Off Limits

✦Chapter 9— The Secret

“And she knows there’s someone.”

My chest tightens. “Does she know it’s me?”

“Not yet.” He looks away, jaw hard. “But she will. She doesn’t let go of questions.”

“You could tell her the truth,” I say, and hate how small my voice sounds.

“I could,” he says softly. “Or I could stop it.”

I search his face. “Why are you telling me this, Mason?”

“Because I loved you.” Past tense that sounds like present. “And because he won’t protect you from the blowback. He thinks he will, but he can’t.”

He pulls something from his pocket—an envelope, old-fashioned and heavy. “Take this.”

“What is it?”

“Insurance.” He glances up the steps like someone might be listening. “A number. If things get ugly, call it and say my name. That’s all.”

I slide the envelope into my bag without looking. A brittle breeze skates across the lawn. The world feels like it’s tilting.

“I’m sorry,” he says. “For all of it.”

“Me too.”

He nods like that’s the only answer we ever had. Then his phone buzzes and whatever softness was left in him disappears. He grimaces. “I have to go.”

I watch him cross the quad, the space around him warping with all the things we didn’t say.

My phone vibrates again, more insistent this time. Unknown number. I almost ignore it. Then I answer.

“Nova Vaughn?” a woman purrs. Her voice is satin with a knife under it.

“Who’s this?”

“Someone who cares about Luca’s future,” she says. “Which means I care about yours.”

“Sienna,” I whisper.

“Good girl,” she says. “Meet me tonight. Seven o’clock. Monaco Lounge. Wear something honest.”

“What if I don’t?”

“Then I’ll share a very pretty video with some very curious people. Your campus loves a scandal.”

The line clicks dead.

My hand shakes so hard I almost drop the phone. Bri bursts through the doors, reading my face like a warning. “What happened?”

“Sienna,” I say. “She wants to meet.”

Bri’s eyes go wide. “Absolutely not.”

“She has a video.”

Bri swears. “Okay, new plan. We tell Luca.”

I nod, but my stomach sinks. Because this isn’t a plan; it’s a trap. And every path out seems to lead deeper in.

Luca POV

Elijah texts: Mason met Nova. Keep your head. Sienna moving tonight. Monaco, 7.

I curse under my breath. She always loved theatrics.

Another message pops up before I can answer—this one from Nova.

We need to talk. Urgent.

My thumbs hover. Where are you? I type.

Campus. Can you come?

On my way.

I grab my jacket and the gun I pray I won’t need. The city outside is too bright for what it’s about to hold. As I hit the street, my phone rings again. A new number, female voice.

“Hello, heir,” she says, amused. “Bring flowers to Monaco. I want to see how far you’ll go for something that isn’t yours.”

“Sienna.”

“Seven,” she purrs. “Don’t be late. Or I’ll introduce your pretty secret to the world.”

She hangs up.

I gun the engine.

Between brothers, between loyalties, between the life I was born into and the one I want—there’s only one rule left: don’t blink.

And tonight, no one will.