2026-01-19 21:32:05
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CHAPTER 318
The first week was the hardest.Not because Natalie caused problems. Not because she was difficult. But because she barely existed beyond the basic motions of being alive.Every morning Becky would wake up and find her sitting in the same place. Sometimes by the window. Sometimes on the couch. Sometimes at the small dining table. She ate when food was placed in front of her. She slept when Becky guided her toward bed. She showered when reminded.Beyond that, there was very little.No conversations. No complaints. No requests. Nothing.At first Becky thought giving her space was the right decision. Then she realized space was exactly where Natalie had disappeared.So she changed her approach.She started talking.Not serious conversations. Not questions about Damien. Not questions about the arrest. Just normal things. The weather. University gossip. Funny things she saw online. Stories from class.The first few attempts felt ridiculous.Natalie would sit quietly while Becky spoke for t
CHAPTER 17
The hallway outside the guest room felt smaller than it had any right to be.Jared stood a few steps away from the door, jaw tight, arms hanging loosely at his sides like he was still deciding what to do with them. Becky closed the door behind her more gently than she had opened it, but the sound still carried through the house.For a moment, neither of them spoke.Then Becky turned to him.“What was that?”Jared exhaled through his nose. “You saw what it was.”“I saw you interrogating a traumatized girl like she was on a witness stand.”His eyes sharpened immediately. “I wasn’t interrogating her.”Becky gave him a look that said she didn’t even consider that worth arguing. “You were escalating.”“I was asking questions,” he corrected. “Important ones.”“Jared.” Her voice dropped slightly. “She didn’t answer a single one.”“That doesn’t mean she doesn’t know anything.”Becky stared at him for a long moment, as if trying to decide where exactly the conversation had gone wrong.Then she
CHAPTER 316
Jared paused outside the guest room door for several seconds before finally reaching for the handle.Behind him, Becky stood with her arms folded across her chest, watching him carefully. She had agreed to let him see Natalie, but that did not mean she was comfortable with it. The uneasy feeling she had been carrying since their argument days ago had not gone away."If you're planning to interrogate her, we're done here," Becky warned quietly.Jared glanced at her over his shoulder. "I already told you that's not why I'm here."Becky held his gaze for another moment before finally stepping aside. "Then remember she's not one of your enemies."Jared didn't answer. He pushed the door open.The room was dimly lit. Natalie sat on the edge of the bed near the window, dressed in the same oversized sweater Becky had given her. Her hands rested in her lap. Her posture was straight but strangely lifeless, as though she was only sitting there because someone had placed her there earlier and she
CHAPTER 315
The next few days felt like a strange kind of silence stretching itself too thin.For Jared, it wasn’t peace—it was interruption without resolution. Every attempt to reach Becky ended the same way: unanswered calls, short replies, or nothing at all. It wasn’t that she had disappeared from his life completely. It was worse. She was present, but deliberately out of reach, like she had drawn a line that couldn’t be crossed no matter how many times he stood in front of it.He stared at his phone more than he admitted, thumb hovering over her name before lowering it again. Each time, the same thought returned—Becky wasn’t ignoring him because she was busy. She was ignoring him because she was deciding how much of him she still wanted in her space.That realization finally pushed him to move.By the time he reached her apartment, the sky had already shifted into a dull evening gray. Jared stood at the door for a second longer than necessary, his expression tight, controlled, as if he was st
CHAPTER 314
Becky’s apartment was unusually quiet that night.Not the kind of quiet that felt peaceful, but the kind that pressed against the walls and lingered in corners—like the air itself was holding its breath. Natalie sat on the edge of the couch where Becky had gently guided her, her posture unchanged from earlier. Shoulders slightly slumped. Hands resting loosely in her lap. Eyes open, but not really seeing anything.Becky stood a few steps away for a moment, studying her.“Okay,” she said softly, forcing a calmness she didn’t fully feel. “We’re here now.”No response.Becky exhaled through her nose and moved toward the kitchen without pushing further. She didn’t expect answers yet. Not from someone who had barely blinked in hours.She opened the fridge, scanning it absently before pulling out what she could manage quickly—simple food, nothing complicated. Her mind kept drifting back to Natalie’s expression from earlier. That blankness. That stillness that didn’t feel like shock so much a
CHAPTER 313
Becky didn’t wait for Jared to agree.The argument had already gone in circles long enough, and Natalie was still standing there in that same unsettling silence, as if the world had simply stopped reaching her. So when Becky gently took Natalie’s hand, there was no resistance—no reaction at all, really—just a limp acceptance that made Becky’s chest tighten more than any words could have.“I’m taking her,” Becky said firmly, glancing back at Jared.Jared’s expression hardened instantly. “No, you’re not.”Becky didn’t stop walking. “Yes, I am.”The bluntness of her response made a few nearby students shift uncomfortably, sensing the fracture widening between them. Jared stepped forward slightly, his jaw tightening as he watched Becky guide Natalie toward the exit.“You’re making a mistake,” he said sharply.Becky paused, still holding Natalie’s hand, but didn’t turn fully back to him. “I’m taking care of my friend.”“She’s not in a condition to be taken anywhere,” Jared replied.Becky f
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