Chapter 132: The Logic of a Witness

Theo's POV

My phone buzzed before I could even start the car. I did not have to read the name on the screen. I already knew it was Silas. My stomach dropped anyway.

Get the app password from lover boy. Now I am being reasonable. Tick-tock, Mercer. Get the password. Or I start talking.

I stared at the screen until it went dark. My hands refused to stop shaking against the steering wheel. The engine idled quietly in the empty driveway outside Kieran's house, but I could not bring myself to drive away. I could not stop replaying those words.

Everyone back in that kitchen was shouting about the timestamp on Milo's phone screen.

Cassian had exploded, roaring that Asher ruined Oliver Thorne's life. Landon and Milo had thrown their weight forward to hold Cassian back. But I was not thinking about the photo. I was thinking about how Asher reacted.

When Cassian cornered him, Asher did not deny it. He just challenged the proof. He pushed Cassian back and screamed, "Don't you ever blame me without evidence!"

Those words would not leave my head. It was not the defense of an innocent boy. It was the defense of someone who knew exactly how to hide their tracks.

I leaned my head back against the seat, pulling a deep breath into my lungs. I should have hated Asher after that night. Instead, I could not stop worrying about him. That was the part I could not explain to myself. Every time I tried to push him out of my head, he came back.

I knew what had really happened that night. Nobody else knew what I had done after Asher left.

During halftime at that hockey game, I had walked down the locker corridor to grab a spare roll of towels. As I approached the locker room, I saw him. Asher stood beside the equipment rack. He was not wearing the mascot costume. He wore his regular clothes, and his hands were shaking as he unscrewed Oliver Thorne's water bottle. A tiny, clear glass vial was in his fingers. He had already slightly sliced the spare laces on Oliver's hockey skates.

I had stepped into the room, catching him red-handed. We got into a bitter, furious argument. I grabbed his arm, demanding to know what the hell he was doing.

"You don't understand!" Asher had shouted, his voice cracking with pure panic as he looked at me. "If this game ends the way they're planning, I'm finished!"

He told me the vial only held a sleeping pill. He swore it would just make Oliver drowsy so Crestwood would lose the match. I looked at his pale, terrified face. I thought the bullying from the team had finally broken him.

I believed him. I believed it was only a sleeping pill. When Asher left, I emptied the rest into Oliver's bottle because I wanted Crestwood to lose. I wanted Oliver and the team to hurt the way they had hurt Asher. I did not care about the consequences of my action until Oliver collapsed.

Silas thought he had enough to destroy me. He thought my love for Asher was my only weakness and that the secret alone could end my hockey career.

But he did not know the worst part. Nobody did. Nobody knew I had emptied the rest of the vial into Oliver's bottle. Nobody knew I had made everything worse. Asher still believed the poisoning was entirely his fault. I had never found the courage to tell him what I did.

The faked school report stated Asher left the campus at 6:45 PM. But Milo's photo caught his picture in the corridor at 7:15 PM. The school administration had faked the timeline to erase the exact window where the water was spiked.

My phone buzzed hard against my palm a second time. The screen lit up. It was another message from Silas.

Cassian should not find out the truth about the betting app. Get the app password tonight.

I stared at the message, the air leaving my lungs. Silas and Barrett are just prey in this story; knowing this left a smirk on my face. How will Cassian ever feel when he learns that I had not just covered for Asher but had actually finished the poisoning?

I put the car in drive and stepped on the gas, my chest tightening as I drove into the road.