**Zephry's POV**
Zephry stared at her phone, Aerith's words flashing across the screen again and again. The frustration in her messages, the helplessness—it all felt so familiar. Too familiar. It brought back memories Zephry had long buried, things she didn't want to think about. But that wasn't the worst part.
The worst part was how wrong Aerith was. How blind she was to what was happening.
Jake wasn't just distant because of Hazel, or because he was pulling away from Aerith. He was playing both sides, manipulating everyone around him. Zephry had seen it before, countless times, but she'd never been close enough to stop it. Not until now.
Because there was something Aerith didn't know—something no one knew.
Jake had been manipulating *Zephry* too.
It had started months ago, long before things had gone sour with Aerith. Jake had found a way into Zephry's life, slowly, subtly. He wasn't interested in her romantically—that much had been clear from the start—but he'd seen something in her that he could use. Her distance from the rest of the group, her silence, her invisibility. She was perfect for his games.
And she had fallen for it.
Zephry had been keeping her distance from everyone, but Jake had a way of making her feel seen, making her feel like she mattered, even if it was in the shadows. He'd come to her when he needed to let off steam, complain about Aerith, about Hazel, about all the things he couldn't say to anyone else. And like a fool, Zephry had listened. She had convinced herself she wasn't like the others, that she was immune to Jake's manipulation, but now she realised how wrong she had been.
And now, Aerith was coming to her for advice. For help. Zephry could barely help herself.
Her phone buzzed again.
*"I just feel like I'm losing everything. Jake, my friends… I don't know what to do anymore. I can't even think straight."*
Zephry swallowed, her throat dry. This was the moment. She could keep playing along, pretending everything was fine, giving Aerith vague advice and keeping her distance. Or she could tell her the truth—the real truth. About Jake, about the games he'd been playing with everyone's lives.
Her hands trembled slightly as she typed a response, her heart racing in her chest.
*"You need to know something about Jake. Something no one else knows."*
----
**Aerith's POV**
Aerith sat up in bed, her heart pounding as she stared at Zephry's message. *Something no one else knows?* Her chest tightened, and her breath caught in her throat. What was Zephry talking about? Jake hadn't mentioned anything—nothing that would give her a reason to suspect something so serious.
A knot formed in her stomach as she typed back a response, her fingers shaking.
*"What do you mean? What's going on?"*
The seconds felt like hours as she waited for Zephry's reply, her mind racing through all the possibilities. Had Jake lied about Hazel? Was he hiding something worse? Aerith's thoughts spiralled, every doubt she had ever pushed down rising to the surface again.
Finally, her phone buzzed. The message that came through made her heart stop.
---
**Jake's POV**
Jake was leaning back against the park bench, watching Hazel with a half-smirk as she ran her fingers through her hair. She was talking about something—probably plans for the weekend—but his mind was elsewhere. His phone buzzed in his pocket, but he ignored it. It was probably Aerith, desperate for more attention, for more of his time. But she would have to wait. Hazel came first tonight.
Hazel shot him a teasing glance. "You're distracted, Jake. What's on your mind?"
Jake shrugged, leaning closer to her, his arm casually draped over the back of the bench. "Just thinking about how good tonight's gonna be."
Hazel grinned, but before she could say anything, Jake's phone buzzed again. Annoyed, he pulled it out, ready to dismiss whatever it was.
His blood ran cold.
It wasn't Aerith.
It was a message from Zephry.
*"We need to talk. Now. It's about Aerith—and what you've been doing."*
Jake froze, his mind racing. Zephry? Of all people? She wasn't supposed to get involved. She was supposed to stay in the background, quiet and unnoticed. That was the whole point. He had been careful to keep her out of this, to make sure she never became part of the bigger game. She was too much of a wild card—too unpredictable.
And now, she was threatening everything.
"Hey." Hazel's voice snapped him back to reality. "You okay?"
Jake forced a smile, slipping his phone back into his pocket. "Yeah, I'm good. Just... something with practice."
But his heart was pounding, and for the first time in a long time, Jake felt the faintest stirrings of panic. He was always in control. He always knew how to manage everyone, and how to make sure things stayed in his favour. But Zephry? She was different. She wasn't like Aerith or Hazel. She wasn't easy to manipulate.
He had underestimated her.
Jake stood up, pulling out his phone again, this time texting Zephry back quickly, his fingers moving faster than usual. *"What are you talking about? Don't do anything stupid."*
----
*Zephry's POV*
Zephry sat on her bed, staring at her phone, her heart pounding in her chest as she reread Jake's message. *Don't do anything stupid.* The words sent a cold wave of anger through her, mixing with a sense of helplessness that wrapped around her throat like a noose. He was controlling her again—like he always did.
Her fingers trembled as she gripped the phone, knuckles white from the pressure. She could feel herself spiralling, trapped between the person she wanted to be and the person Jake had made her. She had convinced herself, time and time again, that she was in control—that she could stop this at any moment. But that was a lie.
He *owned* her.
She thought she could tell Aerith the truth. She thought, for a brief moment, that she could break free of Jake's suffocating hold on her, and warn Aerith about the web of manipulation he had spun. But the truth was darker than that. Jake wasn't just pulling Aerith's strings—he was pulling *hers*, too. And the worst part? She let him.
*Why do I let him?*
Her mind flashed back to all the times Jake had whispered sweet, poisonous words in her ear, his touch lingering on her skin, his smile so cold and perfect it made her chest ache. He didn't love her. He didn't even care about her. But he *knew* her. He knew exactly which buttons to push, which fears to exploit, which wounds to tear open to keep her tied to him.
And despite everything—despite the pain, the humiliation, the lies—she couldn't walk away.
Her phone buzzed again, jolting her from her thoughts. It was another message from Jake, the words almost suffocating in their simplicity.
*"Don't. Say. Anything."*
Three words. That was all it took to bring her to her knees. She hated him. God, she hated him. But she couldn't fight the pull, the twisted connection that kept her tethered to him.
Her vision blurred as tears welled in her eyes, and she quickly wiped them away, refusing to let herself cry over him again. Not Jake. Not after everything he had done.
But even as her anger rose, so did the crushing weight of her addiction to him. She had known from the beginning that getting close to Jake was dangerous. He had *warned* her, hadn't he? He had told her that people like him didn't care about people like her. But the way he had looked at her, the way he had spoken to her when no one else was listening—it was addictive. She had thought she could handle it, that she could play his game without getting hurt.
But she had been wrong.
Zephry's hands shook as she typed a message back, her anger bleeding into every word.
*"I'm done, Jake. I'm not your puppet anymore."*
She hit send, her heart hammering in her chest as she waited for his reply. She wanted to believe it, wanted to believe that she was strong enough to finally stand up to him, to break free from the chains he had wrapped around her mind.
But the moment the message left her phone, doubt crashed over her like a tidal wave. Jake *always* won. He *always* knew how to twist her words, her thoughts, until she couldn't tell where his influence ended and her mind began.
Seconds passed, then a minute. And then, the screen lit up with his response.
*"You think you're done? You're never done with me, Zephry. Don't forget what I know."*
Her breath caught in her throat as her mind raced. What he knew. The secrets she had told him in moments of vulnerability—moments where she thought, just maybe, he cared about her. She had let him in. She had let him see her scars, her darkness, the parts of herself she had never shown anyone else. And now, he was using it against her.
Her stomach twisted with nausea as she read the message again, her pulse thudding in her ears. Of course, he knew. Jake always knew. He had been building this, slowly, methodically, making sure she could never leave, never truly escape. Every secret, every confession—he had stored them away, waiting for the moment he could use them to keep her in check.
*He's going to destroy me.*
The realisation hit her with the force of a sledgehammer. If she exposed him, if she told Aerith everything, Jake wouldn't hesitate to burn her life to the ground. And the worst part? He would enjoy every second of it.
She was trapped.
Her phone buzzed again, and this time the message made her blood run cold.
*"I'll tell them everything, Zephry. Every. Single. Thing. Is that what you want?"*
Zephry's breath came in shallow, ragged gasps as the full weight of his threat settled over her. He wasn't bluffing. If she didn't fall back in line, if she didn't play the role he had assigned her, Jake would make sure everyone knew the truth—about her, about the things she had done, about the darkness inside her that no one else saw.
Her hands shook as she typed a response, every word laced with the fear and resignation she hated so much.
*"What do you want from me, Jake?"*
The reply came almost instantly.
*"Silence."*
Zephry swallowed hard, the tears she had fought back now spilling freely down her cheeks. Silence. Of course. He didn't need her to do anything. He just needed her to say *nothing*. To watch as he tore Aerith apart, as he twisted her mind just like he had twisted Zephry's.
And Zephry knew she would comply. She always did. Because no matter how much she hated him, no matter how much she wanted to break free, she couldn't risk losing everything. Not like this.
Jake had won. Again.
Her phone buzzed once more, but this time the message wasn't from Jake. It was Aerith.
*"Zephry, are you okay? Please, I need to know what's going on. I feel like I'm going crazy."*
Zephry stared at the screen, her heart breaking for Aerith in a way she hadn't expected. Aerith had no idea what was happening, no idea that Jake was slowly wrapping his tendrils around her mind, the way he had with Zephry. She was innocent—too trusting, too naïve to see the truth. But Zephry *knew* the truth. She could stop this. She could warn Aerith. She could be the one to break the cycle.
But Jake's threat loomed over her, dark and oppressive, reminding her that she wasn't strong enough. She was just as trapped as Aerith—maybe even more so.
Her fingers hovered over the screen, the weight of the decision crushing her.
And then, with a final, trembling breath, she typed the words that would seal her fate.
*"There's nothing to worry about. Everything's fine."*
She hit send.