Cole's POV:
The meeting room was full of voices — charts, deadlines, numbers — all white noise until my phone buzzed.
📩 "Jay. Restaurant. With Jason.danger."
That was all it said, but it was enough.
My pulse hit red. I didn't wait for permission, didn't even excuse myself. I just stood up mid-sentence, chair scraping against the floor, and walked out — fast.
By the time I hit the parking lot, my phone was already in my hand, keys twisting hard.
"Come on, come on…"
The engine roared to life. I slammed my foot on the gas. The tires screamed against the road.
Every second felt too long.Every red light — a curse.
If Jason was anywhere near her, it was bad. The kind of bad that didn't end with words.
Images flashed through my mind — Jay's tired eyes last week, the faint tremor in her voice when she said she was "fine." I'd seen the storm building behind that word.
And now, someone had lit the fuse.
The car hit ninety on a fifty road. I didn't care.
"Hold on, Jay," I muttered, jaw tight, eyes locked on the road ahead.
Ten minutes later, I spotted the restaurant — lights dim, door cracked open. My gut twisted.
I parked so hard the tires screeched and barely remembered to kill the engine before sprinting inside.
And then I froze.
Jay.Keifer.
In each other's arms.
For a second, everything in me went silent — like the air had been punched out of my lungs.
But the quiet didn't last.
Jay's POV:
"Why are you doing this, Keifer?!" I yelled, the words trembling out of me before I could stop them. "Showing up like some hero—protecting me—acting like you care. Why? What's the point?"
He stood still. Expression unreadable, eyes storm-dark.
"What is this, huh?" I continued, tears threatening to spill. "Because of Aries? Because of Ella? Or was it just another mission, another manipulation to make yourself feel like you're doing something good?Because of the people who hurt you are related to me huh whyy keifer tell me WHY???"
He said nothing. That silence was worse than shouting.
"You made me fall for you," I hissed. "You made me believe I mattered. You made me think maybe, finally, I had a place where I belonged. And then you broke me."
My voice cracked, but I couldn't stop. "You didn't just make me hate you, Keifer. You made me hate them too. All of Section E. The people who said they were my family. You turned every memory into a weapon against me."
The tears came hard then — not gentle, but raw and shaking. I wiped them with the back of my sleeve, furious that he could still make me feel this much.
He didn't argue. Didn't defend himself. Just watched me unravel.
And when my voice finally died, when there was nothing left to throw at him, he spoke.
"Let me drop you home," he said quietly.
That's when another voice cut through the tension.
"Don't bother."
Cole.
He was standing by the doorway, his face calm but eyes cold, sharp as a blade.
I turned to him, and the moment he saw my tear-streaked face, his anger shifted into something else — steady, protective. He walked over, wrapped an arm around my shoulders.
"Hey," he murmured softly, "you're okay. I've got you."
Then he looked up at Keifer — voice even, but heavy.
"Go Watson leave her. We'll talk later."
Keifer didn't say a word. He just nodded once, jaw tight, and watched as Cole led me out.
Cole's POV:
Outside, the night air was cool, cutting. Jay leaned against me, still shaking quietly. I opened the car door, helped her in.
Then I turned — and froze.
Across the street stood Aries.
Expression blank, but guilt flickering behind his eyes like a dying match.
He didn't speak.Neither did I.
I just got in the car and drove.
Keifer's POV:
I stayed there, watching the taillights fade until the street was empty again.
Then my hands clenched around the steering wheel, every nerve in me burning.
She hated me now — hated Section E because of me.
And maybe she should.
But watching her walk away still felt like losing oxygen.
My fists slammed the wheel once. Twice. Again.
"Damn it!"
The echo filled the car.Because for all my plans, all my control — the only thing I truly succeeded at…
…was making the one person I loved most hate everything I touched...