Her ex scoffs. “This isn’t your business.”
“Pretty sure it is,” I say. “You’re upsetting her.”
His brows rise. “Are you serious?”
I don’t blink. “Very.”
He turns to Briar sharply. “Is this what you want your daughter around? Aggressive men?”
Briar sputters. “He’s not— You’re twisting things?—”
The principal opens her office door then, looking frazzled. “Briar? Everything okay?”
And that’s when it happens.
The moment that changes everything.
Briar, red-faced, stressed, pushed to the edge says, “I’m fine. We’re fine. I’m— I’m engaged.”
Her ex freezes.
The principal freezes.
I freeze for half a second.
Then she keeps digging herself deeper, voice cracking, “Everything is stable. Because I’m— we’re— engaged.”
Her ex’s face twists like he’s smelled something rotten. “Engaged? To who?”
Briar’s eyes widen. She looks at me in panic. Like she wants to grab the words and shove them back into her mouth.
And before she can backtrack, before she can ruin the one thing that might protect her, before I even think it through—I say it for her.
“To me.”
Every head snaps toward me.
The hallway goes silent. The fluorescent lights hum too loud. Briar’s mouth falls open, eyes huge, color draining from her face.
Her ex laughs once—harsh and bitter. “You expect me to believe that you two are?—”
“Yes,” I cut in. Calm. Controlled. Deadly. “We are.”
The principal’s hand flies to her chest. “Oh my goodness, congratulations!”
The ex looks like he wants to punch something.
Not a great move, considering I’d break him in half.
“We’ll need documentation,” he says tightly. “Proof. If this is some stunt?—”
I step closer to him. “Do I look like I play games?”
He goes still.
The principal beams like a Christmas tree. “This is wonderful news. Briar, why didn’t you tell us?”
Briar lets out a strangled, “I— well— it’s?—”
