Sebastian Ashford's POV
I didn't remember how many punches I threw.
Didn't remember the blood on my knuckles or the way Leo groaned as they pulled me off him.Didn't remember the security dragging me out.Didn't remember the professor's voice booming, "ASHFORD, THAT'S ENOUGH!"
But I remembered her.
I remembered that smile.
Barely there. A ghost of one.And it wasn't for me.
It was for him.
That fourth-year bastard who'd probably only learned her name that day. One compliment and she smiled like the world wasn't crushing her.Like I hadn't spent the last year trying to keep her under my thumb. Trying to control every look, every breath, every flick of her thick, knee-length hair as she walked past me like I was nothing.
She wasn't in class after the fight.Not in the hallway. Not in the cafeteria.Not in the garden where I saw her with him.
I checked the library.
Empty.
I texted Ava. "Where is she?"
No reply.
I went to her dorm. Knocked. No answer.Banged.
Still nothing.
I leaned my forehead against the door. Breathing hard. My bloodied knuckles stung. My pulse wouldn't slow. I was sweating even though it was freezing in the hallway.
I hated myself.
Not because of the fight. Not because of Leo.
Because of her face when she looked up and saw me standing there, fists bleeding.Because of the way her smile dropped.Because of the pure, wide-eyed panic that replaced it.
I scared her.
Again.
I sank to the hallway floor, head in my hands.
And for the first time, I let the truth hit me.
I was the reason she stopped smiling.I was the reason she stopped showing up.I was the reason she looked like she wanted to disappear.
And she was everything.
Everything I wanted. Everything I couldn't stop needing.And now I'd driven her back into hiding.
I pulled out my phone again.Typed her name. Deleted the message. Typed again.
"I'm sorry."
I didn't send it.
Because sorry wouldn't fix this.
Nothing might.
But I had to find her.Even if she hated me.Even if she ran.
I wasn't going to stop until I saw her face again.
Not smiling.
Not yet.
But safe.