Camilla just wants a good old girl's day out with her best friend, Sarah. And while the day begins well—Sarah reveals information about a man she's been seeing. When Cami finds out who he is, her blood runs cold.
As the weekend rolled around, all I wanted to do was catch up with my best friend, Sarah. We had planned for a proper 'girl's day out'—which included getting our nails done and then taking it from there.
"I can't wait, Camilla!" Sarah said the night before, when I phoned her to confirm that we were spending Saturday together.
"Me neither," I said, thinking about what color I wanted to get my nails done.
A smiling woman | Source: Pexels
But nothing could have prepared me for the truth that Sarah was going to tell me the next day.
I woke up bubbling with excitement—after an impossibly long week at work, I was ready to have a day that didn't involve any computer screens.
Getting into the shower, my phone chimed with a text from Sarah.
See you soon! I have a confession!
Knowing Sarah, her confession could have ranged from getting a pet to changing her job. She was that unpredictable.
A person taking a shower | Source: Unsplash
We had been friends since we were in high school, having made awkward conversation with each other on the first day. Which quickly turned into a solid friendship.
Since then, we had been together ever since.
Before meeting Sarah, I grabbed a coffee and walked to the nail salon.
I heard her laugh before I saw her—she was giggling into her phone as I approached the building, her eyes lighting up when she saw me.
A takeaway coffee cup | Source: Unsplash
"I'll call you later," she said before hanging up.
As we nestled into the embrace of the salon chairs, the air vibrated with Sarah's barely contained joy.
"Cami," she said. "I've got something to tell you!"
I laughed at her joy—only too happy to hear what she had to say.
A woman on the phone | Source: Pexels
"I've met the man of my dreams!" she declared.
"Tell me more!" I said, shifting in my seat so that I could look at her.
"He's a bit older," she said. "But I don't think that's a bad thing. There's just something about him, though. He's very mysterious."
"Mysterious, how? Like dangerous?" I asked, choosing my nail color.
A selection of nail colors | Source: Pexels
I regretted my words instantly.
"Wait, how did you meet?" I asked. "Start there."
"We actually met at the tattoo studio," Sarah said, her eyes glazing over by the memory. "Remember, I went a few weeks ago for the tiger?"
I nodded. She had gone on about me leaving her to brave the pain by herself.
A tattoo artist at a studio | Source: Unsplash
"We met at the studio. He has lots of tattoos, but there's a specific dragon one that I'm obsessed with. Anyway, we went to a café after that and that's how it all unfolded."
I let her carry on with her story, listening to her gush on about the man she met.
"What's this 'Alian Delon's' name?" I asked.
"Ethan," she said, sighing happily.
A person with a dragon tattoo | Source: Pexels
"Show me a photo!" I exclaimed, wanting to know everything about the mysterious Ethan.
The nail technician tutted as Sarah pulled her hand away to remove her cellphone from her bag.
I watched as Sarah unlocked her phone. She scrolled for a few minutes before handing her phone to me.
Looking at the image on her screen, my heart stopped.
"This is Ethan?" I asked. "You're serious? Sarah! Really?"
"Why? What's wrong?" confusion clouded her face, her earlier excitement shadowed by my sudden outburst.
"Tell me, Cami," she demanded. "Do you know him?"
The weight of the truth I bore was a burden that made my next words heavy with dread.
Of course, I knew Ethan. He was my mother's youngest brother, and he was the black sheep of our family. Sarah was right, he was mysterious—but not for the right reasons.
A woman covering her face with her hands | Source: Pexels
Ethan was bad news, and every partner of his could testify to that. For as long as I could remember, Ethan's relationships always ended up in tears, or worse. He was a damaging man. He tore women down until they were nothing but a shell of themselves.
But how could I tell Sarah that? It was a family secret. But then again, she was my best friend. I would never forgive myself if anything happened to her. And knowing Ethan—something would.
"He's my uncle," I confessed. "And Sarah, he is not who you think he is. He will ruin your life!"
A mysterious man drinking whiskey | Source: Pexels
A silence followed, fraught with tension.
"You can't be serious, Cami," she chuckled nervously. "How come I haven't heard of this before?"
Because my family didn't want to talk about Ethan—my mother feared that he was a dangerous man, and we didn't want to be associated with him. But now, Sarah deserved to know the truth.
"Let's get coffee after this," I said.
Our nails would be done soon, and I didn't want to talk about Ethan in front of everyone.
"Okay," Sarah said, smiling tightly.
We went to a little coffee shop next to the nail salon.
A coffee shop interior | Source: Pexels
"Tell me everything," Sarah said.
"Sarah, we don't talk about him because my family prefers to keep it that way. He's a bad man—the mysterious allure he has? It is nothing more than danger. And every woman that has dated him has either been hurt in some way or vanished. Every relationship has ended in tragedy or a disappearance."
Sarah's face paled before my eyes.
A shocked woman | Source: Pexels
"Cami, you—" she started to say before our waitress brought the order.
I smiled and thanked the waitress.
"I'm serious," I said firmly. "He's bad, Sarah."
"What about the police?" she asked. "Why haven't they done anything?"
"Because he's smart. He leaves absolutely no clues."
Two lattes on a table | Source: Pexels
Sarah took a large forkful of her slice of pie.
"I don't know what to say," she confessed. "I had no idea he was so..."
Her voice trailed off.
"The last relationship that we know of, right? The woman, Lia, phoned my mother in the middle of the night and said that Ethan was just sitting outside in his car, watching her house. She was terrified. My mother questioned her. Asking whether they had gotten into a fight or anything."
A woman holding a slice of pie | Source: Pexels
"And did they?" Sarah asked.
"No," I said. "Apparently he had gotten really possessive over her, and he refused to leave her alone. So, he used to sit outside her house at night—that was just the first time she noticed it."
I continued the story, and the more we got into it, the more afraid Sarah got.
Ethan and Lia's relationship only got stranger from there. Ethan had stalked her, despite her asking for him to give her some space. He followed her everywhere, even causing her to get into a car accident one evening.
A woman looking out the window | Source: Unsplash
Her injuries were so bad that she had to be taken to the hospital immediately. But then, two days later, Lia vanished completely.
As far as I knew, she hadn't been seen or heard from again.
"What do you think happened?" Sarah asked.
"I think my mother helped her escape," I said. "I don't know the truth, but it's just a gut feeling."
After our coffees, we went back to my place. Sarah revealed that Ethan didn't know where she lived and that she had always chosen to meet him wherever they had planned.
An empty hospital bed | Source: Pexels
"I didn't want to get too close too quickly," she said, sitting on my couch. "You know my track record with men."
While we cooked dinner that evening, Sarah tried to think of every scenario that could have happened to Lia.
"We'll never know, huh?" she said, cutting up vegetables.
In the end, we decided that Sarah would cut all contact with my uncle. And if he tried anything, we would go to my mother and then the police.
Chopped vegetables on a board | Source: Unsplash
She blocked him off her phone as we ate dinner, despite his constant stream of messages asking her about her day.
I'm not convinced about the situation—I don't know if he'll leave her alone. But what other choice is there?
A person holding a blank phone | Source: Unsplash
What would you do?
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