"I didn't…" Nolan started, hands up, backing toward the wall. "I swear, I didn't touch her inappropriately, I was only…"
The first slap landed before he finished the sentence.
"How dare you," Amara said, voice shaking now, all the control from a moment ago gone.
"She's lying, I swear I didn't touch her, I was only helping with her."
The second slap came harder than the first.
By then the noise from downstairs had started filtering up, a few students drawn by the shouting, then more, phones already lifting halfway out of pockets before curiosity won out over discretion.
Amara didn't seem to notice or care. She wrapped both arms around Justina, holding her the way she had at the police station weeks earlier, one hand already pulling her phone free to call Julian, voice tight and fast.
"You need to come now. Justina's fine, she's fine, but you need to come now."
