Chapter 122: Chapter 122

It hurt to look at him.

Seeing Craig made something twist inside her. Because no matter what his last name was doing to her, what it was costing her, her heart still skipped when she saw him.

It made excuses for him, and for once she wish she could press pause on her feelings and just think rationally.

So she didn’t say a word. Didn’t call his name. She just stepped back and looked at him. All blank and guarded, trying not to feel anything at all.

Her hands tightened around the file clutched against her chest.

And Craig...he just looked at her. Not like he was guilty. Not like he was innocent, either. Just like he didn’t know where to start.

His eyes dropped to the papers in her arms, and something flickered in his jaw.

"We need to talk." Craig’s voice came low and controlled, as if he’d been rehearsing it all morning.

"I know your brother’s suing me, Craig." She spoke without looking at him, her eyes fixed just past his shoulder like seeing him head-on might undo her.

Craig’s brows pulled together sharply. "What?" His voice cracked slightly, like he genuinely hadn’t processed what she’d just said. "What do you mean...suing?"

"Yeah," Merlina looked down, hands trembling slightly as she held out the document. Her voice was tired now, dulled by the weight of everything. "I got it this morning."

Craig took it slowly, eyes scanning the front page, and then lower, his expression shifting, eyes narrowing, lips parting just slightly.

He didn’t speak right away, just stood there, statue-still, the file in one hand, his free hand at the side of his pocket.

"You weren’t aware?" Merlina asked, her voice tight and careful. A part of her didn’t want to hear the answer, but had to ask anyway.

His head shook once. "No," he said, almost under his breath. "I didn’t know."

She looked away, nodding once, but he saw it, the doubt in her. It hung between them like fog.

Even though his voice had come steady, the guilt was loud. Confusion too. She could see it in the lines forming at his brow, the way his eyes kept moving from her face and back to the file, like it might rearrange itself into something else.

He opened his mouth like he wanted to explain, wanted to say something, to make it make sense.

Because how do you explain the choices of a father who never listened, never cared, not even when it was his own son asking?

It was all sinking in, what his father had meant. That it wouldn’t stop with the expulsion. His father wasn’t just coming for her place at school, he was going after her life. Her future. Her name.

He was standing there, still stunned, holding the proof, knowing the man behind it all shared his blood. All he could think was, ’how the hell they were supposed to survive this ?’

Merlina turned her eyes back to him, composed in that way you get when your emotions are already halfway to numb. "So..." she said slowly, "if you didn’t know about this, what did you want to talk to me about?"

He blinked, like he’d just remembered there was more to deal with. Because this?

This felt like the final hit. Like the lawsuit had cracked whatever was left standing between them. It wasn’t just going to mess things up. It was going to break them.

His eyes lifted, searching hers, almost desperate. The words weren’t there yet, but the feeling was. Something in her had changed.

He could see it in the way she stood, like she’d already started protecting herself from him, like she couldn’t trust where this was going anymore. And it was breaking him, because he hated that he understood why.

He glanced around them, at the path, at the open lawn, the lingering students nearby. "Can we go somewhere more private?" he asked.

Merlina hesitated. Her eyes flicked to the side, to the file still in his hand, then back to his face. For a second, it looked like she might say no. But then she nodded. "Sure."

His apartment was quiet.

Craig unlocked the door and let her in first. Merlina didn’t look around, didn’t crack a joke like she might’ve. She just stepped in slowly and stood by the arm of the couch, like she wasn’t sure if she should even sit down.

She had only been here once, but the place was just as she remembered, sleek, sharp, all dark glass and expensive edges. Craig closed the door behind them and lingered there for a beat, his hand still resting on the knob.

He didn’t know how to say it, that the lawsuit hadn’t been the only thing. And for a second, he wondered if it would be better not to say it at all.

Every second without words made the room feel smaller. Like the silence was stretching between them, drawing the air thin, making it impossible to ignore what had shifted.

He walked past her, toward the kitchen counter, but didn’t touch anything. Just stopped and turned back to face her. "Can you have a seat?"

It wasn’t a command, but it wasn’t a request either.

Merlina glanced at him, then at the couch, as though sitting down might somehow make her more vulnerable than she already felt. But she sat anyway, carefully.

The file rested in her lap now, but she didn’t open it again, then she stared at him. "What’s going on, Craig?"

Out loud, she sounded calm. But inside, she felt miserable, different thoughts running through her head, waiting for the next hit.

Craig stayed standing, his hand resting on the edge of the counter, then his eyes met hers, raw and pleading. Like he wasn’t sure if she’d even still be there when he finished.

He pushed off the counter and walked over, his movements heavy and uncertain. Then he sat beside her, close enough, and kept a cushion between them, like he couldn’t trust himself not to reach for her.

"What I’m about to tell you... is unsettling," he said, voice low, eyes never leaving hers. "But please, Merlina, I need you to trust me. And just...hear me out."

She gave a small nod, her eyes locked on his. Waiting. Her heart bracing itself.

"The lawsuit against you..." he started, the words dragged out of him. He ran a hand across his brow, thumb pressing hard at his temple, like he could hold back the panic bleeding through. "It wasn’t Conor."

Merlina looked at him, then her gaze shifted downward, then off to the side, somewhere not quite the floor but not on him either. Her mind was already moving, already trying to fill in the blanks.

If it wasn’t Conor... then who?

She didn’t ask it out loud. But the question was there, plain on her face. And Craig saw it.

His voice dropped, barely audible. "It was my dad."

The words echoed in her head, looping once, twice, before they made sense. Her stomach turned.

"Your dad?" she repeated, her voice thinner now. She shook her head, trying to force the pieces to fit. "I don’t understand...why?" Her brows pulled in, chest rising just a little faster. "And why are you only telling me now?" she added, a frown tugging at her face.

Craig almost leaned forward, then stopped himself. His fists clenched and released.

"I didn’t know about the lawsuit," He sounded devastated. Raw.

"I only found out this morning, when I came to talk to you about..." He hesitated, eyes dropping to the floor before lifting to meet hers again. "To talk to you about the expulsion."

The guilt clung to his face, plain and heavy. Merlina saw it, etched in the way he couldn’t quite meet her eyes.

Her brows drew together. "The expulsion," she repeated. "What about it?"

Craig didn’t answer. His throat worked around a swallow, but no words came. He just sat there, shoulders tense, silence pressing in on both of them.

And that was when it hit her.

Her breath seized, voice dropped, barely above a whisper. "Oh my god," she paused, taking the realization in. "That was your dad too...wasn’t it?"

She looked at him, needing him to deny it, but he didn’t.

He just gave her this slow, small nod. A quiet kind of hurt sat in his eyes, deep enough to show. And as strong as he was trying to be, it was all over him, the weight of knowing what his father had done...and what it was doing to them.

Merlina pushed up from the couch like the floor had jolted her. "Why?" she breathed, her chest heaving.

Craig rose after her, slow but steady, her question had knocked something loose in him too.

"Before you got to Belford," he said carefully, "when the accident happened, the rumors were worse than you met them. Conor’s name was all over the press. The company took a hit. And somehow, your dad had asked mine for some kinda settlement, to keep things quiet."

Merlina’s brows shot up. She didn’t say anything, just stared at him, stunned. She hadn’t known any of that.

Not how bad the rumors were.

Not the damage to their company.

Not that her father had even spoken to the Lesnars, let alone asked for hush money.

"He must’ve seen the news," Craig continued, voice low, "About your mom being alive. Your dad being responsible. Then the video of you hitting Conor..." He paused, "it must’ve triggered him."

She sat back down, almost like her legs gave out beneath her. The truth hit her like a wave, too fast, all too much.

This wasn’t just a lawsuit.

Old wounds, carved by her father. And now she was right in the crossfire.

"Okay," she said, her voice finding its way back. "So...I guess he wants us to repay the settlement?"

Craig shook his head, almost instantly. "No," he said. "It’s not about the money."

Her brows pulled in, confused. "Then what ? What is it about?" she asked, searching his face.

Craig slowly crossed the room and sat beside her again. Not too close, just enough to be near if she’d let him.

His voice came low, rough. "That day you were being attacked by the media, he saw a video of me talking to the press...and he found out that I—"

He stopped. The words caught.

Craig’s jaw clenched, eyes flicking to hers, then away. Like he didn’t want to say it out loud. Like admitting it would make it real.

And that pause, just that small hesitation was enough.

Merlina saw it. Felt it.

"That you’re with me," She finished for him, her eyes steady, but there was something breaking behind them. "He doesn’t want you to be with me."

Craig looked at her then, silent. Not denying it. Not even trying to.

Merlina nodded to herself, like the last puzzle piece had just snapped into place—and it hurt.

She took in a breath, sharp and shaky. Exhaled slower, like she could release it all with the air. But the pain stayed. Settled in her chest.

And then she gave him a look that would stay with him for a long, long time. Not angry. Not cold. Wounded, and crushed beyond words.

"Then fine," she said, her voice soft, too calm. And even though her eyes stayed on his, something in her had let go. Of him. Of them. "If that’s what he wants...fine."