Page 112 of Hide and Seek
“Wow,” Echo says at the same time I say, “You know I can hear you, right?”
“Tell us how you really feel, Ci,” Echo says.
“Yeah, you don’t want to know how I really feel,” he says in a dark tone I’ve never heard him use before. “I’m so done with both of you, and I’m not even sorry about any of this.”
The little green dot next to his name disappears as he goes offline.
“What the fuck was that?” Echo asks incredulously.
“I have no idea.”
Cipher can be dramatic when he’s stressed about stuff, and this isn’t the first time he’s gotten mad at one of us for something stupid and said he’s done with us. It isn’t even the first time he’s ragged on us for having more money than him, but it’s never been like this before.
“Is it just me, or did that sound different from his usual tantrums?” I ask Echo.
“Yeah,” she agrees. “Everything about that was weird. And it started before you came online.”
“What do you mean?”
“He asked me some really strange questions while we were waiting for you. Like if I knew anything about some deepfakes you’ve been looking for?—”
“Wait,” I cut in. “Deepfakes? He asked specifically about deepfakes?”
“Yeah,” she says, sounding confused. “That means something to you?”
“It does, but it shouldn’t mean anything to him.”
“Huh?”
“I didn’t tell either of you this, but a few months ago, I learned about some deepfakes that someone made of me and my siblings that they were going to use to try and ruin my family.”
“Why didn’t you tell us?”
I can hear the hurt in her voice, and I’m going to spend the next few years groveling and making up for it, but I know I did the right thing, even if it feels wrong.
“Because I was trying to keep you guys safe.”
“But—”
“I know how that sounds,” I tell her gently. “But the people who made those videos were bad people who weren’t afraid to hurt whoever they needed to in order to get what they wanted. They’re the type who would have used you to get to me, and I couldn’t risk that.”
“Were? Like past tense?”
“Yeah,” I say grimly.
“Are the videos as bad as I’m thinking they are?” she asks hesitantly.
“Way worse.”
“But if you didn’t tell either of us about any of this, how does Cipher know about them?” she asks.
“I have no clue. What exactly did he say?”
“He asked if you’d told me about some video files you were trying to track down. When I said no, he asked if you’d mentioned someone named Jacob to me.”
“Jacob?” I interject. “He said Jacob?”
“Yeah. That means something to you?”
