Chapter Sixteen
Damon doesn’t come see me the rest of the night, which isn’t a surprise. The shock on his face had been gratifying, but it doesn’t change anything. He doesn’t want me.
Or he doesn’t want to want me, which almost feels worse.
Unable to sleep I go to work on the code and make a breakthrough.
My stomach sinks when I realize I’m looking at a complex polynomial curve. I feel sick, not because I can’t solve it but because it proves the message wasn’t sent by Avery. And that it was probably sent for me. The letters convert via hex code, which is simple enough, but the polynomial curve they describe is much more advanced. Graduate level math. Who would know how to make this? Who would know that I could solve it?
The code translates into two words: COME ALONE.
It feels much mo
