Ruling silverlake High

Midnight pact

The low, rhythmic hum of the mountain wind swept through the courtyard, threatening to carry our voices away. Zander stayed pressed against the iron bars, his close-cropped dark hair making the sharp angles of his face look even harsher under the pale moonlight. The gray military uniform looked foreign on him, but the dangerous, magnetic intensity radiating from his eyes was exactly the same."Landon helped me find you," I whispered, keeping my eyes locked on his. "He's watching the tree line right now. Zander, your dad told me you were cut off. He said you were going to stay here until you broke."Zander let out a low, dry chuckle that sounded like grinding stones. "My father thinks a uniform and a few locked doors can change my DNA. He’s an i***t. I knew exactly what he’d do the second that wire transfer cleared.""Then why did you do it?" The question poured out of me, raw and heavy, carrying all the confusion and guilt that had been eating at me for days. "You gave up everything. Your name, your wealth, your freedom. For a family you don't even know. For a girl who did nothing but fight you."Zander’s ice-gray eyes darkened, the lazy arrogance completely evaporating. He reached his long, calloused fingers through the narrow gap between the iron bars, his knuckles brushing against my cheek. His touch was freezing from the mountain air, yet it sent a jolt of pure, unadulterated fire straight to my core."I didn't do it for your family, Aria," he murmured, his voice dropping to a gravelly, possessive whisper that made my breath hitch. "And I didn't do it to play the hero. I did it because the second you threw that money back at me, I realized something. You're the only real thing I've ever touched. My father can take my cars, my trusts, and my house. But he doesn't get to touch the one thing I decided was mine."My heart hammered violently against my ribs. "Zander...""Listen to me," he interrupted, his tone suddenly turning sharp and commanding as his eyes flicked toward the campus shadows. "You can't stay here. The headmaster runs this place like a maximum-security prison. If the night guards find you, my father will use it as leverage to bury you and your mother for good. You need to go. Now."

I'm not leaving you here," I said, my jaw tightening as my stubbornness flared up. "We can find a way to get you out. Landon's dad is a senator, he can—""Landon’s dad answers to my father’s wallet, Aria. Legal routes won't work," Zander whispered, his fingers sliding down to grip my jaw, forcing me to look directly into the storm brewing in his eyes. "I don't need a rescue. I need a placeholder. Go back to Silverlake."I blinked, stunned. "Go back? Zander, they dissolved my scholarship. Principal Vance kicked me out."A dark, incredibly ruthless smile spread across Zander’s face. "They dissolved the academic scholarship. My father controls the board, but he doesn't control the specific parameters of the Sterling Athletic Endowment. Before I left, I signed a clause transferring my personal athletic grant over to your name. Landon has the paperwork in his jacket. My uncle can't touch it without triggering a full independent audit of the school’s finances—something my father absolutely cannot afford right now."I stared at him, completely breathless. Even while being dragged away in chains, the King of Silverlake High had drawn up a counter-strategy."You're going back to that school tomorrow morning, Aria," Zander commanded softly, his gray eyes gleaming with a terrifying promise. "You’re going to sit at my desk by the window. You’re going to look my uncle and Tiffany dead in the eye, and you’re going to remind them exactly who rules that campus. Hold the line for me. Can you do that, sweetheart?"Before I could answer, a sharp beam of light cut through the thick fog at the edge of the courtyard. The distant crunch of heavy combat boots against gravel echoed through the night."Aria! Flashlights! We have to move!" Landon’s frantic whisper hissed from the tree line.Zander let go of my jaw, his fingers dragging reluctantly across my skin. "Run, Aria. Go."I took a step back, the freezing rain starting to mist over my eyelashes. I looked at the boy behind the bars—the boy who had traded his crown just to give me a sword."I'll hold the line, Zander," I whispered fiercely, turning on my heel. "Just make sure you come back to claim it."