Noah rolled his shoulders back, feeling the sharp pull in his ribs where Lucas’s knee had landed. Every breath stoked the ache, the dull throb of bruising settling in beneath his skin. The kicks from Vivian had left their mark too, a sharper pain running down his side, but pain was something he knew how to push through. It wasn’t important. What mattered was what was happening right now.

  Vivian was still standing there, fists tight, jaw locked, every inch of her still bristling with the aftershock of rage. She had let herself break for a moment, let herself slip into something raw and unchecked, but now she was pulling it back, dragging it inside, forcing herself into composure even as her hands trembled. She wasn’t looking at him, not yet. She was thinking, trying to decide her next move, trying to figure out whether she had anything left to throw at him.

  That was all he needed.

  He let out a slow breath, tilting his head toward Lucas in a way that wasn’t quite mocking, but wasn’t far from it.

  “You don’t need him, Viv.”

  The shift in her posture was instant.

  Lucas didn’t move, but Noah felt the change in the air between them.

  “You know he’s not some knight in shining armor, right?”

  Vivian didn’t respond, but she was listening. He could tell.

  Noah studied the way her shoulders tensed, the way her nails pressed into her palms. She wanted to ignore him. She wanted to tell him that Lucas wasn’t the problem here, that he was. But she didn’t say anything.

  She was already halfway there.

  “His bosses asked him to watch you.”

  It hit exactly the way he wanted it to.

  She didn’t react right away, didn’t turn her head, didn’t snap back at him. She stood there, her breath steady, her expression unreadable.

  Noah let the words sink in.

  Lucas had found her too easily.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  Lucas had stepped in at exactly the right moment.

  That meant he had been watching her long before Orchid Alley.

  It also meant he had seen her get grabbed.

  And he had let it happen.

  Vivian turned toward Lucas now, waiting for him to contradict it.

  Lucas said nothing.

  That was enough.

  Lucas said nothing.

  She had trusted him. Serena had told her to trust him.

  She almost laughed.

  She had been stupid to believe in any of them.

  She let out a slow breath, her fingers twitching at her sides, before closing her eyes briefly and shaking her head.

  Noah could see Lucas watching her, his own expression carefully blank, but there was something underneath it, something tightly restrained.

  She let out a breath, closing her eyes briefly before opening them again. She didn’t explode. She didn’t lash out. She just let it go.

  Then, finally, she spoke.

  “So what?”

  Lucas didn’t react, but Noah felt the shift in his presence.

  Her gaze turned to him, flat, cold, unforgiving. “I still trust him more than you.”

  Noah had expected a lot of things from this conversation. That wasn’t one of them.

  His smirk faltered for just a second before he smoothed it over, adjusting, recalculating.

  The words should have made him angry.

  Instead, something inside him twisted, low and thrumming with something worse.

  He liked this. Maybe even more than the alternative.

  Lucas exhaled slowly, his fists loosening just slightly, but Noah could tell he was still coiled, still waiting, still ready to take him apart again if necessary.

  Vivian’s breath came out steadier than before. Not with relief. Not with frustration.

  With finality.

  Noah had pushed her into clarity, had shattered the illusions she had been clinging to. And she had more important things to worry about. She still needed to find Serena.

  “Fine,” she said, voice even.

  Lucas’s jaw stayed locked, his shoulders stiff.

  Noah clapped his hands together, as if they had just decided something perfectly reasonable. “Well, that’s settled then. Shall we head home, Viv?”

  Lucas’s posture shifted, his presence bristling with something lethal, but Noah had already seen it coming.

  “Down, boy,” he murmured. “I mean I’ll walk her to her dorm. You can’t do it, obviously. Just watch from a distance like your bosses told you.”

  Lucas didn’t move, but the weight of his stare was suffocating.

  Noah reached for Vivian’s hand.

  The second his fingers grazed her skin, she tore herself away, stepping back with a sharpness that sent something sharp and dark curling through him.

  “Don’t touch me.”

  Her voice was steady, but her body was still too rigid, like she was forcing herself not to react more violently.

  Noah didn’t let his expression change.

  Vivian turned toward Lucas instead, ignoring him entirely.

  “It’s okay.”

  Lucas’s jaw clenched.

  “I know you’ll be there if he does anything funny.”

  Lucas didn’t answer.

  Vivian turned and walked away.

  Noah followed, his presence slipping into the space beside her like it had always belonged there.

  Lucas stood there, his fingers twitching, his fists flexing once before tightening. He didn’t move. Didn’t follow. Just watched them disappear into the night.