Cheat On Me Once Shame On You, Cheat On Me Twice Fuck You

Chapter 13- True Story

Travis's hands gripped the steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles blanched white. The Houston skyline blurred past him, a smear of city lights and traffic. The ringing in his ears refused to die down, an unholy blend of Eli's cries, Lucy's frantic voice, and the echo of Elowen's silence.

The call had come in two hours ago. Two hours—enough time for Travis to imagine every possible nightmare. He'd thought maybe Elowen had just taken a breath of fresh air, needing a break from the shadows of her past that had started clawing at her heels again. But when he called, her phone went straight to voicemail. When he checked the apartment, her things were left untouched, except for her keys and purse. That wasn't a good sign.

The passenger seat held Lucy, Elowen's younger sister, who gnawed on her lower lip until it was raw. Her phone trembled in her hands, a barrage of unanswered texts and failed calls to Silas illuminating the screen. Silas wasn't answering either, and that only made the knot in Travis's gut twist tighter.

"Maybe they're together," Lucy suggested, but even she didn't sound convinced. Her voice cracked at the edges. "Silas wouldn't—he wouldn't just disappear without telling me."

"Yeah, well, Elowen wouldn't either," Travis replied, more bitterly than he meant to. His voice softened when he saw Lucy flinch. "Sorry. I just—I don't like this. Not one bit."

In the backseat, Eli's wails were muffled by the soft fabric of his blanket, but the distress was palpable. Travis's jaw clenched. The baby could feel it too—the wrongness in the air.

They pulled into Elowen's usual spots: the park, the old café she liked, even the bookstore where she used to lose herself for hours. Each stop met them with the same cold emptiness. By the time they swung back around to the apartment, Travis's head was pounding.

Lucy's phone buzzed. She scrambled to answer it, but her face crumpled when she saw the name. "It's just Mom," she mumbled. The disappointment was heavy.

Travis took a shaky breath. "Alright. We'll check Silas's place next."

—

Silas's apartment was dark, curtains drawn tight, and no answer came when they knocked. Lucy pressed her ear to the door, breath catching when she heard nothing but silence.

"Silas!" she called, her voice cracking. She pounded harder, fists small but fierce. "Open up! Come on!"

"Damn it," Travis hissed, running a hand through his hair. "This isn't right. None of this is right."

Just then, Lucy's phone buzzed again. This time, it was a message—from Silas. The screen lit up with three words: "Stay out of it."

Lucy's eyes went wide. "What the hell does that mean?" she whispered, voice small and frightened.

Travis's heart stuttered. There was something off about that message—too blunt, too unlike Silas. His gut twisted with suspicion.

"It means," Travis said, voice grim and tight, "that something's going on. And we're not backing off until we find out what."

Lucy swallowed hard, wiping at her eyes. "What if—what if this has to do with... you know." Her voice dropped to a fearful hush. "Marcus?"

Travis's jaw clenched at the name. The ghost of Elowen's past, the secret she thought she'd buried for good.

"We'll figure it out," he promised, though his voice held a crack of uncertainty. "First, we find them."

But in the pit of his stomach, he couldn't shake the feeling that the past had finally come knocking—demanding its due.