Toward the direction of Ben’s classroom.
My stomach turns inside out.
Before I can stop him, Jennings hands him a badge. “Welcome to Haven-7 Academy. Room 5B.”
He looks down at it, then at me.
“I’ll see you at lunch, Miss Jones.”
I take my leave before I lose my composure. The hallway smells like glue, recycled air, and trouble.
I’m halfway to Room 5B, fists clenched so tight my nails are leaving little half-moons in my palms, when I see him. Jav Kuraken. Leaning casually against the classroom doorframe like he belongs there, like this is just another day on the job and not the biggest violation of my carefully constructed life I’ve ever seen.
He’s in the same suit from earlier—tailored to dangerous perfection—and there’s a smudge of glitter on his scaled shoulder. Glitter. That’s how I know he’s actually been inside that room. Which means the principal actually let this ridiculous charade continue.
I stop two feet away, breathing hard.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” I snap.
Jav looks up, and that smile—half sin, half silk—spreads across his face like he’s been waiting for this exact moment.
“Ms. Jones,” he says smoothly, pushing off the doorframe. “Just doing my civic duty.”
“Oh please.” I cross my arms. “You haven’t done anything civic since?—”
“Since I donated to that orphanage on Grelka Prime?” he interrupts, mock thoughtful. “Or the time I personally funded school supplies for displaced spire-kids on Ordex?”
“That was a bribe,” I hiss. “To get out of racketeering charges.”
He shrugs one red-scaled shoulder. “Still helped the kids.”
I glare at him. “Cut the crap, Jav. You show up here, at Ben’s school, with fake credentials and some backwater thesis about empathy and think I’m just going to stand here andletyou?”
His expression shifts. Just slightly. The corners of his mouth lower, his eyes flick toward the door where Ben’s voice rings out inside, bright and sharp and laughing.
I notice. Of course I notice.
“I’m not here to cause problems,” he says softly.
“Bullshit.”
“I’m not,” he insists. “I just—wanted to see you.”
My breath catches. Dammit. I wasn’t ready for honesty. Not from him.
“Yousawme,” I say. “Congrats. You can leave now.”
“I don’t want to leave.”
I shake my head. “This isn’t some dramatic reunion story, Jav. I have a life now. Arealone. One that involves school runs and work deadlines and making sure my kid doesn’t sneak candy into his breakfast cereal.”
He smiles faintly. “Sounds exhausting.”
“Itis,” I snap. “And I don’t have time to babysit a mob boss trying to play kindergarten cop.”
He steps closer, tone dropping low. “Then don’t babysit me. Watch me.”
My stomach flips. I hate how he says that. How my body reacts like we’re still in some dark hotel suite on Ceti Vega with the lights off and our futures forgotten.
