Chapter 43 – The Interrogation
Sam's POV
I knew the second Elias shut the door behind us that I was trapped.
The sound echoed too loud in the small dorm room, and when I turned, his eyes were already locked on me. Sharp. Demanding. Tired of playing nice.
He didn’t move right away. Just stood there, arms crossed over his chest, blocking the only exit. His shadow stretched across the floor, and my pulse thudded in my ears.
“We’re doing this now,” he said.
My throat went dry. “Doing what?”
“Don’t play dumb.” He stepped closer, closing the space between us. “You’ve been lying to me. To everyone. And I’m done pretending not to notice.”
I forced a laugh, though it sounded shaky even to me. “You’re imagining things.”
Elias’s brow arched. “Really? Because last night you called Declan pathetic in a voice that didn’t sound anything like the Hale everyone else hears.”
I froze.
He noticed. Of course he noticed.
He leaned in slightly, lowering his voice. “So tell me, Hale… what are you hiding?”
I swallowed hard, trying to keep my expression blank. “Nothing.”
“Nothing?” Elias echoed, eyes narrowing. “You’re telling me that binder Declan had was nothing? That the way you flinch every time your name gets called is nothing? That the way you…” He cut himself off, exhaling sharply. “You can’t keep this up.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said, softer now.
“Yes, you do.”
The silence between us felt like a wire pulled tight, ready to snap.
I backed up a step, bumping against my desk. “Elias, drop it.”
“No.” His voice hardened. “I’ve covered for you more than once now. I’ve lied straight to Declan’s face for you. And you can’t even tell me what the hell I’m risking my neck for?”
I opened my mouth, closed it, opened it again. My chest felt too small, too fragile, and his eyes kept cutting into me like blades.
“It’s not about you,” I managed.
He let out a sharp, humorless laugh. “Not about me? You live in my room. You sleep ten feet away from me. You drag me into your mess without asking, and you think it’s not about me?”
My fists clenched at my sides. “You wouldn’t understand.”
“Then make me,” he shot back. “Explain it. Something. Anything. Because if you don’t—” He stopped, his jaw tight. “If you don’t, I don’t know how much longer I can keep covering for you.”
That cut deeper than I wanted it to.
I shook my head, words tangling in my throat. “I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s dangerous!” I snapped before I could stop myself.
The silence after that was deafening.
Elias’s expression shifted, just slightly. His voice dropped low. “Dangerous for who?”
My lips pressed together, but my chest rose and fell too fast. I couldn’t calm it. Couldn’t shut it down.
He stepped closer again, so close I could see the storm in his eyes. “Dangerous for you… or for me?”
“Both,” I whispered before I could stop myself.
His breath hitched, barely noticeable. “Then you admit it. You’re hiding something.”
I turned away, pressing a hand to my forehead. “Elias, please—”
“Don’t ‘please’ me.” His voice cracked, not from anger but something else. Something that twisted my insides. “I can’t keep pretending not to see it. The way you slip up. The way you avoid questions. The way you…” He stopped again, exhaling hard. “There’s something about you, Hale. And it’s driving me insane.”
I closed my eyes. My heart screamed at me to tell him. To just throw the truth at his feet and see if he’d catch me or let me shatter.
But my mind… my mind still saw Declan’s smirk. My sister’s face. The necklace I’d found in his drawer.
If I told Elias, and he betrayed me… it would all be over.
“I can’t,” I whispered again.
“Damn it, Sam!” Elias’s voice cracked louder this time, raw and real. “Do you think I don’t notice the way you—” He stopped dead, swallowing his words. His eyes darkened. “Wait. What did I just call you?”
My blood ran cold.
Sam.
Not Hale. Not ‘man.’
Sam.
He didn’t even seem to realize it at first, but when he did, his eyes widened.
“You flinched,” he said, voice quiet now. Too quiet. “Why did you flinch when I called you that?”
I scrambled for air, for words, for anything. “You—you didn’t—”
“Yes, I did.” His voice was sharp, cutting off my excuse. “And don’t you dare lie to me right now.”
My knees felt weak. My chest ached. He was too close, too smart, too relentless.
“Elias…” My voice cracked.
He leaned down slightly, so our eyes were level. “Tell me the truth.”
I shook my head, biting back the sting in my eyes.
“Tell me,” he said again, softer this time. Almost pleading.
The world blurred around me. His face, so close, so demanding, so desperate, was the only thing I could see.
My mouth opened. One word almost slipped out.
But then—
A sharp knock rattled the door.
“Cross! Hale! Declan wants you downstairs, now.” Mason’s voice was muffled but impatient.
We both froze.
Elias’s jaw tightened. He didn’t break his stare, not even as I bolted for the door, grabbing my jacket like a lifeline.
“Sam,” he whispered under his breath, so soft only I could hear it.
I stopped in the doorway, my chest screaming with the weight of it.
Then Mason banged again, harder.
“Let’s go!”
I forced myself forward, out into the hall, leaving Elias behind in the room with all the words I couldn’t say.
And as I walked toward whatever trap Declan had waiting for us downstairs, one truth burned louder in my head than ever before:
Elias knew.
Maybe not everything. But enough.
And when he cornered me again—because he would—it would be over.