AURORA #2
"Aurora—" he starts.
"You got my father fired." My voice sounds distant. Hollow. Like it's coming from someone else. "Six months ago. Before I even knew Ardencrest existed."
He doesn't deny it. Doesn't try to lie. Just stands there, watching me with those cold blue eyes.
"You starved us." I pick up one of the photographs. Me and Liam at the grocery store, counting coins to see if we could afford bread. "You made sure we had nothing so I would take this scholarship."
Still nothing. Still just watching.
"Every single thing that happened to me—" My voice is getting louder now. Sharper. "Losing our income, the debt, the scholarship, the employment lock, the library attack—all of it was you."
"Yes." The word is quiet. Final.
"Why?" I take a step toward him. Then another. "Why go through all this? Why not just—I don't know—fucking ask me out like a normal person?"
"Because you would have said no." He says it simply. Like it's obvious. "You would have seen me as exactly what I am—a rich asshole trying to add another conquest to his list. You would have dismissed me without a second thought."
"So you decided to destroy my life instead?"
"I decided to give you a way out." His jaw clenches. "You were trapped in that neighborhood with a violent alcoholic and a child to protect. You were working yourself to death for grades that wouldn't have mattered because you couldn't afford college anyway."
"That wasn't your decision to make!"
"Wasn't it?" He steps into the room. I step back, keeping distance between us. "You want to pretend you were happy there? That you weren't counting down the days until you could escape?"
"I was escaping on my own terms!" My hands are shaking so badly I have to clench them into fists. "I was applying for scholarships, working double shifts, saving every penny—I was handling it!"
"You were drowning." His voice is flat. Hard. "And I threw you a lifeline."
"You were the one drowning me!" The words explode out of me, raw and furious. "You got my father fired! You pushed us under so you could be the one to pull me back up!"
"Yes." He doesn't even have the decency to look guilty. "I did."
I stare at him. At this man who beat my father unconscious three hours ago. Who held me while I cried. Who I was starting to think might actually care about me beyond ownership and control.
"You're a monster," I whisper.
"I know." He takes another step closer. I back up until I hit the desk. "But I'm the monster who got you out. Who gave you this opportunity. Who made sure you'd never have to go back to that apartment or that neighborhood or that life."
"By trapping me in a different cage!" My voice cracks. "This isn't freedom, Evander! This is just a prettier prison!"
"Is it?" He's right in front of me now. Close enough to touch. "You have a full scholarship to one of the best universities in the country. You have access to resources, connections, opportunities you never would have had otherwise. You have safety for your brother. Security."
"I have a collar around my neck with your name on it!" I shove at his chest. He doesn't move. "Everything I have, everything I am here—it's all because you decided I was worth keeping! Like I'm some kind of pet project!"
"You're not a project." His hands come up to grip my shoulders. Firm. Grounding. "You're mine."
"I'm not yours!" I try to pull away. His grip tightens just enough to keep me in place. "I'm a person with autonomy and choices and—"
"What choices did you have?" he interrupts.
"Really. What choices? Stay in that neighborhood and watch your brother get sucked into the same poverty cycle that's destroyed generations?
Work yourself to death trying to save money for a college education you couldn't afford?
Hope your father stopped drinking long enough to not beat you? "
Every alternative he names is one I already considered. Already grieved.
"Or take the scholarship I made sure you got. Come to Ardencrest. Have a future."
"A future you control," I say through gritted teeth.
"A future you wouldn't have otherwise."
The truth of that statement makes something crack in my chest. Because he's right.
Without his intervention—however fucked up and manipulative—I'd still be in that apartment.
Still working at that diner. Still counting pennies and hoping my father's next drunken rage didn't send someone to the hospital.
But that doesn't make what he did okay. Doesn't justify the manipulation. The control. The systematic destruction of my autonomy.
"You should have given me a choice," I whisper.
"I did." His hands slide from my shoulders to cup my face. "The moment you walked through those gates, you could have left. Could have reported me. Could have exposed everything."
"You would have destroyed Liam!"
"Would I?" His thumbs stroke across my cheekbones. "Or would I have made sure he was taken care of anyway? Because I can't watch you hurt, Aurora. Even when I'm the one causing it."
I want to believe that. Want to believe that beneath the manipulation and the control, there's someone who actually cares. Who would protect Liam even without the leverage.
But I can't. Because everything I know about Evander Laurent is built on lies and manipulation. How do I trust anything he says when he's proven he'll do whatever it takes to keep me trapped?
"Let go of me," I say quietly.
"No."
"Evander—"
"I said no." His forehead drops to rest against mine. "I'm not letting you go. Not now. Not when you finally see the whole picture."
"The whole picture is that you're a psychopath who ruined my life!"
"I saved your life." His voice drops lower.
Darker. "You want to pretend you were fine?
You weren't. You were one bad night away from your father putting you in the hospital.
One missed payment from losing your apartment.
One fucking disaster from watching your brother get taken by social services. "
"You don't know that!"
"I know exactly that." His eyes bore into mine. "Because I spent twelve months watching you. Learning you. Cataloging every risk factor, every vulnerability, every way your life could fall apart."
He pulls back just enough to look at me properly.
"And I couldn't watch it happen. Couldn't see you destroy yourself trying to hold everything together with duct tape and willpower."
"So you decided to play god instead?" My voice is shaking. "Decided you knew better than me what I needed?"
"Yes."
The honest answer is somehow worse than a lie would be.