“Bruh,” Tristan aid quietly. “She’s about to turn this whole place inside out.”
She didn’t look at me. Not once. And that cut deeper than any slap, any insult, any heartbreak.
Because I’d broken her.
And she’d rebuilt herself without a trace of me left in the blueprints.
Until I earn a place beside that throne again—if Ieverdo—I’ll be watching from the shadows while she makes this school kneel.
And heaven help the first bitch who tries to cross her now.
“She didn’t look at me,” I said again, mostly to myself. “Didn’t even blink.”
“She didn’tneedto,” Xavier replied. “That walk was a kill shot. Cold-blooded.”
Tristan let out a low whistle, watching Jade disappear into the science wing like the dess of vengeance. “Damn. And I just got over calling her Your Highness.”
I shot him a sideways look. “Thought you were backing off.”
He shrugged, flashing that cocky grin that always got him in trouble. “Oh, I am. From theromanticstuff. Don’t get me wrong—her glow-up deserves a standing ovation—but I prefer my girls with less fire and more fondue.”
X raised a brow. “Fondue?”
“You know what I mean.” Tristan smirked. “But I’m still Operation Win the Queen’s Heart support team. Logistics. Strategy. Memes. And don’t forget I’m ‘with Mindy’.”
I grunted. “Glad you’re having fun.” I narrowed my eyes. “You said she doesn’t even look at me.”
“Exactly. Which means you’ve got to earn it.” He clapped me on the back. “Start with something meaningful. Something big. You don’t win a queen’s heart with cafeteria flowers and sad eyes, Leo.”
“Yeah?” I muttered. “And what do I win her with?”
Xavier turned, deadpan as ever. “Justice.”
That word hit me like a sucker punch to the ribs.
He was right. All of this—what happened to her back in Ohio, the hell she was dragged through here at Royal Oaks—it wasn’t going to be fixed with flowers.
It had to beundone.
Exposed. Burned to ash.
And only then could Imaybewalk up to her—not with my last name or my charm—but with the truth.
And hope she still wanted it.
Tristan rubbed his hands together. “Let’s call it what it is—Operation Rebuild the Throne. You want her back? You don’t just win her heart. Youdefendit.”
I didn’t respond.
I just looked down the hallway where she’d disappeared… and nodded.
Challenge accepted.
I see her.
Down the corridor in front of the art wing—like some fever dream in combat boots and eyeliner. She walks like she owns the place now, like she’s the one wearing the crown and I’m the one crawling back.
Which... I kind of am.
