Chapter 172

SEBASTIAN

Diego’s words don’t just trigger me.

They detonate something ugly and feral in my chest.

Talk to Dahlia.

As if that hasn’t already cost me everything today.

I don’t answer him. I don’t argue. I don’t breathe long enough to justify it. I’m already moving—keys in hand, coat half on, the world narrowing to one singular need: find her.

The drive back to her dorm is a blur of red lights… just like before. This is the most frequent road I’ve taken in the last two days… yeah… a lot has happened in the last forty-eight hours.

All of these I blame on Loren… no, on me. I should have just come clean to her from the beginning… about my parents… about her mother possibly having something to do with them. Maybe… just maybe… this would have been avoided. We wouldn’t have been disconnected to the point she got involved with Alex again.

My hands grip the wheel too tight. My jaw aches from clenching. Every second stretches thin with dread.