The freezing Montreal wind offered no relief from the heat burning through Layla's veins as she stood trapped on the exterior steps.
"So now everyone gets to hear it," Liam said, his voice dangerously quiet, hovering right above the rush of street traffic. "It wasn't enough that Sarah cut you off. It wasn't enough that you lied to my face on the terrace before I caught you two. Now the whole media department gets a play-by-play."
"Liam, please, I didn't broadcast that!" Layla took a frantic step back, her heels clicking against the frozen asphalt. "I didn't even know it was recorded! Jade and I were talking in the concrete stairwell two days ago—"
"I don't care where you and Jade were talking!" Liam snapped, stepping closer, his jaw clenching so tight the muscle pulsed beneath his skin. "I already knew you cheated on me, Layla! I was there! I watched it happen! What hurts is listening to you tell him I was just a 'security blanket'."
Layla felt as if she'd been struck in the chest. "I didn't say that, Jade said that."
"And you didn't deny it!" Liam roared.
"Because I was trying to make her see reason!"
The third voice cut through the courtyard like a razor blade.
Both Layla and Liam jerked their heads toward the side stairs. Jade stood there, his dark winter coat pulled tight over his shoulders, his jaw set in a hard, dangerous line as he paced down the steps. He didn't look smug or triumphant; his dark eyes were burning with a sharp, defensive frustration.
"Liam, back off," Jade said, taking fast, decisive strides across the concrete until he stood between Liam and Layla. "Layla didn't leak that audio, and neither did I."
Liam let out a harsh, bitter laugh, towering back against him. "Right. Because you're so innocent in all of this, Jade? You've been trying to tear my relationship apart since the second we landed in Asia!"
"I don't care about your broken heart right now, Liam!" Jade shouted back, shoving his hands into his coat pockets, unflinching as he stood toe-to-toe with him. "Think for two seconds! Why would I record a conversation that makes me sound like a manipulative, arrogant asshole? Why would I want the entire university to hear me backing Layla into a corner?"
Layla stared at Jade, her brain struggling to assemble the pieces through the fog of shock. "Jade... if you didn't record it, who was in that stairwell?"
"Think about who's been hovering around me lately," Jade said, turning his head slightly to lock eyes with Layla. "Think about who has keys to the radio broadcast booth in the media wing."
Layla's eyes widened as the realization hit her like a bucket of ice water. "Kianna..."
"Bingo," Jade spat, a dark edge entering his tone.
"Kianna followed you when you came to talk to me in the stairwell," Jade explained, his voice dropping to a rapid, urgent pitch. "She recorded the whole argument on her phone. She's been sitting on it for two days, waiting for the exact moment you walked into the atrium to turn in your digital portfolio. She routed her phone through the radio station's auxiliary patch board."
"She did it to humiliate Layla," Liam realized, his anger suddenly wavering as the gross reality of the situation set in. "And to mess with you."
"She did it because she's spiteful," Jade corrected sharply, running a hand through his wind-blown dark hair. "She wanted to destroy Layla's reputation so I'd stop looking at her. But she didn't stop at the audio broadcast."
Layla's phone buzzed again in her hand. She looked down with numb fingers and tapped the campus forum thread.
The audio file was embedded at the top, but right below it was a second attachment, a flagged PDF file titled: Layla_CreativeWriting_Portfolio_Plagiarism_Report.pdf.
Layla's stomach plummeted into a bottomless pit. "My flash drive..."
"What about it?" Jade frowned, stepping closer to look down over her shoulder at her phone screen.
"When the audio started playing over the speakers, I panicked," Layla whispered, tears finally pooling in her eyes. "I dropped my flash drive on the linoleum floor right in front of the registration desk. I left it there when I ran out." She looked up at Jade, terror painted across her face. "Kianna was sitting on the central couch right next to the desk. She picked it up."
"She didn't just upload the audio to embarrass you," Jade realized, his eyes darkening as the full scope of the trap clicked into place. "She took your actual portfolio files from the flash drive, uploaded them under a public forum account, and submitted an automated plagiarism strike against your student ID."
"It's not plagiarized!" Layla choked out, tears spilling over her lashes and freezing against her hot cheeks. "I spent four months writing those chapters! I stayed up until 3:00 AM every night!"
"It doesn't matter if it's fake!" Jade said fiercely, reaching out and grabbing both of Layla's shoulders, his tall frame blocking out the cold wind as he forced her to look him in the eye. "The registrar's automated portal locks any portfolio that receives a flagged hash report from the campus network! If that file stays on the forum for another ten minutes, the system will automatically fail your mid-semester submission before the professor even opens it!"
The silence returned, heavy, bitter, and suffocating in the frozen air.
Liam looked from Layla's tear-streaked face to Jade's tight grip on her shoulders. The pain of the breakup hadn't vanished, but the disgust at what Kianna had just done superseded it.
"The radio control room," Liam said suddenly, his tone shifting from heartbreak to pure steel. "The forum server admin terminal is inside the campus radio station booth in the media wing."
Layla wiped her eyes with her sleeve, her voice trembling. "Liam... why are you helping me?"
Liam looked at her for a long, agonizing second, his eyes filled with a painful mix of regret and lingering care. "We're over, Layla. You broke my heart, and Sarah won't even look at you. But Kianna is using a personal vendetta to destroy your entire academic future. I'm not going to stand here and watch her ruin your life over a toxic school feud."
Jade let out a short, sharp breath, a cold, dangerous smirk touching his lips as he let go of Layla's shoulders. "Then we have about six minutes before the registrar locks the morning queue. Layla, give me your phone."
"Why?" Layla asked, handing it over automatically.
"Because Kianna thinks you're hiding in a bathroom crying," Jade said, his dark eyes flashing as his fingers flew across her screen. "We're going back inside, and we're taking that drive back."