Chapter 29 THE SLIP
Asher's POV:
I tossed again for the umpteenth time, the sheets tangling around my legs like they were trying to hold me still.
Sleep hadn’t come easy since I got back.
Who was I kidding? Sleep hadn’t come at all.
My mind kept circling the same questions, the same impulses, the same mistake.
Why did I do that?
Why did I even ask her those questions?
Why did I care?
I knew the answer. I just didn’t want to look at it too closely.
I hadn’t questioned Clara because of some professional concern.
Or because of the mission I was supposed to be focused on.
No.
I did it to silence that restless, stubborn part of me that refused to be calm at the thought of some guy - Jake Williams - having her attention.
Having her smile.
Having anything of her.
It was irrational.
Unnecessary.
Dangerous.
But every time I replayed the moment in my head, that pull inside me tightened - raw, instinctive, territorial.
Something I wasn’t supposed to feel. Something I had no right to feel.
Jake Williams.
Just the thought of his name made my jaw clench.
Why him?
Why did he get to stand that close?
Why did she look at him like that?
Why did she—
I dragged a hand through my hair and exhaled sharply, trying to rein in the heat burning under my skin.
I wasn’t supposed to feel anything for Clara Bennett.
I wasn’t supposed to think about her voice, or the way she looked at me earlier today, that still haunted me for reasons I couldn’t explain.
I had a mission.
A purpose.
A debt soaked in blood and tied to her surname.
I just couldn’t place a finger on it yet… but something about Jake Williams was off.
Too off.
And the irony wasn’t lost on me - me, the man who came here to kill Clara Bennett, feeling protective over who she talked to.
It would’ve been laughable if it didn’t burn so much.
When I spotted them both in the hallway today - Jake leaning in, asking her out on a date like he had that right - something inside me snapped.
Every instinct in me screamed for her not to say yes.
Not to smile at him.
Not to even consider him.
So, before she could open her mouth and give him an answer, I stepped in.
I told her to come to my office.
Not because I actually needed to speak with her… but because I was terrified, she might give in to him.
And I knew - painfully - that it would’ve been my fault if she did.
Because I never brought up that night.
Not once.
I acted like it hadn’t happened, not because it was wrong; teacher and student or not, the line had already been crossed.
But because admitting anything about that moment would mean admitting I felt too much.
And that would mean she had a kind of hold on me… a hold I couldn’t afford.
Not when revenge was the reason I was in this college after all.
Yet the second we were alone in my office, with her sitting just across from me, all I wanted to do was tell her everything - who I was, why I came here, why she should run.
But instead of doing the honest thing, I chose the selfish one.
I asked about Jake.
And the rush - the sharp, selfish satisfaction - that hit me when she said nothing was going on between them?
When she said she turned him down?
God.
I felt it too clearly.
Because even though Jake was obviously gone over her, I could see something darker underneath his clean smiles and boyish charm.
Something calculated. Something I didn’t trust.
That’s why I set up the whole project.
It wasn’t just about grades.
I wanted her close - close enough to read her, close enough to keep her tied to me, even if I had no right to want that.
I wanted to hear her thoughts about that night.
And I knew exactly why she didn't say a word - why she claimed she had no personal experience with the project topic.
She was scared.
Scared I’d punish her.
Scared she was already in trouble because of that night.
If only she knew.
If only she understood the kind of mess she’d walked into the moment she let herself get tangled up with me.
Because Clara Bennett doesn’t just belong to danger.
She belongs to my danger.
My conflict.
My obsession.
My revenge.
She was mine to want, mine to fight, mine to ruin —
Mine alone to love, to hate, to fear, and to destroy.
Only me.
Always mine.
Just then… I froze.
Did I…?
Did I just say love?
The word echoed in my skull like a gunshot.
Too loud.
Too real.
Too impossible.
I sat up straight; breath caught somewhere between denial and fury.
Love?
For Clara Bennett?
The daughter of the man who destroyed my family’s entire legacy?
I pressed my palms to my eyes, almost hoping I’d imagined it.
But no—
The slip had been too clear, too raw, too honest.
And honesty was dangerous.
Before the panic could fully settle, my phone vibrated sharply against the nightstand, slicing through the moment like a blade.
I grabbed it with stiff fingers - grateful for the interruption - anything to stop that forbidden word from circling again.
1 New Message.
I opened it.
“Asher.
You’re drifting.
I can feel it from here.
Caesar Bennett may be dead, but what he set in motion isn’t.
His loose ends are still alive.
She is still alive.
And you know what that means.
Don’t forget why you’re there.
Don’t forget what he took.
Time is running out.”
— D.
A chill slid straight down my spine.
Of course it was D.
Always the one to sense when the mission slipped even an inch off course.
Always the one to call me out before I could lie to myself.
Caesar Bennett’s death hadn’t closed the chapter.
Clara’s existence was the unfinished line.
The reminder tightened around my ribs like a vise.
I looked down at the phone, D’s words glowing back at me - cold, sharp, merciless.
And in the silence that followed, only one thing scared me more than the mission…
The fact that, for a split second, I’d forgotten it at all.