Ayla barely slept. Her mind replayed every moment from the night before. The text, his
tone, the challenge.
Now it wasn't about revenge alone. It was about control.
She wanted the truth, and she wanted to make Elian bleed for it.
Morning came cold and quiet. The sky hung gray over the academy. Ayla slipped into the
library when no one was around. She had one goal—find the real file before he did.
The librarian barely looked up. Ayla used that to her advantage. She moved to the
restricted section where old records were stored. Each cabinet was marked by year. She
stopped at the one labeled 2018. The year she was expelled.Her fingers shook as she pulled out a thin folder with her name on it: Ayla Raines.
Inside were official letters, statements, and a red-stamped page: Academic
Misconduct.
She scanned the report. The signature at the bottom wasn't Elian's. It was someone
else's. K.Lewis.
Katherine Lewis. The headmaster's assistant at the time.
Why would she forge a file against a student?
Before she could think further, footsteps echoed behind her.
Elian's voice. "You're getting sloppy."
Ayla turned, holding the file close. "Guess the library's not yours anymore."
He stepped closer, eyes sharp. "You're digging into things that don't concern you."
"They concern me when my life was destroyed because of them."
He crossed his arms. "So that's it? You come back after five years to blame me again?"
"Unless you'd like to confess."
He let out a breath, almost a laugh. "You never change. Still playing detective in a story
you don't understand."
She snapped the file shut. "Then explain it."
He didn't answer. Instead, his gaze flicked toward the papers in her hands. "Give me
that file."
"Over my dead body."
"Careful," he said quietly. "Don't tempt me."
The tension cracked between them, heavy and sharp. Neither moved. Then voices
approached down the hall. Ayla shoved the file into her bag and slipped past him.
By the time he turned, she was gone.In her dorm later, she locked the door and spread the documents on her desk.
Every line felt wrong. Every signature too neat.
At the bottom of one page, in faded ink, she noticed something small—an old date,
scratched out and rewritten. The first version read Jan 14.
The rewritten one read Feb 1.
Her expulsion had been delayed by two weeks. Why?
Before she could think more, Zara burst in. "Ayla, the headmaster's looking for you.
Someone reported you for accessing restricted files."
Ayla froze. "Who?"
Zara hesitated. "Elian."
The world tilted. Of course it was him. He wasn't playing fair. He never did.
She grabbed her bag and ran out.
By the time she reached the office, the door was open. Elian stood inside, talking to the
headmaster. Both turned when she entered.
"Miss Raines," the headmaster said. "Care to explain what you were doing in the archive
room?"
Her throat went dry. Elian's smirk didn't fade. "She said she wanted the truth. I thought
you should hear it too."