"You were being blackmailed for six months and didn't tell me?" His voice cracks on the last word—not from weakness, but from anger. The quiet kind, which feels worse than shouting.
“I couldn’t,” I tell him, my voice raw from crying. “Dean Westwood said if I toldanyone, he'd take away the scholarship. If it were only mine, I would've told you, Seb. But I couldn't take all that away from you." I pause. “I couldn't let him destroy everything you've worked for.” His eyes flick up to mine, and I see it, fear clouding his hazel eyes like a rainy day. But not for himself. For me.
"You thought walking away and lying about Tyler and Anthony was protecting me," he says slowly. "But it broke me, Mary. You know that, right? I didn't understand. One day we were fine, and the next, you were gone."
"I didn't have a choice," I say, voice cracking. I knew this was a bad idea. I shouldn't have told him. Seb runs a hand down his mouth, eyes glistening, but he won't look at me. "And tonight?"
"It was Tyler." I can't keep the tears back any longer. Wet droplets run down my cheeks, and it feels like I can't fucking breathe.
"I thought it was over… I felt everything fade, and all I could think about was how I never told you the truth. That you thought I betrayed you—that I stopped loving you." I didn't expect the tears at first—his or mine—but I can't get them to stop, especially not after seeing Seb break next.
"I should've told you sooner," I whisper, the weight of it all pressing down on me. "I just didn't know how without risking everything."
"You don't have to carry this burden alone anymore. Scholarship be damned. None of it's worth it if it means giving up you, Mary. I'll get a job and pay for it my damn self. You know that."
"This is all my fault." Everything hurts, and I want it to stop. Seb leans closer, wiping the tears from my cheeks with his thumbs, but the tears don't stop. "None of this is your fault. You’re not alone in this, Mary. I'll take care of it all."
And this time, I let him.
I fall into his arms, into his safety, because for the first time in six months, the fear isn't winning. After all, Seb is here, and he isn't letting go.
“I would burn this world to the ground for you, Rebel." My cheek is against his chest as he runs his fingers through my hair. The tears mark the beginning of a cascade—an outpouringof emotions I’ve kept locked away for far too long. As each tear falls, it carries with it a piece of my carefully constructed facade, leaving me raw and exposed. With each sob that escapes, I feel a weight lifting from my chest.
The burden of pretending to be strong—of carrying the world on my shoulders—becomes too much to bear. In this moment, I find solace.
“I love you so goddamn much.” He cradles my face and wipes my tears with the pad of his thumb. The tears don't stop, but now they’re not from sadness.
He still loves me.
The hospital room door slowly opens as the nurse walks in to check my vitals. Before she leaves, she turns to me with a smile and tells me I have a few people waiting right outside to see me.
The next thing I know, Ace, Roman, Maddie, Tate, and Damon are all crowding into the small room.
Ace is the first to speak up.
“Mary! Well, I’m glad you aren’t dead. You really took the whole Bloody Mary game thing to the next level.” He’s trying to lighten the mood. Nobody says anything for a few seconds before I start laughing so hard my eyes tear up once again.
“Ace, you fucking asshat. Why the hell would you say that?” Maddie pushes him back, almost knocking him over, but Roman is there to catch him. Maddie walks over to me with Tate next to her, and they both carefully embrace me. The doctor told me that if I hadn’t been found when I was, I would’ve lost too much blood. I know Seb finding me the way he did was very traumatic, but I’m alive because of him—and I owe him everything for that.
After about an hour of visiting, I’m exhausted, so Seb basically goes all caveman on our friends and tells them all to leave.
Now I’m lying here in Seb’s arms as he strokes my back, whispering sweet things into my ear.
“Sleep, Rebel.” It's the last thing I hear before I fall asleep. But this time, I dream of a happy future with my small family—because when I wake up, I know there’s a lot we still have to deal with. But this time, I won't be alone.
Chapter 23
Sebastian
IwatchasMaryand the girls talk on the bed. Maddie hasn't left her side since they came back this morning. After I kicked them out two nights ago, I spent every night in bed with Mary.
Keeping her pinned to my chest all night, needing to feel the rise and fall of her breathing as she slept. It's going to take me a while to move on from finding her the way I did. My eyes stay glued to her until Roman walks in, phone in hand.
"Found Anthony. He's been holed up in his dorm since Game Night. Clearly hiding out, since not many people know they were back in town." His finger taps on the top of his phone, almost as if he's just waiting for me to give him the okay to murder the fucking asshole—but this one is mine. Anthony and Tyler will die at my hands.
"Let's go before he decides to leave. Anything on Tyler?" I ask, hoping he's found both of them so we finally put an end to this mess.
"Nope. He's a ghost—no trace of him even being here besides us and a few others from the party. But I'll find him. Might take a while longer, though."
