X nodded. “It’s clean. No names yet, but enough to send a warning shot.”
I hit send, and just like that, the match hit the gasoline.
By sunrise, the gossip accounts would run wild with rumors of a scandal. By Monday, the headmaster would be holding emergency assemblies, and some of the school’s most prominent families would be choking on panic.
Because if there’s one thing our kind fears, it’saccountability.
“This is only phase one,” I said, slipping the phone back into my jacket. “Next step? Nadia’s dad.”
Xavier snorted. “The ‘respected’ hedge fund guy who funneled private intel to his daughter so she could sabotage the scholarship girl? Yeah, let’s see how he handles a subpoena.”
Leo folded his arms. “You think her family’s going to fight?”
“No,” I said flatly. “They’re going to settle. Fast. Quiet. They’ll throw hush money at the wall again and hope it sticks.”
“But we’re not letting them buy silence this time,” Xavier added.
Leo didn’t speak right away. He just stared out into the darkness beyond the ballroom, toward where Jade had vanished. His hands were still fists. Rage still rippling beneath the surface.
“I should’ve protected her sooner,” he finally muttered.
“Then do it now,” I said. “This is your shot. We’re not justdefending her—we’re burning the whole system down. For her. For every girl like her.”
He nodded once. Sharp. Deadly. Determined.
Then he looked up at me.
“We’re not using family lawyers.”
I lifted a brow. “No?”
Leo smirked. “We’re using trust fund lawyers.”
Oh hell yes.
The kind of attorneys you pay a retainer in gold bars and gift them a vacation villa after a win.
Leo had access to two.
I had three.
Xavier?
He had ateam.
By the time we were done, the real story wouldn’t be about Jade’s past.
It would be about how far some rich kids and their parents went to ruin a girl who did nothing wrong—and how the tide finally turned.
And Jade?
She’d come back stronger.
Crowned in fire.
Because now she wasn’t alone.
She had us.
