LUCA POV💦
I stared at the photo again.
Lilly. Standing outside the bursar's office. Her face half-hidden, but her posture screamed collapse. Like she'd just lost something vital.
The man beside her wasn't a professor. Not even university staff. But I recognized him.
Everyone in the inner circle would.
𝘿𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙘 𝙑𝙖𝙡𝙚.
He used to work for my father—head of "special affairs," which was a nice way of saying fixer. The kind of man who made problems disappear with forged papers and threats no one could trace.
He disappeared two years ago. Fired—or so my father claimed.
So why the hell was he with Lilly?
And more importantly… why hadn't she told me?
---
"Julian," I said, pacing my room, phone pressed tight to my ear. "Find everything you can on Dominic Vale. Check old security logs, bursar appointments, surveillance archives. I want timelines. Patterns. Names."
"Luca—"
"Just do it," I snapped.
Julian went quiet. "You think Lilly's involved?"
I paused.
"No," I said, but it tasted like a lie in my mouth.
I wanted to believe she wasn't. But this wasn't just about feelings anymore. Someone was pulling strings behind the scenes, and Lilly might not even know she's tangled in them.
---
𝙇𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙥𝙤𝙫
That night, I found a crumpled envelope slid under the door to the maintenance lounge.
Inside was a simple message, scrawled in thick black ink:
"They know about the bursar's office. Don't trust anyone—not even him."
I read it three times before it clicked.
Him.
Luca.
---
I hadn't thought about Dominic Vale in months. Not since the day I broke.
He wasn't a stranger—not really. He used to visit my mum's shop back when we lived near the industrial side of town. Said he "knew people" who could help. When the university said I owed too much to stay enrolled, he offered a solution. Quick. Clean. No questions.
I was desperate. I said no.
Then everything fell apart anyway.
The last time I saw him, he just looked at me with pity and said, "Sometimes we fall so others can rise."
I didn't understand what he meant back then.
But now?
Now I was scared I did.
---
Luca
Julian sent a file that night. Nothing official, of course. Just screenshots. Surveillance records, pieced together with log-in access I wasn't supposed to have.
Dominic Vale had accessed university networks three times in the last two months. Once on the day Lilly left school. Once before her hearing. And once—just two nights ago.
He wasn't working alone.
He was back in the system.
And someone on campus let him in.
---
My chest burned with questions. I needed answers—ones Lilly might not even have. But if she knew he was involved… why hide it?
Unless someone told her to.
Or threatened her not to.
---
I found her on the east side of campus, mopping the floor of the old science wing. She didn't look up when I walked in.
"Who is Dominic Vale?" I asked.
Her shoulders tensed. She didn't turn.
"You tell me," she said flatly.
That's when I knew—she got the message too.
---
"I didn't bring him into this," she whispered, voice tight. "I didn't even want help. I just wanted to disappear."
I stepped closer. "But someone didn't want that."
She nodded slowly.
"They want me visible now. On a stage. Because if I win that grant, if I'm cleared—someone benefits."
"Who?"
She finally turned to face me.
"I don't know," she said, eyes wide and wet. "But I think this has nothing to do with me anymore."
---
Later that night, while walking back to my car, my phone buzzed again.
New message. No contact.
"The cleaner is just the start. Check the files under Project Alchemy. Before they burn."
Attached was a final image:
My father.
Shaking hands with Dominic Vale.
In the Chancellor's private office.
Last week.