Rose had always been careful with other people's devices. She had learned early that curiosity could be dangerous but tonight, the rules didn't apply. Her chest still hammered from the events earlier in the evening. The cool night air outside the Harper estate hadn't calmed her mind; if anything, it had sharpened her senses. Every laugh, every careless glance inside the house, replayed like a cruel montage in her head.
Her phone buzzed again with the anonymous warning:
"Trust no one. Not even those you thought were your friends."
Rose's stomach twisted. Not even those she had trusted? Her fingers flexed around her own phone as though the device were a lifeline, a weapon, and a mirror all at once. But her eyes, drifted toward Jason's abandoned phone lying on the terrace table. His coat had been left there when he and Lila had left for their "work" excuse, he must have forgotten it in the rush of their orchestrated departure.
Her heart raced as she approached it. The small device looked ordinary, harmless even, but she already knew better. Every subtle look, every smirk from Lila, every cutting remark from Jason, they all converged into a single, horrifying suspicion.
She picked up the phone, her hands trembling slightly. For a moment, she simply stared at it. Her fingers hovered over the screen, knowing that once she opened it, nothing would remain the same.
Do I want to see it?
Yes. She needed to see it. She needed to know the truth, to confirm the dread curling in her chest.
With a deep breath, Rose unlocked the phone.
The screen lit up immediately, revealing notifications she had never wanted to see. Messages. Multiple threads, mostly short, mostly casual, but each one carefully curated, each one a thread of the conspiracy that had been forming behind her back.
Her eyes scanned quickly, disbelief and rage building with every line. There were messages from Lila, frequent, intimate, familiar in tone, always timed when Rose was around but distracted. Laughing emojis, flirtatious remarks, teasing, each one dripping with complicity. And the messages from Jason , they weren't casual. Not anymore. They weren't about work, or scheduling, or anything innocent. They were coded, sly, deliberate. Every word designed to amuse Lila, every phrase designed to minimize Rose, to humiliate her, to keep her oblivious.
Rose froze. Her fingers stiffened around the phone. She couldn't breathe. Her mind whirled: All the hints, the smirks, the whispers, the jokes… it was all true. They've been doing this behind my back. Lila and Jason… together.
The sheer weight of it crushed her for a moment. Every memory of their smiles, their casual touches, their careful manipulation replayed in her mind like a loop of betrayal. It was one thing to suspect. It was another to hold the proof in her own hands.
Her thumb hovered over the latest message from Lila. It hadn't been sent yet, it had appeared as a preview, the notification glowing on the locked screen:
"See you tonight."
Rose's blood ran cold. Tonight? The word pulsed in her mind. What did Lila mean? Tonight, when? Was it a meeting? A plan? A celebration? Or something worse?
Her chest tightened, and she pressed the phone against her stomach, trying to steady herself. She needed to think. She needed a plan.
Her mind raced back through the evening, dissecting every interaction, every laugh, every glance. The memory of the smirk Lila had given her during dinner, the one she had tried to ignore flared brightly now, an unmistakable signal of triumph, of secret knowledge. And Jason's words… that cruel comment about her "figure," framed as a joke… it all clicked together.
They've been mocking me this whole time.
The betrayal wasn't just emotional anymore. It was orchestrated. Methodical. Intentional.
Rose took a deep breath. She needed to move. She needed to act. She couldn't let them manipulate her any longer. She slipped the phone into her pocket, the weight of it pressing against her like a reminder of the life she could no longer trust.
Her mind was a storm. Anger, disbelief, humiliation but also clarity. I can't stay here. I can't let them control me. Not tonight. Not ever.
And yet, the "See you tonight" message haunted her. It wasn't just a text. It was a warning. Or a threat.
Her fingers clenched into fists at her sides. If they think I'm going to sit here and be humiliated… they're wrong.
She considered her options. Confronting them tonight? That would be foolish. Dangerous. She didn't know what exactly Lila and Jason had planned, but this much was certain: it wasn't just a joke anymore. Whatever their scheme, it involved her, and it was calculated.
No. She wouldn't walk back into that trap.
Her heartbeat quickened and a shiver ran through her. The adrenaline was sharp, bright, fueling her resolve. She pictured her next steps: leaving the party behind, leaving the estate, leaving Jason's cruel eyes and Lila's triumphant smirk far behind. She would start over.
But the thought of "See you tonight" lingered, insistent, threatening. She didn't know what Lila planned. Didn't know what Jason had in mind. The uncertainty made her chest tighten further, the fear coiling in her stomach like a live thing.
She needed a plan. She needed a safe place to disappear to. But first… she needed to escape the house without being seen, without alerting them to her discovery. She couldn't risk another look, another smile, another word from them.
Her thoughts raced: Who can I trust? Where do I go? How do I survive tonight without letting them know I've seen everything?
The phone buzzed again in her pocket. She pulled it out, trembling, expecting another message. The screen was dark, just the notification from Lila still glaring at her: "See you tonight." No explanation. No details. Just those three words, a promise or a threat, she couldn't tell which.
Rose's chest felt tight, her hands sweaty. She realized that leaving wasn't just about getting out of the party. It was about surviving the night, staying one step ahead of the people she had trusted the most and who had betrayed her completely.
For the first time in years, she felt a strange, electrifying clarity. Jason and Lila had thought they could control her, manipulate her, humiliate her. They had underestimated one thing: Rose Voss had never truly been broken. Not yet.
She pressed her fingers against her temples, trying to steady her racing thoughts. She would disappear tonight. She would disappear before Lila and Jason could see her as anything but a pawn. And when she returned… she would be unstoppable.
But for now, the immediate danger was real. The unknown plan hinted at in that message could unfold at any moment. Every second she lingered outside, every heartbeat that echoed in the dark, was a reminder of the stakes.
Rose slipped the phone back into her pocket, her fists clenched tightly. Her jaw was set. She would survive Tonight.
But the words, "See you tonight," haunted her.