CHAPTER 7- THE PHOTO

Maya

The photo burned into my mind even after Noah locked his phone.

Me. Bent over the low wall on the science building roof. Noah behind me. Theo’s hand in my hair. Clear enough that there was no way to pretend it was anyone else.

My stomach turned.

“Who sent it?” I asked. My voice came out thinner than I wanted.

Noah’s expression stayed unreadable. “Unknown number. They’re using a blocker.”

Theo dragged a hand through his hair, jaw tight. “Someone was watching us that night.”

The apartment suddenly felt too small. I wrapped my arms around myself, still sticky from what they had just done to me. Shame and fear tangled so tightly I couldn’t tell them apart. Someone had seen everything. Someone had proof.

Noah’s voice cut through the silence. “Get dressed. We’re taking you back to campus.”

I pulled my clothes on with shaking hands. Neither of them spoke much on the drive. For the first time since this started, both of them looked genuinely unsettled.

When they dropped me off near East Hall, Noah turned in his seat.

“Don’t talk about this to anyone. We handle it.”

Theo added, “And watch your back. Especially around Serena.”

The name landed heavily.

Serena Voss. Everyone on campus knew who she was. Beautiful, old money, and vicious when she didn’t get what she wanted. She had been involved with Noah last year — or at least that’s what the rumors said. Some people claimed she had also been with Theo. Others said she had been obsessed with both of them and didn’t take rejection well. All I knew for certain was that she still moved through the elite circles like she belonged there… and that she had never once looked at me with anything friendly in her eyes.

“You think it’s her?” I asked.

Noah’s gaze was flat. “She’s capable of it. But we’re not guessing. We’re confirming.”

They waited until I was inside before driving off.

I barely slept. Every time I closed my eyes I saw the photo. By morning my nerves were scraped raw. I went to my first class on autopilot, barely hearing a word the professor said. Every glance in my direction felt too long. Every whisper felt like it might be about me.

I was leaving the lecture hall when a black car pulled up along the curb. The window rolled down. Theo was in the driver’s seat. Noah sat in the passenger side.

“Get in,” Noah said.

I hesitated only a second before sliding into the back.

They didn’t take me far — just to a quiet stretch of road near the edge of campus where the trees blocked most of the view. Theo parked and both of them turned toward me.

“We’ve been looking into the number,” Noah said. “It’s a burner, paid for in cash. Whoever it is isn’t an amateur.”

“What do they want?” I asked.

“Leverage,” Theo replied. “Or money. Or both. People don’t send something like that unless they plan to use it.”

Fear tightened around my ribs. “What if they release it?”

Noah’s eyes locked onto mine. “Then we destroy them. But it hasn’t come to that yet. This was a warning shot.”

Silence settled over the car. I could still feel the ghost of their hands on me from the day before. The memory mixed with the fear in a way that left me restless and exposed.

Theo’s voice dropped. “You’re scared.”

“Yes.”

“You should be.” He reached back and rested a hand on my knee. “But fear doesn’t change anything between us. You’re still ours.”

Noah watched me carefully. “We’re going to handle this. But until we do, you don’t take unnecessary risks. If anyone approaches you — especially Serena — you tell us.”

I nodded.

They let me out near the library a few minutes later. I spent the rest of the day trying to act normal and failing. By evening my nerves were frayed thin.

I was crossing the quad when my phone vibrated.

Noah: We’re downstairs.

No location this time. No sharp command. Just those two words.

I went down.

They were waiting in the same black car. The drive to the off-campus apartment was quiet, but the air felt heavy. The second we got inside, Noah pulled me against him and kissed me like he was trying to silence the threat with his mouth. Theo pressed against my back, hands already sliding under my sweater.

They didn’t speak much.

Noah took me first, deep and controlled against the wall, while Theo held my wrists and made me keep my eyes open. Then they switched. Theo fucked me on the edge of the bed with my legs locked around him while Noah made me taste myself on his fingers. They used me until the fear was temporarily burned out of me by sensation, until I was shaking and overstimulated and clinging to both of them.

Afterward I lay between them, trying to catch my breath.

Noah’s fingers traced slow patterns on my hip. “We’ll find whoever took that photo.”

Theo’s voice was quieter than usual. “And when we do, they’ll wish they hadn’t.”

I stared at the ceiling, heart still beating too fast.

For a moment none of us spoke.

Then my phone lit up on the nightstand.

I reached for it.

One new message. Unknown number.

I opened it — and the blood drained from my face.

It wasn’t just a photo this time.

It was a video.

Short. Dark. But clear enough.

Me on my knees between them on the rooftop.

And underneath it, a single line of text:

I have more. Let’s talk about what it’s worth to keep this private.