He Didn’t Kidnap Me. Not Exactly novel Chapter 297

Chapter 297

{Daisy’s POV}

I didn’t move.

Not a finger, not a breath, nothing. My whole body had simply stopped functioning as a body and started functioning as a very confused statue, because nothing about what I was looking at made sense.

This was Roman Volkov’s base. The most secured, most feared, most criminally decorated location I’d ever

set foot in.

And the person standing in front of me was Archer.

Westbridge’s new hot stuff. The athlete. The guy from the bar with the easy smile who belonged, as far as I understood the universe, to school hallways and casual conversations and absolutely nowhere near this. Except there he was, in a bodyguard’s vest, the exact same one I’d seen on every other man patrolling these

halls tonight.

My gaze dragged down his body and back up, slow, disbelieving, like enough scrutiny might rearrange the facts into something that made sense.

It didn’t.

“Daisy?”

His voice cracked with a confusion that looked, infuriatingly, just as genuine as mine felt.

“What are you doing here?”

The nerve. The absolute nerve of that question, coming from him, when I was the one currently short- circuiting over the exact same thing,

“What do you mean, what am I doing here?” My voice finally found itself, sharp and unsteady. ‘What are you doing here?”

I reached out and grabbed his arm before I’d fully decided to, and pinched it, hard, because some deeply unkinged part of me needed to confirm he was actually real and not some stres–induced hallucination my brain had conjured to punish me further.

11:39 am PPP

Chapter 297

He winced. “Ow–what-

Real, then. Wonderful.

His gaze shifted past me, landing on Aria.

“What are the both of you doing here?”

“Why are you in those clothes?” Aria asked, ignoring his question entirely, her own tone sharpening into something suspicious.

Archer’s frown deepened. “I don’t owe you any answers.”

Dread dropped through me, cold and immediate.

I stared at the floor for a second, willing this not to be what it so obviously already was. Then I lifted my gaze back to his face, and the hope died completely.

Not another one. Not another close, casual, trusted person turning out to be exactly the wrong kind of

person.

But the pieces were already sliding into place, fast and undeniable. Why else would Archer – random, ordinary, school–hallway Archer – be standing inside the single most guarded, most feared criminal fortress in the city, dressed in their uniform, looking like he belonged here?

I took a step back.

“You’re just like them,” I said.

My hand found something on a nearby shelf, cold and heavy enough to double as a weapon, and I lifted it, aiming it at him the second he shifted forward.

“Don’t come close to me.”

The words came out sharper than I meant, though not nearly as sharp as the quieter ones that followed, muttered mostly to myself.

“Why does this happen to me? Why me?”

The hurt in it was real. I didn’t have the energy left to hide that part.

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Chapter 297.

Then I remembered Aria was still standing right there, and something in my chest snapped fully loose.

“Or was this your plan all along?” I turned the weapon toward her instead. “You teamed up with him. Lured

me here in some twisted tittle partnership. And now you’re just waiting to collect whatever reward you

were promised.”

Aria’s expression stayed plain. Confused, if anything, but I wasn’t in any mood to trust confused.

“Tell m

e climbed, wild with panic now. “You liar!”

S voice stayed level despite the weapon pointed her way. “I’m not in any plan with him. I’m

as you are that he’s here.”

ve you.”

ot with me, Daisy.” Archer’s voice cut in now, low, urgent. “I’m here on my own. I-”

A laugh tore out of me, bitter, nothing funny buried anywhere inside it. “So it’s a solo betrayal, then.

work with Roman Volkov.”

shook my head slowly.

“I should have known. The randomness was just so convenient.”

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