Vicious Secret: A Dark College Romance

Chapter 1

Three Years Ago…

Who is she?

I squint at the grainy black and white screen, wanting to see the young woman better. Her brows snap together right before she walks up to my target, Benjamin McKenzie, and pokes him in the chest. Despite the fact that I was sent to watch him, my gaze narrows on her.

“You’re not giving up this opportunity for me.” She jabs her finger in his sternum one more time with him towering over her. Then the girl plants her hands on her jean-clad hips and glares up at him. Feisty little thing. “This scholarship is too important to throw away. I mean it.”

He reaches out to cup her cheek. “I don’t know what I’d do if anything happened to you,” he whispers. “You’re everything to me, Lilah.”

Benjamin has a weakness. This girl could get him killed.

If the Obsidian Order ever found out about her…

I exhale, and the noise is lost in the stillness of the empty room. Soon, this part of his life—and this girl—will be gone and forgotten, similar to the abandoned house I’m in. The dingy, off-white paint is peeling in places, and the glass has cracks throughout, similar to a spider’s web. A death trap.

I’ve lived in one my entire life, except mine was opulent.

Although the girl rolls her eyes, her face softens. “Nothing’s going to happen to me. You’re the one who taught me to defend myself. Remember?”

Benjamin shakes his head. “It’s not enough. Come with me. I’ll find a way to?—”

“To what, Ben? To hide me in your dorm room for the next couple of years? Listen, I know you’re good with computers and all, but even that’s a stretch for you.” She pauses, and her gaze hardens with resolution. “You know I can’t leave the littles.”

My target goes rigid, the tautness of his muscles visible even through the tiny camera lens. “I know,” he whispers.

She pulls away from him with a wry smile and smooths out her faded blue tank top. “If that jerk downstairs tries anything, I’ll kick his ass. End of story.”

I run my gaze over her body. She’s petite with slightly rounded hips, little muscle tone, and barely over five feet in height. If she’s a threat, then I’m the fucking Tooth Fairy.

Benjamin grabs her shoulders and lightly shakes her. Her shocked expression quickly morphs into one of wariness, but it’s nothing compared to the desperate energy rolling off of him.

“Listen to me,” he says. “Frank is stupid, but he’s stronger than you.”

She jerks from his hold, causing her long hair to sway along her back. “Then I’ll be faster.”

“Damn it, Delilah!”

His shout is so loud I swear I hear it from across the street, as well as through the speakers of my laptop. He mutters to himself, and I catch him repeating her name. A frown tugs at my mouth.

I hope that’s not her real name. If so, Benjamin really should leave her behind.

He rakes a hand through his hair. “Don’t be so na?ve. You know what Frank’s going to do to you the second I walk out that door tomorrow morning.”

“I won’t let it happen.” Her nostrils flare with disgust before her gaze narrows. I wish I knew what color her eyes are. “No one’s going to hurt me or the girls.”

“There’s no way you can avoid him for the next three years,” Benjamin says. “Don’t be stupid.”

Her bottom lip trembles, bringing my attention to her lush mouth. She can’t be more than fifteen, maybe sixteen, yet she looks like a full-grown woman. It’s easy to see why she’d attract attention, unwanted or not.

“Don’t talk to me like that,” Delilah says, her voice steady in spite of the heated exchange. “If Frank touches me or Emily or Sandra, I’ll kill him.”

Benjamin folds his arms. “I should kill him. Then I wouldn’t have to worry about you guys.”

That’s what I would do, but I’ve been trained for this. You’ll learn soon enough, recruit.

Delilah sighs. “No, Ben. It has to be self-defense, or you’ll end up in prison. Now who’s being stupid?” She lifts her chin. “I’m not arguing with you anymore. When you’re done being pissed at me, come and say goodbye.”

My target flinches when she slams the door behind her. I scoff. Whoever this girl is, she has Benjamin by the balls.

I switch to the camera located in Delilah’s room. It’s the same as Benjamin’s, with only a bed, a nightstand, and very few personal effects or decorations anywhere.

If you ignore her beauty.

I’ve grown up around money and women who know how to use it to their advantage. Clothes, cosmetics, and medical enhancements. If it can be bought, I’ve seen it done. Delilah’s attractiveness doesn’t faze me.

The fact that she’s important to my target is the only reason I allow myself to watch her for a few minutes. She walks over to the bed and sinks onto a mattress covered with a threadbare blanket. Then she grabs a snow globe with a castle inside, running her fingers over the smooth glass.

Her brow furrows as she stares at the object, and she purses her lips. I watch her face, intrigued by how expressive it is. She doesn’t try to hide her emotions from showing. Such a liability.

I click the button to shift back to Benjamin’s room. When the screen displays an empty space, I quickly run through the different cameras to locate him. The hallway, stairwell, and the living room show no signs of my target.

My lips thin at his sudden disappearance, but the second my laptop brings up the feed from the kitchen, my pulse kickstarts. Benjamin stands in the doorway with his hands fisted at his sides. Frank Goldstein, his foster parent, reaches into the refrigerator for a beer and straightens, twisting off the bottle cap and taking a long drink.

“What the hell do you want?” he asks, his words slurred.

Benjamin steps further into the kitchen and over the debris scattered across the uneven linoleum floor. The countertops are littered with empty beer cans, crumpled snack bags, and the cabinets hang at an angle, about to fall off. My disgust is nothing more than a passing thought as my target’s voice fills my ears. There’s a resolute thread to his tone that shoots adrenaline into my blood.

“You know why I’m here,” he says.

Frank waves a hand. “Your little girlfriend?” When Benjamin nods, the older man grins. “What about her?”

“Stay away from her and the others.”

The middle-aged man snorts. “Or what?”

Benjamin takes a menacing step forward, and I jump to my feet. Although my orders were only to watch the bastard son of the late Harold McKenzie, I’m pretty fucking sure the founding families don’t want him to die.

He won’t on my watch.

If he dies, I’ll have signed my own death warrant.

I pull up my hoodie to obscure my features before I race down the rickety stairwell, out the back door, and across the street toward the house I’ve been surveilling for the past few days. The soles of my boots pound against the pavement before the noise is muffled by the overgrown grass covering the backyard. Thoughts swirl in my mind with all the possible outcomes of this confrontation and none of them are ideal.

The firearm in my waistband calms my thundering pulse. However, stealth is necessary in this situation. Not that a gunshot would be surprising in this shitty part of the city.

I reach for the knife in my boot, my fingers curving around the handle with a familiarity that’s a result of the terrors still haunting me.

Tonight, I’ll be someone else’s nightmare.

A masculine roar is followed by a crash as I rush up to the back door that leads into the kitchen. Through the window, I scan the shit show that could get me in trouble with The Order—and more importantly, my father.

Frank has Benjamin pinned against the refrigerator. Every time he punches the young man, the bottles inside rattle from the strength of the impact. My target gets in a solid hit, but it’s not enough. If I don’t intervene, he’ll be dead in minutes.

I grip the doorknob just as a streak of blonde fills my gaze. Delilah rushes into the room, her hair whipping out behind her, jade eyes wide and shimmering with rage.

In one fluid motion, she grabs a cutting knife off the counter before sinking it into Frank’s back. He bellows like a wounded bear, his head thrown backward. The young woman rips out the blade with a grunt and stabs him for a second time.

The savage beauty of her stuns me.

My lips part as I suck in a breath, ignoring the shouts of pain from Frank and the warnings Benjamin gives through labored pants. Delilah darts in front of my target and takes up a defensive stance while facing her foster parent. Tiny drops of crimson splatter onto the floor, and another rivulet of blood snakes its way down her raised forearm, painting her skin with violence.

She’s fucking magnificent.

“If you touch him, I’ll kill you,” she says. Her voice is so quiet I can barely make it out, but the fire underneath is scorching. “I mean it, Frank.”

Delilah was a woman in the Bible who betrayed the man she was supposed to have loved. This girl, like all the other women I’ve ever met, should live up to her namesake. Except she doesn’t.

I was wrong. She is a threat. And not just to Benjamin.

If this is what has my target snared like an animal in a trap waiting to die, then I fully understand. And I envy him. So fucking much.

A surge of want rises in me. It’s so sudden and strong, it causes me to stumble back and loosens my grip on the knife. Delilah is an anomaly, a type of woman I didn’t know existed. One who’s willing to put herself in danger for someone, even if it means she’ll die. That deep, unshakeable loyalty…

I want that.

I need it.

I need her.

I don’t give a shit what the girl’s name symbolizes. Delilah is mine.