She begged him not to.
And David listened.
Not because he didn’t love her.
Because he thought keeping quiet would protect her.
That mistake almost cost us everything.
Then one of the officers approached me.
“We found something on Steven’s phone.”
Messages.
A lot of them.
Plans for the party.
Plans involving Kayla.
Messages about making sure she couldn’t leave early.
And conversations with another person.
Steven’s older cousin.
David looked at me.
“This wasn’t just him.”
The officer nodded.
“We’re going to need everyone’s devices.”
Kayla hesitated before handing over her phone.
I looked at her.
“You don’t have to be afraid anymore.”
Then Reese stood.
“I have another recording.”
Everyone turned toward her.
She explained that the day before, she had hidden the recorder inside a laundry basket.
