บททั้งหมดของ Tamed By The Campus Bad Boy: บทที่ 121 - บทที่ 130

LeonIwatched Aaron's face as he read the messaged, i saw bow the color drain slowly from his cheeks, and my stomach dropped in sympathy before he even say a word."What does it say," I asked carefully.He didn't answer right away. He just stared at the screen, his jaw working, and then, without a word, he turned the phone toward me so I could read it myself.*Aaron — I've had time to think about everything since our conversation. I won't pretend I've fully come to terms with all of it. But your mother, God rest her, would never have forgiven me for using money as a weapon against you over something like this. I'm continuing to fund your tuition through graduation, no conditions attached beyond the ones that were always there — keep your grades up, stay out of unnecessary trouble. I hope, in time, we can talk about the rest of it more honestly than we have been. — Dad*I read it twice, my chest loosening with relief on Aaron's behalf even as he sat frozen beside me, staring at the sc

LEON'S POVWe agreed to meet her the next afternoon, at a park neither of us had any particular history with — neutral ground, Aaron said, somewhere that didn't carry the weight of everything that had already happened at the coffee shop or the school.Amanda was already sitting on a bench when we arrived, and she looked different than I remembered — smaller, somehow, stripped of the confident polish she usually carried like armor. She stood the second she saw us, her hands twisting nervously in front of her."Thank you for coming," she said. "I wasn't sure you would.""You said it was important," Aaron said, his voice guarded. "So talk."She nodded, sitting back down, gesturing for us to join her. Aaron and I sat across from her instead, and I watched her flinch slightly at the distance, like she'd expected it and hated it anyway."I owe you both an apology," she started, her voice unsteady. "A real one, not the kind I've been avoiding giving for weeks because I was too ashamed to act

LEON'S POVWe met May at a diner near the courthouse twenty minutes later, and she was already waiting in a corner booth when we arrived, still in her work polo, her expression tight with something between guilt and urgency."I probably shouldn't even be telling you this," she said the moment we sat down. "I could get in trouble for looking at case files I'm not supposed to have access to. But Leon, I saw your name on something, and I couldn't just pretend I didn't see it.""What did you see," I asked, my stomach already tightening.She glanced around the diner before pulling out her phone, angling it so only we could see the screen — a photo she'd clearly taken quickly, slightly blurred, of a printed document."It's a witness list," she said. "For the trial. And it's not just you and Aaron listed on it."I scanned the document, my eyes catching on names I recognized immediately — Amanda, Marcus, Damian — and then, near the bottom, a name that made my blood run cold.**Rose Kessler —

Leon The courtroom was smaller than I expected and it was so plain, nothing like the imposing rooms I'd pictured from television. Wood paneling, fluorescent lights, a judge who looked more tired than menacing.Ethan sat at the defense table in a gray suit that looked borrowed, his shoulders hunched in a way that made him look smaller than the person who'd once stood so calmly in that hospital lobby. When the judge asked if any of the victims wished to make a statement before sentencing, my hand found Aaron's under the table, and together we walked to the small podium set up at the front of the room.I hadn't planned exactly what I wanted to say. I'd written three different drafts over the past week and thrown all of them away, but standing there, looking at Ethan's bowed head, something simpler rose up in me than anything I'd tried to script."I don't know what it feels like to hurt as much as you must have been hurting to do what you did," I said, my voice steadier than I expected.

LEON'S POVI woke to Aaron's hand clamped gently but urgently over my shoulder."Someone's at the door," he whispered.My heart slammed instantly awake, adrenaline flooding cold through my veins. "It's after midnight. Who—""I don't know." He was already sliding out of bed, moving toward the hallway with a caution that made my stomach twist. "Stay here.""Absolutely not," I said, following him, my bare feet silent against the new apartment's unfamiliar floor.We approached the door together, and Aaron peered carefully through the peephole before his shoulders visibly relaxed, some of the tension draining out of him at once."It's just Rose," he said, sounding almost disbelieving, and unlocked the door.Rose stood in the hallway looking disheveled, her eyes red-rimmed, an overnight bag slung over one shoulder."I'm so sorry," she said immediately, seeing our faces. "I should have called first, I know it's insanely late, I just—" her voice cracked. "I couldn't stay at the house tonight.