I forced the tension from my jaw. “Didn’t expect her back.”
Claire’s fork hovered mid-air. “I always liked her. Not sure why she left so suddenly, but she seemed… interesting.”
“She was,” Drew said, sharper than expected. “But nobody disappears without reason. Especially not her mom. They didn’t just leave—they vanished. That kind of thing leaves a mark.”
I shrugged. “It’s high school. Not a soap opera.”
His tone darkened. “Just don’t let her throw you off. You’ve got college coming up. Dad’s under enough pressure already with Dunn Industries snapping at our heels, and we could use you stepping up at the company—sooner rather than later.”
I stood, the chair scraping back across the hardwood. “Don’t worry. I’ve got it handled.”
Claire’s gaze lingered on me, too quiet now. Drew didn’t push further. But the mention of pressure… it crawled under my skin. Something had been simmering all summer. Reports, late-night calls, meetings that turned into arguments. The calm before the storm wasn’t calm at all. It was waiting to detonate.
I stormed out of the house, the door slamming behind me. Backpack slung over my shoulder, I launched into the SUV, peeled down the driveway, and flew toward school, tires screeching into the front row of the student lot. My usual spot was still empty.
Chase, Jax, and Theo waited by their vehicles. They saw my expression and didn’t bother with jokes.
“Some bullshit rumor’s flying around,” Theo said as I passed.
“Not now,” I snapped.
But even as I shoved the door open and walked into school, I could feel it—the shift. The glances. The cut-off conversations. My name surfacing in tones too low to catch.
The King name usually carried reverence, not questions. I shouldn’t care. It wasn’t what mattered to me, or the future I wanted, but fuck it. I did care. And it echoed Drew’s shitty mood.
Two girls near a locker—one of them I recognized from honors physics—were whispering.
“My dad works at Dunn. Said the VP at King Enterprises, Langley or some name like that, was about to go public with something. Then he just… vanished. I guess he got fired and was forced out of town.”
“So what? That’s old news. And besides, it’s King. They still own everything.”
“Not if layoffs happen. Logan’s dad—he’s out. No warning.”
I stopped cold. They were facts. I knew because I’d heard similar when I shouldn’t have. These weren’t just hallway lies. That was blood in the water.
I ducked down a side hall to breathe, to think. The walls felt too close. My last name, usually my armor, now felt like a target painted on my back.
And then I saw her—Mila. By her locker. Talking low with two students I didn’t recognize. She leaned in. Her eyes lit with something too close to determination. I moved toward her before I even knew what I was doing. She looked up. Her expression didn’t change, didn’t soften.
“Something interesting?” I asked, voice edged in steel.
The other girls scattered as she crossed her arms. “You tell me.”
I stepped closer. “Rumors are swirling. You just got back, and suddenly shit’s starting up again. Kind of like when you left the last time too.”
Her chin lifted. “Funny—because from what I’m hearing, it’s your father who’s the common denominator.”
A muscle twitched in my jaw. She had no clue what she was stirring up. But I did. Emergency board meetings. One of theexec’s car totaled in a back-road accident three towns over. My dad’s phone lighting up, his face gray as concrete when he finally emerged from his office that night. My mother disappearing for days at a time, always on the move but saying little.
I stepped into her space. “Stay out of it. Or you’ll find yourself in a situation you can’t walk away from.”
She didn’t move. Just stared back like I was some puzzle she’d already solved.
“I’m just following a thread,” she said.
“Walk away, Mila.”
Her slate-gray eyes with emerald flecks stayed locked on mine.
