“Ax—”
“Leave it, Lexi.”
“Is it money?” The question bursts out before I can stop it.
He freezes. His shoulders go rigid.
The cafeteria is still silent. Watching. Waiting.
“Grandma—”
He spins so fast I step back. His voice is low but venomous, every word a blade. “Give it to me.”
I stumble, my heel catching on the leg of a chair. “What?”
“The money. Give it to me.”
My chest tightens. I’m staring at him, but all I can see is Dad. The same eyes. The same expression—that look he’d get right before his fist came up, right before everything shattered.
Axel used to stand between me and Dad. Now he looks like him. He’s approaching me like him. My chest starts to hurt seeing him like this. This wasn’t the plan when I pointed my entire life to this college just to be near him, rekindle our lost relationship.
Thea appears at my side, tense, ready to step in. But I shake my head. This is my brother. My mess.
“Axel, tell me what’s—”
“Now, Lexi.”
I feel the tears building, hot and humiliating in my eyes. “I don’t have it on me.”
“Then let’s go get it.”
He turns and walks out. The door slams behind him, and the noise in the cafeteria slowly returns—whispers, nervous laughter, the scrape of chairs.
I stand there, frozen, until Thea grabs my hand.
“Lex. Come on.”
We speed-walk across campus, past groups of freshmen carrying boxes, past parents loading cars, past everything that’s supposed to be normal. Thea’s muttering under her breath, a stream of “what the fuck” and “are you kidding me” that I can barely process.
My jaw is so tight it hurts. “ I thought things were going to be different.”
“Maybe he just—”
“Don’t.” I shake my head. “Don’t make excuses for him. Did you see him? Someone beat him, and he’s fucking high! I’m sick to my stomach right now.”
We reach my dorm. I fumble with my key, hands shaking, and finally get the door open.
Scarlett is at her desk, headphones on, typing on her laptop. She looks up, startled, as I storm in and throw open my dresser drawer.
The envelope is where I left it, tucked under a stack of folded shirts. I grab it, feel the thickness of it in my hands, and something in my chest cracks.
This was supposed to be emergency money. Textbooks. Food. Surviving.
The door bangs open.
Axel.
He doesn’t knock. Doesn’t ask. Just walks in like he owns the space.
