NIGHT — JAY'S POV — WHEN THE AFTERMATH GETS QUIET
My room was dark.
Not lights-off dark.
The kind where even thoughts hesitate.
I sat on the edge of my bed, phone pressed to my ear, curtains barely letting the city bleed in. Neon shadows crawled across the walls, moving slower than my breathing.
Damian didn't waste time.
"They panicked," he said calmly. Too calmly. "The posts spread faster than I expected."
I closed my eyes.
"How bad?" I asked.
A pause.
"Counselor's office locked down within an hour. Admin pulled her in. Ella deleted her socials—too late. Screenshots everywhere. Someone leaked her messages."
My jaw tightened.
"Imelda?"
"She confessed officially," Damian replied. "They recorded it this time. No shortcuts. No money."
I leaned back, staring at the ceiling.
"And Section E?"
He chuckled once. "They're legends now. Feared ones."
That didn't comfort me.
"What else?" I asked quietly.
Damian hesitated.
That was never good.
"Keifer," he said. "He didn't touch his phone after the posts went up. Not once."
Something in my chest shifted.
"Meaning?"
"Meaning," Damian said gently, "this wasn't about winning for him."
The call ended shortly after.
I didn't move.
The dark wrapped tighter around me as silence flooded back in—thick, invasive, unforgiving.
I lay back slowly, phone resting on my chest.
And that's when it hit.
Not the violence.
Not the fear.
Not even the guilt.
The question.
Why did I do it?
I knew the plan.
I knew Keifer wanted to handle it his way.
I knew what I'd interrupt.
And still—
The moment I heard fists hit flesh, I didn't think.
I didn't calculate.
I didn't hesitate.
I walked in.
I stepped between him and the line he was about to cross.
Because I couldn't stand the idea of him crossing it alone.
That realization made my throat tighten.
I squeezed my eyes shut.
I'd told myself it was strategy.
Control.
Justice.
But the truth?
I cared.
That was the dangerous part.
I remembered his face in that room—anger sharpened into something disciplined, protective, lethal in the quietest way.
The way he looked at me when I stood in front of him.
Not annoyed.
Not furious.
Just—
Seen.
I'd smiled today.
Genuinely.
In the middle of chaos.
And that scared me more than anything else.
Because fake smiles?
I knew those.
I'd mastered them.
But this one?
It slipped out when he stood beside me.
When he trusted me.
When he said my name like it mattered.
"Don't," I whispered to the ceiling.
Falling was not part of the plan.
Keifer Watson was not part of the plan.
And yet—
When my phone lit up again, heart jumping before logic could catch up—
I hated myself just a little.
It wasn't him.
Just the quiet glow fading back to black.
I turned onto my side, pulling the hoodie tighter around me.
Tomorrow, the world would talk.
Rumors would mutate.
Consequences would arrive.
But tonight?
Tonight I let myself admit it.
I hadn't stepped in because I was strong.
Or righteous.
Or in control.
I stepped in because somewhere along the way—
Without permission.
Without reason.
I'd started caring about him.
And that?
That was the one thing I never prepared for.
The dark didn't answer.
But it didn't let me sleep either.
NIGHT — KEIFER'S POV — WHEN HATE STARTS THE FIRE AND LOVE GETS BURNED IN IT
I didn't make the plan because of Jay.
I made it because of Aries.
That truth sat heavy in my chest as I lay on my bed, staring at the ceiling, replaying everything like a crime scene I could no longer edit.
Aries Fernandez.
The golden boy. The untouchable. The one who walked through life like the world had already decided to forgive him for anything he might do.
I hated him long before I ever looked twice at his cousin.
Hated the way teachers smiled at his name.
Hated the way people assumed goodness just because he stood straight and spoke politely.
Hated the way power wrapped around him without him even trying.
And when I learned who Jay was to him—
Not just family.
But soft spot.
That was when the plan formed.
Simple.
Cruel.
Perfect.
Make her fall for me.
Make her trust me.
Let her choose me over him without even realizing she was doing it.
And then—
When the time came—
Break it.
Break her belief in people like me.
Break the idea that men like Aries were protectors.
Because if Aries couldn't even protect the person he loved most—
Then what did that make him?
It wasn't about Jay.
Not at first.
She was collateral.
A means to an end.
I told myself that like it was doctrine.
I told myself I was doing what the world had always done to people like me—using proximity, emotion, weakness as leverage.
And it worked.
Too well.
I still remember the first time I noticed her laugh around me.
Not polite.
Not guarded.
Real.
I remember thinking, Good. It's starting.
Every conversation, every shared silence, every moment where I positioned myself just close enough to matter—
I catalogued it.
Measured it.
Fed the plan.
I watched her open up slowly, like a door she didn't realize she was unlocking.
And I felt—
Satisfied.
Because Aries would feel this.
Eventually.
He would feel the loss.
The betrayal.
The shift.
That was the point.
But then things went wrong.
Not loudly.
Quietly.
It happened the first time she defended Section E without hesitation.
The first time she stood in front of us like we were worth something.
The first time she looked at me—not like a tool, not like a shield—but like someone she trusted to stand beside her.
I told myself it didn't matter.
That trust was just another step toward the fall.
But tonight—
Tonight proved I was lying to myself.
Because when she walked into that room—
Into my plan—
I didn't feel exposed.
I felt seen.
And when she told me violence wasn't the answer—
I didn't feel challenged.
I felt ashamed.
That wasn't part of it.
That wasn't supposed to happen.
She wasn't supposed to stop me.
She wasn't supposed to care this much.
And the worst part?
When she slapped Imelda—
When she crossed the line I was already standing on—
I didn't see her as corrupted.
I saw her as someone willing to burn herself to protect people who didn't deserve to be sacrificed.
People like Cin.
People like me.
I rolled onto my side, fists clenched.
The plan was supposed to end with her broken.
Confused.
Questioning everything she believed about loyalty.
About men.
About trust.
Aries was supposed to be collateral too.
Instead—
I was the one unraveling.
Because somewhere between hating Aries and using Jay—
I stopped seeing her as a weapon.
And started seeing her as a choice.
And now I didn't know how to end this without destroying something real.
Because if I walked away now—
If I broke her on purpose—
It wouldn't hurt Aries.
It would hurt her.
And that realization terrified me.
I'd built this whole thing on hate.
But hate doesn't prepare you for what happens when the person you meant to use becomes the one person you'd protect from your own plans.
Jay wasn't supposed to matter.
She was supposed to be a lesson.
Instead, she became the one thing standing between who I was—
And who I was turning into.
And now the question wasn't whether I could break her.
It was whether I could live with myself if I did.
Because hate started this.
But love—
Love was about to decide how it ended...