The library felt heavy, like the walls were closing in. Damian leaned against the table, his arms crossed tightly over his chest. The diary lay there like a ticking bomb, its secrets ready to explode.
Emma was pacing now, her sneakers squeaking faintly against the tiled floor. "Let me get this straight," she said, her tone sharp. "You knew all this—this creepy diary, the names, everything—and decided not to tell us?" She stopped mid-step, glaring at Damian with her green eyes blazing.
"It's not like that," Damian replied, his voice low but steady. He ran a hand through his jet-black hair, feeling the tension mount. "I didn't want to freak everyone out until I was sure. You think this was easy for me to figure out?"
Emma crossed her arms, not backing down. "We're supposed to be a team, Damian. A team! You can't just keep us in the dark like we're clueless side characters in your little solo mission!"
"Enough!" Zoe cut in, her spiky hair practically bouncing as she sat back in her chair. "Emma, we get it, okay? He screwed up. But we don't have time to play the blame game. If what he's saying is true, then Priscilla's life is on the line."
Emma scowled but stayed quiet.
Oliver adjusted his glasses and leaned forward, his voice calm but serious. "The priority is clear: we need to protect Priscilla. Fighting amongst ourselves won't help anyone."
Damian sighed, his gray-blue eyes scanning their faces. "Oliver's right. We don't have time for this. We need to find Priscilla—and Nadia. They need to know what's going on."
At the mention of Nadia, Emma's jaw tightened visibly, and her pacing halted. Her green eyes flashed with something sharp—jealousy, anger, maybe both. She forced a laugh that sounded anything but amused. "Of course," she muttered under her breath, "because everything always comes back to her."
Damian heard her although it was barely a whisper, he frowned, catching the bitterness in her tone. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing," Emma said quickly, her voice clipped as she resumed pacing. But the way she slammed her foot down with each step suggested it wasn't nothing at all.
Damian looked at her while his heart sank. He could tell how she felt. It was hard not to fall for him but Emma... Emma, cute, cheerful and childish, he liked her a lot but he knew she was strong but probably not strong enough to handle being with him, the organization and his real self. His being in this school hadn't stopped him from carrying out assassinations low-key. It was who he was, he wasn't going to change and Emma couldn't possibly deal with that.
Emma's jaw tightened further when she turned on her heel. "Fine. I'll get them." Without waiting for a response, she stormed out, her ponytail swishing sharply behind her.
As the door slammed shut, Zoe let out a low whistle. "Ouch. Someone's got it bad."
Damian shot her a glare. "Drop it, Zoe."
"What?" she said, holding up her hands in mock innocence. "Just saying, maybe she's mad because you didn't tell her first. Or, you know... because you're always running off with Nadia."
"Zoe," Oliver said, exasperated. "Not helping."
Before Damian could respond, the door creaked open, and Emma walked back in with Nadia and Priscilla trailing behind her.
Nadia's icy blue eyes locked on Damian immediately. "This better be worth dragging me out of my dorm," she said, crossing her arms. She looked flawless as always, her golden hair cascading over her green blazer.
Priscilla, on the other hand, looked curious more than annoyed. The moment she walked in Damian was grateful he didn't overlook the kidnap plan.
Damn, she was pretty.
Nadia carried a baddie like charm, like a sex goddess while Nadia was smartly cute like a sexy office lady.
Her dark curls framed her face as she raised a perfectly arched brow at Damian. "What's the emergency?"
Damian straightened up, his voice steady. "It's about you, Priscilla. You're in danger."
The room went dead silent.
He laid it all out for them—the diary, the operation, the list of names. As he spoke, Priscilla's amused expression faded, replaced by something far more serious. She took off her glasses.
"And... I'm next?" she asked quietly, her voice trembling just slightly.
Damian nodded. "Yeah. But we're not going to let it happen."
Nadia's face hardened. "So what, the school's running some kind of underground human trafficking ring? And no one's noticed?" Her voice dripped with disbelief and anger.
"Exactly," Damian said. "It's not just about Priscilla—it's about all of us. This is bigger than just one name on a list."
Priscilla took a shaky breath, her usual confidence shaken. "This is insane. What do we do now?"
"We stick together," Emma said firmly, stepping closer to Priscilla. "I'll move into your dorm for now. No one's going to get to you without going through me first."
Priscilla looked surprised but nodded gratefully.
"And I'll be there too," Nadia added, her tone daring anyone to argue. "If anyone so much as thinks about touching her, they'll regret it."
Emma's lips pressed together in a thin line as she shot a glance at Damian, her expression unreadable.
Zoe grinned. "Spicy"
Damian rolled his eyes. "Can we focus, please?" He looked around at his mismatched group of friends. "This isn't just about protecting Priscilla. We need to figure out who's behind this and stop them before they come after anyone else."
"And how exactly do we do that?" Oliver asked.
Damian met his gaze. "We start with the diary. Saville wrote it so he knows too much. We'll pay him another visit.
Emma smirked. "Great. Another risky mission. Just what I needed to spice up my week."
"But you know it's better than becoming someone's science experiment," Zoe replied comfortingly.
Priscilla looked at Damian, her green eyes sharp. "If we're doing this, I'm not going to sit back and play the damsel in distress. I want in."
Damian hesitated, then nodded. "Fine. But no heroics. We do this together."
As the group began hashing out their plan, Damian looked at their concentrated faces and felt a kind of warmth, a flicker of hope. They were an unlikely team, but for the first time, they felt like something stronger: a family.
He had already planned to be a lone, invisible wolf when he first entered the school but Emma came with her infectious smile and charm bringing along Oliver. And then there was Zoe, her rawness and honesty were things that Damian appreciated. Nadia was pretty, slowly making cracks in his formerly stony heart bringing along his first enemy Cassius. Priscilla was there because of Nadia of course. His circle was getting bigger but he wasn't regretting it. The organization had their eyes on him anyways so he didn't have to hide anymore he could as well make waves while he was here.
For the first time in his life, Damian knew what it felt like to be in a team. He was not going to let anything happen to any of them.
🤗🤗🤗🤗.