CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
ALICE
The past two days have been a surreal blur of quiet warmth.
I've been staying at Mio's apartment, and to my absolute surprise, her mother is incredibly welcoming.
The first time she sat by my bed, gently checking my temperature and handing me a homemade bowl of soup, a sudden lump formed in my throat.
It had been so long since someone took care of me like that. It made me tear up, a quiet reminder of what I had lost when my own mother died.
But beneath the comfort, a strange confusion lingered.
What surprised me most over the
last forty-eight hours was Zade.
He hadn't insisted that I return to his penthouse.
He hadn't sent his security, he hadn't called, and he hadn't shown up.
He just... let me go.
I'm glad. At least, that's the lie I keep repeating to myself every time I stare at the ceiling.
I didn't take the bronze seashell glasses with me, either.
They're currently sitting in Mio's bag.
I told her explicitly to give them back to him, to make sure he understands that his expensive charity means absolutely nothing to me.
Physically, I'm healing.
My head finally feels clear today, the dizzying fog of the concussion completely gone.
Yet, an underlying uneasiness refuses to leave my side.
I walk into the lecture hall, noticing it's mostly empty.
Only a few scattered students are sitting in the tiered rows.
Mio isn't here yet; she's currently running around with Nate, helping him iron out the secret details for his proposal to Ellie at the end-of-the-season party, which is exactly three days away.
Without her energy to distract me, the room feels cold.
I slide onto my front bench, lowering my head onto my folded arms against the wood.
I try to force down the hollow, sinking feeling in my chest.
I should be used to being alone.
It has been the background noise of my entire life.
But right now, the silence feels heavy.
"So... you're the one Zade took to his apartment."
A sharp, demanding voice breaks through my thoughts.
I pull my head up, squinting slightly through my cheap contact lenses.
Standing in front of my desk is a girl I recognize vaguely from the campus elite circles, though I can't quite place her name.
She's polished to a fault, her hair falling in perfect, glossy waves.
"May I know who you are?" I ask, my voice flat.
The girl gasps, her jaw dropping in offense.
Beside her, a friend of hers—or whatever lackey she brought along for backup—looks me up and down with a sneer of pure disgust.
"The guy who took you to his penthouse?" the friend chimes in, her voice dripping with malice.
"He's her boyfriend."
It shouldn't have mattered to me. In the grand scheme of things, it shouldn't have made a single bit of difference whether Zade Hamilton had a girlfriend, a fiancée, or a harem.
But the moment the word left her mouth, a sudden, foreign sensation clawed its way up my chest.
It felt like a cold spike of jealousy, sharp and unwanted.
I ruthlessly shove it back down into the dark corner it came from.
"Well, I still don't recall knowing you," I say, leaning back and looking her dead in the eye.
"And as for your boyfriend? He simply cracked my skull open, so it was his legal duty to make sure I didn't die on campus. Now he's absolutely no one to me. So... you can continue screwing him, I guess?"
The girl's face turns an ugly shade of crimson.
Before she can retort, she reaches down, snatches my notebook off the desk, and steps backward.
A nasty, triumphant smirk spreads across her face.
"Well, I guess you'll have to come get it—"
I don't let her finish the sentence.
I bolt upright, my hand darting forward like a whip.
I grab her wrist—the one holding
my book—and squeeze down with every ounce of strength I have.
I lean in close, dropping my voice into a dangerous, lethal whisper that ensures only she can hear me.
"Listen to me, bitch," I hiss, my grip tightening until her fingers start to tremble under the pressure.
"If you think just because you're fucking a prince you get to be a pain in my ass and get away with it, you are sorely mistaken. I am not a damsel in distress. So you better stop this little playground game right now."
With a sharp jerk, I snatch my notebook out of her hand.
Her face scrunches up in a mixture of shock and fury.
Realizing I'm not an easy target to bully, she turns around with a huff and storms off to a seat across the room.
I sit back down, my heart hammering against my ribs, though my expression remains stone-cold.
A second later, the heavy doors of the lecture hall swing open.
For a split second—a fraction of a
heartbeat—I think it's him.
But it's Marcus.
He strides into the room, but his usual flirtatious, charming aura is completely gone.
His face is a mask of pure grumpiness, his jaw set in a tight line as he slumps into a seat a few rows over.
Curious, and entirely too observant for my own good, I slide out of my bench and walk over to him.
I stand beside his desk, looking down at his tense shoulders.
"Did something happen, Marcus?"
"Why are you here, Alice?!"
The harsh, venomous bite in his tone hits me like a physical slap.
I flinch, taking an instinctive step back. Marcus has never looked at me
like that—never spoken to me with such raw irritation.
The sudden rejection stings more than I care to admit.
Without another word, I quietly retreat, moving back to my own isolated place at the front of the room.
Only then do I realize why the air in the lecture hall has suddenly turned to ice.
A few feet away from the entrance, Zade is standing in the doorway.
He's dressed impeccably, but his attention isn't on the professor's podium.
The girl from earlier—the one who claimed him—is already by his side.
She clings tightly to his arm, a smug, victorious smile lighting up her face as she whispers something to him.
Zade isn't listening to her.
His amber eyes are locked directly onto mine, cutting through the distance of the lecture hall.
He's staring at me with an intensity that burns right through my skin.
I look away quickly, forcing my gaze down to my notebook as a sharp, agonizing pang hits my chest so hard it takes my breath away.
The game at Oakhaven just got a lot more crowded, and for the first time,
I don't know if my armor is thick enough to survive it.