Chapter 52 Chapter 52
The car disappeared around the corner, leaving a vacuum of silence that felt heavier than the shouting had been. I stood there, my hands numb from the cold, staring at the empty space Jace had occupied just seconds ago.
Zayelle’s presence beside me was like a static charge—prickly and uncomfortable. When I turned to look at her, there was no "sisterly" solidarity. The vulnerability she’d shown moments ago had been paved over by a layer of cold, shimmering ice.
"Satisfied?" she asked. Her voice was sharp, a complete 180 from the trembling girl who had been crying about Jace’s departure.
I blinked, taken aback. "Satisfied? Zayelle, he just got hauled away by his father. How could I be satisfied?"
She stepped closer, her height and those perfect, expensive boots making her loom over me. "He’s leaving because of the 'drama,' Cass. And let’s be real—you are the center of it. Marvin bullies you to get a rise out of him, and Jace stays in the line of fire to protect you. If you weren't in the picture, Jace would be the Golden Boy again, and my life wouldn't be a mess of police reports and family meetings."
"I didn't ask for any of this," I snapped, my own temper finally sparking. "I didn't ask Marvin to target me, and I certainly didn't ask Jace to fall for me."
Zayelle flinched at the word fall. It was like I’d slapped her. Her eyes flashed with a pain so raw it almost made me feel sorry for her—until she narrowed them.
"You’re a thorn, Cass," she whispered, her voice venomous. "A tiny, insignificant thorn that got stuck in a high-performance engine. You think because he looks at you like you matter, you’re special? He’s a protector. It’s his flaw. He’d protect a stray dog if it looked at him the right way. Don't confuse his hero complex with something real."
She didn't wait for my response. She brushed past me, her shoulder hitting mine with enough force to make me stumble. It wasn't an accident. It was a declaration of war.
I found Lena in the back of the library, tucked away in the "stacks" where the Wi-Fi was strongest and the students were fewest. I told her what Zayelle had said about the IP address.
"She’s a piece of work," Lena muttered, her fingers flying across her laptop keyboard. "She wants him liberated, sure, but she wants to be the one holding the keys. She hates that he’s choosing the 'regular girl' over the one who knows his darkest secrets."
"Can you find it, Lena? The library logs?"
"Give me ten minutes. The school's firewall is basically made of Swiss cheese."
As Lena worked, I sat there, the words from my diary echoing in my head. I don't want him. But every time he looks at me like I matter, something inside me cracks. Zayelle was right about one thing: I was a thorn. I was the reason the equilibrium of the Thorne-Bennett world had shifted. But I wasn't going to be the reason Jace disappeared.
"Got it," Lena whispered, pulling the laptop closer. "The email was sent at 3:14 PM yesterday. Right after the final bell. Computer terminal six."
I looked over at the row of computers. Terminal six was in the corner, partially obscured by a large potted plant.
"And?" I asked.
"The student login used was... oh, you’ve got to be kidding me." Lena turned the screen around.
The name on the screen wasn't Marvin. It wasn't Zayelle.
It was Jacinta.
The realization felt like a bucket of ice water. Jacinta—the girl who looked like her heart had been ripped out, the girl who was a "walking soap opera." She hadn't been a victim. She’d been the architect.
We found her in the music wing, sitting at the same piano where she’d been crying the day before. But she wasn't crying now. She was humming a soft, minor-key melody, her fingers dancing over the keys.
"Why, Jacinta?" I asked, standing in the doorway.
She didn't stop playing. "Marvin was never going to leave me, Cass. Not as long as he had someone to hate. But Jace? Jace was the one who was going to take him away. Jace was the one talking about 'better futures' and 'moving on.' I couldn't let that happen."
"So you framed your own boyfriend?" Lena asked, disgusted.
"I didn't frame him," Jacinta said, finally stopping. She turned to us, her face calm. "I just showed the world who he really is. And if Jace has to go down with him, so be it. At least the noise will finally stop."
"Jace is leaving because of you," I said, my voice rising. "His father is taking him to London today. You didn't just 'stop the noise,' you destroyed his life."
Jacinta stood up, smoothing her skirt. "Better a destroyed life than a life without me."
She started to walk past us, but the door behind us flew open.
It wasn't a teacher. It was Zayelle.
She’d been listening. Her face was a mask of cold, calculating fury—the kind of look she usually reserved for me, but now it was directed entirely at Jacinta.
"You think you’ve won?" Zayelle asked, stepping into the room. She looked at me, then at Jacinta, and I saw a flicker of that 'Thorne' ruthlessness in her. "You just gave me exactly what I needed to get Jace back."
Zayelle didn't look at me as she grabbed Jacinta by the arm. "You're coming with me to the principal's office. And Cass? Stay out of the way. I’ll handle the rescue. You’ve done enough damage."
I stood there, frozen, as Zayelle dragged a protesting Jacinta down the hall.
Zayelle was going to save Jace. She was going to be the hero. And she was going to make sure that when Jace looked around for the person who saved his life, she was the only one standing there.