I huffed a small laugh. "Still got a little time before all that chaos kicks in."
He adjusted the strap of his bag. "True. Though Rowan's been acting like it's next week already. Been staying late, from what I've seen."
That snagged my attention. "Yeah?"
"Mm-hm." He hesitated just a fraction too long before continuing, his tone carefully neutral. "Half the time, though, he's just sitting at his desk. Not even doing any work, really. Just staring at his laptop like he's somewhere else entirely."
That made me uneasy, but I tried to keep my expression relaxed. "That doesn't sound normal for him."
"It's not." He glanced at me as if he was trying to decide how much to say. "I think he's been spending a lot of time with that boyfriend of his."
I did my best not to let my worry show too much in my voice. "Yeah, I figured. He hasn't had much time to talk lately."
Tom studied me for a moment, then lowered his voice slightly. "I don't know... He just doesn't seem like himself."
I looked over at him properly now, my frown deepening. "What do you mean?"
"Look, I don't want to overstep. But based on the conversations I've had with Rowan, I get the feeling the boyfriend doesn't want him talking to you."
I forced my attention forward to avoid reacting before thinking. "What makes you say that?"
He glanced at me again with an unreadable expression. "Rowan used to talk about you all the time. But now... Now he doesn't even mention you."
I tried to shove the uneasy feeling down. "He's probably just busy," I muttered.
"That's the thing, though. Rowan's always made time for you. If he was just busy, that'd be one thing. But this feels different."
I didn't say anything to that.
He let the silence stretch, then shook his head with a sigh. "It's probably nothing. I just... I've seen this kind of thing before, you know? A person gets involved with someone, and they stop being themselves a little bit at a time."
There it was.
Tom gave me a brief, considering look. "Anyway. I should get going. Just thought you should know."
"Yeah. Thanks."
He gave me one last nod before heading off, leaving me standing there with my heart pounding and my thoughts racing.
I'd been waiting for something I could act on. Now I had it.
* * *
I sank onto the edge of my bed and ran a hand down my face. Tom’s words still echoed in my head, and now that I knew I wasn’t the only one seeing it, they wouldn’t leave me alone. Something in Rowanhadchanged. He stayed late at the school but didn't work. He looked drained. He stopped talking about me.
Hewaspulling away. Not just because he was busy.
I get the feeling the boyfriend doesn't want him talking to you.
That was the part that stuck out the most. Because if that was true and Marcus was actively trying to keep Rowan away from me, then Rowan wasn't cutting me out on his own.
I reached for my laptop and opened it. I was probablybeing ridiculous and wouldn't find anything, but I needed to do something. If I just sat here stewing, I'd drive myself insane. I typed Marcus's name into the search bar and hit enter.
A flood of results popped up instantly, and at first glance, nothing looked unusual. Professional profiles. LinkedIn. Business articles. A sleek, minimalistic website with some polished tagline about financial security. A few interviews, mostly dry pieces about "wealth management" and "financial strategies" – which, frankly, read like an AI bot had written them.
I clicked through the links, scanning them one at a time. I didn't see anything obviously wrong. No scandals, no bad press. But there was also nothing else. No social media. No casual mentions. No old posts buried in forum threads.
Most people hadsomethingfloating around the internet, even if it was just a tagged picture or an abandoned Facebook account. But Marcus... His entire presence had been scrubbed down to only what he wanted people to see.
