Page 64 of Theirs to Ruin

I slammed my laptop shut just as my phone buzzed with a message from Bianca.

Hey, so guess what? Remember the month-long internship with Prof. Muller I applied for? I got it. But the flight leaves tomorrow, so I’m turning it down.

I’d completely forgotten my sister was applying for the internship in California. God, I would miss her, but it was the chance of a lifetime. I immediately called her.

"Don't you dare turn it down," I said sharply as soon as I heard her voice on the other end.

"Camille, it's not a good time to leave,” Bianca protested. “You just got out of the hospital."

"I’m fine, Bianca. The chance to interview the best criminal minds on the west coast? And help Professor Muller revise her lessons for next year? This is an amazing opportunity for you, and youdeservethis.”

There was a heavy silence on the other end, broken only by her shaky exhale. "I just feel like I'd be abandoning you when you need me the most."

"It's just for a little while,” I reasoned with her. “You have to go. I'd never forgive myself if you missed out on this because of me."

Bianca hesitated. "Promise me you'll call if you need me?"

"I promise," I replied, trying to inject as much conviction into my voice as I could muster. "And hey, we can text every day. Keep me posted on everything. I can even visit, and you can show me California. You’ll have a blast."

Her laugh felt like a salve. "Oh, I will. Especially if I meet a hunky surfer boy."

"I’m sure you’ll meet plenty. Have fun for both of us.”

She sighed. "Okay. But you better be alright.”

"Trust me, I'll be fine.”

There was no way I was telling her about the bullying, Dante’s stunning revelation that he’d put a tracker on my phone, or that the new hot student, Mateo, was none other thanmyTy, who may or may not have murdered his entire family.

I glanced at the time then groaned. All I wanted was to pull the covers over my head and sleep away the chaos. But my day was far from over; night classes awaited.

Tonight was Comprehensive Defense Studies, a class on how to protect ourselves from danger, be it emotional, reputational, financial, or physical, followed by my all-time favorite, Seduction 102.

“I have to leave for class, Bianca. Call me soon!”

“I will. Love you!”

“Love you, too.” I ended the call then dragged myself off the couch. "One step at a time, Camille,” I muttered. “Just one step at a time."

When I left my dorm, the golden hues of sunset had faded and been replaced by the cold blue of twilight. I reached the first classroom with a couple of minutes to spare. Finding my spot in the back row, I took out my laptop and opened a new folder. The quiet chatter of my classmates and the shuffling of laptops and tablets surrounded me, but then the sounds stopped abruptly, the unsettling silence causing me to look up.

I drew in such a sharp breath I almost choked.

Ty.

He was damn beautiful, even with the scars I now knew were from a car accident—the one in which someonediedbecause of him. The past and the present clashed and collided. I didn’t know what to think or feel. There was a heaviness in my chest, a weight that was equal parts confusion, longing, suspicion, and loss.

If even a fragment of the stories I had read about him were true, it felt like another betrayal, a mockery of everything we’d once shared. And yet I couldn’t ignore the spark of pity I felt for him, too. It wasn’t just his scars, but the coldness in his eyes that told me the significant pain he’d faced in the years we’d been apart.

If he’d killed his family in cold blood, it was pain that he fully deserved. But as I was quickly learning, nothing was ever as it seemed. Everyone assumed I had killed Ava. What if, like me, Ty had been falsely accused?

Ty scanned the room, his gaze landing on me for two seconds, giving me no reaction before he sat down near the front of the classroom. I felt that familiar sting of hurt, the brutal feeling of being so easily dismissed by someone who had once meant the world to me. One by one, those seated close to him stood and took other seats until Ty sat in solitude, a circle of empty chairs around him that coincidentally looked like the one around me.

I watched people eye him with curiosity and loathing.

Sentiments I’d felt directed at me all day.

Our classmates had to know about his past. The allegations that he’d murdered his family in cold blood and the fact he’d been released from prison on a technicality several months ago. How had he even gotten into CU?

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