Craving The Badboy のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 31 - チャプター 37

Danilo’s POVI swear my heart almost stopped when I turned around and saw him standing there in that liquor store aisle. Beckett Reynolds. Mr. Yale Admissions himself. Married, rich, smooth-talking, old-enough-to-be-my-dad Beckett Reynolds.The last place I expected to see him was here, surrounded by cheap whiskey bottles and fluorescent lights buzzing overhead. He looked out of place in the worst kind of way, like he was too polished for somewhere like this, and me being stuck in the same space as him suddenly made me feel smaller, like I didn’t belong anywhere.The memory of the mayor’s ball slammed back into me, that whole night replaying in my head like some sick movie. Him in that sharp suit, hair slicked back, smiling at me in a way I tried so hard to convince myself was innocent. It wasn’t. He’d cornered me in the men’s room, pressed me against the sink, kissed me like he had every right to, and whispered that all I had to do to get into Yale was give him a “good time.” That wa

Danilo’s POVMy cheek was still burning from his slap when he shoved the phone in my face. I blinked, the screen blurring for a second before the sound hit me. That’s my voice…singing. I almost stopped breathing.There I was on the screen, standing in front of the school stage at auditions. Singing like an idiot who thought nobody was watching. Someone had recorded it, clean as day, and then apparently the whole damn internet had watched it. The video had thousands of views already. My face, my voice had gone viral.My stomach dropped like I’d been kicked.“This?” my father said, voice sharp like broken glass. “This is what you’ve been doing behind my back?”I couldn’t answer. I just stared at myself on that screen, moving my lips, hearing that version of me who actually looked like he gave a damn about something.“Do you know what kind of embarrassment this is?” Hector’s voice rose. “My son, prancing around on a stage, singing like…like a clown for everyone to laugh at! You ought to

Carter’s POVElisa had that look on her face like she’d been rehearsing this in her head before stepping up to me. Her voice was calm, too calm, like she was trying to soothe me before I even opened my mouth.“I know this is a lot to take in,” she said, “but I promise you, Carter, I’d be a good mother to Sofia.”Her words made my stomach clench. A good mother. I wanted to laugh right in her face. Instead, I shook my head and stepped back, putting space between us.“Sofia’s doing just fine under my care,” I shot back. “I don’t need some stranger waltzing into our lives and trying to separate us.”Her eyes didn’t move from mine. She didn’t look guilty or embarrassed, like most adults do when you call them out. She looked steady. Like she had the whole thing mapped out.“I know she needs surgery,” Elisa said softly, “and I know you can’t afford it.”My jaw clenched. “You don’t know anything about—”But she cut me off, holding up her hand. “Secondly, I don’t want to separate you two. I do

Danilo’s POVI couldn’t stop sighing. Every one of them scraped out of me like it was dragging something up my throat. My hands kept squeezing the steering wheel, letting go, squeezing again, the fake leather creaking under my grip. I could feel Antonia staring at me from the passenger seat, like a laser burning a hole in my cheek.Finally, I snapped and looked over at her. “What? Why are you staring at me like that?”She didn’t even flinch. She glanced away for half a second, then looked back at me with that sharp look she does. “What? It’s a crime to look at you now? Especially when you’re acting weird?”“Me, weird?” I tried to smile but it felt wrong on my face, like I’d borrowed somebody else’s mouth. “What do you mean, Toni?”Antonia crossed her arms and leaned back, still looking at me like she was trying to read me. “Ever since you got that text, you’ve been sighing and mumbling. Who was it? Tell me.”I opened my mouth but nothing came out. My brain flipped through excuses like