Chapter 14

CHARLOTTE’S POV

I noticed the change in Sophie before she even reached me. She appeared outside my first lecture with a bright smile and two cups of coffee, looking so cheerful that for a moment I wondered whether I had somehow imagined everything that happened between us. But I hadn't. I remembered walking in on her with Lucas, the shock, the excuses, and the humiliation of realizing that my best friend had betrayed me.

“Charlotte, I got you your usual,” Sophie said as she held one of the cups toward me, her smile carefully warm as she watched my reaction. “I know things between us have been awful, and I know I don't deserve for you to accept anything from me, but I thought maybe this could be a small way of showing you that I'm sorry.”

I stared at the coffee without taking it, studying her face instead. “You don't have to buy me coffee, Sophie,” I replied as I adjusted my bag. “If you're trying to apologize, then just apologize. You don't need to bring gifts or act like everything is normal between us because it isn't.”

Her smile faltered slightly before she nodded. “You're right, and I'm sorry,” she admitted as she looked down briefly. “What happened with Lucas was wrong, and I was confused and selfish. I knew he was your boyfriend, but I let my feelings take over, and I hurt you because of it.”

I listened quietly because there was a time when those words would have meant everything to me. “I accept that you regret it,” I said as I held her gaze. “But forgiveness doesn't mean trust, Sophie. You broke mine, and I don't know if I'll ever be able to give it back to you.”

Sophie nodded slowly, pretending to accept my answer without disappointment. “I understand,” she replied as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “I don't expect you to suddenly trust me again. I just want the chance to prove that I can be better than the person I was when everything happened.”

For a moment, I wanted to believe her. She had once been my best friend, and despite everything, some part of me still missed the person I thought she was. But the feeling that something was wrong wouldn't leave me. “You can prove whatever you want through your actions,” I finally told her as I stepped around her. “But I'm going to keep my distance for now.”

“That's fair,” she called after me, her voice still gentle as she followed for a few steps before stopping. “Can I at least ask how you've been doing?”

I glanced back at her. “I've been fine.”

“Where have you been staying?” she asked almost immediately, her tone casual enough that she might have been asking about the weather. “You haven't been going back to your apartment much, and those clothes you're wearing don't exactly look like the ones you used to have. Did something happen after the attack?”

My guard went up instantly. “I've had some things to deal with,” I answered as I gave her a polite smile. “Nothing you need to worry about.”

She didn't seem satisfied. “Is there someone helping you?” she asked as she studied my face. “Maybe a new man? Because if there is, you don't have to hide it from me.”

“I have a class,” I replied as I checked the time on my phone, deliberately ending the conversation. “I'll see you around.”

I walked away without looking back, but I could feel her eyes following me. Her questions bothered me because they weren't the questions of someone trying to rebuild a friendship. They were too specific. Sophie wasn't asking how I felt. She was trying to find out where I lived and who was paying for the life I suddenly had. I couldn't prove anything, but I knew better than to ignore that feeling.

Lucas wasn't making things easier. He had begun appearing around campus almost every day, waiting outside my classes and finding excuses to speak to me. At first, he apologized constantly and claimed he had made the biggest mistake of his life, but I stopped listening after the first few attempts.

“Charlotte, please, just give me five minutes,” Lucas pleaded one afternoon as he followed me across the courtyard, his expression filled with desperation. “I know I don't deserve your forgiveness, but I still love you, and I can't just pretend three years meant nothing.”

I stopped walking and turned toward him. “Love doesn't look like what you did with Sophie, Lucas,” I replied as I held his gaze. “You don't get to hurt me, betray me and then use the word love because you don't like the consequences of your choices.”

His expression tightened, but he tried again. “People make mistakes,” he insisted as he stepped closer. “I made one terrible mistake, and I'm willing to spend the rest of my life proving that I can fix it.”

“You had plenty of opportunities to make a different choice,” I answered as I shook my head. “You didn't make a mistake once. You made a decision, and you kept making it every time you chose Sophie over respecting me.”

After that, Lucas stopped pretending he wanted forgiveness. One afternoon, he caught me alone in a quiet hallway after my final lecture and stepped in front of me before I could reach the exit.

“I know you're seeing someone,” he said as he blocked the hallway, his eyes fixed on my face. “You can deny it if you want, Charlotte, but I know there's another man.”

My heart began pounding, but I refused to let him see it. “Move, Lucas,” I replied as I tried to walk around him. “Whatever you think you know about my life isn't your business anymore, and you need to stop following me around campus.”

A slow smile appeared on his face when I refused to answer. “There,” he said as he pulled out his phone, his expression becoming colder. “That reaction tells me everything I need to know.”

He turned the screen toward me, and the world seemed to stop.

It was a photograph of me walking through the gates of Zade's estate.

For several seconds, I couldn't breathe. I stared at the image, recognizing the clothes I had been wearing and the exact moment when the security gate had opened for me. Someone had been watching me.

“Where did you get that?” I demanded as I stepped closer, my voice shaking despite my attempt to remain composed. “Who took that photograph, and who else have you shown it to?”

Lucas lowered the phone slowly, watching every reaction on my face. “Nobody,” he replied as he slipped the phone back into his pocket. “Not yet. I thought you'd be more interested in hearing what I want before I decide what to do with it.”

My stomach dropped. “What do you want?”

He stepped closer, lowering his voice. “I want you back, Charlotte,” he said as he studied my face. “I'm not asking for money, and I'm not asking you to apologize. I want you to come back to me.”

“No,” I answered immediately as I stepped away. “Whatever existed between us is dead, Lucas. You can show that picture to whoever you want, but it won't change my answer.”

His face hardened when he realized the photograph hadn't given him the control he expected. “You really don't care what happens to Zade?” he asked as he stepped into my path again. “Because he has far more to lose than you do. His reputation, his career, his position at the university—one photograph could turn everything upside down.”

Fear rose in my chest, but I forced myself to meet his eyes. “You don't get to threaten me because you can't accept that I don't want you anymore,” I told him as I pushed past his shoulder. “If you continue following me, cornering me or using this photograph to threaten me, I'll report you. And if you think I'll let you use me to hurt Zade, then you clearly never knew me at all.”

Lucas didn't move aside. Instead, he stepped closer until he was standing directly in front of me, blocking my path and leaving me nowhere to look except at him. His eyes were no longer pleading, and whatever desperation had been there earlier had been replaced by something colder that made my stomach tighten.

“You still think this is about getting you back?” Lucas asked as he leaned closer, his voice dropping into a quiet threat while his gaze remained fixed on mine. “No, Charlotte. Now it's about making sure you understand what happens when you choose someone else over me.”

I couldn't find the words to answer him. I could only stare at him, my heart pounding as he stepped even closer, his expression hardening when he saw the fear I couldn't hide.

Lucas leaned closer and said, “Then I'll make sure Professor Stone loses everything before I let you belong to anyone else.”