Chapter 67 The Wrong Enemy
Chapter 67 The Wrong Enemy
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The suspicion in Lucian’s eyes stayed with Elowen long after they left the lecture hall.
It lingered in the tense line of his shoulders as they walked across campus.
In the silence that stretched between them.
In the way his jaw remained locked, as though he was physically restraining himself from saying everything racing through his mind.
For the first time since she had met him, Lucian Langford looked genuinely shaken by something other than his own past and somehow, that unsettled her more than his panic attacks ever had because fear, she had learned, was familiar territory for him.
Suspicion was different.. Suspicion meant betrayal and betrayal cut deeper.
Neither of them spoke until they reached the boxing gym.
The place was blessedly empty, most students still scattered across late-afternoon classes.
The silence inside the gym felt heavy like the building itself understood something had shifted.
Lucian dropped his bag by the ring and paced once across the mat, then again.
His movements lacked their usual controlled precision, he looked like a caged storm while Elowen leaned against the ropes, watching him.
The pieces were beginning to form something uglier than either of them had anticipated and she hated how much it all pointed toward someone Lucian trusted.
Finally, she broke the silence. “I think.. We need to stop reacting.”
Lucian turned sharply. “What?”
“You’re chasing after every rumor, every leak, every threat like it’s isolated.” Her voice sharpened. “It’s not.”
His expression darkened. “No.. It’s not.”
She straightened. “If this is all coordinated, then we stop treating it like random sabotage.”
Lucian stared at her for a long moment as understanding flickered across his face.
A slow, dangerous clarity. “You want to investigate.”
It wasn’t quite a question.
Elowen nodded. “I already am but I think we should do it.. Together.”
The words hung between them and something shifted in Lucian’s expression, he had no issues working with her because of.. Trust.
The realization struck her unexpectedly hard because weeks ago, the idea of working alongside Lucian like this would have felt absurd and a bit impossible but now it felt inevitable.
He exhaled slowly. “Okay.”
And for reasons she didn’t want to examine too closely, that made her chest tighten.
They moved to the benches near the ring and Elowen spread her notes across the surface.
Like.. Scholarship timelines, anonymous post screenshots, payment records Reyes had traced, fragments of Lucian’s altered medical reports.
A mess of scattered details that somehow all seemed connected. Lucian sat beside her, close enough that his shoulder brushed hers when he leaned in.
Neither of them moved away and all though he was shocked and confused at all that he was seeing he swallowed his words and they began comparing everything.
Dates.. Times.. Conversations.. Patterns.
Elowen pointed to one timeline. “The scholarship was revoked three days before Dean Miller called me into his office.”
Lucian frowned.
“The anonymous forum leak about your contract happened two days after.”
“Exactly.”
He leaned closer, scanning the notes.
“And my forced return to Harrington was announced publicly the same week.”
Elowen’s pulse quickened. “So if you’re understanding enough you’ll see that.. Whoever did this needed me desperate enough to accept Miller’s offer.”
“And needed me back on campus.”
They exchanged a look.
Lucian dragged a hand through his hair. “Jesus.”
Elowen studied him.
The strain in his face, the tightness around his mouth and suddenly she realized how deeply this must be cutting him.
Because if Dorian was involved..
if someone he had trusted more than himself had also had a hand in manipulating all of this.. then every foundation beneath him was cracking.
Without thinking, she touched his wrist and the contact stilled him instantly. His eyes dropped to her hand then slowly lifted to hers and something warm, quiet, and electric passed between them.
Not the sharp heat of near-kisses, not the chaotic tension that usually flared when they got too close.
This was different.
He turned his hand slightly beneath hers just enough for his skin to brush her palm and somehow that tiny movement felt devastating.
“Elowen.” His voice was low and she looked at him. “There’s something I need to say.”
Her chest tightened. “What?”
He swallowed hard then held her gaze with a sincerity so absolute it stole her breath.
“I’m sorry.”
The simplicity of the words struck harder than any elaborate explanation could have.
Lucian’s jaw flexed. “For Kieron.”
Her pulse faltered and he looked away briefly, gathering himself then he continued.
“I know I’ve apologized before. But I need you to understand…” His voice roughened. “There isn’t a day I don’t think about what happened to him.”
Elowen’s throat tightened as Lucian’s hands clenched together.
“That night destroyed him.” Pain flashed across his face. “And I hate that my name is attached to that.”
He looked back at her, eyes burning with quiet torment.
“I know saying sorry doesn’t really fix anything.”
“No,” she said softly. “It doesn’t.”
His expression dimmed but she kept going.
“But.. It matters anyway.”
He went numb and for a moment, all he did was stare at her as though he hadn’t expected even that much grace.
Elowen’s chest ached because this was the truth she had spent so long resisting.
Lucian wasn’t the monster they had made him into.. He never had been.
He was flawed, yes.
Broken in ways that still bled through his carefully controlled exterior, yes.
But he was not cruel, not malicious, not dangerous in the way she had once believed and somehow, saying it aloud felt terrifying.
She took a breath then met his gaze fully.
“Like I also said earlier I don’t think you’re a monster.”
The words landed between them with staggering force.
Lucian froze as in he actually froze like his body had forgotten how to move.
“Elowen…”
Emotion cracked through his voice and she suddenly felt exposed and vulnerable in a way she rarely allowed herself to be but she didn’t look away because he deserved the truth.
“I hated you for a long time,” she admitted quietly. “Maybe I needed someone to blame.”
Lucian’s expression tightened.
“But after everything I’ve learned…” She exhaled shakily. “It changed things.”
His eyes searched hers with desperate intensity as though trying to confirm she meant it and when he realized she did.. something inside him seemed to break.
Like a man setting down a burden he had carried too long.
“You have no idea what that means to me.”
The raw honesty in his voice sent warmth spreading through her chest and then before she could stop herself, she smiled.
Lucian stared at it like it was sunlight then, he smiled back.
And as at that little moment it was just them and the terrifyingly fragile thing growing between them.
Then Elowen’s phone rang, she jerked slightly, startled while Lucian frowned as she pulled it from her pocket.
The screen lit up with a name that made her stomach drop. REYES
Her pulse kicked instantly as he never called unless something was wrong or urgent.
She answered immediately. “Sir?”
His voice came through tense and clipped.
“Elowen, where are you?”
Her grip tightened around the phone.
“At the gym. Why?”
“I found something.”
Every muscle in her body went rigid.
“What kind of something?”
Then he paused for a while and it was enough to make dread crawl down her spine when he finally spoke, his voice had dropped lower and the words that followed drained every ounce of warmth from her body.
“You need to come to my office. Now.”
Elowen’s blood ran cold because she had never heard him sound afraid before.