Chapter 123.

Lucy had spent most of the afternoon doing absolutely nothing.

Her suitcase was half-packed beside her wardrobe.

A book lay open beside her pillow, although she hadn’t read the same page in nearly twenty minutes.

Her phone vibrated again.

Lucy frowned.

She picked it up. There was a message from an unknown number without a name, or profile picture.

Just a single notification.

Unknown Number: I think you should see this.

Lucy stared at it. Her thumb hovered over the message. For a moment, she wondered if it was spam.

Then another message arrived.

Unknown Number: Do this, and protect your friend. He’s manipulating her.

Lucy sat up slightly. Her brows drew together.

Who?

She typed nothing. Instead, another notification appeared. This time, there was an attachment.

Lucy tapped it.

A photograph loaded.

Her eyes widened. She stared at the screen. Then she stopped breathing for a second.

It was Emilia, and Professor Ashford, together.

Lucy blinked. She zoomed in, and there was no mistake. She knew both of them too well. She knew Emilia’s face, and she knew Professor Ashford’s face.

She knew Emilia’s hair. She stared at the picture of Professor Ashford holding the car door open for Emilia to go in.

Lucy slowly lowered the phone.

She looked back at the photograph.

Then another one arrived, and two more followed. Lucy opened the first photograph again.

Emilia and Adrian were standing together. Not in a classroom, or on campus. Somewhere private.

Lucy swallowed.

She opened the second.

Her fingers became colder.

She continued scrolling. There were more than she expected. Some were taken from a distance. Others appeared to have been taken from outside a building.

A few showed Emilia and Adrian in the car together. One showed them entering what looked like a private gala event. It was taken from the back.

Lucy stared at it for several seconds.

Then she looked at the message again; Do this, and protect your friend. He’s manipulating her.

Her stomach twisted.

Her mind immediately went somewhere else. Her mond went back to the classroom, and back to the first time she’d noticed something strange.

Professor Ashford had always been different around Emilia. At first, Lucy had dismissed it.

Everyone knew Professor Ashford was intimidating. He was strict, professional, and difficult to read.

He rarely showed emotion during lectures.

But with Emilia... There had always been something.

Lucy remembered sitting beside her during class. She remembered the way Emilia would sometimes look toward the front of the room.

Lucy had noticed.

Her eyes returned to the photographs. She opened another, and her heart yanked. Suddenly, another memory surfaced.

That morning in class.

Professor Ashford had walked into the lecture hall. Emilia had been smiling at her phone. Lucy had nudged her.

Emilia had immediately hidden the phone.

At the time, Lucy had thought it was funny. Now she wondered what had been on that screen.

She remembered Emilia’s cheeks turning pink. She remembered the tiny smile she had tried to suppress.

Lucy slowly sat upright.

Her heart began beating faster.

She shook her head. And smacked her lips togehter. "This doesn’t mean anything."

However, that did not stip her from opening another photograph. Her breathing slowed, and another memory came.

She still remember Professor Ashford asking Emilia a question in class. A difficult question. Much harder than what he’d asked everyone else.

Lucy remembered the way Emilia had looked at him.

She’d been terrified, and Professor Ashford had simply waited. Then Emilia had answered brilliantly.

Lucy had been proud of her.

She’d even wondered how Emilia had managed to come up with such an answer under pressure.

But now, Lucy stared at the photograph. Her mind replayed the scene. Professor Ashford standing at the front.

Emilia sitting at her desk.

Their eyes meeting. The secret little smile he’d given her.

Lucy’s eyes narrowed.

"What if..."

She stopped herself. She didn’t want to finish the thought.

She hadn’t seen what Adrian had sent Emilia that day. But she’d seen Emilia smile. She’d seen the way she tried to hide it.

And later, Emilia had been unusually quiet when Lucy asked her why she was smiling. Something had been happening.

Something Lucy hadn’t known about.

Her fingers tightened around her phone.

Professor Ashford had called on Emilia once. At the time, Lucy had thought he was simply challenging one of his better students.

But now her mind twisted it into something else.

Could that had been a lovers’ quarrel.

The thought appeared suddenly.

Lucy froze. Her eyes tightened. "That’s why." She whispered, and her eyes widened as if she had solved a mighty puzzle.

Maybe they’d argued. Maybe Emilia had upset him. Maybe he’d wanted to prove something to her. Maybe that’s why he’d singled her out.

Lucy stopped.

She hated how quickly everything suddenly seemed to make sense. Things that hadn’t meant anything before were becoming evidence.

Lucy looked at the first photograph again. Her friend was standing beside a man who was supposed to be her professor.

Lucy swallowed hard.

She opened the message.

Unknown Number: Do this, and protect your friend. He’s manipulating her.

Her eyes stayed on the words.

The sender didn’t ask her to hurt Emilia. They were telling her to protect her.

"That distinction matters." She murmured to herself.

She stood from the bed with her phone still in her hand. She walked toward the window and stared outside.

Blackwood’s campus looked almost deserted.

The winter break had already begun. Most of the dormitory windows were dark.

Lucy turned back toward her bed.

She considered calling Emilia. Her thumb moved toward her contact, and she just stared at the name.

They were supposed to be on vacation now.

Emilia had left campus.

She thought aboutbsending her the photos, and asking, "What’s going on?"

It would take thirty seconds.

Maybe less.

Lucy stared at the contact. Her thumb hovered, then she stopped.

Her expression changed. Something else had occurred to her, and her expression darkened immediately.

She lowered the phone slightly.

Lucy began thinking.

Emilia had always disappeared on weekends. At first, Lucy hadn’t cared. Everyone had their own lives.

Lucy opened the photographs again.

Her finger moved to the information attached to the first image. The dates, she stared at them.

Then she checked another.

Her eyebrows pulled together. Her heart began beating harder. The whole photographs were taken from the weekends. Never a weekday.

She checked again.

The dates weren’t random.

They were all weekends.

Lucy sat back down on the edge of her bed. She stared at the photographs, and her mind raced.

She looked at Emilia’s contact again.

Calling her would be the sensible thing. She knew it, and she knew Emilia. They were friends.

If there was an explanation, Emilia deserved the chance to give it.

Lucy knew that.

She knew it so clearly that she almost pressed the call button. Then the message appeared again in her mind.

Lucy looked down.

She imagined Emilia answering the phone.

What if Emilia lied? What if she denied everything? What if she was already too attached to him?

What if she didn’t realize what was happening?

Lucy’s jaw tightened. "He’s manipulating her." She whispered confidently to herself in conclusion. "That good looking bastard. Manipulating my friend."

She stood again.

Her heart was pounding. She walked toward her desk. Her laptop sat there, and she opened it.

The screen illuminated her face.

She searched for Blackwood University’s official administration contact.

Her fingers hovered over the keyboard.

She hesitated.

"If I ask her, she’ll defend him.";Lucy closed her eyes.

She knew Emilia.

Or at least, she thought she did.

If Emilia loved Adrian, nd if she was already emotionally involved, she might not recognize the manipulation. She might think everything was normal. She might even be angry with Lucy for interfering.

Lucy opened her eyes. "It’s my job to protect her." she whispered to herself.

Her breathing became steadier.

She told herself she was doing the right thing.

Lucy selected the photographs.

One by one. Her finger trembled slightly as she attached them. Then she began typing.

She didn’t mention her friendship with Emilia. She simply forwarded the photographs anonymously.

Her finger hovered over the final button.

She stared at it. For several seconds, she couldn’t move. Then she pressed it. The message disappeared from her screen.

Sent.

Lucy immediately felt something drop inside her. She stared at the empty conversation. It was done.

She had sent the photographs to the university.

Her heart began racing.

She put the phone down, and took in a shaky breath.

"I’m protecting her."