He Crushed My Hearing Aid to Keep Me, Not Knowing I Just Heard His Confession Chapter 05

He Crushed My Hearing Aid to Keep Me, Not Knowing I Just Heard His Confession Chapter 05

Blair snatched her hand off my throat like I’d burned her. She stumbled backward, staring at me,

her words tripping over themselves.

“You’re deaf – you can’t – how the hell did you hear that?”

“You’re bluffing.” She said it like she was trying to convince herself.

I let the corner of my mouth lift. Then I tapped my lips.

“I read lips. Every single word, Blair. I caught all of it.”

Blair shook her head – hard, frantic – like she could undo the last few moments by refusing hard

enough.

Then something shifted. Her eyes darted around the room, and when they landed on me again, they

were vicious.

“You know what? It doesn’t matter.” “Go ahead. Tell anyone you want.”

“Nobody’s going to believe some deaf orphan over me.”

My fists tightened under the blanket.

I looked at her – so sure of herself, so certain the world would bend her way because it always had. And the only thing I felt was the urge to laugh.

“What’s so funny?” Blair’s confidence flickered.

Silas hadn’t moved this entire time. Now, slowly, his eyes found mine.

“Clara. What you said earlier – did you mean it?”

I stared at him, thrown.

He said it again, slower. “You said you’d retake the exam. With me.”

His eyes narrowed. The way he looked at me – it wasn’t love. It was hunger.

“Yes.” He grabbed my hand-too tight, too fast. “I’ll do it. I’ll retake everything. I don’t care long as it’s with you, I’ll do anything.”

I pulled my hand free and stepped back. His brow creased when he felt the distance.

as

Then his expression shifted – something coiling behind his eyes, winding tighter, locking on like a snake fixing on a mouse.

“Are you running from me, Clara?”

The door crashed open. Police.

The first officer through the door grabbed Silas by the collar and shoved him back, stepping

between us.

I was shaking. Couldn’t stop. I watched them pin Silas to the floor and cuff him.

“Hands behind your back.” The officer shook his head. “Get him out of here. Book him.”

Blair’s mouth opened. Closed. Nothing came out.

“It wasn’t me

you can’t do this!”

The cuffs clicked around her wrists – cold, final. She flinched like the metal had burned her.

She twisted against the officer’s grip. “You can’t arrest me – my parents are going to sue you!”

Something calculating crossed her face. “This is going to ruin my transcripts! You’re ruining my

life!”

The officers didn’t slow down. They hauled her toward the door. As she passed my bed, Blair slammed her hip into my bedframe – hard — and the look she gave me could’ve cut glass.

“This isn’t over, Clara. I swear to God, this isn’t over.”

After isolating in my apartment for days, I couldn’t afford to hide anymore.

The school never cleared my name. But I couldn’t afford to sit still. I picked up every shift I could find anything that would pay.

The exam was gone. My future wasn’t

paid for it.

–

not yet. And the people who killed my parents still hadn’t

I was mid-shift when the officer’s message came through.

[Silas was released on bail. They couldn’t make a direct charge stick.)

[Blair’s case is still being sorted out. It’s messy.]

I stared at the message until the words stopped meaning anything.

A knock hit the counter in front of me.

I looked up – and there he was. Those dark, fixed eyes. Like something venomous watching me from a crack in the wall.

“You’re working here?” Silas tilted his head, almost amused. “If you need money that bad, just ask

me.”