Chapter 108

Chapter 108
Rhys P.O.V
I wasn’t supposed to feel this way.
Not about her. Not about anyone.
This was supposed to be revenge.
Nothing more.
Just a carefully plotted retaliation against the ones who ruined my family—Riley’s parents.
I had rehearsed this plan for years. I made my father a promise before coming to this academy, when we found them. I’d infiltrate their perfect little world, and I’d tear it down from the inside.
And Riley?
She was just a means to an end.
The daughter of the Alpha. The weak spot in their shiny fortress.
If I could earn her trust… win her heart… control her emotions…
They’d never see it coming.
I was trained for this. Born for it.
Pain made me patient. Loss made me focused.
When I transferred to the elite academy tucked behind iron gates and glass towers, I didn’t walk through those doors as a student. I walked in as a weapon. I knew how to play the part—quiet, alluring, dangerous in just the right way. I knew how girls like her thought. I knew how to make them look twice. And when she looked at me… when Riley’s eyes found mine across that dance floor, I knew I had her attention.
But I didn’t expect her to get mine.
I’d planned to flirt, to play the charming stranger, the one she couldn’t resist. But she wasn’t like the others. Riley was all fire and innocence tangled into one impossible body. She was curious, stubborn, constantly torn between who she was and who she was meant to be.
And worst of all… she was kind.
Kind enough to make me wonder what the hell I was doing.
I stood alone on the rooftop of the school late that night, staring out at the moon slicing through the clouds like a blade. I could still feel her lips on mine. Taste her breath. Hear her soft moan echoing against the walls of the restaurant’s bathroom.
My fists clenched at my sides.
This wasn’t how it was supposed to go.
"You're getting too close to her, you know."
I didn’t need to turn around. I knew Zoey’s voice like I knew my own lies. She stepped up beside me, her coat pulled tight against the wind, her expression unreadable in the moonlight.
"Close is part of the plan," I said coolly. "You want her vulnerable, don’t you?"
"Sure," she replied, folding her arms. "But you didn’t have to practically mount her in the restroom for that. You think I don’t see what’s happening? You’re not just playing her anymore, Rhys. You’re feeling something."
I turned my face away. "Mind your own business, Zoey."
"Funny," she said with a bitter little laugh. "That’s rich coming from the guy who scolded me for bringing her a boyfriend."
I snapped my gaze to her, jaw tightening. "You were supposed to keep her close. Instead, you paraded some soft-eyed idiot in front of her like this is some high school rom-com."
"It’s called giving her options," Zoey snapped. "And maybe, just maybe, I was trying to keep you from going off script. Because you're not supposed to care. Remember?"
I didn’t answer.
 Maybe because i was jealous, or maybe not. I don’t know. But things are not going just the way i had planned everything. I shouldn’t even glance or look at her, but i can’t help it. I can’t help but look and yarn for her. And every time i can’t find her, my mind search for her even without looking.
Zoey narrowed her eyes. "You’re jealous."
I exhaled through my nose. Stepped away from her.
The rooftop was cold and quiet, but my skin still burned with the heat of Riley’s touch.
Jealous?
Hell yes, I was.
Seeing her with Finn made something in me snap. I was supposed to be the one controlling the pace, the one who reeled her in slowly, skillfully. But watching her smile at someone else? Even if it was fake—her eyes didn’t light up for him the way they did with me- it ignited something primal in my chest.
I wasn’t supposed to want her.
But I did.
Not for the plan. Not for vengeance.
I wanted her because she saw something in me no one else had. And it scared the hell out of me.
The first time I touched her, I was testing her boundaries. Measuring her reaction.
The second time, I was confirming her weakness.
But the third time? That kiss in the restroom?
That was mine.
Not the mission’s. Not my father’s.
Mine.
And that was the problem.
Because Riley wasn’t just a pawn anymore.
She was a girl I was starting to crave.
And craving her could ruin everything.
 Craving her could make me the worse son ever. Everything would be flopped if i do not control myself around her. 
I left Zoey without another word, storming back into the empty halls of the academy. I needed space. I needed clarity.
I went to the house I rented in town. Big enough for only me. A living room, a bedroom upstairs, and a Balcony where i usually sit and think whenever i have something in my mind. My father's eyes would stared up at me from the dream—hard, proud, full of fire.
"You made me a promise, son," he would say, the night before i left home.
"You make them pay. For what they did to your mother. For the lies they told. You find a way in—and when you do, you destroy them from the inside. Don’t get soft. Don’t forget."
I hadn’t forgotten.
Not one word.
But now, I was starting to question everything.
Because Riley wasn’t who I thought she’d be.
She wasn’t cruel like her father. She wasn’t ruthless like her mother. Or maybe, everything might just be a misunderstanding from both parents. But no way i would say that to my father. But the way its going, and how i see who Riley is..
she was vulnerable. Bright. Fragile in ways she didn’t even realize.
And somehow, that made it worse.
Because if I ruined her—if I shattered the one good thing left in that bloodline—what did that make me?
I sat on the edge of the bed, burying my face in my hands.
This wasn't love.
It couldn’t be.
It was a glitch. A complication.
A moment of weakness.
But weakness gets you killed.
I had to make a choice.
Stay focused. Stick to the plan.
Or give in to the girl who was never supposed to matter.
The girl who might just destroy me before I could destroy anyone else.