Chapter 42- Raig Bait
ALL ELITES COLLEGE (NOON)
“Mason…” Oma breathed, her voice breaking between shallow gasps as his lips trailed along her neck and down to her collarbone.
“My class is…” She tried, but the words tangled somewhere between her throat and his touch.
He only chuckled against her skin, low and rough. “You’ve been saying that for ten minutes.”
“Mas…” She pushed lightly at his chest, but her fingers didn’t move him. They just stayed there, flat against the warmth of his shirt.
He lifted his head, eyes glinting. “You want me to stop?”
She hesitated. Big mistake. His smirk said it all.
“That’s what I thought.”
“Mason,” she whispered again, this time softer. “You’ll get me in trouble.”
He leaned closer until their noses brushed. “You say that like it isn’t worth it.”
Oma rolled her eyes but couldn’t fight the smile tugging at her lips. “You’re impossible.”
“Maybe,” he said, brushing his thumb along her jaw, “But you like me that way.”
He finally let go after minutes of touches and kisses.
“I have to go,” She muttered, trying to gather herself, but Mason only grinned and leaned in one last time, pressing a kiss to her cheek, slow, teasing.
“Then go,” He murmured. “Before I make you stay.”
Her heart flipped. She shoved him lightly, half-laughing, half-panicking, before rushing off down the hallway, leaving him standing there, smirk still in place, watching her like she’d just stolen the rest of his day.
Ivy was heading to class casually when Ricky suddenly popped out of nowhere.
Her expression changed in a flash, already turning to take another way.
“Ivy, please. Just listen.”
She stopped, exhaling hard before turning to face him. “What do you want, Ricky?”
He looked almost out of breath, his tone low. “I just want to talk.”
“There’s nothing to talk about,” she rolled her eyes, trying to move past him, but he gently blocked her path.
“I said I was sorry,” he said, his voice softer now. “I mean it.”
“Sorry doesn’t erase things,” she muttered, her voice trembling with more anger than she intended.
Before he could respond, a girl appeared out of nowhere, her perfume sweet and her smile fake. “Ricky,” she said, brushing her hair back, “I’ve been looking all over for you—”
Ivy scoffed and turned away immediately, shaking her head. “Of course.”
But before she could take more than two steps, Ricky’s tone shifted. “Where the hell did you even come from?”
The girl froze, startled. Ricky’s hand found her arm, then her neck, not harshly, but firm enough to show how angry he was. “Don’t interrupt me again,” he warned through his teeth.
“Ricky!” Ivy spun back, eyes wide. She hurried to pull him away from the girl. “What is wrong with you?”
The girl stumbled off, clearly terrified.
Ivy glared at him. “Is this what you’ll do to me if I ever say yes to you? Grab me by the neck when you’re angry?”
Ricky’s expression cracked, guilt flashing in his eyes. He stepped closer but didn’t touch her. “I’d never do that to you,” he said quietly. “Not to the girl I love.”
Ivy’s breath hitched, but she looked away, unwilling to give in. “Words,” she whispered. “You guys are always full of them.”
He moved closer, slowly, cautiously, until their faces were only inches apart. She didn’t pull back.
Ricky leaned in and kissed her, softly, almost nervously, then waited for the slap that usually followed.
But it never came.
Ivy’s lips lingered a moment before she broke away, voice shaky. “Valentine’s Day,” she said, eyes down. “That’s when you’ll prove it.”
She turned and walked off, her pulse racing.
Ricky watched her go, a small, stunned smile tugging at his lips. “She didn’t slap me,” He whispered to himself. “Guess that’s a start.”
As she disappeared around the corner, Ivy pressed a hand to her chest.
He’s dangerous, she thought, but not in the way she feared.
And that scared her more than anything else.
LEONARD'S DARK VILLA
Leonard dragged a hand through his hair, eyes fixed on the screens in front of him. He’d been at this for hours, same files, same names, same unanswered questions.
He clicked open another folder.
More old reports.
More scraps of information about Ginny… about Aurora… about the people who ruined everything.
Nothing new.
Nothing useful.
Then a soft beep came from the monitor on the left.
One of his background searches had flagged something. Not a breakthrough, just a possible match on one of the old descriptions he’d fed into the system weeks ago.
He opened it.
A short CCTV clip from a random street in Mexico, dated years back.
The quality was terrible… the figure in the video mostly shadow.
But the height… the way the person walked… the slight tilt of the head…
It looked familiar.
Not enough to be sure.
He replayed the clip once. Then again, slower. It wasn’t proof. It wasn’t even close. But it was something. And he didn’t get “something” often.
He leaned back in his chair, the cold blue light from the screens washing over him, and exhaled through his nose, long and tired.
Still no answers.
Still too far from the truth.
But at least the trail wasn’t cold anymore.
Just a little warmer.
And before he’d even realized it, Aurora slipped into his mind again, her voice, her eyes, the way she’d clung to him last night. It pulled something tight and sharp in his chest.
“Later,” he muttered to himself, grabbing his jacket.
He needed to get to college. Those darn girls again.
ALL ELITES COLLEGE
The black Rolls-Royce slid into the parking lot, smooth as silk, catching everyone’s attention without trying. Phones popped out immediately. Whispers followed him like a shadow.
“He’s out… already?”
“I knew it. My baby’s innocent.”
“Ugh, he’s so so perfect.”
Leonard stepped out. Uncaring, unfazed, uninterested, cold.
From a distance, Kimberly stared, frozen. She loved watching him, but after what he did to her for Aurora, she wasn’t touching him.
Leo’s eyes swept the hallway like he owned it, calm, controlled, untouchable. And then he saw them, Oma and Kiara, leaning against the railing.
“Welcome back from your holiday in jail, buddy” Oma said, sarcasm rolling off him.
Leo’s lips tilted just slightly, but his eyes stayed unreadable.
Kiara, on the other hand… her eyes followed him, her chest tight. Admiration, jealousy, anger, envy, all mixed up. She didn’t know what hit her first.
“Where's your friend?” He asked simply.
“Which one?” Oma asked sarcastically.
“Oma.” Leonard glared.
Oma rolled her eyes. “She's dealing with something right now.”
Leo didn’t argue. He didn’t even blink. He just turned, walking away.
His Sauvage Elixir cologne leaving a trail behind him.
And Kiara… she couldn’t decide if she hated him or wanted him. Maybe both.
The campus blog was on fire the second Leonard had stepped foot on campus earlier but now it's worse.
~ Guysss… our boy is back!
~ I knew he’s innocent! Oh mah gaaddd
~ I love him so much
~ He’s my dream
~ Wish he’d finally notice me…
~ I love you, Leonard.
Everyone was losing it. Posts, comments, screenshots, whispers, it was chaos. Leonard’s arrival had turned the campus upside down, as if someone had hit the “pause life, worship him” button.
And then… the unexpected happened.
A single comment appeared, short and brutal:
“He’s overhyped.”
No one could believe it. Everyone looked around, trying to figure out who had dared. And then it clicked.
Aurora.
The reaction was instant. Students gasped. Phones buzzed. The blog exploded with replies.
Oma laughed so hard she had to cover her mouth. “Yesss… that’s ma gurl. The cramps be making her do crazy shit.”
Meanwhile, Ricky, ever the mischief-maker, grabbed a screenshot and sent it straight to Leonard. His smirk was slow and deliberate.
“She wants me in her room again, doesn’t she?” He muttered under his breath, voice low and amused.
And Kimberly… oh, Kimberly. She saw it too. Teeth gritted, pulse rising. Hate, jealousy, envy, all mixed together in one perfect storm. She hissed under her breath, “Yet she gets all of his attention…”
The college blog kept burning. Leonard kept smirking. Aurora… well, she had just dropped the hottest bomb of the day.
Charlene sat at her desk, the hum of the office around her fading into a dull background noise. Her mind wasn’t on the spreadsheets or meetings.
It was somewhere else, years ago, a memory she tried not to revisit, yet one that had carved itself into her heart.
She thought of Leonard, her precious boy. The child who had saved her after the miscarriage that had almost broken her. He had been her anchor, her everything. And yet… one mistake had changed everything.
FLASHBACK {YEARS AGO}
Six-year-old Amaya trailed behind nine-year-old Leonard, sticky fingers from the ice cream Desmond had brought home earlier. Amaya clung to him like a shadow, babbling nonstop.
“Leo! You have to watch Barbie with me! Please, please! Don’t go upstairs yet! I wanna watch it right now!”
Leonard’s patience was thinning. His little sister’s voice grating at the edges of his nerves. He spun around, about to give the final, exasperated “no” that would finally silence her…
And then it happened.
Amaya’s grip slipped. Leonard’s hand brushed her accidentally as he stepped back, and she tumbled down the stairs with a scream that seemed to pierce the walls of the house.
Leonard froze. Terror froze him to the spot. His eyes wide, heart hammering, every instinct screaming that he had gone too far.
Charlene and Desmond appeared at the top of the stairs, their faces a mixture of shock and horror. Amaya lay unconscious in her pool of blood.
Desmond’s reaction was immediate, primal, furious. “LEONARD!” His voice cracked like thunder, shattering the air, shaking Leonard to his core. “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!”
Charlene’s hands flew to her mouth, stifling a scream, her eyes wide and trembling. Her son, her beautiful, sweet son, stood frozen, tears in his eyes, panic etched into every line of his face.
The ambulance came in a blur. Leonard barely registered the chaos, only the terror that Amaya, his little sister, his responsibility, was hurt because of him.
And when he got a glimpse of Desmond’s face later, cold, unyielding, he understood. That day had changed everything.
Ever since then, the warmth in his father’s eyes had vanished. Leonard had lived under a shadow of judgment, a coldness that never left.
And though he tried to redeem himself, to fix what could never be fixed, the damage lingered. Until, at sixteen, after yet another clash, he left the house.
He carried that fear, that guilt, that fractured love, with him. And Charlene, even now, couldn’t erase it from her memory.
END OF FLASHBACK
Charlene sighed, uneasiness slipping into her chest again. She smoothed her hand over her hair, trying to settle the nerves that never really went away.
She just wanted peace. Wanted her son to stop drifting further from her.
“God… can things just go back to normal?” she whispered under her breath, turning away before the feeling swallowed her whole.
Gemma has taken care of Aurora all day; she never left her side, made whatever she wanted to eat.
Aurora’s pain had finally softened into something she could tolerate, not gone, just not killing her anymore.
Gemma stayed glued to her side, fixing her pillows every five minutes, checking her temperature like Aurora was five.
Her dad also came home with different things for her, fruit, snacks she hadn’t even asked for.
Gemma finally asked the question.
“Sweetheart… whose jacket is that?” she asked casually, too casually.
Aurora blinked. “Leonard forgot it in school.”
Gemma nodded slowly.
“Mm. Okay.”
Aurora was surprised her mom didn't probe further but she didn't have time or energy to care.
Aurora lay still, eyes closed, breathing carefully. She’d slept half the day already, yet she felt wide awake beneath the covers.
Not when she's fighting a war with her organs.
Now it's nighttime, her mom literally almost slept here with her but she refused.
The house was quiet. Too quiet.
Aurora lay still, eyes closed. She’d slept too much during the day; now sleep was refusing her completely.
The house was silent… until it wasn’t.
A soft, controlled sound outside her balcony.
Footsteps.
Slow. Deliberate.
She didn’t move.
Didn’t breathe.
Then the faintest shift, her bed dipping under new weight.
His scent reached her before his voice did.
“If you wanted me here tonight,” Leonard murmured, leaning close enough that she felt his breath on her cheek, “you could’ve just asked, Noelle.”
Aurora’s eyes opened. She frowned at him.
“It’s true. You’re overhyped.”
“Oh?” His mouth curled. “You know what you did.”
Another sharp pull hit her stomach. She sucked in a breath, hand gripping the sheets.
Leonard’s smirk faded just a little. “Cramps,” he said quietly, brushing his knuckles along her jaw.
“Go away,” she muttered, wincing.
“Not happening.” He slid under the blanket like he owned the space, warm hand settling gently over her lower stomach.
Aurora grabbed his wrist weakly. “Leonard… what—”
“Relax,” he whispered, his thumb rubbing slow circles, his palm warm, steady, maddeningly gentle. “Let me handle it.”
Her breath shook. “I don’t need you to…”
“You do,” he murmured, leaning close enough that his forehead brushed hers. “And you know it.”
Another cramp hit, less painful this time, because his touch distracted her in a way she hated admitting.
She closed her eyes, breathing through it. Leonard watched her face, expression dark and soft at the same time.
“There you go,” he whispered. “Breathe.”
Her hand eventually loosened around his wrist.
She didn’t push him away again.
“Good girl.” He added, barely audible.
Aurora’s heart stuttered.
TBC…