Chapter 38 INTERRUPTED REALIZATIONS
Asher’s POV:
I didn’t move for a long time.
The door clicked shut behind Elsie, but the echo stayed lodged in my skull - sharp, final, completely wrong.
She said she was letting me go.
She smiled when she said it.
She even sounded calm.
It should’ve felt like relief… right?
This was what I’d told myself I wanted for weeks - distance, space, freedom from the chaos she dragged everywhere with her.
But instead of relief…
All I felt was dread.
A slow, sinking dread that crawled through my chest and tightened everything inside me.
I wasn’t steady.
Not even close.
I’d known Elsie long enough to recognize the truth hidden under her tone.
She wasn’t the type to back off quietly.
She wasn’t the type to accept ‘no’ or ‘friends” or boundaries.
And that smile she gave me?
That wasn’t acceptance.
It felt like a warning.
A quiet promise that she knew more than she should…
And that she wasn’t done.
Not even close.
My hands were shaking.
I didn’t even notice it until I pressed my palms flat on my desk, trying to get my breathing under control. The wood felt cold. My skin felt colder.
Clara.
God.
A sudden rush of panic shot through me so fast I nearly stood up.
What if Elsie went to her?
What if this whole ‘let’s be friends’ thing was just the calm before something worse?
Something I couldn’t fix this time?
I squeezed my eyes shut, and memories I’d tried to bury clawed back to the surface.
The last girl who’d helped me with something simple years ago - how Elsie had shown up unannounced, furious, jealous.
How she’d lashed out, hurt the girl, left her terrified to ever speak to me again.
I still remembered the sound of the commotion, the shock, the guilt in my throat afterward.
And now… Clara.
The idea of Elsie getting anywhere near Clara made my stomach twist painfully.
I forced myself to breathe, to shove those memories back down before they swallowed me whole.
“No,” I whispered to myself, shaking my head hard.
Just then, my phone pinged.
The sound was too loud in the silence, slicing straight through my thoughts.
I grabbed it off the desk immediately, desperate for anything that wasn’t this choking uncertainty.
A message from Dylan lit up the screen.
Hey Asher, wanna grab a drink? Drop a reply when you see this message.
I didn’t even wait to process it.
A drink, noise, anyone talking about anything that wasn’t Clara or Elsie —
yeah.
That was exactly the kind of distraction I needed before my mind dragged me somewhere I didn’t want to go.
I shoved my phone into my pocket, grabbed my bag, and walked out of my office.
But the second I pulled the door shut behind me; my footsteps froze.
Because walking straight toward me…
Was Clara.
She hadn’t noticed me yet.
Her head was lowered, her limp more obvious now - each step careful, her teeth catching her bottom lip like she was trying not to wince out loud.
Her face tightened with pain before she could stop it.
My stomach dropped.
It still hurts her.
Of course it did.
Of course she was pretending she was fine.
She always did that - carried everything quietly like the world didn’t owe her help.
She took another step, then lifted her head.
And the moment her eyes met mine, she halted too.
Right in the middle of the hallway.
She blinked once.
Twice.
Like she wasn’t sure I was real - or like she wished I wasn’t.
The air tightened between us instantly, thick and tense, as if both of us were remembering exactly why we’d been trying to avoid each other in the first place.
And yet… here she was.
Hurt.
Right in front of me.
And every instinct I tried so hard to bury flared to life all over again.
She looked away first.
Her gaze dropped to the floor, her lashes trembling for a second before she blinked hard and straightened her bag on her shoulder.
The movement was stiff - like even lifting her arm tugged at the pain in her foot.
Then she started walking toward me. Slowly. Carefully. Like each step was a test.
When she finally reached me, she didn’t say a word.
Just a curt nod.
Quick. Polite.
Cold enough to sting more than I expected.
And then she walked past me.
My chest tightened - way too fast, way too sharp.
Behind my ribs, my wolf reacted instantly.
A low, irritated growl rumbled through me, the kind that wasn’t loud but impossible to ignore.
He hated that.
He hated her walking away from us.
He hated being dismissed like we meant nothing.
He wanted me to return the same energy - keep walking, ignore her, pretend she wasn’t affecting me at all.
But I don’t follow anyone’s map.
Not his.
Not fate’s.
Not whatever destiny was trying to force on me.
I call the shots.
Even the stupid ones.
Before I could overthink it - before I could talk myself out of it - I turned around.
“ Clara,” I said.
My voice came out steadier than I felt.
She froze.
Dead in her tracks.
But she didn’t turn around.
She didn’t look at me.
Just stood there…. Perfectly still.
Like my voice had pinned her to the hallway floor.
I swallowed, the words dragging themselves out of me even though my chest felt too tight to speak.
“ How’s your toe?”
The silence that followed was instant - heavy enough that I felt it settle on my shoulders.
She still didn’t turn.
Not yet.
But her fingers twitched against the strap of her bag.
She glanced over her shoulder, her gaze sharp, detached.
“ I feel much better now, sir. Thanks,” she said.
Her voice was cold. Too cold. Foreign, even - for someone like Clara, who usually carried herself with quiet composure and warmth.
Before I could respond, she started walking away.
My frown deepened.
Why was she avoiding me?
Instinct took over before I could think. I reached out and grabbed her wrist.
She froze immediately.
And then, slowly, she turned to face me.
Her eyes locked onto mine, wide, startled.
She glanced down at my hand on her wrist, and, with a quiet sigh, she took my hand and pulled it off herself, letting it drop to her side.
I felt my chest tighten. My heart sank.
“ Please… stay away from me, Professor Asher,” she whispered, her voice soft now, almost fragile -:but there was a weight behind it, a seriousness that left no room for argument.
I squinted at her, my mind scrambling.
“ And… what’s that supposed to mean?”
Her gaze didn’t waver, but her words came carefully, measured. “ I don’t want anyone getting the wrong ideas, sir.”
I bit my lips in frustration, my jaw tightening. “ Clara… I’m just being concerned. That’s all. What do you even mean by you ‘don’t want anyone getting the wrong ideas’?
“ What does that even mean? You make it sound like we’re having an affair or something.”
Her lips pressed into a thin line. She didn’t argue. She didn’t flinch.
And then… she lifted her eyes to meet mine fully.
We had already crossed that line. Already. Not a rumor, not a mistake, not a “what if.”
We had… been together. And here she was, speaking to me like none of it had ever happened.
She finally broke the silence, her voice quiet but firm. “ I know you’re concerned, sir. And I appreciate you looking after me last night… but please… let it be the last time.”
I parted my lips, caught off guard. Her words weren’t angry, they weren’t defensive… They were final. Stern, deliberate, like a line had been drawn in the sand.
I opened my mouth to reply, but nothing came out.
She gave a slight bow of her head, a formal, distant gesture… and then she walked away.
My chest felt tight. My hands twitched. My mind raced, trying to process the cold finality in her voice.
She wasn’t just avoiding me.
She was shutting me out.
And somehow… it hurt more than I expected.
I watched her walk away, the firmness in her step, the cold finality in her voice… and somehow, against all logic, it tugged at something in me.
I was supposed to hate her. I was supposed to be indifferent.
She was the daughter of my sworn enemy, someone I should keep at arm’s length, someone I should despise. And yet…
Why did it hurt to be ignored by her? Why did the simple act of her turning her back, walking past me, make my chest tighten and my stomach churn?
Elsie’s words echoed in my head — that I was in love with her. Ridiculous. Impossible. Out of the question.
Me, feeling anything resembling affection for the daughter of a woman who had caused my family endless pain? Not a chance.
I just wasn’t used to being dismissed, to being ignored. To having someone I’d already crossed lines with — intimately — suddenly place walls between us.
And it unsettled me more than I wanted to acknowledge.
I exhaled slowly, forcing my heart to stop hammering in my chest, trying to shove the chaotic tangle of emotions down where it belonged.
Then I froze.
Stiff.
Like the air had been sucked out of the hallway.
Dylan.
Standing behind me. Calm, unreadable, but with that knowing look in his eyes that told me he hadn’t just appeared.
What the hell was he doing here?
How long had he been standing there?
I could feel it before I even opened my mouth - the weight of his stare. He had been there long enough to hear it all.
Long enough to watch my interaction with Clara. Long enough to see that I… cared.
Cared about the one woman I should never, under any circumstances, care about. The daughter of my father’s murderer.
The one woman my instincts, my mission, my very life should have told me to push away.
And Dylan…
His lips pressed into that thin line he always wore when something was about to go sideways.
Oh… fuck.
This wasn’t going to be good.