“Yeah, your mom is making some terrible choices right now. We all see it.”
I stepped inside and shut the door behind us. The latch clicked, and the whole suite felt smaller with Vincent standing just inside the entrance. Sophia’s eyes moved over me in one quick sweep—my face, my coat, my hands, the faint red mark across my palm where I had slapped my father. Then her gaze landed on Vincent behind me, and her expression changed.
“Professor Moreau,” she said.
“Miss Sophia Kwon,” he answered, calm and polite.
I shot him a sharp look.
He met my eyes like he was simply stating a fact he already knew.
Anya stopped pacing. “Absolutely not.”
No one asked her to explain. We all understood.
Sophia folded her arms across her chest.
“What happened out there?”
“My father… Daniel came to campus,” I said.
Anya’s voice came out tight. “We heard that part already. He called you Selena right in the middle of the courtyard, and then Professor Moreau appeared like he had been waiting for the exact right moment.”
Vincent’s mouth almost moved into a smile.
I pointed at him without turning around.
“Don’t even start right now.”
He stayed quiet.
Sophia kept her eyes on me.
“And now you’re moving in with him.”
“For a while,” I said.
“No,” Anya cut in right away.
“Anya.”
“No. I love you, but this is insane. Not the fun kind of insane. This is the kind where girls end up in true crime documentaries, saying they thought they could handle it.”
Miss Astoria screamed again as if she agreed.
I reached out and took the cat from Anya because I needed something warm to hold that would not demand explanations. Miss Astoria climbed straight up my chest, claws hooking into my coat, and pressed her face under my chin. I slid one hand into her fur and felt her small body vibrating.
“It’s temporary,” I told them.
Sophia looked straight at Vincent.
“Is it?”
He met her gaze without blinking. “Yes, of course. Just until we make sure she stays safe from any harm.”
I let out a short laugh under my breath.
Everyone turned to me.
