Chapter 42 #4
“Dylan did it as soon as she confessed. They’re on their way,” he said.
His attention shifted to Julian and Roman.
“We already snipped out the part of the recording where Cherry and Violet talked about the Selection stuff. There’ll be a slight pause, but when the police or lawyers ask, we’ll say it was a phone glitch, and that the big secret was that Roman and Calista were discussing marriage.
We also cut out all the footage leading up to the confession, where Violet mentioned the Dionysus Club.
And… don’t worry. We aren’t going to tell anyone the truth about that, in return for you helping us find Cal’s killer. ”
Julian nodded curtly. “Thank you.”
Cherry crumpled to the stage floor, tears silently streaming down her face. This time, I knew they were real.
Julian moved closer to me, squeezing my right hand in his. “I know you didn’t mean any of that stuff about ordering her to be killed,” he murmured against my ear. “But she believed every word. You scared the absolute shit out of her.”
“Yeah. And I didn’t need to torture her,” I whispered back, lifting a brow.
“At least… not physically. She’s going to spend the rest of her life in prison, watching the world move forward without her, and that’ll be absolute torture for her.
Whenever she’s allowed to watch a movie or TV show, she’ll spend the whole time picturing the life she could’ve had if she just stuck to acting instead of murdering. ”
In the distance, sirens wailed, growing louder.
“We should go,” Julian said quietly, glancing toward the auditorium entrance. “Before the police get here. If we get stuck answering their questions all night, someone will eventually notice you’re not at the estate.”
Roman nodded. “I'll stay. Deal with the police, give a statement.” His eyes were still fixed on Cherry's crumpled form, but they briefly flicked over to me. “They’ll want to get a statement from you at some stage, seeing as you’re the one she confessed everything to, but we can figure that out later.”
I hugged Jeremiah, Dylan, and Ginny goodbye, quietly thanking them for their help. Then Julian and I left through the side entrance we'd used to get in.
The adrenaline that had been keeping me upright during the confrontation was starting to crash, and exhaustion had settled into my bones like lead. Julian kept his arm around my waist as we walked to his car, and I leaned into him, grateful for the support.
Our drive back to the estate was silent at first. I stared out the window, watching the dark landscape blur past, my mind replaying Cherry's confession over and over. The jealousy. The rage. The casual way she'd described luring Cal to her death.
My eyes burned, but I refused to cry. Not yet.
I turned to Julian. “What’s going to happen next?” I asked.
“Cherry will go to trial, and then she’ll be found guilty and rot in prison, just like you wanted.” He glanced at me. “That is what you wanted, isn’t it?”
“I meant with my mother. As soon as the police tell her about Cherry’s arrest, she’ll want to know why I’m not calling her or coming home to see her. How do we deal with that?”
“Violet… the Club council aren’t total monsters. Selection girls can be granted compassionate leave during major family crises. And I think this would qualify.”
My shoulders sagged with relief. “Oh.”
“There are protocols, of course. You can’t reveal the truth about where you’ve been or what you’ve been doing,” he went on. “But you are still allowed to leave under those special circumstances.”
“Okay.”
He rubbed his jaw as we waited at a stop sign. “What we should be worrying about now is whether the Council will realize I sneaked you off the estate tonight.”
“You think it’ll be a problem?”
“Probably not. We’ve only been gone for two hours,” he said. “But I worry about you constantly, so it's on my mind whether I like it or not.”
A ghost of a smile tugged at my lips. “Even if someone did happen to notice that I wasn’t in my room tonight, we can just say we were doing a late-night study session in the estate library.”
“True.”
Julian finally pulled into the estate grounds, the Dionysus mansion looming ahead in the darkness. He parked and came around to open my door. After ducking through an unguarded staff entrance, we walked through the quiet corridors toward my suite, carefully avoiding the guard rotations.
I was already thinking about collapsing into bed, maybe letting myself finally break down now that it was over, when Julian opened my door.
We both froze.
There was a man in my suite.
He stood by the window, hands clasped behind his back, looking out over the grounds. Tall, broad-shouldered, with salt-and-pepper hair that caught the lamplight. He wore a perfectly tailored suit that looked like it probably cost more than most people's cars.
I felt Julian go rigid beside me. “Fuck,” he muttered under his breath.
The man turned, and I recognized him immediately.
I'd seen him at the Eleusinian ritual, sitting at the center of the Council.
He had the same sharp jawline as Julian, and the same piercing blue eyes too, though these were colder.
Calculating. There was something about him that radiated authority; the kind of power that didn't need to be stated because it was simply understood.
His gaze swept over me, assessing. Not hostile, but not warm either. Just... evaluating, like I was a problem to be solved.
“Miss Calloway.” His voice was cultured, controlled. “We've seen each other before, but I don't think we've been officially introduced.” He took a step forward, extending his hand. “I'm August Valcourt. Julian's father.”