“Why?” I chuckled. We weren’t in high school anymore. Surely, we were allowed to use our phones?
Leaning in, Yasmine glanced around cautiously. “Look, my sister warned me about this guy who’s a third-year student and some kind of genius. Word is that he’s hacked the Wi-Fi since his first day here, and if you connect yourself to the Wi-Fi, he’ll have all your information.”
I gulped, parting my lips. “How can he get away with that?”
“Don’t know, but the prospect of having your darkest secrets blackmailed doesn’t sound like a good way to start the year even though it’s unlikely he’ll focus on you.”
“So you expect me to believe there’s some cyborg maniac lurking around here?”
“And you just fell right under his radar,” a gravelly voice interjected from behind. I felt his shadow closing in on me on the grass.
Yasmine’s eyes were wide open, the colors draining from her face.
“Cat lost your tongue, little thief?” the voice taunted once more.
Little thief.
My muscles tensed. My heart pounded in erratic rhythms. The world seemed to shrink; even the air seemed hard tobreathe. It took superhuman strength to reel around to face the ghost of my past.
Levi Delombre.
He was all grown up now, and he was here.
“Remember me?” His crooked, self-satisfied grin was threatening enough not to remember. “I sure do.”
His unwavering silver gaze met mine, void of vulnerability, exuding a coldness that seemed to drain them of soul. Strands of his raven-black hair cascaded onto his forehead, and it felt like my heart had crashed to the ground. His cheekbones were as sharp as a knife. He was even taller than he used to be, and his hollow cheeks looked even more visible. Yet he was still so similar to Lucie—the same fine traits and graceful beauty, except, in Levi’s case, that beauty was infused with darkness.
“You’re here,” I muttered.
He loomed above me unblinking, his scent wafting over me—notes of leather and smoky woods.
“Looks like your daddy isn’t here to protect you anymore.”
His gaze slid down to my lips, and my chest fluttered. He seemed so different. Like a stranger. He let out a small laugh and snatched my phone from my hands without hesitation. I tried to get it back from him, but I was smaller, and I wasn’t going to throw myself at him either.
“Hey! You can’t do that!”
“It’s always the same sentence: you can’t do that, please stop, I’ll tell no one,” he dramatized, a sinister glint in his eyes. “Empty words and threats.”
I swallowed hard, guilt burning the back of my throat. After the devastating consequences of our kiss, his stepfather was fired from Dad’s company and humiliated in front of the whole board a week later. Dad wanted to make an example out of him, so he’d asked me to watch.Each action has consequences, Dalia.I had never known what had happened to Levi since that day.It was as if he had never existed, and Lucie’s house was sold a month later.
And it was all because of me.
The sounds of notifications poured into my phone, a small blue tick next to the Wi-Fi network as he handed it back to me.
“Your old man seems worried.” He read my texts. “And here I thought you were a good, obedient girl.”
“I’m sorry.” My voice quivered. “I’m sorry for what happened to—”
He trapped me with one arm on the wall and twirled a lock of my hair around his finger. “You’re at my mercy now.”
“Levi—”
“Thief,” he sneered, tilting my head to the side, his breath chilling against my ear. “I hope you don’t have anything to hide.” With unaffected poise, he retreated, his expression unreadable. “Oh, and tell your grandmother she’s a wise woman.”
With that, he strode inside the opera house, treading with the demeanor of a guy used to strolling on his victims’ tombstones with a mocking laugh.
“My grandmother? What—” I began, but then I checked my phone.
