Chapter 2

"Leaving so soon?"

Cassandra's smile was downright predatory.

"Want me to set you up, Elara? A few benchwarmers on the team actually go for your... plain type."

I stared at her. "Move."

There was none of the breakdown or cowardice she expected. The curve of Cassandra's lips vanished.

"Drop the holy act," she sneered, dropping her voice. "You think I don't know what you are? A leech freeloading off his family's pity."

"Crawling into your foster brother's bed... you're pathetic. Do you know what Dax said about you this morning?"

"He said, 'Her face is basically a carbon copy of yours. I only slept with her to kill time.' Got it?"

I bit down on the inside of my cheek until I tasted copper, desperately forcing my trembling fingers to still.

Without warning, her hands flew to the neckline and straps of her own dress, ripping them fiercely.

A massive expanse of her bare skin was instantly exposed to the air.

The next second, Cassandra let out a blood-curdling scream, throwing herself backward and crashing heavily onto the floor.

Dax shoved his way through the crowd. Without a second thought, he ripped off his jacket and wrapped it tightly around a trembling Cassandra.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" He whipped his head to glare at me. His fury could have burned a hole through my skull.

Cassandra buried her face in Dax's chest, her tears falling right on cue. "Dax... I just wanted to say hi. I don't know why she suddenly shoved me and ripped my dress..."

"I didn't touch her."

"Shut the fuck up!"

Dax snapped, cutting me off brutally.

"My family took you in for ten years. We fed you, clothed you, and this is how you repay us?! By attacking my girlfriend in public like a psycho?!"

The crowd around us exploded in whispers.

"Did you hear that? She's just an adopted orphan?"

"She must be mad with jealousy. The real girl comes back, and she shows her true colors."

"That's disgusting. Throwing herself at her own foster brother."

The malicious taunts scraped against my skin like razor blades.

A suffocating tightness gripped my throat.

Instinctively, I looked down at Dax. I begged silently to find just one second of hesitation in his eyes—a single ounce of trust that screamed, 'I've known you for ten years, I know you aren't like this.'

But I found nothing.

At that moment, whatever solid foundation I had left in my heart shattered into dust.

I suddenly lost any desire to explain myself.

I turned and walked toward the door.

"Stop!"

Seeing me leave, Dax lashed out and grabbed my wrist in a vice grip.

"Do you have any manners at all? Apologize to Cassie right now!"

A piercing pain shot through my wrist. I scowled, wincing.

"Forget it, Dax," Cassandra said, perfectly timing her tug on his shirt. "Let her go. After all, she's an orphan with no... parents to teach her. I won't hold it against her."

She pressed her face against Dax's chest, tears falling flawlessly. But in Dax's blind spot, she shot me a perfectly aimed, chilling smirk.

This wasn't a plea for mercy.

She was using the most graceful posture to nail me to the cross.

Dax's grip tightened even further.

"Cassie being generous doesn't mean you get to walk away. Apologize!"

"I told you. She ripped it herself." My voice trembled slightly from the immense effort to suppress my emotions.

My refusal to submit entirely drained Dax's patience.

"You're still fucking lying!"

Fueled by rage, he shoved me hard.

I lost my balance completely, stumbling backward until I crashed heavily into the massive champagne tower behind me.

The entire tower collapsed with a deafening crash.

Hundreds of jagged glass shards, mixed with freezing champagne, cascaded down onto me.

I fell hard into the ruins.

Thick blood instantly welled up, dripping onto the floor—a glaring, gruesome sight.

Agony spiked through my nerves.

Dax stared at the puddle of blood on the floor, his movements going stiff for a fraction of a second.

In the past, if I had so much as nicked my finger, he would have shouted the house down looking for a first-aid kit.

Now, he just offered me a frigid glance and tossed out a single line: "Don't let me catch you acting crazy again."

With that, he scooped up Cassandra in his arms and walked away without looking back.

I pushed through the doors and fled into the night.

A torrential downpour had begun at some point.

I just walked through the muddy midnight storm, letting the freezing rain wash away the very last trace of my lingering attachment to the past.

…

The next morning, the moment I stepped onto campus, blatant pointing and the relentless buzzing of direct messages on my phone hit me like a wave.

Last night's farce had already exploded all over the campus forums.