Jaxon didn't say another word.
He just turned and walked away like he always did cool, controlled, completely unreadable. But this time, Zara saw something else in his walk. Not swagger. Not indifference.
Fear.
Not for himself… for her.
She didn't like it.
And she really didn't like the way her heart twisted in her chest as she watched him disappear into the hallway.
That afternoon, Zara found herself in the library, buried between the dusty shelves of the nonfiction section her safe place. The library wasn't just quiet. It was invisible. No one paid attention here. Not unless they were cramming for finals or trying to cheat their way through a research paper.
Which meant it was the perfect place to think.
She laid both notes out on the table and stared at them. Whoever wrote them wasn't just trying to scare her. They were watching. Tracking. Timing.
She reached for her phone.
Theo.
He picked up on the second ring. "Zara?"
"Can you meet me?" she whispered. "Now?"
Fifteen minutes later, Theo slid into the seat across from her in a dark corner of the library's second floor.
He looked concerned. "You okay?"
She handed him the notes.
His jaw tightened as he read them. "This is serious."
"Yeah," she said softly. "I know."
"Have you told anyone?"
"Only Jaxon."
He blinked. "Wait you what?"
"I ran into him. He kind of guessed something was wrong."
Theo looked away, tapping the table with his knuckle like he was thinking. Or trying not to say something he really wanted to.
"You don't trust him, do you?" she asked.
Theo hesitated. "I don't know him."
"That's not true," she said. "Everyone here knows him. Even if they pretend they don't."
Theo's eyes darkened. "Exactly."
Zara frowned. "What aren't you telling me?"
He leaned forward, lowering his voice. "There are rumors, okay? Stuff no one can prove, but… weird things happen around Jaxon. People who cross him suddenly disappear. Families get bought out of scandals. Teachers look the other way."
She shook her head. "That doesn't mean he's behind it."
"It means he's dangerous. Whether he wants to be or not."
Zara exhaled. "Too late. I already crossed into his world."
"Then you need to be smart," Theo warned. "And careful."
She nodded.
But her gut told her this went beyond Jaxon.
Someone was trying to send a message. And she wasn't about to be scared into silence.
That night, as Zara walked back to her dorm under the low glow of campus lights, her phone buzzed with a new text.
Unknown Number:
Curiosity is cute. Until it gets you killed.
She stopped in her tracks, heart thudding. Her fingers hovered over the screen before typing:
Zara:
Who is this?
No reply.
But up ahead, under a flickering streetlamp, someone stood watching.
She squinted, stepping back
The figure turned and disappeared into the shadows.