LOGINThe call came just after sunset.Louis stared at his phone for a long moment before answering.Camille.Her name glowed on the screen like a question he wasn’t sure he wanted to answer.After everything that had happened—the board, the suspension, his apartment being torn apart—he wasn’t in the mood for games.And yet…He answered.“What?” he said flatly.There was a brief pause on the other end.“I need to see you,” Camille said.Her voice was steady.Too steady.Louis let out a dry laugh. “That sounds like a bad idea.”“It’s not,” she replied quickly. “Not if you care about what happens next.”That caught his attention.His expression shifted slightly, though she couldn’t see it.“Go on,” he said.“I know you weren’t lying,” Camille
William stood still for a moment after he ended the call.The hospital corridor stretched out before him again—long, white, silent—but it no longer felt the same.Something had shifted.Something dangerous.His heart was still racing, but now it wasn’t from shock or grief.It was from decision.He turned away from the quiet corner where he had made the call and leaned back against the wall, exhaling slowly as he ran a hand through his hair.He had done it.Said the words.Made the promises.And she had believed him.Ava had believed him.For a brief moment, her silence on the phone had terrified him. The pause had stretched just long enough for doubt to creep in, just long enough for him to wonder if he had already lost her—and the child—completely.But then…Her voice.Soft.Fragile.Hopeful.And just like that—
The hospital corridor felt endless.White.Cold.Unforgiving.William Reid paced back and forth like a man trapped inside his own mind, his footsteps echoing softly against the polished floor. The scent of antiseptic hung thick in the air, sharp and sterile, doing nothing to calm the storm building inside him.Time had become meaningless.Minutes stretched into something unbearable.Every second that passed without news tightened the pressure in his chest.His hands wouldn’t stay still.He ran them through his hair.Folded them.Unfolded them.Checked his watch.Checked it again.Nothing changed.The double doors at the end of the corridor remained closed.And behind them—Vanessa.His wife.His child.The word child hit differently now.He exhaled sharply and stopped pacing for a moment, bracing his hands against the
William Reid didn’t realize how exhausted he was until he pulled into his driveway.The day had stretched him thin in ways he hadn’t anticipated. Not physically—but mentally. Strategically. Every conversation, every glance, every silence at the disciplinary board had required precision.And now, as he sat in his car with the engine idling, staring at the familiar structure of his home, a different kind of tension crept in.This one, he couldn’t control as easily.Vanessa.He exhaled slowly, gripping the steering wheel.She would have heard by now.News traveled fast on campus—faster when it involved scandal.And Louis hadn’t exactly gone quietly.William closed his eyes briefly.Stay calm.Stay composed.Control the narrative.He stepped out of the car and shut the door quietly behind him.The house lights were on.Ev
The dorm room felt suffocatingly quiet when Ava returned.Too quiet.The kind of silence that didn’t soothe—it pressed in, heavy and accusing, filling every corner with thoughts she couldn’t outrun.She closed the door behind her slowly, the soft click echoing louder than it should have. For a moment, she just stood there, her hand still resting on the handle, as if she didn’t have the strength to take another step forward.Then her knees weakened.Ava moved mechanically to her bed and sank down onto it, her bag slipping from her shoulder and falling to the floor with a dull thud. She didn’t bother picking it up.Her mind replayed everything.The boardroom.Louis’s voice.The disbelief in his eyes.The moment he looked at her—really looked at her—when she denied everything.She squeezed her eyes shut.“I don’t know what he’s talkin
The campus felt different the next morning.Word traveled fast in places like this—not always in facts, but in whispers. In glances that lingered a little too long. In conversations that abruptly stopped when someone walked past.Louis felt it the moment he stepped onto the grounds.Eyes on him.Not obvious.But there.His jaw tightened as he adjusted the strap of his bag over his shoulder. The bruise along his cheekbone throbbed faintly beneath his skin, hidden just enough to avoid immediate questions but impossible for him to ignore.He hadn’t slept.Not after the break-in.Not after realizing exactly what it meant.William wasn’t just playing defense anymore.He was going on the offensive.And Louis had a sinking feeling he knew exactly what was coming.He reached the faculty building just as his phone buzzed in his hand.An unknown number.He answered cautiously.“Hello?”“Mr. Louis Carter?”His stomach dropped.“Yes.”“This is the administrative office. You are required to report







