Chapter 4 FOUR
MADELINE REYES' POV
I didn't let the question land. I threw it back at him immediately.
"What did YOU see?"
His nostrils flared. I knew I shouldn't be playing the feisty cat when I was a cornered rat, but I'd rather be dead before I let the bastard intimidate me.
"I'll only ask you once again..."
"How about you shut up and let me go..."
One of his brows arched, his jaw tightening. "What were you doing in there, Maddy?"
"Probably the same thing as you..."
"And what was I doing there?"
He stepped closer, slamming his arms onto the wall on both sides of my head, creating a cage between the brick at my back and his chest inches from mine.
"Tell me... what was I doing in there?" he repeated.
I tilted my chin at him. "I don't know... whatever you went to do there is none of my business... all I know is that whatever you're trying to do.. trying to be intimidating... caging me against the fucking wall... breathing down my neck like a fucking bull isn't going to work. I don't care what you went to do in there, Luke. I only came on my own mission and now that you've caught me it's over..."
The cold air tasted like ash in my lungs as I thrashed against the wall, fighting to break free. "LET. ME. GO."
He didn't budge. "No."
"What the fuck do you want with me?"
"You saw me in there."
"So now what?"
The anger in his eyes was gone, now replaced with cold logic. "You saw me in there, so I can't let you go unless you promise never to mention it to anyone...."
I stopped the thrashing, my chest heaving and my fingers trembling. For a second, neither of us said anything to each other, but it was a confrontation that made me feel completely smothered. Lucas wanted to know what I'd gone to do in there, and I wanted to get out of here as soon as possible before someone walked by and saw us in that position.
"I’ll make you a deal," he muttered, his voice dropping lower, his chest vibrating against my hands. "Tell me what you were doing in there, and I’ll let you walk. Lie to me, and Stefan calls the principal right now."
On my right, Stefan didn’t say a word. He just tapped his phone against his palm, that lazy, infuriating smirk widening on his face. They had me completely cornered. My heart was hammering so hard against my ribs I was certain Lucas could feel it.
"I was trying to change my grades," I blurted out. The admission felt like swallowing glass, but my survival instinct finally overrode my bleeding pride. "I failed the midterms. Every single one of them. Math, English, Chemistry—all Fs."
Lucas’s green eyes narrowed, the cold logic faltering for a split second into something that looked almost like surprise. "You? The prodigy who never flatlines?"
"Things change... I don't know what's been happening," I snapped, my teeth clenching as a hot wave of humiliation rushed to my face. "I'm on a scholarship, Lucas. The whole damn school knows it. If those grades stay on my record, I get kicked out. I can't afford to fail. Not after..." I cut myself off, refusing to mention my mother or the hospital bills. I swallowed hard and glared up at him. "You get it now? I went in there to save my own skin. Same as you."
Lucas stared down at me, his face turning completely unreadable as he processed the words. He didn't loosen his grip on the wall, but the raw aggression in his posture dialed back just a fraction. I could have sworn I saw confusion flash against his face, which in turn made my brows pucker.
Up close, the crushing proximity of him was suffocating. His dark brown hair was slightly damp, strands of it sticking to his temples from whatever frantic chaos he'd been causing inside the office. Every time he exhaled, his warm breath fanned across my face, fogging up the microscopic space between our lips. His jaw remained locked, but the sharp edge in his green eyes faltered.
Why the hell did he look so caught off guard? He was Steffany’s boyfriend, and Stefan was standing right beside him like a loyal shadow. If my failing grades were a public execution designed to ruin my life, Lucas should have been holding the blade. He should have been laughing in my face. Instead, his plump lips parted slightly as his chest heaved against my hands, his gaze tracking the raw panic in my eyes. He genuinely didn't have a clue what his girlfriend had done.
"You're telling the truth," he murmured, more to himself than to me.
"I just stripped my entire dignity for you, didn't I?" I hissed, bracing my hands against his chest to push him back. "Now let me go—"
I didn't get to finish the sentence.
The sharp, echoing clatter of heeled footsteps suddenly rushed down the corridor, violently shattering the silence. A second later, a voice came screaming around the corner before the person even came into view.
"Mads! I’M COMINGGGGGGGGGGG!"
Wren skidded to a chaotic, panting stop on my left. Her eyes went as wide as saucers as she took in the scene—bouncing from my pinned shoulders, to Lucas caging me against the brick, to Stefan standing by like a smug spectator. A tiny, horrified squeak escaped her throat.
Her timing was absolutely terrible, but the sudden intrusion did exactly what I needed: it distracted Lucas. His head snapped toward her, his grip loosening for a microsecond.
I didn't waste it.
I gathered every ounce of strength left in my body, locked my elbows, and shoved hard against his chest.
Lucas staggered backward with a heavy grunt, his massive frame colliding with the opposite wall with a thud that felt loud enough to shake the ceiling tiles. Before he or Stefan could recover, I dove down, scooped my phone off the floor from right under Stefan's feet, and grabbed Wren by the wrist.
"Run!" I yelled.
We turned on our heels and bolted down the hallway in a full sprint. The only sound echoing through the empty corridor was Lucas shouting my name, completely drowned out by the frantic, chaotic pounding of our Mary Jane pumps against the polished floor.
