As soon as I got to my room, Phoebe opened the door. She looked like she’d been pacing for a while, and the moment our eyes locked, she froze mid-step like she’d been caught rehearsing something.
"Merlina! I’ve literally been blowing up your phone," she said, her face scrunched with full-on worry.
"I know," I said flatly, brushing past her. My voice was cold, and I didn’t care. My head was still spinning from what Craig said to me, and I didn’t have the energy to pretend like everything was fine.
"Are you okay?" Phoebe asked.
I didn’t answer right away. I was staring at my bed, trying not to completely lose it. Then I felt her hand on my shoulder.
"Hey, I just—are you okay?" she asked, gently. "Megan told me Craig’s brother is the main suspect? I can’t even wrap my head around it, I’m so sorry."
I shrugged her off, sharper than I meant to, but I didn’t stop myself. "Yeah. And don’t bother texting Keith all the juicy details. I’m pretty sure he already knows the full story," I snapped.
"What?" she blinked, genuinely confused.
"You told him Phoebe," My voice cracked a little. "You couldn’t even hold off for a second before spilling everything I told you to your brand-new boyfriend. You and Keith clearly don’t have much to talk about."
Phoebe’s expression faltered, and she looked down at the floor like she was hoping it would give her something, an answer, a way out, anything.
"Wait, hold up. Phoebe told Keith?" Megan asked, eyebrows raised.
"I’m sorry, okay?" Phoebe said quickly. "I wasn’t thinking. I thought maybe he could help, that he might know something. I just... I didn’t mean to offend you."
"You didn’t even ask if I was okay with you telling him," I said, my voice cracking a little, the anger fading into just... disappointment. "Everything I opened up about, everything I wasn’t ready to say out loud, you just went and spilled it to someone you barely even know."
"I get it. I really do. That wasn’t my place. I didn’t think it through—I was just trying to help." Her voice was small and shaky, and she sank down onto the edge of her bed like the weight of it all finally caught up with her. "I’m sorry, Merlina."
As much as I hated to admit it, she wasn’t wrong. She probably did just want to help... she just went about it in the worst possible way.
I let out a long sigh, the kind that comes from being too exhausted to stay angry anymore. "I shouldn’t have snapped at you," I mumbled, my shoulders sagging. "I’m just... today’s been a mess, and I’m trying to keep it together."
I stepped forward and pulled her into a hug. She hesitated for a split second, then wrapped her arms around me, like she was relieved I wasn’t still mad.
Phoebe pulled back a bit. "Wait, how did you even know I told Keith? Did he say something?"
"Nope," I said, wiping my face with a dramatic sigh. "But Craig Lesnar did. He rolled up to me like he was some sort of Mafia boss, straight-up told me to get out of Belford, and even offered to cover my tuition somewhere else. Like he was doing me a favor."
"What?" Megan and Phoebe echoed, their voices blending with a mix of disbelief and shock.
"Yeah. And get this, he said I was his enemy if I went after his brother. Like, full-on villain mode."
Megan shook her head, her eyes wide with concern. "That’s... seriously messed up, Merl. You’ve got to be careful. We have no idea what the Lesnars are really capable of."
Phoebe bit her lip, her brow furrowing as she thought it over. "I mean... yeah, Craig’s intense, no doubt. But I don’t know if he’d actually hurt you. It just doesn’t feel like something he’d do. At least, not in the way you’re thinking."
"You didn’t see his face," I said, my voice dropping, a weight settling in my chest. "The way he looked at me...it wasn’t just cold. It was... it was cruel. Like I wasn’t even worth acknowledging, just something to be brushed aside. It felt like what happened to my mother didn’t even exist to him."
Phoebe leaned forward, her tone more serious now, like she was trying to convince herself as much as me. "Look, Craig’s brother? Yeah, he might be dangerous...probably is. But Craig? I don’t buy for a second that he’d ever lay a hand on you. That’s not him... or at least, not the version of him I’ve seen."
I wanted to believe her. A part of me really did. But the way Craig had looked at me... it stuck with me, clinging to my thoughts like a weight that wouldn’t fade. It wasn’t just his words, it was the look, the coldness in his eyes, and that’s what unsettled me.
Just a few nights ago, I was in his arms, feeling safe, like nothing could hurt me.
Now, he felt like the one thing I had to watch out for at Belford.