Page 96 of Forever Defiant
I kept my eyes on the road. “Of course.” I switched lanes. “I was processing.”
She snorted. “Good. Because I’m sorry, Hadley, but what the actual hell?”
Fair. Completely fair.
I let out a slow breath. “Yeah, she got better, but I didn’t think she’d be that hostile.”
“I mean, I assumed you guys had an unresolved beef,” Savannah said. “But I didn’t know it was enough of a beef that it could feed a small village.”
“An exaggeration.”
Savannah ignored me. “Like, USDA-certified, marbled resentment.”
I groaned. “You can put the analogy down now. I got it.”
She smiled, but it faded quickly, replaced with something earnest. “Are you okay?”
I didn’t answer right away, because I didn’t know. Mary’s words echoed in my head.
I never saw evidence he did.
Something bigger than one accusation.
She didn’t know who hurt her.
Every sentence was another crack in the story I thought I knew.
Sav reached out and touched my arm lightly. “Hadley.”
“Yeah...” I paused, glancing at her. “I know.” I exhaled slowly. “I thought Mason was a bastard.”
“He still could be.”
“No.” I shook my head. “I should have known better. I should have questioned why the university made his name so hard to find. I should have—”
“Stop.” Savannah’s voice was firm. “You can’t rewrite the past. You can only follow what you know now.”
I gripped the wheel tighter. “But if Mason didn’t do it—”
“Then the person who did,” Savannah said gently, “never got caught.”
I swallowed hard. “And the university let it happen.”
“Or covered it up,” she added softly. “But we don’t know yet, Hadley. All we have is supposition and deleted drafts.”
A knot twisted in my stomach. “The party she was at with Mason was in the athletic building,” I said quietly. “The same one where the program buries injuries and pays the players to keep quiet.” I looked at Savannah. “This isn’t just one case. It feels... universal.”
Savannah nodded grudgingly. “Yeah. It does feel like that.”
We passed the city-limits sign and merged onto the highway. The world outside blurred — trees, billboards, headlights — but my memory stayed fixed on Mary’s expression when she saidthey want this buried.
“She’s scared,” I murmured.
“Mary?” Savannah asked.
“Yeah.”
Savannah shrugged. “Maybe she should be.”
