My Best Friend Burned My Dad's Final Audio Recording in a Bonfire — But My Dog Pulled Out a Hidden Fireproof Box That Uncovered His Family's Wiretap
Marcus Reynolds stood in my dorm room, still holding the duplicate key to my lockbox. The fireproof case lay open on my desk, glinting under the harsh overhead light.
My stomach coiled, but my expression remained fixed—the blank, slightly unfocused stare of someone who couldn’t see.
He tossed something small and metallic onto my desk. It landed with a sharp, jangling sound against the wood.
“Heard you found some new trinkets,” Marcus said, his voice casual, too casual.
I leaned my head slightly, tilting it toward the sound, a practiced motion. “What was that, Marcus?”
He chuckled, a dry, humorless sound. “Just some old brass. Leo left it behind.”
My fingers, hidden from his view, traced the edge of the fireproof box. It was the key to my dad’s old study, the one Leo used to get in after hours.
Marcus knew. He knew Leo had been in the student governance safe.
He knew weeks ago.
“Guess he’s been busy, hasn’t he?” Marcus continued, moving around my desk. I tracked his shadow, a dark, shifting blur at the edge of my vision.
My eyes remained on a fixed point just over his left shoulder, pretending to peer vaguely into the distance.
“He’s always busy,” I said, my voice steady. “Always working on something new.”
His hand swept across the surface of my desk. He paused, his fingers brushing against a stack of textbooks. Then he opened the top drawer with a soft click.
I watched him. My muscles tensed, ready to react if he found anything incriminating. He wasn’t looking for the fireproof box; he was looking for *something else*.
His fingers rummaged through old notebooks, loose pens, and a half-eaten bag of dried mangoes. He hummed a low tune as he searched.
“You know, Nora,” he said without looking at me, “some people just can’t let go of the past.”
His hand closed around something small, pulling it out. It was my old voice recorder, the one I used for lectures before the crash. Not what I thought he was looking for, but still unnerving.
He flicked it on, listened to a burst of static, then flicked it off. He dropped it back into the drawer.
“Especially when it involves family, right?” His gaze finally found my face. He didn’t meet my eyes, but looked somewhere slightly above them.
“My family’s past is complicated,” I replied, a small tremor in my voice. I hoped he interpreted it as grief, not fear.
“Complicated enough to get Leo in trouble?” he asked, stepping closer. The scent of his expensive cologne, a sharp citrus, filled the air.
My breath hitched. He wasn’t just fishing. He was making a direct threat.
“He’s a good kid,” I said, trying to keep my voice even.
Marcus leaned over my desk, his shadow falling across the fireproof case. He didn’t touch it.
“He’s got a university housing stipend, right?” Marcus said, his voice dropping. “Very generous of the student council, considering his… *situation*.”
He let the implication hang in the air, thick and heavy.
“If you keep digging, Nora,” he said, pushing off the desk, “that stipend disappears. Overnight.”
He paused at the doorway, his eyes lingering on the key on my desk. “Just a thought.”
Then he was gone, leaving the faint scent of cologne and the chilling realization that Marcus wasn’t just reacting to my actions; he had been watching Leo, waiting for the perfect moment to use him against me.
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