Badass in Disguise (Shadow) novel Chapter 253

Chapter 253

Captain grudgingly stepped aside, letting Elhan enter my apartment. I was sitting on the couch next to Silas, pointing at something on his laptop screen, completely focused on explaining a complex algoritism.

“So this recursive function needs to terminate properly,” I was saying. “Otherwise you’ll end up with stack overflow. See the base case here? That’s your exit condition.”

Silas nodded, his dark brows furrowed in concentration. “Got it. And this parameter passes by reference, not value.”

“Exactly.” I tapped the screen. “That’s why changes persist outside the function scope.”

I was vaguely aware of Ethan standing awkwardly by the door, but I didn’t acknowledge him. He moved to an armchair across from us and sat down, his expression unreadable. For fifteen minutes, he sat there silently while I continued explaining advanced data structures to Silas.

“That covers the first three topics,” I finally said to Silas “Take some time to digest those. Try implementing a binary search tree with the methods we discussed.”

Only then did I look up at Ethan. “Hey,” I said casually. “You’re just in time for dinner.”

Ethan’s jaw tightened slightly, but his voice remained neutral. “Seems I am.”

“This is Silas,” I said, gesturing to my student. “He’s catching up

last semester’s material. Silas, this is Ethan.”

Ethan gave Silas a once–over, his green eyes revealing nothing. “Hmm,”

was his only response.

The living room fell into silence. The only sounds were Captain batting his yarn ball around and Silas’s fingers typing rapidly on the keyboard.

I could feel Ethan expecting me to chat with him after the introduction, but I turned my attention back to Silas instead. I couldn’t help but stare at his face, which bore an uncanny resemblance to Dusk. Lost in thought, I studied his features, memories flooding back.

“I don’t understand this part, Silas said, pointing at something on the screen.

1 immediately snapped back to attention, leaning closer to explain the concept in detail.

The temperature had warmed up enough that I’d switched to a short–sleeved t–shirt, revealing my arms. As I reached for my water glass, I noticed Ethan’s gaze fixed on my right forearm, where a jagged scar ran for about six inches along my skin.

“It scarred,” he said quietly.

I glanced down at my arm, following his gaze to the knife wound I’d received weeks ago. “Yeah,” I replied, unbothered. Then I looked pointedly at his arm. “What about yours?”

Ethan rolled up his sleeve, revealing an identical scor in almost the same location. I studied it for a moment, then returned to helping Silas without further comment.

“I just bought a new car,” I mentioned during a lull in the tutoring. “Still using temporary plates for now.

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Chapter 253

Ethan perked up. “What kind of plates would you prefer? I could help expedite the process.”

“Whatever works,” I shrugged.

“What car did you get? Ethan asked.

“Black Maybach.” I replied.

Ethan’s fingers paused mid–motion as he was adjusting his sleeve cuff. He looked at me with newfound interest, a smile forming on his lips. Whether coincidence or not, Ethan seemed pleased.

At dinner, Ethan was the perfect gentleman, ladling soup into my bowl and offering the best cuts of meat. Silas remained silent, focusing only on his food, He ate efficiently, not looking up or participating in any conversation.

After dinner, as Silas excused himself to use the bathroom, Ethan leaned across the table toward me.

“Is this going to be a regular thing?” he asked, nodding toward Silas’s empty chair.

“What?” I raised an eyebrow.

The tutoring.” Ethan’s eyes narrowed slightly. “He’s going to fall for you, you know. They always do.”

“You. Him. The tutoring.”

I scoffed. “Don’t be ridiculous. He needs help with his coursework, that’s all.”

“Right,” Ethan said, unconvinced. “Because men spend hours alone with beautiful women for purely a

academic reasons.”

I rolled my eyes. “Jealousy doesn’t suit you,

Ethan

Before he could respond, Silas returned, and I led him back to the living room to continue our lesson. Ethan, recognizing his presence was superfluous, made a graceful exit.

A few days later, I had just finished my morning coffee when my phone started buzzing non–stop. Opening it, I found dozens of notifications from social media platforms and messaging apps. Someone had posted a video of me at Mike’s Auto Service, deliberately ramming my Koenigsegg One:1 into a beat–up Chevy Cruze. The footage was grainy and shot from an awkward angle, but there was no mistaking the distinctive silhouette of my hypercar or me behind the wheel.

Walking across campus that morning felt like being in a fishbowl. Students would look at their phones, then up at me, whispering to each other as I passed. Some quickly stepped out of my way, as if worried I might suddenly plow them down too.

“Have you seen the video?”

“Why would she do something like that?”

“There must

the m

more to the story.”

My phone continued vibrating in my pocket. The video had gone viral, first on Princeton’s student forum, then spreading to neighboring schools‘ social media accounts. The hashtag #ladeMorganCarCrash was apparently trending,

Local news outlets had picked up the story, though the major New York media houses were treading carefully. They were well aware of my connections to Ethan Haxton and Chris Jensen, making them hesitant to run potentially defamatory stories without solid confirmation.

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Chapter 253

“Miss Morgan,” Philip Thornton said gravely, swiveling his mentor toward me as I sat across from his desk. “I’m sure you’ve seen this by

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