Chapter 16: Someone Wanted Me Humiliated

For several seconds, I couldn't breathe.

The messages were real.

Every humiliating word.

[Please don't leave.]

[I'll change.]

[Tell me what I'm doing wrong.]

[I can be less clingy.]

[Just give me another chance.]

My hands started shaking.

I remembered exactly when I had sent them.

Three months ago.

Right before Knox transferred the account.

I had been terrified.

Desperate.

Still convinced losing him meant I had failed.

Now thousands of students could read it.

One comment appeared.

[This is painful. She really begged that hard?]

Another:

[She only became confident after getting skinny and landing Rowan Vale lol.]

Another:

[Imagine starving yourself just so a guy would like you.]

I locked the phone.

My face burned.

Rowan took one step toward me.

"Nessa."

"Don't."

He stopped immediately.

Mom looked furious.

"Who had those screenshots?"

Everyone knew the answer.

Knox.

I called him.

He answered on the first ring.

"Nessa-"

"Did you post them?"

"What? No."

"Don't lie to me."

"I'm not!"

His voice was genuinely alarmed.

"I just saw the forum. I swear I didn't post anything."

"Who else had those messages?"

"Nobody."

"Then explain how they're online."

Silence.

"Knox."

"My old account."

"What about it?"

"I never deleted it."

"Where is it?"

"Logged in on my gaming laptop at home."

"Stormridge home?"

"Yes."

Rowan's expression darkened.

I put the call on speaker.

"Who can access that laptop?"

"Family. Staff. Security if they needed to."

"Your father?"

Knox went silent.

"Knox."

"Yes."

Anger replaced my embarrassment.

"Find out who did it."

"I will."

"And Knox?"

"Yeah?"

"If you're lying to me, we're done speaking forever."

"I'm not lying."

I ended the call.

Rowan immediately made another call.

"Take the post down. Preserve server logs first."

Pause.

"Everything. User origin, access timestamps, repost paths."

He ended the call.

I stared at him.

"Can Nightvale just do that?"

"The university network operates under Lycan Council cybersecurity agreements."

"Meaning yes."

"Meaning legally, with cause."

"Very princely answer."

His eyes softened.

"Are you okay?"

"No."

The honesty surprised even me.

"I know those messages don't define me. But seeing them again..."

My throat tightened.

"I sounded pathetic."

Rowan moved closer.

"You sounded hurt."

"I begged someone who hated me to stay."

"Because you didn't know he hated you."

"I should've had more dignity."

"You were seventeen."

"Still."

Rowan crouched slightly so our eyes were level.

"Nessa, caring deeply isn't humiliating."

"Begging was."

"Maybe."

His answer surprised me.

"But being embarrassed by something doesn't mean you deserve to have it weaponized against you."

I looked away.

"Everyone will think I lost weight because I was desperate for Knox."

"Did you?"

I hesitated.

"At first."

"Then that's the truth."

"You're not going to tell me it doesn't matter?"

"It matters because it hurt you."

His voice remained calm.

"But it doesn't make your transformation belong to him."

I looked back at him.

"You did the training. You endured the pain. You changed your habits. Whether every choice was healthy or not, Knox doesn't own the person you became."

Something loosened in my chest.

Cassian nodded once.

"Good answer again."

Rowan looked irritated.

"Are you grading me?"

"Currently seven out of ten."

"Why seven?"

"Too pretty. Suspicious."

Against all logic, I laughed.

Mom shook her head.

"Both of you are ridiculous."

My phone buzzed again.

The post had disappeared.

A university notice replaced it.

[Content removed pending investigation for unauthorized publication of private communications.]

But screenshots were already everywhere.

I took a slow breath.

"I'm going back to class."

Mom stared.

"Today?"

"Yes."

"You don't have to prove anything."

"I'm not."

I stood.

"I just refuse to hide every time someone tries to embarrass me."

Rowan smiled faintly.

"Want company?"

"No bodyguard behavior."

"What about boyfriend behavior?"

I raised an eyebrow.

"You're on probation."

"Mate probation?"

"Very strict."

"Understood."

We left the conference room together.

Students stared almost immediately.

Some whispered.

Some looked away awkwardly.

One group fell silent as I passed.

My old instinct screamed at me to shrink.

Lower my head.

Disappear.

Instead, I kept walking.

Then someone called out.

"Nessa!"

I stopped.

A girl from my orientation group hurried toward me.

"I just wanted to say... whoever posted those messages was disgusting."

I blinked.

"Thanks."

Another girl nearby nodded.

"Seriously. We've all sent embarrassing texts."

Someone behind her laughed.

"I once sent twenty-eight messages to a guy who ghosted me."

"Twenty-eight?"

"It was a dark time."

A few people laughed.

The tension broke.

I realized something unexpected.

The humiliation only had as much power as I gave it.

By afternoon, the story had begun shifting.

Instead of mocking me, students were asking who leaked private messages.

The anonymous poster became the target.

Then Rowan received the trace report.

We were standing outside my lecture hall when his expression changed.

"What?"

"They found the origin."

"Stormridge?"

"Yes."

My stomach tightened.

"Knox?"

"No."

"His father?"

"Not directly."

"Then who?"

Rowan turned his phone toward me.

The access account belonged to a Stormridge household staff profile.

Authorized user:

Mara Snowe.

I frowned.

"Snowe?"

Rowan's face hardened.

"Elodie's aunt."

My mind raced.

"Why would Elodie's aunt have access to Knox's home network?"

"Because according to this..."

He scrolled.

"She's been Stormridge Alpha's private secretary for eleven years."

I stared at him.

Elodie.

Stormridge.

The leaked messages.

The archive request.

Suddenly, her relationship with Knox didn't look nearly as simple as a pretty freshman romance.

Rowan's phone rang again.

This time Knox was calling.

Rowan answered.

Knox didn't bother greeting him.

"Where's Nessa?"

"Beside me."

"Put me on speaker."

Rowan did.

Knox's voice was furious.

"I found out who accessed my laptop."

I looked at Rowan.

"Mara Snowe."

Knox went silent.

"You already know?"

"We traced the post."

Knox swore.

"There's more."

"What?"

"I confronted my father."

His breathing was uneven.

"He admitted Mara has been helping him investigate Lunaris."

My stomach dropped.

"Why?"

"Because Silvercrest and Stormridge have been discussing a Pack alliance for months."

I thought of Elodie.

"Through your relationship."

"Yes."

"Was dating Elodie arranged?"

"No. At least I didn't think it was."

That uncertainty mattered.

"What else?"

Knox hesitated.

"My father said something before I left."

"What?"

"He said if Rowan completes a mate bond with you, Nightvale becomes almost impossible to challenge politically."

Rowan's eyes turned cold.

"And if I don't?"

Knox answered quietly.

"Then Stormridge and Silvercrest still have a chance to stop it."

A chill crawled across my skin.

"Stop what?"

Knox's next words came slowly.

"You becoming Luna of Nightvale."