He Didn’t Kidnap Me. Not Exactly novel Chapter 149

Chapter 149

[Daisy’s POV)

My doom had arrived.

I know people tend to exaggerate when describing bad situanons, but I genuinely felt qualified to use the word.

Because somehow, through a chain of events that I would later blame on fate, poor decision-making, and possibly the universe having a personal grudge against me, I had ended up standing between Archer and DeLuca while Nathan marched toward us looking like he was seconds away from declaring war.

People had already started noticing.

They’d been noticing since Archer stopped me. Then DeLuca showed up. Now Nathan was approaching, and whatever curiosity students had before was

rapidly turning into full-blown interest. Conversations nearby were slowing. More heads were turning. A few phones had already appeared.

Wonderful.

Exactly the kind of attention I had spent days trying to avoid.

Nathan kept coming.

His expression hadn’t softened once.

If anything, he looked angrier the closer he got.

My stomach tightened.

This was going to be bad.

Really bad.

Then, just before he reached us, someone stepped directly into his path.

Nathan stopped so abruptly that even I blinked.

The man standing before him looked older, broad-shouldered, and important in the way people only become after years of successfully telling athletes what

to do. Whatever he said wasn’t loud enough for me to hear, but it immediately redirected Nathan’s attention.

Nathan’s gaze snapped toward him.

Then toward us.

Then toward DeLuca.

The glare he sent our way promised future problems.

Large future problems.

The man spoke again.

Nathan clenched his jaw.

For a moment I genuinely thought he might ignore him.

Instead, he moved.

Not happily.

Not willingly.

But he moved.

Every few steps he looked back.

Every glance felt like a promise that this wasn’t over.

Only after he disappeared into the crowd did my lungs remember how breathing worked.

Okay.

One disaster down.

Only two remaining.

I slowly turned back toward Archer and DeLuca.

Unfortunately, neither seemed interested in making my life easier.

Archer was the first to speak.

“Who are you exactly?”

DeLuca barely reacted.

“That doesn’t matter to you.”

His voice remained calm, but there was something underneath it that immediately made me nervous.

“All that matters is you taking the clue and bouncing when you’re supposed to.”

My eyes widened.

Excuse me?

Archer’s brows rose.

“I don’t take orders from you.”

“Well,” DeLuca replied, “you should.”

Actually stared.

Because what was happening?

The same DeLuca who had spent the past several days sting like speaking to me required government authorization was suddenly holding entire

conversations.

Arguments, even.

And he wasn’t finished.

“You should do it fast too,” he added.

His gaze remained fixed on Archer.

“Before things get bad for you.”

That was it.

My patience snapped.

I shoved his arm.

Not hard.

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