Meanwhile, Bella was in a hurry. She had dance practice in an hour, and she still needed to eat something, change her clothes, and review the choreography before Samantha arrived. Her bag was slung over her shoulder, her phone was in her hand, and her mind was full of steps, turns, and the music that played on repeat in her head like a broken record she could not turn off.

But then she saw Mira.

Mira was sitting alone on a bench in the garden, tucked away behind a large bush of white roses. Her head was bowed so low that her chin nearly touched her chest. Her shoulders were hunched as if she was trying to make herself smaller, invisible, forgotten. Her hands were limp in her lap, her fingers curled loosely around nothing. She looked lifeless, like a doll someone had discarded after growing bored with it.

Bella stopped walking.

She should keep going. She had no reason to stop. Mira had betrayed her, lied to her, and let Krystal steal her work, then acted as if she had no choice, as if her hands were tied, as if she was just a helpless bystander instead of an active participant.

But Mira looked so depressed, so broken, and so small.

Bella’s heart tugged one way. Her mind tugged another. She stood there for a long moment, caught between what Mira had done and the sight of her sitting there like the world had ended and she was the only one left to mourn it.

Finally, she sighed.

"Mira."

Mira looked up slowly, as if even that small movement cost her something. Her glasses were crooked, slipping down her nose, and her eyes were red and swollen from crying, the kind of crying that went on for hours until there was nothing left. She quickly pushed her glasses up, adjusting them so the light caught the lenses and hid the evidence of her tears. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

"Bella." Mira’s voice cracked on the syllable. She tried to smile, but it came out ugly, wobbly, wrong, and full of so much pain that it made Bella’s chest ache.

Bella walked toward her and sat down on the bench beside Mira. Her expression was hard to read, not cold, not warm, just neutral. Waiting. "Why are you sitting alone in the garden?"

Mira looked down at her hands. "It’s nothing."

Bella’s eyes focused on her face, on her lips. They were red, swollen, and slightly bruised. This was not the kind of swelling from dehydration or chapped skin. It looked like the kind that came from pressure, from force, from someone else’s mouth pressing too hard.

Her heart sank.

"What happened?" Bella asked again, her voice quieter now.

Mira shook her head, refusing to say anything. Her jaw clenched. Her eyes squeezed shut.

Bella sighed and did not push. She just sat there, watching the white roses sway in the breeze. The garden was quiet except for the soft rustle of leaves and a bee buzzing somewhere near the bushes.

Then Mira’s shoulders began to shake.

"I... Noah kissed me," she whispered. "Forcefully."

Bella’s entire body went still.

Mira told her everything. How he had called her name in the courtyard, how he had led her away from the crowds, and how he had taken her to the old storage building. How he had pushed her against the wall, pinned her there, and kissed her without asking, without warning, without caring whether she wanted it. How she had frozen, unable to move, unable to speak, unable to do anything but stand there and let it happen because her body forgot how to fight. It was her first kiss.

When she finished, Bella’s face was red from intense anger.

"What!" she shouted, jumping to her feet. "That son of a b*tch!"

Mira stared at her, eyes wide and mouth hanging open. She had never heard Bella curse before. Not once. Not even when Krystal had stolen her presentation, not even when Mira had confessed her betrayal. Bella had been hurt and angry, but she had never cursed.

Behind a nearby tree, one of Leo’s secret guards, a man who had been assigned to watch Bella and thought he knew her gentle nature, dropped the book he had been pretending to read. His mouth fell open.

Karl, walking toward them from the library, stopped mid-step. His jaw dropped so low it looked like it might unhinge.

Bella was so angry that it looked like smoke might come out of her ears at any moment. Her hands were balled into fists at her sides. Her whole body was vibrating.

"That," she sputtered, pacing back and forth in front of the bench like a caged animal. "What kind of man kisses a woman forcefully? Those kinds of men are ugly. They have no charm, no game, and no respect. They think they are entitled to whatever they want whenever they want it, and they never stop to think about the person on the receiving end."

She threw her hands up in the air.

"Do you know what his problem is? He is a walking security breach. A human firewall with zero encryption. His charm protocol is corrupted and his consent algorithm is nonexistent."

Mira blinked in shock. "What?"

Bella was not done. "He is a virus, Mira. A malware disguised as a man. Someone needs to run a clean boot on his entire existence. Delete his files. Clear his cache. Reboot him from scratch."

Behind the tree, the first guard turned to the second guard. His voice was barely a whisper. "Is she okay?"

The second guard shook his head slowly, still staring at Bella. "I do not know anymore. I really do not."

Bella grabbed Mira’s hand and yanked her to her feet. "Let’s go!"

Mira stumbled, trying to keep up. "Where?"

"We are going to find him, and we are going to beat him up."

Mira’s eyes widened. "Bella—"

"I have fists, Mira." Bella held up both hands, fingers spread, then curled them into tight balls. "Two of them. Fully functional. I have been dying to test them on something, on someone, specifically on someone like him."

Behind the tree, the first guard pulled out his phone and typed a quick message to Leo: Sir, your wife is threatening physical violence on a student.

Leo’s response came almost instantly: Which student?

The guard typed back: Noah

Leo: Send me video of Bella beating someone.

The guard sighed deeply and shoved his phone back into his pocket.