bChapter /bb21 /b

Aurora’s POV

After they finish their meal, they linger, chatting andughing among themselves, never once ncing toward me or signaling for the check. The restaurant wasn’t too busy as the night dwindled, but something about the way they sit there,pletely unbothered, makes bmy /bstomach twist. I wait a little longer, just in case, but they make no move.

Finally, with a deep breath, I smooth down my apron and approach their table, keeping my tone polite. “Will that be all, or would you like to order anything else?”

Shane barely looks up. “You can bring the bill.”

I nod, turning on my heel, but I can already feel that awful, gnawing sensation creeping in. I know people like them. The entitled kind. The ones who think their money makes them superior. It’s in the way they carry themselves, the casual disregard in their voices. I take my time punching in their order, printing the bill, walking it over–hoping, foolishly, that I’m just overthinking things.

But the second I set the receipt down, it happens.

Shane picks it up, his eyes scanning the total, and thenughter. A sharp, grating kind. Mia leans over, peering at the number before throwing her head back, almost howling inughter. “Eighty dors? For this?” She looks at me now, her gaze dripping with amusement. “What, did you feed us low–quality scraps?”

My stomach tightens, my fingers clenching around the edge of my notepad. “Excuse me?”

Shane shakes his head, smirking. “Yeah, we usually eat burgers that are, like, eighty each. This?” He flicks the paper between his fingers. “This is a joke.b” /b

I don’t know what they expect me to say. An apology? An exnation? An offer to lower the price? I say nothing, my expression carefully neutral, but inside, my pulse is hammering. I nce at Jade and Caroline, the only ones who haven’tughed, and to my relief, Caroline pulls out her wallet without a word. She doesn’t look at me, just hands over the money.

I reach out to take it, eager to be done with this, but before I can step away, Mia leans back in her seat, her lips curling. “Hey, question.” Her voice is dripping with mock innocence. “If I get food poisoning from this ce, can I sue you? Or the restaurant?”

The wordsnd like a p. A slow heat spreads up my neck, but I force myself to keep my face impassive.

“That would be something to take up with management,” I say evenly.

Shaneughs, shaking his head as if he finds this whole thing hrious. “Nah! Management doesn’t even exist in this shithole. I’d rather sue.”

I freeze. The weight of Shane’s words presses down on me like an iron vice, and for a moment, my brain refuses to process what he just said. Sue them? That would mean dragging Jeremy into this mess, and his business is small–barely getting by. Thest thing he needs is trouble because of me. I don’t even turn to face Shane properly. My instinct screams at me to leave, to get as far away from him as possible before this conversation esctes into something worse.

But as I take a step, his handtches onto mine, strong and unyielding. The touch sends a cold shiver racing down my spine. “You forgot your tip,” he says, voice smooth, almost amused, as if I should be grateful. My breath catches. Every part of me is suddenly hyper aware of the way his fingers tighten around mine, the weight of his stare burning into the side of my face.

I try to pull away, but he moves faster. In one swift motion, his other hand grabs the front of my shirt, yanking me forward just enough to throw me off bnce. My heart ms against my ribs. A sickening twist of fear coils in my stomach, my body going rigid as I feel his fingers slip inside the fabric.

“What are you?” My voice dies in my throat as he presses something against my skin. A piece of paper–thin, crinkling against my chest before he withdraws his hand as quickly as he forced it in.

I stumble back, my breathing in sharp, shallow bursts. My mind struggles to catch up with what just happened, but my body reacts before

my thoughts do. I p my hand over the spot where his touch lingers like a stain, my fingers trembling as I yank out the note he left behind.

And then, him and Mia burst outughing as if Shane had just performed a party trick, and not humiliated me in front of a room full of people.

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