Chapter Thirteen
MILA
Luke’s gaze clung to me after gym class when I’d confronted him. I felt the heat of it long after I walked away. A phantom touch buzzing under my skin, low and steady. He’d stepped in. Luke-fucking-King. I was used to his hate. Expected it.
He was the last person I needed saving me. The last one I wanted tangled in my mess. But he did it anyway. Now I had no idea what to do with that.
The hallway swallowed me whole, the stares cutting in a little deeper today.
More deliberate. I clocked the micro-reactions—the slow blink of a girl’s mascara-clumped lashes as I passed, the shift of a guy’s stance as if he was bracing for a hit that never came.
Someone angled their phone just high enough to snap a pic before pretending to scroll.
My pulse beat a little harder. They were figuring out which side to be on—Luke’s or Elise’s. It shouldn’t be a contest. When—if—he made his stance crystal clear with me, it wouldn’t be.
Avery slid in beside me as if she’d been shadowing my route for blocks. She didn’t say hi. Just murmured, “Don’t shoot the messenger—but Elise is saying your mom got you into Blackwood using sex. And she dragged your name into it too.”
I didn’t flinch. Not on the outside. Inside, a white-hot flare of rage shot through my chest. “Seriously?”
She gave a humorless smile. “You know her strategy. Whisper it loud enough, long enough… it sticks.” Her jaw locked. Tension roped down her neck. “She’s ramping up. Hoping you’ll snap and give her an audience.”
I let out a bitter laugh. “Creative. I’ll give her that.”
Avery didn’t laugh. Her gaze darted across the hallway like she was tracking threats. We detoured near the vending machines, half-shielded from view. It wasn’t private, but it would do.
“She’s also bringing your mom into it.” Her voice lowered. “Said she has a reputation.”
The words strangled the air in my lungs.
“Of course she did.” Because of course Elise would drag my mother into this.
It wasn’t enough to gut me. She wanted a full dissection.
Like mother, like daughter—that was the line she would push.
And it wasn’t completely off base, was it?
How else were we able to afford Blackwood Academy’s tuition fee?
Mom had always gone after powerful men. Charismatic.
Dangerous, sometimes. She played the game better than anyone.
Bent truth the way light bends through a prism.
And if the rumors were true—if she was sleeping with the principal—then this wasn’t just smoke.
It was fire. One I would need to put out before it torched everything.
A conversation with my mom sprang to mind—I’d asked her how we could afford the Academy, especially as we’d blown through our savings. Her response was “I’ve got it handled.” And now I knew how.
A heavy silence bloomed between us. Avery didn’t fill it. Just stared at the gum stuck to the base of the vending machine as if it had answers.
Finally, she sighed. “The guys are closing rank.”
I frowned. “What does that mean?” I wasn’t in their circle. I no longer mattered.
“It means you’ve been brought back in. Word’s spreading about what went down in gym class. They’re backing you. You’ve got their protection, at least to a degree. Not sure how that’ll go with Elise, though.”
That wasn’t all she had to say. Something else was eating at her. I leaned back against the wall, arms folded. “And?”
“And Chase…” Her voice dipped, as though saying it too loud might make it worse. “He’s watching me. More than usual.”
I straightened, catching the hint she was throwing. That maybe she wanted my help with her brother, or at the very least, my ear. But I also had noticed why Chase was more on edge, even if she wasn’t ready to admit it. “Because of Jax?”
Avery’s lashes flicked up in surprise. Then down again. She worried the sleeve of her T-shirt between her fingers.
“He’s not exactly subtle,” I added. “I see the way he hovers when your brother isn’t looking. The way his jaw tightens when someone else gets too close.”
She flinched—barely—but it was there. “Jax doesn’t care about me like that.”
The words came out flat. Practiced. I didn’t challenge her.
But I didn’t believe her either. She believed it—clearly—but Jax?
That guy watched her as if she was both a complication and a lifeline—touching her might break something in him, but staying away was killing him anyway.
He just hadn’t figured out which yet, or if he could go against his best friend’s wishes and pursue her without causing an all-out war.
“You know that’s not true, right?” I said quietly. “You’re one of the few people Jax actually listens to. He would throw down against anyone for you, Aves. And we both know that’s not nothing for a guy like him.”
“Yeah. Maybe.” Her smile didn’t reach her eyes. “He might throw a punch—but that doesn’t mean he’ll choose me.”
I pushed off the wall and leaned against the vending machines with her. “Then make him.”
That pulled her attention. She blinked. “What?”
“Make him choose you.” I shrugged. “Be brave, Aves. You’re one of the smartest people here.” The girl was in contention to be valedictorian. She didn’t really want it, but she could. “You want him? Don’t wait for permission, especially from your brother. He’s never gonna give it.”
Avery opened her mouth. Closed it. And then she smiled. For real this time. “Who are you, and what have you done with Mila?”
I smirked. “Don’t get used to it.”
Her laugh was soft. Then she checked her phone and cursed under her breath. “Shit. I’m late for physics.”
I nudged her shoulder with mine. “Go. I’ll catch up.”
She jogged off without another word. I stayed. Just long enough to let the cold from the vending machine seep into my back. Long enough to feel the tension fizzing out, only to be replaced by something worse.
The day crawled by. And the entire time? I could still feel Luke’s stare from earlier—the one that haunted my spine. And I had a sinking feeling he wasn’t done with me yet. The rules of the game had just changed.
I took that thought with me throughout the rest of the day and until I was at home where I could finally do something without anyone hovering over me.
By the time I got home, the sky had bled into night.
My fingers hovered over my laptop’s keyboard, the blue light of the screen the only thing illuminating my room.
The ceiling fan creaked above me. A faint hum of traffic drifted through the barely cracked window.
The scent of cheap detergent and lemon floor cleaner clung to the air—remnants from my half-hearted cleaning job on the dump we were living in.
I’d been here for three hours, maybe more.
Time didn’t exist in this kind of obsession.
Click. Scroll. Click again.
Archived press releases. Blog posts no one read.
It was all there. Buried under layers of PR polish and corporate vagueness.
I searched local business forums, legal filings, finance blogs desperate for ad revenue—anywhere that might’ve caught something the mainstream media didn’t care enough to report.
And then I found it. A photo from the day Mom and I left Blackwood.
Buried in a puff piece from just over a year ago.
The headline was bullshit. Something like “King Enterprises Ushers in New Era of Leadership.” The article read as a love letter to a dynasty trying not to look desperate in public.
Words like “streamlining” and “strategic transition.” They meant nothing.
But the image—it gutted me.
A group of executives lined up in front of the building’s newly unveiled plaque. Plastic smiles. Suits that cost more than my entire wardrobe. And in the back, slightly off-center but unmistakable, stood my mother.
Wearing a navy blazer. Her mouth in a hard line. Arms folded. Not casual. Not proud. Defensive. And there beside her was Darren Langley. And—the reveal stopped me cold—Lorne. Behind them. The cleanup partner whose face was always out of view. In the last photo before Langley was killed.
My breath caught. She knew Lorne. She was with him the day it all went off the rails. She wasn’t just there—she was at the epicenter.
Darren, the boyfriend. The vice president. The one who, according to town legend from what I’d just read, took a high-paying job out of state and ghosted everyone. Only… that was never the story I got. Because I remembered that night. Not a goodbye. Not a moving van.
Blood. A pool of it spreading beneath his body. Copper thick in the air. The panic when she wrapped her arms around me. Whispered, “They’ll blame us,” as if it was a curse. Like she already knew we were running.
I’d assumed it was a jealous wife. A lover’s spat gone sideways. My mom never had healthy relationships—never stuck around long enough for the fallout. But this…? This was bigger. Langley didn’t relocate. He disappeared.
The laptop snapped shut so hard it echoed through the small room. I grabbed my phone, thumb shaking as I pulled the image up again and stormed out.
Twenty minutes later, after booking it across town, I was standing in the rink’s hallway that still buzzed with post-practice noise. Skate guards clanged as a few stragglers from the team exited the ice. Laughter spilled from the locker rooms.
I spotted him instantly—Luke, leaning against a wall, one earbud in, scrolling through his phone as if the world didn’t just shift on its axis.
He didn’t see me coming. Good. I shoved my phone against his chest, screen up.
His head snapped up. “What the hell?”
“What is this?”
His brow furrowed as he looked down. The image loaded. His hand froze.
“Where did you get this?” he asked, voice low.
“No. Don’t do that. Don’t act surprised.
” I stepped in. “That’s my mom. Standing next to the guy your dad called a trusted exec.
The one who vanished without so much as a fucking farewell party.
And behind them? Lorne. You know that’s not good.
Ever.” My voice shook. “If he’s there, it means something went sideways. You know that.”
“You’re reading into things that aren’t there.” Luke’s expression didn’t change. Not much. But something locked behind his eyes. “And that picture? That’s not news.”
“Oh, so we’re just pretending it’s fine that your family buried the truth about a man who disappeared? That my mom was there—literally in the picture—during the ‘restructuring’?”
His jaw flexed. “Your mother took money that wasn’t hers. She disappeared. She left chaos behind.”
“You don’t know anything about her.”
“I know what my father told me.”
I scoffed. “And he’s a credible source now? Must be nice, playing loyal son while your entire legacy’s rotting from the inside.” I wanted to scream that Darren Langley was dead, but that was too far. And it was clear he didn’t know. I couldn’t trust him, not with how at odds we were.
Luke stepped closer, shoulders squared, voice cutting. “She was involved. With Langley. With whatever happened. She knew where the money went.”
“She ran because she was scared.” My throat tightened. “You think I knew what was happening? All I knew was we had to leave—again. Another town, more burned bridges. I didn’t know—” My breath caught. “I left you without saying goodbye because I didn’t have a choice.”
He stared at me. Silent. Then: “You ran with her.”
The words sliced deeper than I expected and made me complicit, as though he believed I’d known all along.
I staggered back a step. “You have no idea what it was like. What the fuck did you expect me to do—stay behind and live in a cardboard box behind the arena? What other option did I have but to follow my mom? I don’t have a trust fund at my disposal like some people do.”
His gaze flicked away. Just for a second. Then back. But it was enough.
“You think I wanted any of this?” My voice cracked, but I didn’t stop.
“I’ve been carrying this weight for a while.
And now I find out your family’s version of events was never the full story?
” I knew I wasn’t making sense to him because he didn’t have the full story.
Neither did I, but I had a hell of a lot more than he did.
He didn’t answer. Didn’t argue. Just turned and walked away. No apology. No closure. Just… gone.
I stood there, the image still glowing on my phone, heart jackhammering against my ribs. Every part of me vibrating with the awful, gut-deep realization that this wasn’t about school rivalries or reputations anymore. And somehow, Elise was wading in just as deep.
This was blood-deep. Legacy-deep. And whatever I found next might not just burn bridges. It might blow up the whole damn town.