Bethel's POV
I read the definition again, my voice steadier now, though my hands still trembled against the leather cover of the textbook. "A lease is a contract... that conveys the right to use an asset..."
Allari’s eyes narrowed slightly, not in anger, but in assessment. He was listening to every syllable, waiting for the crack in my composure.
But I couldn't focus. Not when the silence in the room felt so heavy with unspoken things. I had checked my phone ten minutes ago, before he walked in. The post—the one everyone had been talking about, the one that had made my stomach twist into knots—was gone. Completely erased. No trace. No screenshot. Nothing.
And yet here he stood, calm as ever, watching me like a hawk circling its prey.
My fingers tightened on the book. "It's gone," I sa
