#Chapter 12 - Schoolbooks

“Christian,” I say, pressing my hands to my chest and willing him to see the truth in every ounce of me, “I swear to you, I have no idea what you’re talking about. I am not intentionally keeping something back – if there’s something I’m missing? I don’t know what it is.” “Think hard, Iris,” Christian says, still staring down at me. “What is it that you know? About your boyfriend, or his debt? Why would they still be chasing you?” I stutter through all of it then – everything I know about Steven’s debt, what they showed me on the video last night, what Steven said on the Facetime, even the little scraps I know about Steven trading crypto. But honestly, even as I say it, I know that it’s nothing. Christian continues to clench his jaw, shaking his head down at me as the pieces fail to come together. He opens his mouth to demand something new, getting angry now – but then Nico, of all people, interrupts. “What if it’s not something she knows,” he says, and both Christian and I snap our