Chapter 45
N ash
“What the hell did you do?” It was a very open-ended question, and I’d learned never to answer my father until I knew what he was referencing.
“I do many things. What are you asking about?” I looked up as a snowflake landed on my cheek.
The dark, stormy sky announced that we were in for more snow and the temperature was going to drop.
More than once, I snarled at the pang of guilt, trying to tell me that it was my fault Princess was out on the trail in the first place.
I didn’t ask, force or otherwise, Vicky or Axel to do what they did.
I wasn’t responsible for their actions, but… .
“Don’t get fucking cute with me. You know what I’m talking about,” I walked further away from the front door of the school.
“No, I really don’t.” This seemed like such a redundant and stupid argument.
“I swear…what did you do to that kid at school?” I stood a little straighter. I’d done many things to many people, but I had a feeling he was talking about Axel.
“If you’d like this conversation to go faster, just tell me who you’re talking about and what you think I did.
I’m not in the mood to guess,” I said sarcastically.
If he were here, I would’ve taken a shot to the face for the comment.
There was a dramatic sigh on the other end of the line, and all I wanted was to get back to my lunch before it was ice cold.
“I’m talking about Axel Lindbergh,” he said, and I scanned the students walking around outside.
“What makes you think I did something to him?”
“Because I got a very unpleasant phone call from Dean Henry inquiring if I knew anything about Axel’s disappearance. I assured him that I knew nothing and didn’t understand why I would even be interested in this student. And guess what he told me?”
I swallowed, waiting for the punchline, where he said that he knew I had something to do with his death and that we were all going to be killed.
“He told me that he recently learned that Mr. Davies’ daughter had been attacked and that you seemed angered.
He thought that you might have been tempted to take matters into your own hands.
” I didn’t say anything to confirm or deny, but that was enough for my father to know that I had done something.
“Why am I the last to know something like this? When I should be the first person to know.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Why would I contact you about a matter that had to do with a friend of mine?”
“So, you and Ms. Davies are friends?”
“You know that she has been helping me keep my marks up to a satisfactory level. Why would this be news,” I asked, making sure to reiterate the lie that Ren used at Thanksgiving.
“You’ve never been interested in my friends before unless it concerned the other council family members.
Why is Ren special?” There was dead silence, and for a brief moment, I thought I might have caught him off guard.
Would he give me a useful piece of information?
“I care because our family and the council are now under scrutiny by an organization that we cannot defend against. Our name is going to be dragged through the mud, and no one told her father.” Interesting, so Ren never called her father about being assaulted.
Seems that relationship was more deteriorated than I even thought.
“I don’t know what happened, but I wasn’t happy. The Dean is right about that. I look out for all my friends and what he did to her….”
“Was none of your concern. Besides, it’s just sex.
The girl will get over it.” I pulled the phone away from my ear and stared at it.
Did he really say that to me? Then again, this was a man who trafficked people, killed anyone he wanted, and didn’t think twice about raping someone if it was for his stupid rituals.
It was ludicrous and did nothing other than give him free rein to do the most depraved things to other people to satisfy his dark desires.
There was no wool over my eyes any longer—hadn’t been for a long time.
“Of course, you’d think rape is just sex,” I growled, condescendingly. What I assumed was my father’s fist hitting his desk sounded on the other end of the line.
“Watch your mouth, son.”
Anger burned inside of me. I was tired of hiding in the shadows and wanted to end this now.
Every day that passed, I could taste his death a little more, but Ethan was right.
I didn’t hold enough respect to take over for long before I was voted or forced out.
If I was going to do this, I needed alliances and a way to hold power long-term.
“I didn’t do what you think I did, so there is nothing to tell. Now, if that’s all, I need to go,” I said as the gates opened and two black SUVs and one limo pulled in.
“This conversation is not over,” he said but hung up. I needed to avoid the house for at least five days to let him cool off.
“Whatever.” I shoved the phone into my pocket as I watched the vehicles stop, and a short, dark-haired woman and a much taller, lanky man stepped out.
I didn’t recognize them, but they marched for the front door, practically shoving students aside.
Today I felt like a nosey asshole and angled myself so that I walked in behind them.
As soon as the woman stepped through the door, she began to yell at the top of her lungs, and I swallowed hard.
“Axel var ?r du?”
I didn’t know Swedish, but I assumed this was Axel’s mother and she was looking for him.
She marched around looking in the store and then the cafeteria as she screamed the same sentence over and over.
I stood in the corner and watched as Dean Henry stormed out of the office, quietly speaking to the couple before they were whisked inside, all doors closing behind them.
A few of those standing around watching the show looked at me as if expecting me to yell, sorry, it was me, but I shrugged and walked away.
I didn’t even care if they found his mangled body floating in the river.
They wouldn’t find any of our DNA, and we had covered and cleaned up the trail we used to drop his body off.
We went so far as to burn the robes the guys used, charred the bark off the tree he was tied to, and then, for good measure, I sprayed the large slab of wood and all bindings with an agent to destroy any DNA left behind.
Even though it was my property and totally off the books, when it came to the Curators, you couldn’t assume they wouldn’t find you.
They always found you. I rubbed my bottom lip as I thought.
This could really be it. If they figured out it was my guys, I was going to say it was all me.
I thought I’d be more upset to know that I could die, and the cause was over stupid Axel and what he did to Princess, but I wasn’t. I’d do it again just for fun.
I guess I’ll find out soon enough.
I marched into the cafeteria and grabbed two cheese burgers, fries, and fresh cookies—all things I normally avoided to stay competition-ready. I flopped down beside Theo and Blake and got the identical confused expression as they noticed what I was eating. I refused to die on an empty stomach.
MARCH 9 – THURSDAY 12:35 PM
Ren
“Shit, shit, shit!” I swore as I looked at my ankle. It didn’t seem broken, but it hurt like hell.
I should’ve known something was going to happen.
Everything was chugging along way too perfectly.
I’d packed up nice and early and was on the trail enjoying the birds that Blake would love and my granola bar when I stepped on a root under the snow and lurched forward.
The weight of the heavy pack sent me flying off the trail, landing on my ankle at an awkward angle before I ended up on my ass in the snow.
There was a bite of pain when I moved it around in a circle, and I sucked in a deep breath.
I looked back up at the trail and knew I had to keep going.
I’d just have to baby it the rest of the way to camp.
Then, I could pull out my medical bag and wrap the ankle.
I was ninety-five percent sure it was sprained.
Reaching around, I grabbed the walking stick I’d attached to my pack that also doubled as a weapon with a sharp metal point.
It took a minute, but I managed to get it pulled free from the odd position and laid it down before untying my boot, only to tie the top around my ankle tighter for better support.
“Damn, that hurts.”
This was going to add time to my walk, and I’d only packed enough rations for 1-2 extra days just in case I’d calculated wrong.
I bit my lip and winced as I slowly pushed myself up and used the stick as best as I could to support my right leg.
It was really taking a beating lately between Axel and now this.
The short rise back up to the path felt like I was climbing Everest, which wasn’t a good sign, but there was no quit in me.
Yet you left the school.
The voice in the back of my head chirped me like a bad backseat driver. I ignored the voice. I wasn’t going to start arguing with myself, nor was I going to feel guilty about leaving a place that had tried to break my spirit. It was called self-preservation.
But you left Myles and Blake behind.
I growled at nothing and no one as I reached the trail, just trying to shut off my inner monologue.
“I don’t need this shit right now, stay focused.” I needed to think of something else, anything else. I would even argue with Theo over whether living forever would be terrible or if pineapple belonged on pizza.
It totally doesn’t. Pineapple on pizza, how ridiculous. Next someone would want orange slices.