(Liana's POV)
The next morning, the courtyard incident clung to Liana's skin like smoke. She washed her face twice before school, brushed her hair three times, but the memory wouldn't fade....the sneers, the cornering, Rafe's sudden appearance.
And his words.
Not everyone smiles with clean hands.
When she entered class, Bianca was already waiting, perched on her desk with her usual dazzling smile.
"Finally!" Bianca chirped, sliding down. "I was looking for you yesterday. Where'd you run off to?"
Liana blinked. "You… didn't wait for me in the courtyard?"
Bianca tilted her head, confusion painting her face. "Courtyard? No, babe. I went straight home. Why?"
Something cold uncurled in Liana's stomach. She remembered the text...Meet me by the courtyard, I want to talk about something. She had deleted it after reading, but she could still picture Bianca's name glowing on her screen.
Maybe she misread it? Maybe someone had her phone? Maybe....
Bianca laughed, looping her arm through hers. "You've been working too hard. Hallucinating now?"
The laugh was light, but it grated.
Liana forced a smile. "Maybe."
But as they walked to first period, Bianca chattering about the Talent Festival afterparty some seniors were planning, the doubt lingered.
Someone had wanted her in that courtyard. Someone had wanted her scared. And Bianca was the only one who'd known she'd go...or was this the vipers?...
Her chest tightened. Don't think like that. Bianca is your friend.....so it must be Xavier again.
Still, when Bianca's hand squeezed hers, it felt more like a chain than comfort.
---
The whispers didn't stop that day. If anything, they grew sharper after her victory.
"Rigged."
"She's Xavier's toy now, didn't you hear?"
"Bet she paid someone off."
Liana drowned them out by burying herself in the art studio after classes. The scent of paint, the scrape of brushes, the smudges of charcoal....they steadied her heartbeat when nothing else did.
She was so focused she almost didn't notice the shadow at the door.
Her pencil paused. "Who's there?"
Silence. Then the faintest shuffle of footsteps.
When she peeked, the hallway was empty.
But later, as she packed her things, she found something tucked between the pages of her sketchpad: a folded scrap of paper.
Her pulse jumped as she opened it.
Three words. Sharp, slanted handwriting.
Stay cautious, Hart.
No signature.
But she knew. Somehow, she knew.
Rafe.
She pressed the paper to her chest, heart racing in ways that unsettled her. Why warn her? Why bother? He was a Viper. He wasn't supposed to care.
And yet… he had stepped in when no one else had. He had seen what others ignored.
That night, lying awake, she sketched again.
This time, not just his silhouette. But his eyes. Cold, guarded, impossible to read....yet honest in their indifference.
Bianca's smile had begun to feel false.
Rafe's silence, strangely, did not.
For the first time since coming to Regal Heights, Liana didn't know who her friends were.
But she knew one thing...
Rafe Sterling was no longer just a shadow in the background.
He was becoming a question she couldn't stop asking.