~ Becca ~
Fuck.
Evan knows.
I don’t need him to say it. I can see it all over his dumb, too-still face the second our eyes lock across the room. The noise drops out. The music, the donors, Lydia’s fake-laugh bullshit. All of it fades and it’s just that look.
Recognition.
Not suspicion. Not curiosity.
Certainty.
My stomach flips, hot and sharp. For half a second, every instinct in me screams run. Disappear. Burn this city down again if I have to.
Instead, I smile.
Because fear is what old me did. New me? New me stands there in heels she paid for herself and lets the moment choke.
The Hale charity mixer is exactly what you’d expect. Rich people pretending they give a s**t. Mrs. Hale floating like a queen in silk. Jace at my side, hand warm at my lower back like a quiet promise. Ste
