Page 233 of The Bittersweet Bond

Not him.

The silence between them wasn’t just a moment of recognition, not a simple encounter between two people who once knew each other.

It was electric, razor-sharp, with too many unspoken things burning between them like lit fuses.

Her gaze flicked over him, over the dark suit, the undone collar of his shirt. Over the slight disarray of his hair, the shadow in his eyes. Then lower.

To the movement of his hand.

To the way he adjusted his jacket slightly, as if he were trying to hide something.

To the bottle that disappeared from his fingers a second too late.

Evin raised an eyebrow. “Alcohol on school grounds?” Her voice was calm. Maybe a little too calm.

He shrugged, tilting his chin up slightly. “It made sense.”

She let out a quiet, sharp laugh. “Right.”

Her fingers tensed around her clutch as she moved to brush past him. She wasn’t here to do this. She wasn’t here to let herself spiral back into whatever this was.

But then—

She heard the voices.

Not from the students in the banquet hall.

Not from Milka, who was still outside talking to Bellamy.

Her instincts told her to leave.

She kept moving, her clutch still tight in her hand.

Bas followed. A barely noticeable echo of her steps.

The hallway was darker than the banquet hall, only the dim glow of the emergency exit signs illuminating the outlines of closed doors. Their footsteps were soft against the polished floor, muffled by the heavy silence between them.

Evin hesitated, just for a second. Her eyes scanned the dark door frames, searching for the source.

The murmuring became clearer. Sharper.

Bas felt it too. His posture shifted, the muscles in his back tightening.

Evin swallowed. She didn’t know why she slowed down. Maybe it was curiosity. Maybe it was an instinctual feeling that there was something here she needed to hear.

She stepped closer. One of the classroom doors was slightly ajar.

The light inside was dim but not off. A soft, golden glow spilled through the gap, stretching across the floor.

And then she saw her mother.

Her shoulders squared, her hands clasped together as if she were holding onto her patience.

She wasn’t alone.

Evin didn’t need to move closer to know who was standing there.

Richard Montgomery.

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