Forty-Seven
Dominic
S tella leaned against the bathroom wall in her long, red dress, her tits pushed up to the max. Vincent closed and locked the door behind us as I stopped in front of her.
“Speak.”
“Well, nice to see you too,” she said, pouting at me.
I snatched her thin arm and shook her. “I don’t have time for your shit, bitch. I said speak.”
I’d left Bianca with Levin. I knew shit was going to go down, and I didn’t want him to be outnumbered by the lords.
I had to take my chances and bring Vincent with me in case I was ambushed.
It hadn’t slipped past me this entire thing could be a trap.
At least Levin was in a place with witnesses.
The lords wouldn’t strike with so many people around.
Stella visibly swallowed. “I need your help.”
“Get fucked.” I dropped her arm and turned to leave.
“Wait. Please. I have information on Hail’s plans for Bianca. I just need you to promise to protect me from them in exchange. If things go wrong, I need to be safe.”
I paused and shot Vincent a look. He lifted a dark brow at me.
Turning to her, I spoke, “What things could go wrong?”
She fidgeted, twisting her fingers together. “I don’t know. I-I thought Hail would want me once Bianca left him for you. But I overheard his plans. He doesn’t want me. He still wants her. He’s going to take her, marry her, and then he’s going to kill her.”
I glared at her, sizing her up. Stella Monroe was a super cunt, but even super cunts had a purpose.
“Why save Bianca?”
“I don’t give a shit about Bianca. I care about me.
” She composed herself and stared me down.
“I care that he humiliated me, and not just once. First, he got engaged behind my back, and then he flaunted her around while keeping me on the side, making promises he didn’t intend to keep.
Then, when she left him, he acted like we had a chance again.
But there’s no chance for us. Not now. Not after he marries her.
She’ll have it all until he kills her. Plus, I really don’t think she’s all that terrible, even if I hate her. ”
“So it’s about you.”
“I’ve seen the monster he is. Even if he did marry me someday, he’d end up killing me like he’s going to do to her.
My daddy has a lot of money just like her stepdad does.
We’re both easy targets. Marry the daughter.
Kill the father. Daughter inherits everything.
Kill the daughter. I-I just hoped I was different, you know? ”
I nodded. Seemed about right.
“I’ll keep you safe until graduation. Past that, you’re on your own.”
“Dom—” Vincent snarled.
I held my hand up to silence him.
“My protection comes with strings. First, you do whatever the fuck we tell you to do. Second, if you don’t do what you’re told, you die.
Third, if you go behind our backs and betray us, set us up, or fuck with anything that belongs to us, you die.
If you lie to us, you die. If you fuck a lord again, you die.
And finally, if you don’t kiss my queen’s ass with every step she takes, you die. Got it?”
She hesitated for a moment before nodding her head. “I understand.”
“Good. We have a deal. Now tell me what you know.”
She blew out a shaky breath. “I was hiding in Hail’s closet, wanting to surprise him tonight before the dance.
H-he was late, but when he came into his room, he wasn’t alone.
He had the lords with him.” She licked her lips before continuing, “The plan is to get Bianca alone and snatch her. They have a priest waiting outside town at an old warehouse on the ridge. You know, that old, abandoned factory everyone says is haunted?”
I nodded, crossing my arms over my chest as I watched her. Vincent leaned against the wall, not looking interested, but I knew he was absorbing everything she said.
“Hail is going to marry her there tonight, whether she wants to or not. Once it’s over, he plans on murdering her stepfather after getting him to sign whatever plan they have in the works and leaving Bianca whatever assets he has.
I don’t know the details of any of that, though.
But I think you need to look into it because a man like David D’Angelou giving up everything he has is sketch, you know? ”
“That it?” I grunted, silently agreeing with her.
“They’re going to create a distraction at the dance. Drake and Tate are supposed to grab her. Fallon is going to drive them. He should be waiting at the gates with the car right now. He has a black Lexus sedan. Hail already left to get things ready.”
“Are you the fucking distraction?” Vincent demanded, stepping forward, his teeth bared.
“N-No! I’m not. I swear it. I just wanted to tell you guys because I’m done with Hail after tonight, and he’s going to be so mad. I needed the protection—”
I shoved her against the wall and tightened my hand around her throat.
“You sure you’re not lying? I’ll kill you right now and put your face in the toilet with your ass up for the next fucker to find.”
“T-there’s more,” she rasped, clawing at my arm.
I cocked my head at her, noting the fear on her face. “Tell me.”
“F-Fallon. H-He loves B-Bia-Bianca. T-T-They met in the science building. Closet. I’m s-sure they had sex. His h-hair was-was a mess when he came out.”
I loosened my grip on her throat as he spoke. So many emotions crashed through my body. I’d had my suspicions, but if what Stella was saying was true. . .
“I confronted him,” she hurried on. “He begged me not to tell when I threatened to go to Hail about it. Fallon said he’d been seeing her since the party at the dip. He said they broke up though, and it was over.”
Bile burned my throat. Bianca had lied to me. She swore she hadn’t been with a lord. Deep down, I knew all along it was a fucking lie. Hearing it for myself only made the sickness and fury build within me.
I tightened my grip so Stella would remember the moment. She let out a garbled gasp, her nails scratching against my wrist.
“Remember this moment,” I said softly. “Remember I’ll fucking finish this if I find out you wronged me or lied to me.”
When I released her, she fell to the floor, gasping and coughing as she clutched at her throat, tears on her face.
“Let’s go,” I said to Vincent.
He cast a final look to the bitch on the floor before unlocking the door and striding out.
My heart ached in a way I’d never felt before. I knew it. God help me, I knew it was a lord that Bianca had been with. Fallon was the one she’d fallen for. Fallon had touched her. Kissed her. Fucked her .
Fallon was the guy in the perfect position to lure her away from us, and he would die for it.
“What about our plan? Saving her?” Vincent’s hands shook, his dark eyes glistening.
I knew he was mad, but I knew he was hurting more than he was angry. So was I.
“Things change,” was all I said as we left the bathroom.