Crew's POV
I wake up to seventeen missed calls from Madison.
It's seven AM. Summer break, first week. Nobody should be awake, let alone blowing up my phone with desperate calls.
I ignore them and roll over, trying to go back to sleep. But my phone immediately starts ringing again.
"What?" I answer, voice rough.
"Have you seen the news?" Madison's voice is panicked. High-pitched. Wrong.
"What news? It's seven in the morning—"
"Someone broke into Autumn Hayes's apartment last night. The police were called. It's all over the Crestwood gossip group."
I sit up so fast my head spins. "What?"
"Check your phone. Sarah posted about it an hour ago. Apparently Autumn's staying with some guy now because she's too scared to go home." Madison's voice turns nasty. "Guess she found her next target pretty fast."
I hang up without responding and open the group chat. Sure enough, Sarah posted at six AM:
Sarah: GUYS someone tried to break into Autumn Hayes's place last night!!! Police and everything. I heard from my mom who's friends with a cop. Apparently she's staying with some rich guy from Zhang Technologies now. That was fast 👀
The messages below are brutal:
Jake: Bet she staged it for attention lol
Another number: Scholarship girl upgrading to a sugar daddy? 😂
Madison: She's probably lying. Classic victim mentality.
I feel sick.
Someone broke into her apartment. Autumn—who's already been through hell because of me—had someone break into her HOME.
And these people are making jokes.
I scroll back through the chat history. For weeks, people have been posting about Autumn. Mocking her. Sharing photos. Making cruel comments about the prom situation.
I never said anything. I just watched.
I'm as guilty as they are.
My phone rings again. This time it's Jake.
"Dude, you coming to Madison's pool party today?"
"No."
"What? Come on, man. Summer just started. You can't hide in your house forever just because you feel bad about the Autumn thing."
"The Autumn thing?" Anger rises in my throat. "You mean destroying someone for money?"
"It was a joke, Crew. She's fine. She got a fancy job and a new boyfriend. She's probably living better than all of us."
"Someone broke into her apartment, Jake."
"So? That has nothing to do with us." He sounds genuinely confused. "Why do you even care? You won the bet. Move on."
I hang up and throw my phone across the room.
Why do I care? Because Autumn was real with me. Because she saw through my perfect-student act and liked me anyway. Because I destroyed the only genuine thing in my life for two hundred dollars and the approval of people who would drop me the second I stopped being useful.
I get dressed and drive to the coffee shop where Autumn and I used to study. It's empty this early, just the barista and a few early risers with laptops.
I order her drink—medium coffee with cream and two sugars—and sit in our usual booth. The one by the window where she'd spread out her textbooks and argue with me about character motivations in whatever book we were reading.
"You always defend the villains," I told her once.
"Because everyone deserves to be understood," she replied. "Even the bad guys have reasons for what they do. That doesn't make it right, but it makes it human."
She was talking about fictional characters. But she was also talking about people. About giving everyone a chance to explain themselves.
Did I ever give her that chance? No. I just took and took and took until there was nothing left to take.
My phone buzzes. A text from Riley.
Riley: I know we're not friends, but I need to talk to you about Autumn. It's important. Meet me at Riverside Park in 20 minutes.
I stare at the message. Riley hates me. She made that very clear the last time we spoke. Why would she want to meet?
Unless something's really wrong.
I leave the coffee shop—Autumn's untouched drink sitting on the table like an apology she'll never receive—and drive to Riverside Park.
Riley is waiting on a bench, looking exhausted. She stands when she sees me.
"Thanks for coming," she says coldly. "I wasn't sure you would."
"What's going on? Is Autumn okay?"
"No, Crew. She's not okay." Riley's voice shakes with anger. "Someone has been stalking her. For weeks. They've been sending her threatening texts, they broke into her locker, and last night they tried to break into her bedroom window. The police are investigating."
The world tilts. "What?"
"Someone is terrorizing her. And I think it's connected to your little prom bet." Riley steps closer. "Who knew about the bet, Crew?"
"Just Madison, Jake, Sarah, and a few others from that group."
"How many is 'a few others'?"
I think back. "Maybe ten people total?"
"Ten people who all have motive to keep Autumn down. Ten people who benefited from her humiliation." Riley pulls out her phone and shows me screenshots of messages. "These are the texts she's been getting. Death threats. Promises to hurt her. Someone telling her she's worthless and should disappear."
I read them, and my stomach turns. "This is insane. Who would—"
"That's what I'm trying to figure out." Riley's eyes bore into mine. "The stalker is female. Young. Someone from Crestwood. Someone with money—she has a five-thousand-dollar Cartier bracelet. Someone who hates Autumn enough to risk getting arrested."
My mind races through possibilities. "Madison."
"That's what I thought too. But Madison's been posting on social media all night from her family's beach house in Malibu. She couldn't have been at Autumn's apartment." Riley crosses her arms. "So who else? Who hates Autumn that much?"
"I don't know. Maybe Sarah? She was really into the prom thing."
"Sarah's on a cruise with her family. Left three days ago." Riley shakes her head. "It's someone else. Someone we're not thinking of."
"Have you told the police about the bet? About the group chat?"
"Not yet. I wanted to talk to you first." She looks at me with disgust. "I need to know—did you put anyone up to this? Did you tell someone to scare her?"
"What? No!" The accusation hits like a punch. "I would never—"
"You destroyed her for money, Crew. Why should I believe you wouldn't do worse?"
"Because I didn't know!" The words explode out of me. "I didn't know she heard us. I didn't know it would hurt her like this. I thought—" I can't even finish. What did I think? That she'd never find out? That betrayal only counts if the victim knows about it?
"You thought wrong," Riley says flatly. "And now she's being stalked by someone who thinks terrorizing her is acceptable. Someone who learned from watching you that Autumn Hayes is a target they can hurt without consequences."
The words hit like a hammer. "You think this is my fault."
"I think you started something you couldn't control. You made it okay to hurt her. You gave everyone permission." Riley's voice breaks. "She's my best friend, Crew. She's one of the kindest, most talented people I know. And you broke her. And now someone else is trying to finish the job."
"I'll fix it," I say desperately. "Tell me how to fix it."
"You can't fix it. You can only help catch whoever's doing this." She hands me a piece of paper with a phone number. "That's Kade Zhang's number. He's helping Autumn build a case against the stalker. Call him. Tell him everything you know about who was involved in the bet. Give him access to the group chat. Do something useful for once."
She walks away before I can respond, leaving me standing in the park with a stranger's phone number and the weight of what I've done crushing my chest.
I drive home in a daze. Pull up the group chat. Read through weeks of messages where people mock Autumn, share photos of her, make cruel jokes.
And I said nothing. I just watched it happen.
I'm about to call the number Riley gave me when my phone buzzes with a message from an unknown number.
Unknown: Heard you're playing hero now. Trying to help poor Autumn? How noble. But here's the thing, Crew—you don't get to be the good guy. You started this. And I'm going to finish it. Stay out of my way, or you'll be next.
My hands shake. Whoever's stalking Autumn just threatened me directly.
Which means they know I'm getting involved. Which means they're watching me too.
I screenshot the message and dial Kade Zhang's number with trembling fingers.
He answers on the second ring. "Who is this?"
"Crew Maverick. Riley told me to call you. Someone just threatened me. I think I know who's stalking Autumn."
"You have exactly two minutes to convince me not to hang up on you," Kade says coldly. "Start talking."
I take a breath. "The stalker just made a mistake. She said 'you started this' and 'I'm going to finish it.' That specific phrasing—I've only heard one person talk like that."
"Who?"
"Her name is Victoria Chen. Sarah's older sister. She graduated from Crestwood last year." My mind races, putting pieces together. "She was obsessed with Madison in high school. Would do anything Madison asked. And she always talked about 'finishing what we started' whenever someone crossed their group."
"Why would Victoria care about Autumn?"
"Because Madison does. Victoria's whole identity was being Madison's enforcer. If Madison wanted Autumn destroyed, Victoria would see it as her job to make sure it happened—even if Madison didn't ask her to."
Silence on the other end. Then: "Send me everything you have on Victoria Chen. Social media, address, phone number, everything. And Crew? If you're lying to protect yourself, I'll make sure everyone knows exactly what kind of person you are."
"I'm not lying. I just..." The words stick in my throat. "I just want Autumn to be safe. Even if she never forgives me."
"She won't forgive you," Kade says flatly. "But if this Victoria lead pans out, at least you'll have done one decent thing." He hangs up.
I spend the next hour compiling everything I know about Victoria Chen. Photos from her social media. Screenshots of her comments on posts. Evidence of her obsession with Madison.
When I send it all to Kade, he responds with one word: Received.
I sit in my room, staring at my phone, waiting for something. An update. A thank you. Anything.
Instead, I get another message from the unknown number.
Unknown: You just made a very big mistake. I warned you to stay out of this. Now you get to watch what happens when people don't listen to me.
Then, a photo. It takes me a second to recognize what I'm seeing.
It's my dad's office. The window broken. Papers scattered everywhere. And written on his desk in what looks like red paint: "YOUR SON IS NEXT."
I call my dad immediately.
"Son? What's wrong?"
"Dad, is your office okay? Has anyone broken in?"
"What? No, I'm here right now. Everything's fine. Why?"
"Check the windows. All of them."
I hear him walking, muttering about crazy teenagers. Then his voice changes.
"Crew. My west window is broken. There's... there's writing on my desk. What the hell is going on?"
The stalker didn't just threaten me.
She went after my family.