Chapter 1
Cassian did not touch Jace.
That decision lasted less than a second.
It was also the most important thing he did that afternoon.
Every instinct in him wanted to move forward.
Noah was shaking behind him.
The locker door was bent where the boy had kicked against it from inside.
And a thirteen-year-old had just called Cassian Dad in the middle of a school corridor.
Cassian stepped backward instead.
He placed one hand on Noah’s shoulder.
“Dean.”
Whitmore swallowed.
“Yes?”
“Get the nurse.”
“She’s already on her way.”
“Security?”
“Downstairs.”
“Bring them here.”
Jace smiled.
“Smart.”
Cassian turned his eyes toward him.
“What’s your name?”
“You know.”
“I asked your name.”
“Jace Holloway.”
The surname hit him before the first name did.
Holloway.
Cassian’s expression did not visibly change.
But something old moved behind his ribs.
A woman with auburn hair.
A cramped apartment near Georgetown Law.
Rain on a fire escape.
Fourteen years ago.
Lena Holloway.
He had not said her name in more than a decade.
Jace saw the recognition.
His smile disappeared.
“So you do remember.”
Cassian said nothing.
Dean Whitmore moved between them.
“Jace, stop.”
“No.”
The boy’s voice sharpened.
“He gets to stand there like he doesn’t know?”
Whitmore looked at Cassian.
Cassian looked back.
“Dean, why is this student still talking to me instead of being separated from my son?”
That restored Whitmore’s professional instincts.
“Jace, office. Now.”
Jace refused to move.
Cassian’s voice became quieter.
“Go.”
Something in the single word worked.
Jace turned.
As he walked away, he looked over his shoulder.
“Ask your father what he paid my mom to disappear.”
Noah’s fingers tightened around Cassian’s sleeve.
Whitmore went pale.
Cassian did not respond.
The nurse arrived.
Noah had a red mark across one shoulder from hitting the locker interior.
No concussion.
No broken fingers.
No serious physical injury.
His breathing settled after several minutes.
Cassian was grateful for every one of those facts.
He did not want the event made worse than it was.
It was already bad enough.
The school resource officer documented the locker.
Dean preserved security footage.
Jace was placed on immediate suspension pending investigation.
Then Cassian crouched in front of Noah.
His son looked at him.
“Is he really my brother?”
Not:
Why did he hurt me?
Not:
Are you angry?
The word brother had consumed everything else.
Cassian answered carefully.
“I don’t know yet.”
“He called you Dad.”
“I heard him.”
“Do you know his mom?”
Cassian looked toward Dean Whitmore’s office.
“Yes.”
Noah’s eyes widened.
Cassian continued immediately.
“That doesn’t mean I knew about Jace.”
“You didn’t?”
“No.”
It was the truth.
At least as Cassian understood it.
Noah studied his face.
Then:
“Are you going to leave me?”
The question cut through him.
Cassian placed both hands gently on his son’s shoulders.
“No.”
“What if he’s your son too?”
“I can have more than one person I’m responsible for.”
Noah looked uncertain.
Cassian did not force reassurance beyond what he could promise.
“You and I are going home.”
Noah nodded.
Cassian stood.
Dean Whitmore approached.
“Mr. Vale, there’s something else.”
Cassian looked at him.
Whitmore lowered his voice.
“Jace transferred here six weeks ago.”
“So?”
“His mother made a very unusual request.”
“What request?”
“That if you ever came into contact with him, school security should be notified immediately.”
Cassian’s attention sharpened.
“Why?”
“She said there could be a volatile paternity dispute.”
Cassian became still.
“Six weeks ago.”
“Yes.”
“Before today.”
“Yes.”
Whitmore nodded toward the hallway camera.
“And she specifically asked that any interaction between you and Jace happen where cameras were present.”
Cassian looked toward the lens above the locker bank.
Jace’s threat came back to him.
May you like
Touch me… and everything burns.
For the first time, the locker incident stopped looking like only a school fight.
