Chapter 81. Good Girl

Ava

I stepped out of Lang’s office still tasting his surrender on my tongue, the hidden camera already uploading every second of his ruin.

The hallway was quiet, just the low hum of fluorescent lights and distant voices echoing from the stairwell.

I made a detour to the lecture hall where the substitute had cancelled class. The door was cracked open. Inside, one person sat in the back row, shoulders shaking.

Martha.

Curled into herself, hoodie pulled up, face buried in her arms on the desk. Sobbing like the world had ended.

It hadn’t.

It was just getting started.

I walked in slow, heels clicking sharp against the tile. She didn’t hear me until I was two rows away.

She looked up, eyes swollen, mascara streaked down her cheeks like war paint she’d lost the war in.

When she saw me, her face twisted, fear, hate, shame, all at once.

I stopped right in front of her desk, leaned down until we were eye level.

“Yo