“Alfie—”
I end the call.
The simulation flickers on my monitor, irrelevant now. My heartbeat pounds in my ears, a drum of betrayal and panic.
Kinsey appears in the doorway, a stack of printouts in her hands. “The new pressure readings?—”
“Not now.”
She hesitates. “But Professor Hammond said?—”
“I said not now.”
The sharpness in my voice makes her flinch, and guilt crashes into me like a wave.I’m acting like them.Cold. Thoughtless. Treating people like they’re just pieces to be moved on a board.
I drag a hand through my hair, exhaling sharply. “I—just let me see it.”
Kinsey hesitates before handing over the papers. I scan them, the numbers barely registering.
Three days.
Three days of silence, where anything could have happened.
I slam the papers onto my desk and grab my keys.
“Where are you going?” Kinsey calls after me. “Professor Hammond needs those results?—”
“Run it again,” I say over my shoulder. “All of it. From the beginning.”
I need to find Tara. I need toknow.
Is she meeting with my mother right now?Sealing the deal?
Or is she already gone?
I push through the lab doors, the night air biting against my skin. My car is waiting, but as I reach for the handle, my hand freezes.
What am I doing?
I stand there, breath misting in the air, my fingers tight around the door handle. My pulse pounds, hammering out a truth I don’t want to face.
What if this is the best thing for her?
Not just the job—all of it.A chance to leave this mess behind. A chance to walk away fromme.
I shut my eyes.
Tara has always deserved better than this. Better than my family’s interference. Better than the shadows and weight of the Spencers and everything that comes with being in my orbit.
Better than me.
Because the truth is—I hurt the people I care about.
I hurt Tara when I stepped in with James. I hurt Kinsey just now. I hurt everyone, over and over, because that’s what I’ve been taught to do.
Control. Manage. Solve problems.
Drake thinks I’m a hypocrite, but he’s wrong. There’s no hypocrisy in it. I’m just not any different from him.
