Chapter 174

She was late again.It had become something of a fixture in her schedule — not deliberately, never deliberately, but consistently enough that she had started to wonder if some part of her simply enjoyed the small drama of arriving slightly breathless and scanning a room for a remaining seat. Today the music room was already half full when she slipped through the door, and she paused in the doorway, eyes moving across the rows.A hand went up near the front.Ethan. Waving, not subtly, with the particular confidence of someone who has never once worried about being noticed for the wrong reasons. He pointed at the empty seat beside him.Lilly crossed the room and slid into it as quietly as she could manage, given that half the room had already watched her walk the entire length of it.“You saved me a seat?” she asked, settling her bag at her feet.“I figured if you came in late again you’d end up stuck at the back with the people who don’t actually want to be here.” He smiled. “Also — so

Chapter 175

Lilly’s hands trembled as she clutched the edge of Zane’s desk, the worn wood cool beneath her fingertips. The dorm room felt smaller suddenly, the late afternoon light slanting through the single window casting long shadows across the scattered textbooks. She had come here for tutoring—nothing more. Yet the words had spilled out like blood from an old wound she had sworn never to reopen.Zane sat frozen on the edge of his bed, his usual easy confidence shattered. His dark eyes, which had teased her moments ago with that infuriating nickname, now held only raw horror. “Mauli…” he whispered, the name soft, almost reverent. He had started calling her that weeks ago, a playful twist on her full name that somehow felt intimate. Now it sounded like a plea.She shook her head, tears carving hot trails down her cheeks. “I didn’t deserve that, did I? I was just… there. Doing my duty as school captain. And he—” Her voice cracked. The memory surged again, unbidden.FlashbackThe high school aud

Chapter 176

179“Okay, enough of the sad stories,” Lilly said, pressing her hand flat against his chest and pushing him back half a step. “I came here to study, remember? Not to relive trauma.”Zane bent slightly to her level, holding her arms gently in his hands, his expression softer than the moment before. “You’re stronger than you think you are. I just want you to know that.” He paused. “And I’m genuinely glad you survived that night. You’re amazing, Mauli. I love your confidence — the fact that you can stand here and talk about it at all says something about you.”“It wasn’t my fault,” she said quietly, her voice losing some of its usual brightness. “He was just—” She stopped, swallowed. “He was a bad man. That’s all it was.”“And nothing like that will ever happen to you again.” His voice carried a weight underneath the gentleness, something protective and absolute. “Not while I’m around to make sure of it.”She nodded, pouting slightly despite the seriousness sitting in his tone, the two e

《SAVED BY MY BROTHERS 》全部章節：第 171 章 - 第 173 章

Chapter 174

Chapter 175

Chapter 176