2. Thea
2
Thea
T his was my first time in Scotland, and I was not impressed so far. I knew Scotland was famous for being wet, but it hadn’t stopped raining since the plane landed.
Torrance ignored my chattering teeth and turned the radio up louder. He seemed immune to the miserable weather. Most likely because he was the spawn of Satan and hellfire ran in his veins.
But I decided not to share that.
Pissing Torrance off never ended well.
My father’s enforcer had kept his distance since we left home, barely saying a word to me. It wasn’t like him. He usually took great delight in tormenting me. Psychological torture was his forte: a few carefully chosen words could inflict more damage than a knife, or so it felt sometimes.
As the miles ticked by and the mountains grew taller, my thoughts wandered.
Dad had insisted I learn all there was to know about my target: Cassian Forsyth. Unsurprisingly, given who Cassian’s father was, there was a lot of information online.
Cassian Forsyth was a bad boy, apparently. Caught in a sex club snorting coke when he was just shy of 18, while still a student at some exclusive prep school in Mayfair. The debacle had been an enormous scandal. It made headlines around the world, with the tabloids frothing at the mouth about the debauched lifestyle of a government advisor’s son. Not long after the story leaked, Cassian disappeared. Probably sent to some expensive rehab.
From what I’d read, Cassian was supposed to attend Cambridge University, like his father and grandfather before him. Instead, he came here, to Abernethy College, far away from all the temptations a large university like Cambridge offered.
By the time we arrived at the college, there was a long line of luxurious cars snaking out of the circular drop-off zone. Porters hustled around, carrying luggage into the various buildings.
Abernethy College looked more like a fortress than any college I’d ever seen. A large central grey building with four identical towers on each corner, each one topped with a pale spire, sat nestled in the shadow of the surrounding mountains. To the left, a glass walkway linked the main building to a more modern structure, and beyond that, I could see further buildings.
It was all very overwhelming. And quite unlike anywhere I was used to.
I had no idea where I was supposed to go, but hopefully, someone would tell me when we reached the end of the line.
The rain had finally turned from a seamless downpour into a fine drizzle. Or mizzle, as it was called. Still depressing as hell, but less likely to soak me in 2.5 seconds.
A uniformed man tapped on Torrance’s window and he pressed a button to open it.
“Name?” the man asked.
“Thea Ricci,” Torrance grunted before handing over some paperwork. The man scanned it and then passed him a laminated lanyard and a folder.
“One of the student guides will show you to your room, Miss Ricci. Our porters will assist with your luggage. All the information you need is in the welcome pack. Have a nice day!”
He stepped back and waved us forward. Torrance shoved the info pack and lanyard at me and moved on to the unloading area. The porter who swaggered up soon lost his smile when Torrance growled at him for stepping too close to the car. Torrance muttered an insult in Italian and the poor man shuddered.
I didn’t bother smiling. What was the point? After the long flight and car drive, I was all out of sunny smiles.
The porter hefted my small suitcase and the holdall onto a luggage trolley. He started to walk away, and I was just about to follow him when Torrance grabbed my arm roughly.
“Don’t fuck this up, Thea,” he hissed in a low voice. “I’ll be watching you.”
“Oh? Are you taking an extended vacation here?” I asked. “I hear the whiskey distilleries are top-notch, and there are some lovely photogenic castles. A few nice landscape shots will do wonders for your social media accounts.”
Torrance ground his teeth in annoyance. A non-existent sense of humor was just one of his many personality defects.
“I’ll be tracking your progress. That’s all you need to know.”
Fuck . He must have installed spyware on the new phone and laptop my father magnanimously gave me. There went my privacy. At least until I could buy a new phone and laptop.
“Have a safe flight back,” I said with a saccharine-sweet smile. “It would be awful if the plane crashed.”
He clenched his fists and growled, but there was fuck-all he could do to beat the sass out of me. Not here, surrounded by students, parents, and staff. This place may be the go-to college of choice for kids with checkered pasts, but I doubted it would turn a blind eye to a guardian beating a student to death in front of the main entrance.
Still, if I was really lucky, Torrance would lose his shit and suffer a fatal brain embolism. A girl could dream.
A tall blond guy wearing a blazer and badge marking him as a student guide approached us as I picked up my backpack. He blatantly checked me out before smiling flirtatiously.
“I’m Landon Rothmore. You must be Thea Ricci?”
“Yep.” I smiled back awkwardly, aware that Torrance was still hovering like a bad smell.
Landon’s gaze flicked over Torrance briefly, but he didn’t seem intimidated by my father’s enforcer. Which was a surprise. Most people shit themselves when Torrance glared at them. Usually for good reason.
“If you’re ready to say goodbye to your, um, father, I’ll show you to your room.”
I snorted and turned to Torrance with a grin, knowing full well he’d be pissed at someone assuming I was his daughter. “Bye, Papa !”
Seeing the way he fought to contain his temper lifted my mood considerably, and a faint smile graced my lips as the golden boy led me toward the tower to the left of the main building.
Then I heard Torrance shout, “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure Verity is well taken care of!”
The blood froze in my veins, and for a moment, I contemplated pulling the knife I kept in a hidden sheath inside my jacket. A bullseye between the eyes and he’d be gone forever. Sure, I’d be arrested for murder, but it would be worth it.
Killing Torrance wouldn’t get rid of my father, though.
So I carried on walking and tried not to imagine all the horrible ways Torrance could hurt my defenseless sister.
My blond tour guide was ridiculously hot. The problem was, he knew he was hot. I wished I could say that was a massive turn off, but the flirty comments and appreciative looks were doing all kinds of unwelcome things to my equilibrium.
I wasn’t here to hook up with fuckboys like Landon Rothmore, even if his sexy Scottish accent made my toes curl. My father had made it very clear what he expected from me. And it didn’t involve falling into bed with the first pretty guy who smiled at me like I was a tasty snack.
Landon chatted cheerfully as he pointed out where the admin department was.
“So where are you from, Thea?”
“Europe.” Landon didn’t need to know my life story, even if he was the cutest boy I’d ever clapped eyes on.
“Whereabouts?”
I peered at the map I’d pulled from the welcome pack and feigned deafness. Landon’s smile faded, but he continued to tell me about the various parts of the college.
We walked along the glass walkway.
“The cafeteria is open from 7 AM until 9 PM. The food here is decent enough.”
I stared around at the huge, bright room as students chattered, ate, and drank beverages. Several double doors along the glass wall led to an outdoor seating area populated with tables and chairs.
Various small groups wandered through, following student guides. I inhaled the scent of fried food and fresh coffee and suppressed a moan of appreciation. It had been ages since my last cup of coffee. I was well overdue a caffeine hit.
We moved on. Landon showed me the fitness center, which I’d definitely be using, the art studios, a science block, and several other classrooms. So far, so good.
The college was small but well appointed, a curious mix of old and new. According to Landon’s very brief history lesson, the main building was originally a clan stronghold in the 1700s, but the Abernethys had mostly been wiped out at the Battle of Culloden. The castle became a school in the early 1900s, and by the 1950s, had evolved into an exclusive college for the entitled offspring of wealthy people.
We climbed up to the top of the West Tower, my new home for the duration of my stay.
“There’s a party on Friday if you want to get to know a few people.” Landon winked at me as we reached my room. I tried to ignore the way his shirt rode up, revealing a sliver of golden skin when he rested his hands above the door frame. He was so much taller than me; I had to crane my neck when I looked up.
“I’ll think about it,” I replied in a monotone.
“It’s in our apartment. The penthouse at the top of North Tower.” He grinned. “You can meet Cassian and Kyril, and maybe Milo if he feels like being sociable.”
My ears pricked up as I used the keycard to open my door. The light turned green, and the door swung open.
“Will there be many people there?” I asked, not wanting to sound too eager. It would be an opportunity to observe Cassian while he was relaxed and, hopefully, drunk. I’d rather get a sense of who he was before making any kind of approach.
My first introduction to Cassian Forsyth had to feel natural. If he was in any way suspicious of me, I’d never get close enough to do what I needed to do.
“A few, yeah. Only the best people get invited to our parties.” He winked at me again. This guy was a full-on flirt. He probably treated fucking as an Olympic sport.
My eyes drifted lower despite my best intentions, lingering on the bulge between his thighs. When I looked up, he grinned at me knowingly.
I fought back a blush and looked away. Being a virgin did not make me innocent. I’d watched porn. I knew what sex was. And I also knew it wasn’t for me.
There was no way I could have a relationship with anyone while my sadistic father controlled every aspect of my life.
“Um, thanks for showing me to my room.” I shuffled on the spot awkwardly, staring past Landon. “I guess, um, I better sort my stuff out.”
“You’re welcome, hot stuff.” He stepped closer, ignoring my personal boundaries. I briefly contemplated putting him on his ass, but decided I didn’t mind him being so close.
For one thing, he smelled… divine . And for another, he was so damned pretty it broke my brain. I was so fucked.
“So, Thea,” he said in a voice soaked with sexual promise. My breathing hitched in my chest and for a moment, I forgot my damned name. “If you need anything, anything at all, come find me, yeah?”
He reached out and rubbed his thumb across my lower lip. The tension stretched between us as his pretty green eyes drilled into mine while he waited for a reply.
I blinked and tried to ignore the fact my panties had just spontaneously combusted.
“Um, thanks?” I cringed at my lame reply. Some more worldly wise girl would have swooned, flirted a little, and, more likely, thrown herself at this sexy hunk of burning love. But not me.
I had no game. Flirting was a foreign language I barely understood and wasn’t willing to learn.
Landon snorted. “Don’t act too excited, hot stuff,” he chuckled before edging out the door. A nasally female voice called his name and almost immediately, his attention diverted from me to her.
“Landon! What are you doing up here, babe?”
“Showing a new student around.” He stepped away, and I quickly shut the door in his wake.
With a barrier between us, some of the tension left me. I scanned my room, noting the adjoining bathroom, and collapsed on the bed. My suitcase was already here. I should probably unpack and read the welcome information, but first, I needed a nap.