helped us with this encrypted website that we had trouble accessing. Yesterday, I met up with him and he showed me what was being hidden. It was some weird rooms with switches in them with the cameras pointed at each of them. It's kind of hard to explain, but I have pictures of what it looks like", I said as I pulled up the photos I took.

He still seemed confused about what he was looking at but didn't say anything. Then something clicked in his brain, "Ah, so that's the guy you hung up on me for, huh?"

I brought my eyes down low, "Tristen-"

"I'm joking, what'd he say", he said with his hands raised.

I read his text aloud, "Hey, did some more digging...I couldn't help myself. I got an address to one of those rooms for you. I'll send you the deets. Hope you find what you're looking for."

"How'd he find the room that quickly?" He wondered.

I shrugged, "I don't know, but this guy's legit. If he found the room, we could go there and-"

"And what? What if it leads to another clue? What if it's a dead end? Will you stop? We have to be smart about this. I have an uneasy feeling. We need to just go home," he interrupted.

I instinctively snapped back, "Tristen, do you honestly think he'll just stop once we go back home? He knows everything. You think it'll all be over once we leave? That man will never stop looking for me. If I don't confront him here, or at least find out the truth, it'll never end. I know you don't like this, I don't either, but it can't all be for nothing."

He seemed stuck on what to say next, but I knew he took in whatever I said to him. He let out a sigh and nodded, "Alright. I get it. But can you please just call the guy back first?"