Chapter 30

Riley’s POV

I couldn’t shake replaying my own words on the drive back to Silver Hollow. I gripped the steering wheel like it held the secrets to the universe, while Rowan and Noah tailed me in Rowan’s cherry-red sports car so closely I could practically see the muscles bunching in Noah’s jaw. But I was too busy rewatching my big moment of truth to care.

I’d told Lila, without so much as blinking, “I’m happy where I am.”

And somehow those six words detonated in my brain on loop, like a glitchy playlist no one could skip. I’m happy where I am. I’m happy where I am. I’m happy—

Wait. Was I?

They’d slipped out of my mouth unbidden, like free samples at a store. I hadn’t thought to lie—didn’t even realize I was sugarcoating anything. Did happiness count if it felt like hot chocolate on a cold day? Or was it an illusion?

Back in my dorm life, I’d slogged through classes, brewed coffee at the campus café, then crashed into my tiny bed and scrolled