Now You Know: A psychological thriller with a nerve shredding climax by Nora Valters

Author:Nora Valters [Valters, Nora]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Inkubator Books
Published: 2021-06-05T16:00:00+00:00

15

“Toby! OMG, have you seen my social media—”

But my brother cuts me off abruptly.

“You told Mum and Dad,” Toby yells.

“What?” I reply, confused by his fury.

“Don’t pretend not to know, Lauren. You’re the only person I told, and I told you not to tell them. And you did, didn’t you? Couldn’t keep your mouth shut for a few days. Had to blab.”

“I haven’t said anything to them, I swear.”

“You sent an email to Dad! He told me.”

“I’d never do anything to hurt you, Toby. Someone has accessed my email account and must’ve sent that email—”

“Did you do all this to keep hold of your favourite-child status? Did you think your shine was fading? Believe me, it wasn’t. Dad already favours you over me. And you clearly wanted to bring me down even further in his estimation. But I honestly didn’t think you’d have it in you to be so cruel.”

“That’s not true, Toby!”

“Bullshit.” He hangs up.

The silence booms in my ear. I slowly lower my phone. I didn’t tell anyone about Toby, not even Akshay. It was my brother’s news to tell. Toby messaged me on WhatsApp when I was at work yesterday, just before the CozMoz Paints meeting…

Aargh.

My WhatsApp web app was open on my laptop. Imani must’ve read Toby’s messages. They would’ve been right at the top. And now she’s sent this email to Dad just to upset me further. My disgust and revulsion at the offensive content and panic at not being able to get onto my social media channels turns to anger at someone screwing with my family.

I call Toby. It rings once and then goes to voicemail – I guess he’s cancelled my call. I don’t leave a voicemail, as I know he’ll never listen to it. Instead, I send him a text message reiterating that I’ve been hacked and that I didn’t tell Dad. I know he’s more likely to read that.

I’ll go to his apartment. And if he’s not there, I’ll wait for him at his bar. I need to explain everything to him, to make him understand this wasn’t me.

I gather up my handbag, but my laptop, which is sat on the coffee table, flashes. I look at the screen. It’s white with red blobs fading in and out. It looks like… blood splatters.

I click on the mouse touchpad, but aggressive ear-splitting heavy metal music blares out. I jerk so violently that I almost leave my own skin. I cover my ears with my hands in an attempt to block out the shouty male vocals.

The blood splatters shrink to nothing, and just as abruptly, the music stops. My desktop reappears with my folders and shortcuts. Was that some kind of tech meltdown? I lean towards my laptop, and the screen glitches. Imperceptibly at first. But then it gets wilder until it’s like a blizzard.

A message pops up in red letters across my screen:

‘I KNOW WHAT YOU DID, LAUREN.’

My pulse quickens. I haven’t done anything. I know I haven’t done anything. She’s just trying to scare me by messing with my laptop.

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