We turn the corner. And the world goes silent.
Reed is halfway up the stairs.
Wren hangs against him—dead weight, legs dragging, head lolling onto his shoulder. His hand is clamped around her waist, knuckles white.
My heart stops. Then restarts in a roar.
“HEY!”
The whole staircase freezes. Reed’s head snaps around. And in that instant, I know.
Guilt flashes across his face. Then calculation. Then fear.
For a split second he tries to haul her up another step—instinct, panic,get her away before anyone sees.
But then he switches tactics fast, as if his brain needed a second to register that he’s been caught.
“Kieran?” Too bright. Too smooth. “Thank God you’re here, man. She’s hammered, almost fell. I was just getting her somewhere quiet.”
Quiet.
My vision goes red.
I shove through the crowd and hit the bottom step hard enough the wood shudders.
“Get your fucking hands off her.” My voice is ice cracking under weight. “Now.”
Wren’s knees buckle. She slips. Reed yanks her upright like she’s a puppet.
“Relax,” he says quickly. Fake laugh. Fake calm. “Jesus, I’m helping her?—”
“You roofied her.”
Reed’s smile twitches, breaks, reforms. “What? She’s just drunk. Look, I was trying to?—”
I take one slow step up. Then another. The crowd peels back, clearing the path.
“You put something in her drink.”
Wren tries to lift her head. A tiny sound slips out, broken and scared. Nothing in her eyes focuses.
I reach them in two strides. Reed tightens his arm around her, but she slides anyway, body folding forward.
I catch her before she hits the step, her weight collapsing into my arms. Something inside me snaps clean in half.
I ease her into Riley’s arms. “Get her downstairs. Clear the stairs.”
Riley nods, pale as chalk. He scoops her up and growls, “Move,” and the crowd evaporates.
I turn back to Reed.
He raises both hands fast, talking too quickly now. “Dude, what—what’s your problem? I was trying to help you! You want to finish the bet, right? She was already halfway there?—”
The words hit me like acid.
The bet. The fucking bet.
This is what I started. This is what I enabled.
