MasukHazel's POV "Let's do it," I whispered finallyJaxon studied my face for a moment before nodding. He didn't ask if I was sure. Maybe because he knew I wasn't because neither of us could afford to wait anymore.We walked back into the study together. This time, I wasn't looking for Rebecca,or searching for a photograph or a name that could explain why a dead girl had my face.I was searching for Rivers, the man who raised me and has been standing between me and the truth for eighteen years now.Jaxon pulled the TRUST folder back onto the desk while I stood beside him, watching his every movement. The room felt different now. It was the same place I had entered earlier that morning, the same shelves, the same desk, the same quiet but I wasn't the same person who had walked in.He carefully went through the documents again, this time with a purpose. We were looking for anything that explained why he had records connected to a girl who was supposedly dead.I watched Jaxon scan through pa
Hazel's POVI gathered the photograph and the death certificate carefully into the envelope and set it aside while I arranged the rest of the documents back inside the TRUST folder exactly as I had found them, putting it back on the shelf. My hands were moving on instinct at this point because my brain had slowed to almost nothing.I left the study and walked straight to my room, needing space, needing air, just anything that made sense at the moment.Outside the window, the morning continued like nothing had changed, the world kept going while mine felt like it had split open.My hands were still shaking when I pulled out my phone and called Jaxon.He answered almost immediately"Haz. You okay? You sound...""I found something," I interrupted.He took a deep breath "Slow down, babe, what happened?"I opened my mouth, but the words wouldn't come out properly. How was I supposed to explain something that didn't even make sense in my own head?"There's a little girl," I finally whispere
Hazel's POVWhen I got home after the match, I barely slept. The ceiling of my childhood bedroom had become something I memorized in the dark. My mind refused to stop moving back to the arena, to that handshake, to the silence that stretched between my dad and Mr. Oswald."It's been a long time, James." Hardly have I heard anyone refer to my fda with his first name I had been standing close enough to feel the temperature shift between those two men, and even with all the noise of the arena still humming around us, the moment had been completely still.I was up the next morning before dawn, with my Rubik Cube turning endlessly between my hands. No matter how many times I twisted the colored squares, it never matched up, just like everything else in my life right now. By the time I heard my dad moving around downstairs, I was already dressed and rehearsing what normal looked like. Trey had left for campus before I came downstairs, which suited me just fine by the time I came down. I a
Jaxon’s POVThe arena was already packed before warm-ups ended. Semifinals had a different weight, the kind that turned crowd noise into pressure.My skates cut into the ice as I took my first shift, letting the familiar cold settle into my lungs. Around me, the team moved with purpose. Some looked calm while others looked tense. Trey wasn't himself. I noticed it during a line change, but the game moved too fast for me to dwell on it.A few minutes into the game, I finally let myself look up at the stands. The student section was already loud, packed, and restless, banners rising in clusters. My eyes swept across the front rows almost without thinking.Then I found Hazel.She was seated in the center section with Sasha beside her, the moment our eyes met, she raised one hand in a small wave.She was wearing my jersey.I nearly lost my footing.I recovered fast, but Coach definitely saw it because he made a sound from the bench. I skated past him without a word, jaw tight, but somethin
Jaxon POVI woke up the next morning with Hazel’s words still echoing in my head. The way her voice had cracked when she talked about her dad. I spotted her outside the library just after ten, sitting on the wide stone steps with her knees drawn up and a notebook balanced on them. She looked drained, her shoulders hunched like she was carrying the weight of the world. The sun caught her hair, but it didn’t hide how exhausted she was. I approached slowly, not wanting to startle her.“Hey,” I said softly, stopping a few feet away. “Did you get any sleep last night?”Hazel looked up, offering a tired smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “Not really.”I nodded, sliding my hands into my pockets. “Yeah, I get it. We’ve been running on adrenaline and suspicion for days. Look, before we dive back into all that heavy stuff, how about we take a break? Just for a bit. Grab some coffee, talk about normal things. You look like you could use it.”She hesitated, then closed her notebook. “You sure? I d
Hazel's POVThe lock clicked and I stayed frozen beneath the desk, every one of my muscles aching. For a long moment, I couldn't breathe.The study fell silent except for the frantic pounding of my heart. Darkness swallowed the room as the light outside the hallway disappeared beneath the door.I waited and waited but I didn't hear any footsteps or voices, no sign or him coming back here. Slowly, I lowered the hand covering my mouth."Oh my God," I whispered. The words barely left my lips.Carefully, I crawled out from beneath the desk and stood up. The room was almost completely dark now with only moonlight filtered through the narrow gap in the curtains, casting pale shadows across the bookshelves.I glanced toward the shelf where the shadow reflected. A part of me wanted to go back and find out what was in there but another part of me knew I was pushing my luck.I had already nearly been caught once, what I needed to do right now was to get out of here. I moved toward the door and
Hazel's POV “Where are we going?” I asked as Jaxon took a turn down the road. He glanced at me with his eyes glinting under the streetlights. “You’ll see, try not to overthink it.” he winked. Oh, that wink! My stomach did a weird somersault, and I immediately looked out the window before he could
Jaxon's POV "Oh Jaxon, why should I delete the picture? Where’s the fun in that?” She tilted her head, her eyes gleaming in mischief “You should be thanking me. The little edit I made makes you look… irresistible. Half of the girls on campus would kill to be Hazel right now.”“Hazel doesn’t deserv
Jaxon’s POV I should’ve stayed pissed at her after the way she acted cold to me in the library; most girls wouldn’t have gotten a second glance from me, but when I heard, there I was seated beside her. Minutes into the movie but she wasn’t watching. I could tell by the way her shoulders stayed st
Hazel’s POV Sasha leaned closer, her voice barely a whisper. “Oh my God! He’s coming here.” “I know,” I hissed, my fingers digging into the knit of my cardigan. My heart thudded so loud I was sure half the lawn could hear it. Jaxon stopped right over the edge of our blanket and lowered himsel







