Chapter 77 The Betrayal

Chapter 77 The Betrayal
Tasha's POV
THE MESSAGE from Carlos arrived just as I was leaving my afternoon lecture.
Can we talk? Somewhere private.
I stared at the screen longer than I probably should have.
Over the past few weeks, every interaction between us had become painfully formal. The man who used to tease me over the smallest mistakes during racing simulations now barely looked at me unless our project demanded it.
Even then, his words were brief, his tone polite, and his attention vanished the moment the conversation ended.
Seeing him ask to meet me outside of class felt... unexpected.
A part of me wanted to ignore the message. Another part, the one I had spent weeks trying to silence, answered before pride could stop it.
Where?
His reply came almost immediately.
The old grandstand behind the practice circuit.
I frowned.
It wasn't a place students usually visited unless they were watching training sessions. At this hour, it would be nearly empty.
Curiosity eventually won over hesitation.
Twenty minutes later, I climbed the weathered concrete steps leading to the abandoned grandstand. The late afternoon sun cast long shadows across the racetrack below, where a handful of students were packing up after finishing their practice laps.
Carlos was already there.
He stood near the highest row of seats with both hands resting against the metal railing, his gaze fixed on the circuit. Even from behind, I could tell something weighed heavily on him. His shoulders were unusually tense, and the easy confidence that normally surrounded him was nowhere to be found.
When my footsteps echoed across the concrete, he turned.
For a moment, our eyes met. Something flickered across his face before it disappeared so quickly that I couldn't identify it.
"Thanks for coming," he said quietly.
I stopped a few feet away, searching his expression. "Your message sounded serious."
"It is."
His answer made my stomach tighten.
I tried to lighten the mood with a small smile. "Please don't tell me Engineer Pablo found another mistake in our simulation model."
Normally, that would've earned me at least a smirk. Today, Carlos simply looked at me. The silence that followed erased the smile from my face.
"What happened?" I asked, my voice becoming more cautious.
Instead of answering immediately, he reached into his backpack and pulled out his phone.
"I need you to watch something."
My eyebrows knitted together. "What is it?"
"You'll understand."
He held the phone toward me. I hesitated before taking it. The screen displayed a paused video. I glanced at Carlos, hoping he would explain.
He didn't. His jaw remained clenched, and his eyes never left mine.
With growing unease, I pressed play.
The recording was shaky at first, as though whoever filmed it had been trying not to be seen. The camera slowly focused on two figures standing behind one of the administration buildings.
The first person I recognized immediately.
Bianca.
My chest tightened. Then the second figure stepped fully into view.
I frowned. "...Lila?"
Carlos remained silent.
"No," I murmured, shaking my head as I watched the video continue. "That doesn't make sense."
The voices became clearer. I listened as Bianca calmly asked questions. I listened as Lila answered them.
My class schedule. My meetings with Primo. My research. Places I had visited.
Conversations I thought I had shared with only one person.
Each sentence felt like another piece of ice sliding beneath my skin. Before I realized it, the video had ended.
I looked up at Carlos almost immediately. "This..." I swallowed hard. "This isn't what it looks like."
His expression didn't change. "Tasha..."
"No." I shook my head more firmly, almost laughing at how ridiculous the idea sounded. "Lila wouldn't do this."
"She had done this before," he said. “You just forgave her.”
"You don't understand her."
"I've spent weeks making sure I did.” His calm voice unsettled me far more than if he had raised it.
I lowered my eyes to the phone again. "There has to be another explanation."
Carlos slowly reached into his backpack once more. "I hoped there would be."
He handed me a small envelope. Confused, I opened it. Several printed photographs slid into my hands. Every single one showed Lila meeting Bianca.
My fingers began trembling. "No..."
I quickly shuffled through the pictures, searching for something that would prove they were fake.
Anything.
Instead, each photograph only made the truth harder to deny. One showed Bianca accepting a folded piece of paper from Lila. Another captured them talking behind the administration building.
A third showed Lila looking over her shoulder before handing Bianca what looked like pages torn from a notebook.
I stared at the photographs until the images began to blur.
Carlos finally broke the silence. "I didn't want to believe it either." His voice was softer now. "When I first suspected someone was leaking information to Bianca, I hoped I was wrong."
I looked up at him, my vision already beginning to sting. "So you... followed her?"
He nodded once. "I needed proof before I told you."
"How long?"
"A few weeks."
I felt as though the ground beneath me had shifted.
"A few weeks..." I repeated quietly.
Carlos took one careful step toward me but stopped before closing the distance completely. "I didn't tell you sooner because I knew what this would do to you."
I clutched the photographs against my chest, desperately trying to make sense of everything I had just seen.
"No," I whispered, more to myself than to him. "She wouldn't..."
Carlos lowered his gaze for a moment before meeting my eyes again. "I think you already know you need to ask her."
His words struck harder than I expected. Because beneath all my denial... I knew he was right.
Without saying another word, I turned and ran.

BY THE time I reached the women's residence hall, I was almost out of breath.
I barely remembered climbing the stairs or fumbling for my key. My heart pounded so violently against my ribs that it drowned out every coherent thought in my head. T
he photographs Carlos had shown me refused to leave my mind. Every image replayed itself over and over until I could no longer convince myself they were fake.
No.
There had to be another explanation. There had to be.
I pushed the door open with more force than I intended.
Lila was sitting at her desk, highlighting notes for one of her classes. She looked up the moment I entered, and a warm smile immediately spread across her face.
"Tasha, you're back already. I was just thinking about ordering dinner. Do you feel like..." Her voice trailed off when she saw my expression. She slowly set the highlighter down. "What's wrong?"
I closed the door behind me without answering. For several seconds, neither of us spoke. I simply stared at her.
At the girl who had welcomed me on my first day at Vanguard.
The girl who had stayed awake with me before exams.
The girl who had celebrated every small victory with me.
My throat tightened painfully. "Lila..." My voice came out quieter than I expected. "I need you to tell me the truth."
Confusion flickered across her face. "The truth about what?"
I walked toward her until I was standing beside her desk. Without taking my eyes off her, I placed the photographs Carlos had given me on the table between us.
One by one, they spread across the wooden surface. Lila's face drained of color. The room fell completely silent.
She didn't reach for the photographs.
She didn't deny them.
She simply stared.
I felt something inside me crack. "Tell me Carlos is wrong," I whispered. "Please."
Lila's lips parted, but no words came out.
I took another shaky breath. "Tell me those pictures don't mean what they look like."
Still nothing.
Tears burned behind my eyes. "Lila..." My voice broke. "Please."
Finally, she lifted her trembling hands and covered her face. A quiet sob escaped her lips. "I'm sorry."
The words were barely audible.
I felt my knees weaken. "No." I shook my head desperately. "No, don't apologize."
She looked at me through tear-filled eyes.
"Explain."
Lila's shoulders shook as she struggled to breathe. "I never wanted this to happen."
"What happened?" I asked, my voice rising despite my efforts to remain calm. "What exactly did you do?"
She wiped at her tears with trembling fingers. "I... I told Bianca things."
The confession echoed through the room.
I stared at her, unable to comprehend what I had just heard. "What things?"
"Your schedule." She couldn't even meet my eyes anymore. "The people you spent time with." Another sob escaped her. "The places you went."
My heart sank lower with every word.
"The things you told me."
I closed my eyes for a brief moment. Every late-night conversation, fear, hope, and secret. I had handed them to her willingly.
"And you gave all of that to Bianca?" I asked quietly.
Lila nodded. "I thought..." She struggled to steady her breathing. "I thought I was helping."
I frowned through my tears. "Helping who?"
"Vanguard."
The answer stunned me. She hurried to explain, her words tumbling over one another.
"Bianca told me everything was getting out of control. She said the investigation into Ricardo Hamilton would drag the academy into another scandal. She said sponsors were already getting nervous and that people would blame Vanguard if everything exploded." She looked at me with pleading eyes. "She told me someone had to keep an eye on what was happening before it became worse."
"And you believed her?"
"I did." Her voice cracked. "I know how stupid that sounds now, but I believed her." She buried her face in her hands again. "Every time I tried to stop, she convinced me that walking away would make things worse. She kept telling me I was protecting the school... protecting you."
I couldn't stop the bitter laugh that escaped me. "Protecting me?" The words felt foreign. "You told her everything."
"I know."
"You knew how much I trusted you."
"I know."
"You watched me cry over my father."
Another tear rolled down her cheek. "I know."
"You listened while I questioned everything about my life..." I said. "...and then you went straight to Bianca."
Lila broke down completely. "I never wanted to ruin your life."
The room became unbearably quiet.
I looked at the girl who had been my closest friend since arriving at Vanguard, and I realized I no longer recognized her.
Maybe I never truly had.
A tear slipped down my own cheek as I finally found the strength to answer. “You’ve tried once, I forgave you, and it was a mistake."
Lila let out a broken sob. "I'm so sorry, Tasha."
I didn't reply. There was nothing left to say.
I walked to my closet and pulled out a small overnight bag. Mechanically, I packed a few changes of clothes, my toiletries, my laptop, and the notebook Old Man Reyes had given me years ago.
Behind me, Lila continued crying. She apologized again. And again.
I never turned around.
When I finished packing, I reached into my pocket and removed the dorm room key. For a long moment, I stared at it. This room had been the first place at Vanguard that had ever felt like home.
Now, every corner reminded me of a lie I hadn't known I was living.
I quietly placed the key on my desk. "Lila," I said softly, finally looking at her one last time. "I hope someday you understand that trust isn't something you lose all at once." My voice trembled despite my efforts to stay composed. "You lose it one choice at a time."
With that, I picked up my bag and walked out of the room. The door clicked shut behind me.
For the first time since arriving at Vanguard International Engineering Academy...
I realized I no longer had a place that felt like home.