Devils Star | h.s

Chapter 41

One Week Later

There are moments in life that hit you like a rogue wave—sudden, jarring, and completely uninvited. Moments that weren't on your calendar, that no crystal ball or horoscope could have warned you about.

It was a Tuesday afternoon—grey skies threatening rain, the kind of weather that wraps around you like a warning. I stood stiffly outside Mr. Black's office, the scent of polished mahogany and old books seeping from the cracks of the heavy wooden door. My knuckles hovered uncertainly before I gave the lightest tap—more of a brush, really—against the grain. I waited for a response, but silence hung in the air. Hesitantly, I turned the brass handle and nudged the door open.

And there they were.

Malvolio Black and Nancy.

Hugging.

Together.

Friendly.

Too friendly.

I froze, a sharp inhale escaping me. "Oh! I'm so sorry," I blurted out, eyes wide. My voice cut the room like glass, making them jolt apart as if I'd thrown cold water over them.

Nancy barely spared me a glance. She tucked a stray strand of her honey-blonde hair behind her ear, offered Black a coy smile over her shoulder, and glided past me without a word. The door clicked shut behind her, leaving a silence thick enough to choke on.

Now it was just Black and me.

He looked... different. Guarded. Irritated. His arms folded across his chest like a fortress. "Ever heard of knocking, Miss Winters?" His voice was cold, measured—more annoyed than angry, which somehow made it worse.

"I did knock, sir," I said quickly, standing straighter.

"And if I don't say 'come in,' you don't enter. Understand?"

"Yes, sir. I'm sorry." My cheeks burned. Awkward didn't even begin to cover it.

"What do you want?" he asked flatly, no effort to disguise his impatience.

"I—uh—needed your signature on this document." I lifted the sheet in my hands, which I realized I'd crumpled slightly from gripping too tightly.

"Hand it over, then."

The few steps it took to cross the room felt like a mile-long runway. My heels clicked against the hardwood like an executioner's drumbeat. I half expected a trapdoor to open beneath me.

"I really am sorry, sir," I said again, as he turned toward the papers. Maybe if I apologized enough, I could erase the whole moment. "I didn't know you two were... together."

He paused briefly, pen hovering over the document. "We are not together, Aurora. And that is not your concern."

Ouch.

He signed with a sharp flick of the wrist, then thrust the papers back into my hands without so much as a glance.

"Now, if that's all..."

I didn't need to be told twice. The moment I stepped out of his office, it felt like I could finally breathe again. And like any sane person would after stumbling into whatever that was, I made a beeline for Natasha's office.

"You will not believe what I just saw," I said, bursting in.

"Whatever it is, it better be more interesting than this goddamn case." Natasha didn't look up, just waved her pen like it was a white flag. She sat buried in folders and scribbled notes, looking like a woman on the verge of a paper-induced breakdown.