Chapter 211.
I close my eyes briefly.
"Exactly."
There’s a shift on his end, I can hear it. That moment where doubt creeps in whether he wants it to or not.
"You really think someone set him up?" he asks.
"I don’t know what to think," I admit. "But this doesn’t add up."
Another pause Then.....
"Or," he says slowly, "someone used his name on purpose."
"That’s exactly what I’m saying."
"To frame him."
"Or to make sure if anything came out, it leads back to him," I add.
Lucas lets out a quiet curse under his breath.
"Fuck."
I sit back down on the bed, my legs suddenly feeling weaker than they should.
"I needed you to know," I say.
"You did right," he replies immediately.
There’s no hesitation in his voice now, no dismissal.
"I’ll look into it," he continues. "Properly this time."
"How?" I ask.
"I’ll start with Mia," he says. "Where she met him. When. If there’s any pattern. Any detail she missed before."
I nod, even though he can’t see me.
"Okay."
"And Elaine...."
I hum softly in response.
"Don’t jump to conclusions yet," he says. "We don’t have the full picture."
"I know."
But my voice doesn’t sound as certain as I want it to.
Lucas sighs quietly.
"I’ll call you when I have something," he says.
"Okay."
There’s a brief pause before he adds, softer this time....
"You good?"
I look around my room, at the familiar walls.
"...I don’t know," I admit.
He doesn’t push.
"Get some rest if you can," he says. "We’ll figure this out."
"Yeah."
The call ends and I’m left sitting there again alone But this time....My thoughts aren’t just heavy, theey’re racing because now there’s a crack in everything I thought I knew.
And I don’t know if that makes things better.....
Or so much worse.
I go to bed that night with something solid for the first time in days....a plan.
It’s not perfect and it’s not even fully thought through but it’s something.Because I can’t keep doing this... this quiet distance, this walking past each other like strangers who just happen to share a house. It’s exhausting. And worse.... it’s starting to get to me.
Zane ignoring me?fhay shouldn’t bother me this much but it does and maybe I deserve it. Maybe I really did mess things up. But I’m not going to sit around and let things rot between us until there’s nothing left to fix.
No.
If I broke something....Then I’ll fix it or at least... try, that thought stays with me as I fall asleep And it’s the first thing on my mind when I wake up.
——
Morning light filters through the curtains, soft and warm against my face. For a second, I just lie there, staring at the ceiling, letting myself fully wake up.
Then it hits me agai my plan a small, determined breath leaves me as I sit up.
"Alright," I mutter to myself. "No backing out."
I swing my legs off the bed and head straight to the bathroom....rhe shower helps, hot water, steam filling the space, washing away the heaviness from last night. I stay under longer than usual, letting it calm my nerves, letting my thoughts settle into something more focused.
Because as much as I’m acting confident..,.im not, not really but I don’t need to be I just need to be convincing.
When I step out, I take my time getting ready.
I stand in front of my wardrobe longer than necessary, scanning through clothes I haven’t really paid attention to in a while.
Then I see it, the dress. It’s simple at first glance. Something you could easily pass off as casual house wear. Soft fabric, long enough to be decent but the cut....That’s where it changes things. The bust is tighter than it looks on the hanger. It pulls in just enough to shape, to hold and to reveal.
I hesitate for a second then I take it.
"No backing out," I remind myself again as I slip it on and immediately.....
Yeah.
It fits exactly how I remember, snug in the right places. The fabric hugging my waist just enough, the neckline dipping lower than what I usually go for...not obscene but noticeable. Very noticeable.
I turn slightly in the mirror, adjusting the fabric over my chest. My cleavage is... definitely there, heat creeps up my neck, but I don’t look away.l
"Good," I whisper under my breath.
I run my fingers through my hair, leaving it down instead of tying it up like I usually do. It falls naturally over my shoulders, softening everything just a bit.
A little lip glos then I step back and look at myself properly. And for a second...,i almost don’t recognize the girl staring back.
She looks... intentional and Confident, like she knows exactly what she’s doing.
I swallow.
"Let’s hope he notices," I murmur.
——
The walk downstairs feels longer than usual.
Every step echoes a little too loudly in my head. My heartbeat is faster than I’d like to admit, and I keep smoothing my hands over the sides of the dress like that’s going to calm anything.
By the time I reach the dining room.....i almost turn back.Almost.
But then I hear the faint clink of cutlery,
He’s already there so I square my shoulders slightly and step in.
Zane is seated at the table, already halfway through his breakfast.
Dark shirt, sleeves rolled just enough to show his forearms, posture relaxed but focused. He’s not on his phone this time. Just eating for a second, I just stand there watching him.
Then....He looks up, sees me and eerything that happens next is so quick it almost feels unreal.
His eyes land on my face first....Then drop and stop right at my chest.
And he chokes.....,Actually chokes.
A sharp, unexpected cough tears out of him as he jerks slightly in his chair, grabbing his glass of water quickly. He takes a hurried sip, coughing again under his breath.