This wasn't her past life. She refused to repeat the same mistakes. Yet, there was something deeply unsettling about the way Rowan had spoken to her. She pushed the thought away, telling herself she was just overthinking it, as she always did.

Lemira drove straight back to campus.

Stella Waverly was waiting for her. "How was dinner at Bistrova? I heard the Sinclair women caused a massive scene there. Word is, Gregory Jones isn't letting this go quietly."

"News travels fast around here, doesn't it?" Lemira noted, surprised by how quickly the gossip had spread.

Stella grinned. "You forget what I do for a living. Plus, I've got my people keeping a close eye on the Sinclair family. The second they breathe wrong, I know about it."

Lemira needed all the help she could get right now, and Stella was clearly taking her role as intelligence gatherer very seriously.

Lemira pulled her into a brief hug. "Thanks, Stella. And yeah, they showed up, but Gregory threw them to the wolves. His security literally dragged them away."

Janice let out a loud, triumphant cheer. "That is so satisfying! Do you know how arrogant they were at the mall this afternoon? Karma came for them faster than I thought!"

"Right?" Stella agreed. "Sophia was strutting around like royalty a few hours ago, and now she's basically ruined."

Lemira's tone was laced with bitter irony. "That's exactly why you can never rely on anyone else. If you don't secure your own standing, you can be tossed aside the second you lose your value."

It was a lesson she had learned the hard way in her previous life.

Stella shook her head. "I still don't get what Sophia thought she was accomplishing. Her reputation is trashed, and her future is basically over."

"Who knows how people like her justify things in their heads," Lemira replied softly. At least the chaos seemed to have finally settled.

Later that night, as Lemira lay in bed, her mind wandered back to the custom menu from Bistrova. She pulled out her phone, instinctively opening her text thread with Orion Everhart. Scrolling through their old messages, a heavy, cotton-like ache settled in her chest.

Should she tell him about what happened at the restaurant tonight?

She hesitated, her thumb hovering over the keyboard. Suddenly, three little dots appeared at the bottom of the screen.

*Orion is typing...*

Lemira shot up in bed. Was he about to text her?

She stared at the screen, holding her breath, but no message came. The typing indicator vanished. She

locked her phone, only to unlock it a second later, pulling up the keyboard totype something herself. But she couldn't figure out what to say.

།

Miles away, Orion had also seen the *typing...indicator on his end. His breath hitched, thinking he was imagining things. He waited, staring the empty chat log but nothing came through.

want nothing

After a long moment of deliberation, Orion simply wired her a random digital gift card.

When the notification popped up, Lemira almost dropped her phone. She stared at it

in sheer disbelief. After all that waiting, what was the point of sending her money out of nowhere?

She typed a single question mark: *?*

Orion replied almost instantly: *You're still awake?*

Lemira: *So are you.*

Orion: *Get some sleep.*

Lemira bit her lip. This jerk sent her a gift card for no reason and then told her to go to sleep? She fired back a sassy sticker and tossed her phone onto the nightstand, deliberately gnoring the transfer

That night, Lemira dreamt of Orion. She dreamt he was sending her an endless

stream of text notifications, her phone buzzing so violently she couldn't even answer

it.

She jolted awake in the dead of night. The heavy, suffocating stench of smoke immediately invaded her lungs.

Was something burning?

Lemira scrambled out of bed and rushed to the balcony. Bright orange flames licked at the sky.

It was a fire.

Panic spiked in her chest. "Stella! Janice! Wake up!" she screamed. "Sterling Hall is on fire!"

Of all the things in the world, fire was the one thing Lemira hated the most.