Page 197 of Divine Obsession

“Can I ask you something?” I continued once Maria nodded, “How did Zach find all that information on you?”

She rolled her eyes. “He’s best friends with Trevor.”

“Trevor?” I breathed out. “That’s who helped Zach find all that information on you?”

Maria nodded, brushing a strand of hair out of her face. “Yeah. I don’t blame him, though. He was just helping Zach.”

My stomach twisted into knots, but I forced a casual nod.

Maria didn’t know I was dating Trevor. She didn’t know about the dates in the park, the quiet nights in his apartment, the promise of a future together. And now I was sitting here, pretending I wasn’t seconds away from spiraling.

“You think I could see what Trevor gave him?” I asked, keeping my voice steady.

“Why?”

“Hacker curiosity,” I said with a shrug. “If Trevor’s that good, I’d love to see how deep he went.”

Maria blinked, but then she nodded. “Umm, sure.” She leaned over to Zach’s laptop on the coffee table, flipping it open and putting the password in. “Zach showed me parts of it after…Everything.” She turned it to me after finding the file.

I opened it, scanning through it with practiced efficiency.

Most of it was what I expected: Maria’s background, pieced together from fragments of old records. Some redacted government files.

My chest tightened, the weight of betrayal sinking in.

Trevorknewhow much Maria meant to me. She wasn’t just my best friend; she was my sister in every way that mattered. He had to have known that digging into her past.

Helping Zach hunt her down crossed a line.

He’d made a choice, and that choice cut deeper than I wanted to admit.

But then, something caught my eye – a folder buried within the main directory.

My name.

I clicked on it, and my heart stopped.

Inside was everything. Foster care and orphanage records. My high school transcripts. Even a list of the dates and times I’d visited the NYPD while Maria had been ‘missing,’ desperate for answers after her supposed death at sixteen.

My hands gripped the laptop so tight, my knuckles turned white.

A sickening thought crept into my mind.

Every casual question he’d asked about Maria over the past few months suddenly felt like it had a motive.Had Trevor been using me?

It felt calculated. Cold.Exactly the type of person he was.

And if that was true, if he’d used me as a way to get closer to Maria’s secrets…

I wasn’t just betrayed.

I was a fool.

I stood abruptly, the weight in my chest too much to bear as I fought to keep my voice steady. “I’ll be right back.”

Maria glanced up from her phone. “Okay. I’m going to check on Zach.”

I nodded, already halfway to the other hallway. The second I closed a guestroom door behind me, I pulled out my phone, my fingers trembling as I scrolled to Trevor’s name.

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