Day's POV
Location: Courtyard, after lunch
She's walking backward.
Of course she is.
Waving her arms in the air, talking too fast, laughing at her own story about how she tripped into a display of eggs at the farmer's market last weekend.
I'm watching her. Always watching her. Quietly. From two steps behind like I always do.
Then—
"Oi, Ashford," some guy calls out from the benches, smirking, loud enough to turn heads. "Careful, your sugar daddy might dock your allowance if you break a nail."
I see her freeze.
I see the way her smile falters for half a second before she masks it with a laugh. "You're just jealous he buys me cooler stuff."
She tries to play it off. I know that tone—bright, chirpy, brave.
But I also know the way her shoulders tense. I know the way she curls her braid into her hands when she's uncomfortable.
And I really don't like it.
I walk over.
He sees me coming and his smirk slips. "Relax, man. Just a joke."
I stop in front of him, stare him down.
I don't speak.
I just keep looking.
Letting silence do what words never could.
He starts fidgeting. "She's the boss's daughter, right? Everyone's heard—"
"Don't." My voice is calm. Cold. Lethal.
He gulps.
I lower my gaze slowly, deliberately. To his hands. His jaw. Like I'm deciding which one to break first.
"She's off-limits," I say softly. "Remember that."
Then I walk back to her.
She's blinking up at me like I just bench-pressed a car.
"Day," she whispers, tugging on my sleeve. "You okay?"
I nod once, not meeting her eyes.
Because I know if I do, I'll give it away. That I care. Too much.
But when she loops her arms around mine and keeps yapping like nothing happened…
I'm not okay.
I'm wrecked.
Because someone made her smile falter for half a second, and I wanted blood.
That's not normal.
That's her.