Chapter Seven

Alice couldn't move.

The moment Brian's gaze found hers, everything around her, the chatter of students, the hum of car engines, even Sophie tugging impatiently at her sleeve, faded into a blur. It was ridiculous, how a single look could steal her breath and leave her standing there like she'd forgotten how to function. His eyes weren't soft, not exactly, but there was something steady in them, something that made her heart stumble against her ribs.

Then he was gone. The door shut, the car pulled away, and all that remained was the hollow ache of absence.

Alice exhaled shakily, pressing her books tighter against her chest. She told herself it didn't matter. It couldn't matter. He wasn't in her world,he belonged to someone else's. And yet...

"Wow," Sophie's voice cut through, laced with amusement. "I knew you liked books, Alice, but I didn't realize you were this interested in... tall, broody billionaires who look like they belong on the cover of Forbes."

Alice's head snapped toward her best friend, heat rising instantly in her cheeks. "What? No! I wasn't, I mean, I was just..."

Sophie's grin widened like a cat catching a canary. "Uh-huh. Sure. That was not just staring. That was full, on, lost in the sauce, swoony eyed staring. Should I fan you before you faint, or are you good?"

Alice groaned, trying to hide behind her books, but Sophie pried them down with a finger. "Come on, spill. What's going on in that head of yours?"

"Nothing," Alice muttered. "Absolutely nothing. He just... happened to look this way, that's all."

Sophie arched an eyebrow, clearly unconvinced. "Alice monroe, you're the worst liar I've ever met. And I've dealt with Clarissa faking humility for years."

That earned a reluctant laugh from Alice, though she quickly shook her head. "You're imagining things."

"No, darling, you're imagining things," Sophie shot back with mock drama. "Like a whole future where you and Mr. Dark and Expensive Suit run off together to his penthouse in New York while I cry alone at our graduation."

Alice swatted at her arm. "Stop it!"

Sophie only leaned in closer, lowering her voice conspiratorially. "You do realize Clarissa nearly combusted when she saw you two exchange looks, right? I swear if glares could kill, you'd be six feet under right now."

Alice blinked, startled. "She noticed?"

"Oh, she noticed," Sophie said, her grin turning wicked. "And you know Clarissa, she'll pretend she's too perfect to care, but in reality she's probably already planning to bribe the dean, hire a private investigator, and poison your coffee. In that order."

Alice groaned again, burying her face in her hands. "Sophie, please don't joke about that. She already hates me."

"Good," Sophie declared, tossing her hair. "Her hatred is a badge of honor. And if she ever tries something, I'll be right there with my sharp tongue to cut her ego into confetti. No one messes with my best friend."

Alice peeked at her through her fingers, a small smile tugging at her lips despite the knot in her chest. Sophie always knew how to take the weight off, even when Alice's thoughts were spiraling. But still... she couldn't shake the memory of Brian's eyes on hers, the way it had felt like he saw her, really saw her, if only for a heartbeat.

And maybe that was the most dangerous thing of all.

Clarissa's POV

Clarissa Stone adjusted her compact mirror, lips curving into a practiced smile as the car rolled smoothly away from campus. Brian was seated beside her, his attention fixed on his phone, the glow of the screen illuminating the hard angles of his face. To anyone else, it looked like nothing ,just another busy man distracted by work.

But Clarissa had seen it.

The flicker in his eyes when they lingered on Alice Monroe.

Clarissa's fingers tightened around the mirror until her knuckles whitened. It had been quick, barely a second, but she knew what she'd witnessed. Brian's gaze had slipped, and it hadn't landed on her. It had landed on a nobody.

Alice Monroe.

The name soured on her tongue. The scholarship girl with threadbare clothes and downcast eyes who never belonged in their circles. Clarissa had dismissed her before, too busy reveling in her own superiority. But now... now Alice was a problem.

Clarissa snapped the mirror shut with a soft click, slipping it back into her designer purse. Outwardly, her smile didn't falter. She leaned closer to Brian, resting her hand on his arm, radiating poise and elegance like the perfect fiancée she was expected to be.

Inside, though, her thoughts sharpened like glass.

Alice Monroe needed to be reminded of her place.

And Clarissa intended to do it in a way that would make sure Brian never again looked at anyone but her.

Chapter Eight : Brewing Storm

Alice had promised herself she wouldn't think about him again.

She told herself that the look Brian gave her that day was meaningless. A slip. A mistake. Something her tired brain made into more than it was. But no matter how many times she repeated it, the memory lingered. It clung to her like perfume you couldn't wash off.

Now, sitting on the campus steps with Sophie, she tried to shove the thought down. Sophie was rambling about a professor who gave her too much homework and how she planned to bribe him with cookies, her voice quick and playful, her hands moving as if she was on stage. Alice smiled, but her thoughts drifted again, drifting where she didn't want them to go.

She hated that Brian Carter had taken up space in her head. She hated it even more that she noticed the way her heart had stumbled when his eyes locked on hers.

"You're not listening to me," Sophie announced suddenly, poking Alice in the arm. "I'm here pouring my soul out about my academic suffering and you're staring into thin air like you've seen a ghost."

Alice laughed weakly. "Sorry. I didn't sleep much."

Sophie tilted her head, narrowing her eyes. "Mmhm. Sure. And here I thought it had something to do with a certain tall man in a very expensive suit."

Alice stiffened. "What? No. Don't start."

Sophie grinned, wicked and sharp. "Oh, I saw it. I saw that look. He looked at you like the rest of us disappeared, and you looked at him like....well like I should go write the both of you into a romance novel."

Alice's cheeks burned. "You're making it sound like something it's not."

"Sweetheart, if it wasn't something, Clarissa wouldn't have looked ready to commit a crime right there in the parking lot."

The mention of Clarissa made Alice's stomach twist. She hated attention, and Clarissa thrived on it. The blonde girl was a shadow always looming over her, dripping with wealth, beauty, and everything Alice wasn't.

And as if the universe wanted to prove Sophie right, Clarissa's voice cut through the air like sharp glass.

"Well, well. If it isn't the charity case and her little sidekick."

Alice froze. Sophie groaned under her breath, already rolling her eyes before turning toward Clarissa.

Clarissa stood there with two of her friends, their arms crossed, smiles sharp. Her blonde hair gleamed under the sun, her outfit probably worth more than Alice's entire semester's rent. She looked down at them like a queen inspecting peasants.

Alice hugged her books tighter, wishing she could vanish. But Sophie shifted beside her, folding her arms and grinning like she'd been waiting for this.

"Clarissa," Sophie said sweetly. "Didn't your stylist ever tell you you're too young to look this washed out? Or is that just your personality shining through?"

Clarissa's lips thinned. "How cute. Always trying to cover for your little friend. Tell me, Sophie, is it exhausting babysitting her? She barely belongs here. Everyone knows she's here on scraps and handouts. Do you really want to waste your time?"

Alice's chest tightened. She wanted to shrink, to walk away, but Sophie wasn't having it.

"My time is my own," Sophie snapped. "And if I want to waste it on someone with an actual brain and heart, I'll do that. Better than wasting it on someone who thinks breathing is a talent just because their last name buys them everything."

The students nearby began to whisper, watching like it was entertainment. Clarissa's cheeks flushed, but her smile stayed fixed, though it faltered at the edges.

"Don't get too comfortable," Clarissa said coldly, her eyes sliding to Alice. "Some people need to be reminded of their place. Especially girls who think they can stare at men who are far, far above them."

Alice's stomach dropped. She knew exactly who Clarissa meant.

Sophie laughed loud enough for everyone to hear. "Oh, please. If you're so confident in your relationship, why are you pressed about a look? Maybe you should focus on keeping your man's attention instead of policing who he glances at."

Gasps rippled through the small crowd. Clarissa's face hardened, her composure cracking.

"You'll regret that," she said, her voice low and venomous. "Both of you."

She spun on her heel, her friends scrambling after her.

Silence hung for a moment, then Sophie stretched her arms wide like she'd just won a performance. "And that, my dear Alice, is how you deal with poisonous snakes."

Alice let out a shaky breath. "Sophie... what if she really does something? You know what she's capable of."

Sophie slung an arm around her shoulder. "Let her try. She can't scare me. And she shouldn't scare you either. You've got me. And trust me, I can fight dirt with dirt if I need to."

Alice smiled faintly, comforted, but the knot in her stomach didn't ease. Clarissa's words weren't empty. Alice had seen the way her eyes burned with promise.

As they walked away, Alice tried to laugh at Sophie's jokes, tried to focus on class and work, but her mind drifted again. Not to Clarissa. Not to the whispers around campus.

To Brian.

To the way his gaze had lingered, even if only for a moment.

She hated herself for it. She hated how her chest tightened and warmed at the thought, even while fear coiled around her ribs. Clarissa wasn't bluffing. She was planning something.

And Alice had a sinking feeling she had just been pulled into a storm that she couldn't run from.

Chapter Nine : Restless Nights

The sharp click of poker chips being shuffled should have grounded Brian. The laughter, the smoke, the clinking of glasses, he should have felt at ease here, surrounded by familiar faces.

But tonight, nothing settled.

"Your turn, Carter," one of his friends nudged, pointing at the cards in his hand.

Brian glanced down at them, realizing he hadn't even looked. He threw a chip into the pile, not caring whether he won or lost. His friends didn't notice. They were too wrapped up in their own competition, voices rising as the game heated.

He leaned back in his chair, loosening his tie, his glass untouched on the table. The whiskey in it looked golden, glowing under the light, tempting him to drink until his head was blank. But even that wouldn't help.

Not when every time he closed his eyes, he saw her.

Alice.

He didn't know how or when she had slipped into his thoughts, but now she was everywhere. The stubborn spark in her eyes, the way her voice trembled yet held steady against him. The way she looked when she thought no one was watching, like she was carrying the weight of the world and refused to let it crush her.

Brian rubbed his temple, exhaling slowly. He should have been focused on his fiancée. Clarissa had been in his life for years, tied to him not by choice but by the binding pressure of family expectations. Her parents, his parents, every move between them calculated like a business transaction.

She was beautiful, polished, exactly what everyone thought he should want. And yet...

His chest tightened.

The truth was simple. Clarissa didn't move him. Not the way Alice did. Not with the same raw, unsettling force.

"Fold," he muttered, tossing his cards onto the table without a glance.

"Fold again?" His friend Marcus raised a brow. "What's going on with you? You've been out of it all night."

Brian forced a smile. "Long day at the office."

It was an easy excuse, believable enough. He had been working himself thin lately contracts, investors, meetings that stretched past midnight. But work wasn't what kept him awake when the city finally went quiet.

It was her.

He reached for his drink, swirling it slowly before setting it down untouched again.

Marcus wasn't fooled. He leaned in slightly. "This about Clarissa? Did you two fight?"

"No," Brian said quickly, sharper than intended.

A beat of silence followed. Then laughter erupted from the other side of the table, breaking the tension. The game moved on, but Marcus still watched him with curiosity.

Brian didn't bother explaining. What could he even say? That every time Clarissa smiled at him, he caught himself comparing it to the way Alice's lips curved? That Clarissa's voice, smooth and practiced, could never echo in his mind the way Alice's raw, unguarded words did?

He reached into his pocket, pulling out his phone. He unlocked it, scrolling through messages without seeing them. For a moment, he hovered over Clarissa's name. A picture of her smiling at a gala stared back at him, perfect and cold.

He slid the screen away.

Then, against his better judgment, his mind conjured up the image of Alice again. The way her eyes had met his across campus, wide and startled, as if she hadn't expected him there. The way she had held his gaze, even when Clarissa slipped her hand into his arm.

Something had shifted in that glance. Something he couldn't name.

"Your turn, Carter," another friend barked.

Brian looked at his cards again, not seeing them. He tossed them down anyway, standing. "I'm done for the night."

There were groans, protests, laughter, but he ignored them. He needed air. Space. Something to break this restless storm clawing inside him.

Out in the cool night, the city stretched around him loud, alive, but empty all the same. He tugged his coat tighter, walking slowly toward his car.

This was dangerous.

He knew it. He wasn't blind to the mess waiting at the edge of this road. Clarissa was already suspicious,he'd seen the way her eyes hardened when Alice was near. And if his family caught wind of his distraction, there would be hell to pay.

Alice didn't belong in his world. She deserved freedom, not the crushing weight of expectations and deals. He should stay away.

But when he closed his eyes again, all he saw was her.

The girl who wasn't his. The girl he couldn't stop craving.