Reborn: Apocalypse Ready. War Goddess by My Side novel Chapter 40

Chapter 40 Something’s Off

Steven’s psychic strength gave him a perception that was razor–sharp and almost supernaturally precise.

The moment he caught Timothy’s sly, satisfied grin from across the room, he understood everything in an

instant.

The corner of his mouth curved, slow and quiet, into something that wasn’t quite a smile.

Trying to set me up?

Timothy was already on his feet.

“Steven! You murderer!”

Chris jumped in right behind him. “You killed someone, and you still have the nerve to show your school!”

Timothy’s expression was pure, radiant triumph.

face at

“Somebody get the teacher! Tell them to bring the officers in! We’ve got a murderer sitting right here!”

The words were barely out before one of the students sprinted toward the door to find a teacher. Timothy’s cold laugh cut through the room. “You’ve got quite the nerve, Steven. Killing someone out in the open like that.”

Every pair of eyes in the classroom pulled back from Steven like he’d become something to be feared, something dangerous and contagious.

Bianca stood beside him completely blindsided, her thoughts scrambling to catch up.

A murderer?

He

couldn’t have killed anyone.

He was with her the whole day yesterday. There was no time for anything like that.

Steven watched Timothy’s self–satisfied face and thought privately that he couldn’t wait to see whether that expression would survive the next few minutes.

Lilliana stood up from her seat and turned toward Steven, her eyes carrying the specific, exhausted weight of someone watching a person throw their own future into a fire.

“Why would you do something like that? Do you understand what you’ve done to your life?

“Divine Awakening is right around the corner. Why throw everything away over a moment of recklessness?” Steven let out a short, humorless sound. Now she was concerned about him.

Bianca gripped the edge of his sleeve, her anxiety spiking hard. Murder was the kind of charge that ended. everything. People got sentenced to death for that.

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Chapter 40 Something’s Off

Steven reached over and closed his hand gently around hers.

**Finished

Lilliana saw it, and it landed somewhere in her chest like a needle driving in clean and sharp.

It shouldn’t bother her. He wasn’t hers in any sense of the word. But it did bother her.

“I’m a murderer?” Steven said, his voice flat and cold. “Do you have proof?

“No? Then that’s slander!”

Lilliana exhaled slowly, and sat back down.

“Why do I even bother?” she said quietly.

Steven didn’t spare her reaction a single thought.

Timothy let out a sharp, mocking laugh. “You can’t play innocent forever! I watched the whole thing with my own eyes.”

Steven paused. “Where exactly did you see that?”

Timothy’s smile sharpened. “Scared now, are we?

“Here’s an idea. Grovel and beg for my mercy, and maybe I’ll think about doing you a favor.”

Timothy’s nose was turned up so high with the sheer weight of his own satisfaction it practically touched the ceiling.

“I didn’t kill anyone,” Steven said, completely unmoved.

“You’re still trying to wriggle out of it?” Timothy snarled. “You really won’t admit it until you’re staring down the barrel.

Ou’re walking straight into a jail cell today: You might as well start counting down, because it’s over for you! Hahal

Timothy laughed loud and wild, filling the whole room with it.

11:22 Wed, Jun 10

“Scared now? What were you doing yesterday after school?

“You only thought about putting someone down. You’re a violent criminal, plain and simple.

“You attacked a teacher. You assaulted a fellow student. You’re a wolf in disguise, and everyone in this room can see it.

“You’re finished!”

Steven listened to every word and laughed coldly on the inside. They’d see soon enough who was actually finished.

By now Bianca had pieced it together.

Yesterday after school, Steven slipped away from her for a little while. That was when this was supposed to have happened.

Did he really kill someone?

She clutched his sleeve tighter.

“Steven…

He turned and looked at her, and the look in his eyes was steady and sure. It told her everything she needed to know without a single word.

Timothy rounded on her with the practiced authority of someone who took his class president title very seriously. “Bianca, I’m giving you fair warning right now. You don’t want to be seen with a murderer. Keep

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Chapter 40 Something’s Off

this up and you’ll get swept into it too!”

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11:22 Wed, Jun 10

Reborn: Apocalypse Ready. War Goddess by My Side