When It All Came Crashing

CHAPTER THREE: When silence whispers back

The one no one dared to mention.

Her real father.

 Minutes Later...

She stood at the window long after the message had burned itself into her screen.

Ask him.

The air had gone thick again. Still. Like even the town was holding its breath.

Cleo stared out through the glass, the photo still pressed in her palm. The man beside her mother haunted her in ways she couldn't explain. A stranger who felt familiar. A stranger who made the past crawl back under her skin.

A knock startled her.

She nearly dropped the photo.

"Cleo?" Roman's voice came through the door, low and hesitant. "Are you okay?"

She took a second too long to answer.

"Yeah," she called back, swallowing the tremble in her throat. "Fine. Just tired."

Another pause.

"You sure?"

His voice was closer now. Right on the other side.

She hesitated.

Then: "You can come in."

The door creaked open slowly, revealing him in a loose black T-shirt and grey joggers, his hair still damp from the shower. He looked casual. Relaxed. But his eyes told a different story.

They scanned her face, her posture, the open window. The tension in her jaw.

"You look like you've seen a ghost," he said.

She almost laughed.

"Feels like I have."

He stepped inside and closed the door gently behind him.

"What happened?"

She looked at him for a long moment. Thought about the message. The photo. The questions clawing at her brain. The name she hadn't spoken aloud in over a decade.

But the words got stuck behind her teeth.

Instead, she lifted her chin and said, "Do you remember my father?"

Roman blinked. That clearly wasn't what he'd expected.

"Your real dad?"

She nodded slowly. "Not the man who raised us after."

He folded his arms across his chest, leaning slightly against the wall.

"Barely. He was gone before I turned twelve. I remember Jarred got into it with a kid once for bringing him up at school."

Cleo's fingers tightened around the edge of the photo she hadn't shown him.

"Did you ever hear anything about him?"

"Not much. Just that your mom left him. That he... wasn't a good guy." Roman's jaw tightened. "Why?"

She looked at the photo again, still face down on her dresser.

"No reason," she lied.

He pushed off the wall, stepping closer.

"Cleo."