Morning came, but the chill in Zara's chest hadn't faded.
She showed up to class with a hood over her head, eyes scanning every face. Every whisper. Every sideways glance.
She wasn't sure if she was being paranoid, or if paranoia was the only thing keeping her alive now.
Jaxon was already seated in economics, arms folded, expression stone-cold. His gaze flicked to hers the second she entered, and in that glance, she saw it
The weight.
The tension.
And something else... fear.
Not for himself. For her.
She sat beside him without a word.
"I'm going to find out who's behind this," he said quietly, not even looking at her.
"And then what?"
He glanced at her. "Then I end it."
Zara exhaled. "You keep saying that like you're in control of this. But I saw your face last night, Jaxon. You're just as in the dark as I am."
"No," he said, voice low. "I just haven't turned on the lights yet."
Between classes, Theo caught up to her outside the science building.
"Hey. You good?"
Zara nodded stiffly. "As good as someone being stalked can be."
He frowned. "You're staying too close to Jaxon. That's dangerous."
Zara's eyes flashed. "You think I don't know that? But guess what whoever's behind this isn't sending threats to him. They're sending them to me. So maybe this isn't about just Jaxon."
Theo looked like he wanted to argue, but he didn't. Instead, he handed her something an old USB drive.
"What's this?"
"I started digging. Archives, old files from student councils, yearbooks, alumni blogs. There's a pattern. Missing students. Quiet hush-ups. And all of them? Connected to a single name."
Zara narrowed her eyes. "Whose?"
Theo hesitated. "Not Jaxon. His father."
Her blood ran cold.
Later that night, Zara met Jaxon in the music hall one of the few buildings not crawling with cameras and people pretending not to notice.
She showed him the USB.
He stared at it like it was a live grenade.
"My father's cleaner than the Pope on paper," he said. "But if you know where to look... yeah. It's possible."
Zara leaned forward. "What happened to the missing girls, Jaxon?"
"I don't know," he said and she believed him.
But then his phone buzzed again.
Another unknown number.
A new message.
"You've been warned. Stop digging or the next photo won't be so... innocent."
Attached was a new image.
It was Theo.
In the library.
From earlier that day.
Zara's breath caught. "They're watching everyone."
Jaxon looked at her, eyes hardening. "Then it's time to stop hiding."