Nyx lounged on his bed, phone propped against a pillow on video call.
Lexi and Jade's faces filled the split screen. Lexi sprawled on a velvet couch somewhere downtown. Jade sat cross-legged on the floor with a vape in hand.
Nyx held up his phone, screen-sharing the text thread with Raxa Voss. "Got permission," he said, voice low and satisfied.
"Everett didn't love it, but he didn't say no. We'll see. That's as close to yes as he gets. Dinner Thursday. Le Bernardin. Public. Visible."
Lexi let out a delighted squeal. "Yes! Finally! Look at you, playing the long game like a pro."
Jade leaned closer to her camera, smirking. "Screen-share that text again. I wanna see Ms. Stable Millionaire's replies."
Nyx swiped back to the messages and held the phone steady.
Raxa:Thursday works perfectly. Looking forward to it. 8 p.m. at Le Bernardin. See you then.
Nyx:See you there.
Lexi cackled. "She's so polite. So eager. Puppy energy all over again."
Jade grinned wider. "Ask her. Right now. Text her: Do you love me still? Let's see if she bites."
Nyx rolled his eyes, but his lips twitched. "Not again. I'm not torturing her for sport. She's useful, not a chew toy."
Lexi pouted dramatically. "Aww, come on. Just a little. For old times' sake. She used to send you those long paragraphs about how you were the one. Bet she still has them saved."
Jade nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, let's have fun. Make her more eager. String her along a tiny bit. Tease, flirt, drop hints about second chances. We'll have our entertainment, you get your perfect-boyfriend cover story, and she thinks she's finally winning you back. Win-win-win."
Nyx stared at the text for a second longer.
Then he typed slow and deliberate while sharing his screen so they could watch live.
Nyx:Looking forward to Thursday too. It's been a while… feels like a second chance, doesn't it?
He hit send.
Lexi and Jade both shrieked in unison.
Raxa (almost instant reply): It really does. I've never stopped thinking about you, Nyx. See you Thursday.
Nyx locked the phone and tossed it onto the comforter.
Lexi clapped her hands. "Oh my god, she hearted it! She's so gone already."
Jade exhaled a cloud of vapor, grinning.
"Perfect. Keep feeding her crumbs. Make her chase. By the time the photos drop, she'll look like a woman in love and you'll look like the guy who finally chose stability. Everett will eat it up. Rowan will see it and lose her mind. And we get front-row seats to the show."
Nyx leaned back against the headboard, small smile playing on his lips.
"Yeah," he said softly. "Let's make her more eager."
Lexi raised an imaginary glass.
"To fun. To fake love. To watching everything burn in slow motion."
Jade laughed. "To therapy."
He grinned wider, exhaling a thin stream of vapor toward her camera. "Ask her what she's bringing on the date."
Lexi immediately jumped in, laughing.
"Yeah except condoms. Make her squirm. Hey Raxa, what are you planning to bring Thursday? Flowers? Wine? Your undying devotion? Watch her trip over herself."
Nyx rolled his eyes, but the corner of his mouth twitched.
"Not again. I'm not turning this into a humiliation kink session. She's a prop, not entertainment."
Jade leaned closer, eyes sparkling with mischief.
"Come on, Nyx. Just one text. For science. Clearly she was so fallen back then she probably spent every night thinking about fucking you. Or getting fucked. Either way, she's already half-wet just from you texting second chance. Let's see how eager she gets."
Lexi cackled, slapping her thigh. "Bet she's already picking out outfits. Nyx might finally notice me! Poor puppy."
Nyx stared at the ceiling for a second, then sighed half-exasperated, half-amused.
"You two are impossible."
But he picked up his phone anyway.
He opened the thread with Raxa, typed while sharing his screen so they could watch:
Nyx:What are you planning to bring Thursday?
He hit send.
Less than ten seconds later:
Raxa: Whatever you want. Flowers? Wine? Just say the word. I want it to be perfect.
Lexi shrieked.
"Whatever you want... she's already on her knees!"
Jade laughed so hard she nearly dropped her vape.
"Told you. Fallen. Hard. That woman has spent years imagining bending you over every surface in her penthouse. Or letting you bend her. Either way, she's cooked."
Nyx locked the phone again and tossed it aside.
They all dissolved into laughter. Sharp, wicked, synchronized.
Lexi wiped a tear from her eye.
"Okay but seriously keep feeding her those crumbs. Thursday's gonna be gold. Photos everywhere. Rowan's gonna choke when she sees them."
Jade nodded, still grinning.
"And if she tries to get handsy? Shut it down. But let her think she's close. Let her hope. The more she invests, the better the optics when you choose her."
Nyx's smile was small, cold, satisfied. "Exactly."
He ended the call a minute later.
The room fell quiet.
He stared at the darkened screen. Raxa's last message still glowing in his mind.
Thursday was coming.
And with it, the next crack in Rowan's carefully built walls.
Nyx exhaled slowly.
He was ready.
~~^-^~~
While Raxa Voss posted an old college photo on her verified account that evening. A candid shot from freshman year: her grinning wide, arm slung casually around a younger Nyx's shoulders while he smirked at the camera, hair loose, eyes bright with that untouchable arrogance he'd always had.
The caption read: A step toward getting my crush back in my life. Some things are worth waiting for. @nyxravencroft
The post went live at 8:17 p.m. By 8:45, it had 47k likes, thousands of comments, and a flood of heart-eyes and couple goals comments.
The algorithm loved it. Nostalgia, redemption arc, billionaire heir finally choosing love.
Tabloids were already picking it up: Ravencroft Heir Rekindles College Romance?
Sara was scrolling in bed when it popped up on her feed. She sat bolt upright, eyes wide, then burst out laughing. Loud, relieved, almost manic.
She immediately Face Timed Rowan.
Rowan answered on the second ring. Still in scrubs, hair in a messy bun, sitting on her couch with a cup of tea she hadn't touched.
Sara didn't even say hello. "Oh my god, Ro. Open Insta right now."
Rowan frowned, reaching for her phone. "What happened?"
Sara switched to screen-share, pulling up Raxa's post.
Rowan stared at the photo. At Raxa's arm around Nyx. At the caption.
Sara kept talking, voice bubbling with glee.
"Oh god, I didn't know what we were thinking. A dangerous disaster was just a tiny phase. Look at this! He's literally posting college throwbacks with some rich girl toy. Tagging her. Captioning it like a rom-com. He's moved on. Like, fully. You were never in trouble, babe. Not really. It was just… teenage hormones or whatever. He's playing happy couple now. You're free. Actually free."
Sara laughed again. Bright, almost giddy.
"See? Carlos was right to propose. This is your sign. No more haunted looks. No more collar-tugging. No more I'm fine lies. Nyx has got his stable girl. You get your stable future. Perfect ending."
Rowan stared at the screen longer than she meant to.
The photo was old. Nyx looked softer there, less sharp, less dangerous. Raxa looked at him like he hung the moon. The caption burned quietly: getting my crush back in my life.
Rowan's throat tightened.
She forced a small smile. Thin, automatic.
"Yeah," she said softly. "Looks like it."
Sara kept talking. Planning double dates with Carlos, joking about wedding colors, teasing about how Rowan could finally relax.
Rowan nodded at the right moments.
But her eyes stayed on the photo.
On Nyx's smirk.
On the way Raxa's arm curved around him like she'd always belonged there.
And something inside Rowan. Small, quiet, traitorous. Twisted.
She closed the app.
Set the phone face-down.
And slipped upstairs without turning on lights, closed her bedroom door softly, and collapsed onto the bed fully clothed. Scrubs still on. Shoes still laced. She didn't bother with the lamp.
She lay on her back, staring at the ceiling.
Then the tears came.
Quiet at first. Hot, silent tracks slipping from the corners of her eyes into her hair. She didn't sob.
Didn't make a sound. Just let them fall. One after another.
Until her pillow was damp and her breathing hitched in small, uneven waves.
She didn't know why she was crying.
Relief?
That Nyx had finally moved on publicly, visibly, with someone safe and appropriate and everything Rowan had told herself she wanted? No more shadows. No more waiting for the next storm.
No more waking up tasting salt and possession on her tongue.
Or tension?
The bone-deep certainty that this was a lie. That Nyx didn't move on. He planned. He waited. He circled.
And every polished photo, every staged caption, every second chance post felt like bait. Like a trap being set with surgical patience.
Rowan could feel it. The thread still taut between them, invisible but unbreakable.
Or worse. The quiet, terrifying possibility that maybe… just maybe… Rowan really had been a phase.
A reckless, forbidden thrill Nyx had chased until the novelty wore off. A distraction from boardrooms and trusts and legacy.
Something to conquer, to mark, to claim and then discard when the game got too real.
The thought clawed at her chest: that everything. The car, the tears, the way Nyx had whispered mine against her skin. Had meant nothing. That Rowan had shattered herself open for someone who'd already walked away.
She pressed the heels of her hands to her eyes, trying to stop the flood.
"I should be happy," she whispered to the dark room. Voice cracking. "Finally that brat left me. Finally it's over. No more danger. No more guilt. No more… him."
She said it again, louder, like repetition could make it true.
"I should be happy."
But her heart refused the lie.
It thudded too hard, too fast, too raw.
It remembered fingers curling inside her, slow then fast, relentless.
It remembered teeth on her lip, his name torn from her throat like a confession.
It remembered the way Nyx had cleaned her with gentle tongue when the wipes hurt too much. Tender in the aftermath of ruin.
It remembered mine.
And it ached.
Rowan rolled onto her side, curled into herself, knees to chest.
She wiped her tears with the sleeve of her scrub top. Rough, impatient. "I'm free," she told the empty room.
"I'm relieved."
"He's gone."
The words tasted like ash.
She closed her eyes.
But sleep didn't come.
Only the quiet certainty that somewhere across the city, Nyx was still watching.
Still waiting.
Still pulling the strings.
And Rowan. Despite every lie she told herself. Was still tangled in them.