Page 132 of Stroke of Fate

And that’s all that matters right now.

We’ll figure out the rest as we go.

37 | BEAR

Scanning the second floor of the library, I quickly spot Levi. Unlike everyone else—with their headphones on and heads bent over their work—he’s staring straight ahead.

My eyes lock on the white envelope in his hands.

He looks up and smiles when I get close enough for him to sense my presence. It’s reserved and nothing like the megawatt smile I’m used to seeing from him, but it still makes my heartbeat speed up.

Things between us have been…better. Better than before, but nowhere near what they once were. This moment has been looming over us like a dark cloud for two days. I’m hoping that after today, we can officially put this ordeal where it belongs—in the past.

Sliding into the chair opposite him, I nod to the envelope. “Is that it?”

“Yes, I haven’t looked at it yet. I grabbed a letter opener downstairs to save us some time.” He says, lifting the flap to show me.

“Okay,” I whisper. “Go ahead, read it.”

“Bear, whatever this says—” he starts, but I hold up a hand, stopping him.

“No,” I say, shaking my head. “Just open it. We’ll deal with the rest after.” I sound confident, but inside, my stomach churns, and my breakfast threatens to resurface.

He hesitates before nodding reluctantly and pulling out a single sheet of paper. I clasp my hands tightly together on the table as I watch him unfold it.

Levi’s eyes scan the text, and I’m desperate to see what it says. I should have dragged my chair closer to read it with him, but now nerves have me frozen in place. Worry grips me tighter when his frown only grows deeper the longer he reads.

“I don’t understand,” he murmurs, his eyes lifting to meet mine. The look on his face isn’t what I pictured when I imagined this moment. There’s no relief, only confusion. “Everything is negative.”

“What?” I blanch, surely having heard him wrong.

I take the paper from his hand without waiting for an explanation. My mind whirls as my eyes scan over the text.

It’s mostly medical jargon, too many technical terms for my brain to process, but the context doesn’t matter. Next to each drug listed, the same number repeats down the list: 0.0%.

His urine sample is clean. There’s no trace of anything illicit or abnormal.

“Remember, we knew this was a possibility,” I say firmly, grabbing my bag in one hand and the piece of paper in the other. “It might have been flushed from your system before you gave the sample. It was over twenty-four hours later, and you barely drank from the bottle. It’s possible,” I repeat, needing the words to cut through the confusion so clearly written on his face.

The hopelessness in his expression twists around my heart. I drop my bag onto the ground and cup his face.

“This doesn’t mean what you think it does, okay?” I make sure to keep my voice low. Not only because we’re in a library, but because no one else needs to hear this conversation. “Do not give up on us.”

We’re so close to this being nothing more than a chapter in our book. Giving up on each other now would shatter me.

This is our hurdle, but I need him here, with me.

“Do you still believe me?”

“Of course I do.” Now that everything is in the open, I can’t believe I didn’t connect the dots sooner. “I’m not going anywhere, Levi.”

His exhale is heavy with relief.

“That’s all I care about,” he says softly, tucking a strand of my hair behind my ear.

I drop my lips to his. The kiss is quick and soft, but when I pull away, it feels like the contact has breathed life back into him.

“What happens now?”

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