the photographer. [zdh]

twenty-one

zach, jonah and i were out buying breakfast and coffee from the nearby coffee shop when i received a phone call from corbyn.

"it's decrypted," he said. i could tell he was trying to make his voice as normal-sounding as possible, but i still heard the poorly-concealed excitement in his voice.

"i'm coming back, wait for me," i said at once, cutting into jonah and zach's conversation. as corbyn hummed in response, jonah and zach look confusedly at me.

not having the patience to explain the situation to them, i tossed my phone to zach. "corbyn will explain it to you two. i'm going back to the bus, can you bring the food back? i'm sorry," i said in a rush as jonah nodded, still baffled. zach was listening to corbyn speak on the other end of the line as he gave me a thumbs up.

i ran back to the bus as quickly as i could. thanks to the early-morning traffic, i reached a couple of minutes later than it would've taken without traffic. but at this point, i was too excited to be bothered about the fact that someone had spilled some of his coffee on my shoes.

as i stepped into the bus, corbyn was just wrapping up his phone call. he quickly beckoned me over as he saw me, and i wasted no time in running to his side.

sitting down next to corbyn, he spoke slowly.

"leah, i know it's been years since you've found out that your family is still alive, and you've been waiting for this moment. no, i haven't read anything, but this might be shocking to you, so do you want the boys and i to keep out of the lounge at the back of the bus while you read the contents of the thumbdrive?"

looking at corbyn, i couldn't help but smile. "thank you for understanding, and yes, please."

corbyn nodded as we both stood up. he pushed me gently towards the back. "come out when you're ready," he said as he handed me his computer.

taking a deep breath, i walked slowly towards the back of the lounge, clutching the laptop which displayed all the secrets.

no, jay hadn't specifically said that the names of my parents or family members were in the thumbdrive.

however, there had to be something.

i hoped.

**

"it's been two hours," muttered jack. "when's leah coming out?"

zach frowned worriedly. "she hasn't eaten breakfast, too. her coffee's cold, and her bagel is cold and hard."

daniel sighed as he lay back on the chair he was sitting on. "should we check on her?"

as corbyn shook his head, i said, "give her time, you guys."

"it's been two hours, and we haven't heard-"

eben got cut off by the sound of the door to the back lounge sliding open. there stood leah. her face was white with shock yet red with anger at the same time.

"tyler, daniel, zach," she muttered. "can you come in?"

corbyn and i exchanged glances as the three of them got up and went into the lounge with leah.

**

zach handed leah's phone to her, and him and i sat down on either side of leah, while tyler sat on the floor in front of her. the laptop with jay's thumbdrive plugged in it was still on her lap, but it was closed.

"i called you three-" she began as her breath hitched and she stumbled on her words. "i wanted you to be the first to know."

"firstly, i saw this," she opened the laptop, clicked a button, and a video started to play.

the screen was black, yet it wasn't difficult to hear what was said. from the background sounds, i could tell that this was recorded in a diner. and when we heard the voices, i was shocked.

it was a conversation between jay, ethan and a deeper male voice that sounded like almost exactly like ethan. i could only guess that it was mr forrester.

the video was only three minutes long, but the words being said and the meaning behind each sentence stood out plain as day.

mr forrester was instructing jay and ethan to do whatever it took to get me back to dallas, because he said that he 'couldn't have his son, who was supposed to take over the family's construction business one day, not even being able to control a girl'.

ethan was on board the idea, and jay wasn't, until mr forrester started to threaten his family. or, more accurately, his father.

"if you don't do this and if you tell anyone, i'll make sure your father doesn't have the means to put food on the table for you and your sister, let alone pay the mounting medical bills for your dying mother," hissed mr forrester. "you are at the mercy of myself and my son."

the video cut off.

"lels," zach whispered. he hugged her tightly as the first tear fell down her cheek. tyler and i exchanged looks, stunned.

after a minute, tyler spoke. "why did you call us in here?" whispered tyler. "i mean, we're honoured that you trust us, and-"

leah waved a hand in the air to stop him from continuing to speak. "another reason, ty," she said as she clicked on another folder, also from the thumbdrive. "look at this."

it was a document, filled with information about leah. she covered the header of the document with her hand, but we could still see the rest of the page.

the name of her orphanage, the date she set foot in the orphanage, the "reason" she was in the orphanage. her school records from elementary, middle and high school. pictures of her art, from when she was in pittsburgh. anything and everything that they could find about her.

"no way," i muttered as my eyes landed on the footer at the bottom of the document. "forrester's construction. they had you profiled?"

leah nodded. "and that's not all," she whispered as she met my eyes. she removed her hand from the screen.

tyler didn't hear her say "and that's not all", though. "did you get any information about your parents or family in this thumbdrive?"

"yes."

the air in the room seemed to still.

"my real name, or should i say surname, is seavey."

✎

a/n are you shook or did you suspect it?
we've been dropping hints throughout the book so far, and, well, now you know :)
also! i edited this one chapter so many times in order to get to this point, so do vote if you liked the book thus far!