My skin prickled beneath my hoodie.
Maybe it was Otto sending them.
Maybe Randolph knew exactly who he was.
Maybe they’d both been sitting on opposite ends of this thing for years, watching Henry dig through the ashes while pretending not to notice.
I stared at Otto’s face and suddenly understood why Henry said men like this survived so long.
Nothingabout him looked dangerous.
That was the horror of it.
A student brushed past us laughing with her friend, umbrella tipping sideways in the wind, and for one completely unhinged second, I pictured grabbing Otto by the throat right there in the middle of campus.
I could see it so clearly it almost startled me.
My hands locking into his jacket.
His back slamming against the wet brick wall beside the courtyard.
Tell me where he is, you sick son of a bitch.
The image burned through me fast and violent enough that my fingers twitched.
Otto either didn’t notice or pretended not to.
“You eat yet?” he asked casually. “I was about to head toward the café. You could join me if you want.”
Every alarm in my body started screaming.
This was… objectively insane.
Henry would lose his fucking mind.
But Otto was standing right in front of me for the first time since everything cracked open, and I suddenly realized I couldn’t wait anymore. I couldn’t keep pacing holes into Henry’s floor while Abel’s ghost sat between us every night.
I needed to look this man in the face and hear him speak. Plus, the cafe was public.
It was safe.
Probably.
“Sure,” I heard myself say.
Otto smiled. “Great,” he said easily, turning toward the main walkway. “You can tell me how classes are going. Your mother says you’ve been overworking yourself.”
I forced myself to move beside him, already pulling my phone back out.
“I should let my professor know. He’s expecting me.”
Otto chuckled softly. “Strict? I don’t want to get you in trouble.”
“I won’t get in trouble.”
Yes, the fuck I will.
My fingers flew over the screen.