The honesty is merciless. Tears gather in Lila’s eyes, but she refuses to let them fall.
“You set me up,” she says quietly now. “Everything with Jonathan. The debt. The solution you offered.”
Ivan doesn’t deny it.
“You made the choice that followed,” he replies.
The words feel like a door closing between them.
“I trusted you.”
For a moment, he looks at her, as if considering whether the statement deserves a response.
It doesn’t.
Ivan straightens, whatever brief trace of personal history existed between them folding neatly back into distance.
“You’ll be moved shortly,” he says, his voice returning to that calm, even tone. “This site is no longer optimal.”
Lila stares at him, disbelief and fury colliding in her expression.
He turns toward the door. It closes behind him, the lock turning with a heavy click that echoes through the room.
For a moment, neither of us moves. The silence he leaves behind feels almost physical, crowding my ribs, and then Lila’s knees buckle as if whatever was holding her upright has finally given out. I reach for her before she hits the floor, catching her shoulders and lowering with her as she presses both hands to her face.
“No,” she whispers into her palms, shaking her head hard. “No. I’m not like him.”
Her breathing falters as she tries to keep herself from falling apart completely, and when she finally lowers her hands, her eyes are bright and raw but stubbornly dry.
“I didn’t know,” she says, looking straight at me now. “Rowan, I swear to God, I didn’t know.”
I hold her gaze for a long moment before answering.
“I know.” The words come out quietly, but they’re true.
She drags a hand across her face, frustration and guilt fighting for space in her expression.
“I brought this to you,” she continues, her voice cracking as the realization sinks heavier on her shoulders. “Everything with Jonathan. The debt. The solution he offered. I walked it straight into your life.” She swallows hard before finishing. “And now you’re here because of me.”
I hold her gaze for a moment before answering.
“You opened the door,” I tell her quietly.
Her face tightens.
“That doesn’t mean you knew what was waiting behind it.
“I’m going to fix this,” she says, the words gaining strength as she speaks them. “I don’t know how yet, but I will. I’m getting us out of here, Rowan. I promise.”
I study her face while she says it. The betrayal still hurts. It sits somewhere deep in my chest, raw and stubborn, because every step that led us into this place began with a decision she made.
But the girl sitting in front of me now isn’t Ivan. She isn’t calculating. She isn’t cruel. She’s the same person who held my hair back in a dorm bathroom when I had the flu sophomore year, who once drove across the city in the middle of the night with greasy takeout and bad movies because she knew I was having a day where everything felt too heavy.
She’s still my best friend. And right now she’s terrified.
“He killed Arkady like it was nothing,” Lila says after a moment, her voice quieter now.
I fold my arms loosely across my middle, steadying myself before answering.
