“You saidmaybe you’re rightwhen Drew saiddon’t let Mila be the reason you go down.”
His brows rose. “That wasn’t the whole conversation.”
“Whatever. The point is you said it.” Even though there was no way I’d take anything Elise said at face value, I’d had it. I threw my arms up, disgusted. “Forget it.”
He caught my arm as I shoved off the wall to storm past him. The heat of his grip seared more than it steadied.
“Let me go, Luke.” I forced the words between my teeth. “I need space.”
For a second, he didn’t move. Then his hand fell away. The heat of his grip stayed even after he let go, a ghost burning against my skin as I hurried through the hall and shoved through the exit doors. I didn’t look back, just moved past the glass and the stares, out to the parking lot where the afternoon sun made everything too bright. My keys fumbled in my grip before I shoved into the driver’s seat and slammed the door.
The engine roared too loud. Tires squealed as I pulled out—nowhere to go but away. Away from the halls. Away from him. Away from the trap Elise had set that I’d walked straight into.
My hands shook on the wheel, and all I could see was the way his forehead had rested against mine days ago. The memory cut brutal against his silence now.
By the time the coastline unrolled in front of me, the only thing that made sense was the ocean. I parked in the lot and reveled in the wind as it shoved against the car while my pulse tried to catch up.
My phone buzzed in the cup holder. A text from Avery:U okay?I stared at it until the screen dimmed. I couldn’t bring myself to answer.
Even with the ocean in front of me, I could still feel the weight of his hand anchoring me. It made the emptiness worse, not better.
Space—that was what I’d asked for. What I thought I needed. Instead, I felt only hollow where certainty should be—and the sharp edge of wondering if everyone else already knew the game, and I was the fool still learning the rules.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
LUKE
The look in Mila’s eyes hit harder than the way she left—hollow, like I’d already proven Elise right. Mila wanted space, so I gave it to her. But space didn’t mean surrender. It didn’t mean letting her believe Elise owned a piece of me she never would.
Fine. Mila could have her distance for now. While she did, I would find out what the hell she meant about the recording.
I pulled my phone from my pocket, thumb flying over the screen until I hit our thread. There was a gray waveform bar above the text I’d sent her this morning. I hadn’t even noticed it. My stomach dropped when I hit play.
Drew’s voice filled the air, sharp and controlled. “Protect yourself. Don’t let Mila be the reason you go down.”
Then my voice, lower, clipped in a way that almost sounded resigned. “Maybe you’re right.”
No wonder she looked wrecked. Out of thirty minutes, she’d heard thirty seconds—the part that colored me in the worst light.
But Elise knowing? That was what lit me up. I hadn’t left my phone unattended. No one had touched it. Unless—spyware. Something slithering through my messages without me seeing.Dammit. My battery had been dying faster lately. There had to be something running in the background, eating it up.
The hallway blurred. Fury steadied my stride. People moved out of the way as if they felt it—no one wanted to be caught in my orbit.
The bell rang as I shoved into Econ. Jax slouched in his usual seat in the back, boots kicked under the desk. I dropped into the chair beside him, muscles tense.
“Phone,” I muttered.
He raised a brow but handed it over without a question. I punched in my PI’s number hard enough the plastic creaked.
I didn’t waste time with greetings when Marcus picked up. “Marcus, how did Elise get access to a voice note I never sent?” I cut him off before he had a chance to respond. “If there’s malware, purge it.”
He didn’t ask why—just gave me orders. “Power down. Restart in safe mode. Then trace installs.”
That was why he was worth what I paid him. My hands moved fast, following his voice until the screen confirmed it—software buried deep, a program mirroring outgoing files.
I hadn’t opened shady links. No attachments. No clicks that could’ve handed Elise access. Which meant only one thing—physical contact.
Practice. Games. My bag in the locker room. Elise could walk into that place as though she owned it, and if she hadn’t done the install herself, she would’ve found someone who could—Logan.
