Chapter 27
Orion
I put away my notebook and hasten toward the building while I pull out my phone instead.
Me: You have Sunny’s phone nr right? Tell her that cop is at her condo.
Xavier: Shit.
I lower my phone and approach the building, but another quick buzz has me looking at it again.
Sunny: I know.
Double crap.
I have to put a stop to this before he finds something he’s not supposed to find.
I tuck my phone away again and clear my throat just as the officer is about to enter uninvited.
“Hi there,” I say with the most chipper voice I can muster. “What’s going on?”
The man turns around and glares at me with the most disdain I’ve ever seen. “What do you want?”
“Well, it looks to me like you’re about to break into a female-only house without explaining why, which doesn’t look that good, to be honest.”
He grumbles and pulls out a badge. “Detective Foley. I’m here for an active investigation.”
“Into what, might I ask?”
“That doesn’t concern you.”
I fold my arms. “No, but I think the dean may be interested in this, so I will give him a call.”
The second I bring my hand down to my pocket, he grabs my arm, forcing me to stop. “Do not interfere.”
My eyes narrow. “Or what?”
We have a short stand-off, but I’m not easily impressed by bullish behavior. People laugh at me all the time for being loathsomely fancy as hell, and it still doesn’t stop me from being exactly who I was meant to be.
His eye twitches. “You’re part of her admirer club, aren’t you?”
“Who?”
“Sunny Reed,” he hisses.
I snort. “Sunny has plenty of admirers. Now are you going to release me, or do I have to call the cops on a cop?”
Finally, he lets go, and I pat down my skin to get rid of the indents. Eugh. “Thank you.”
“Do not get in my way again,” he barks.
He sure has a death wish, looking for Sunny with that attitude.
“Whatever. Do you even have a warrant?” I ask, completely unbothered by his threatening stance.
His nostrils flare, and he points at me. “Mark my words, I will find her.”
He marches off, absolutely fuming, but I’m pretty sure he’ll be back later, because he’s obviously found exactly what he’s looking for.
Detective Foley surely has a stick up his ass.
That, or he’s in dire need of a good pegging.
Sunny
When Levi opens the door to his bedroom in the Phantom Society frat house, he just stares at me for a few seconds without even saying a word.
“Aren’t you going to say hi?”
He winces. “How did you get in?”
Such brotherly love.
I smirk. “Told some boy he could see my boobs if he let me in. Easy.”
He frowns and looks at me suspiciously. “Okay …”
“Look, I need your help.”
“How?” He folds his arms. “Don’t tell me you need me to kill someone.”
“No, I can take care of that myself for now, thanks,” I reply, walking past him so he finally closes the door, and our conversation isn’t broadcast across the house.
“I need a place to stay. Can I crash with you?”
Again with the staring.
“You’re in trouble, aren’t you?”
I shrug. “It’s only for a few days.”
He closes the door. “What did you do?”
“Nothing. It’s just not safe right now to go back to my own dorm. That’s it.”
“You’ve literally never asked me for favors.”
“And the reason is because you ask too many questions.” I fold my arms. “Can’t you just say yes for once without making a fuss?”
I need him to be here for me right now, but he always wants me to give more than I’m willing to give.
But he’s all I got right now. I don’t dare to sleep at the Tartarus House with Xavier and Orion, because that’s the first place the cops will go looking, after someone there watched them sneak out a goddamn body in their car.
My parents are a no-go as well. They would not stop questioning me until I spilled the beans, and my other brothers …
those simps wouldn’t be able to protect me from a fly, let alone Atreus Foley.
I need someone equally unhinged, and that is Levi to a T.
He sighs out loud and rubs his eyes. “Okay, fine. Whatever. I have an extra mattress in the closet.”
Smiling, I jump down onto his bed and rub the pillow. “Thanks for your sacrifice.”
He narrows his eyes. “I didn’t mean for me.”
“Oh, c’mon.” I roll onto my back. “You have such a soft bed, how am I supposed to lie on the floor? I’m a lady.”
“A serial killer lady, yeah, who’s trying to mooch off her brother because she doesn’t wanna face the consequences of her actions.”
“Oh, spare me the consequences story, Mr. ‘I stalked my childhood crush because we both couldn’t admit we liked each other.’” I make quotation marks with my fingers.
His jaw clenches. “If you don’t get your ass off my bed within a second, I will flip the entire thing over onto the floor.”
Grumbling, I climb off his bed. “Okay, fine.”
He pulls the extra mattress from his closet. “A thank you would suffice, you know.”
“Thank you, dearest brother, for your brotherly love,” I say in the most sarcastic tone I can muster.
“You’re welcome,” he replies. “But after you’re done with whatever the fuck it is you’re doing, you’re going to explain everything to me. In detail. Because I’m not dealing with your ass for nothing. Got it?”
“Such a protective little brother,” I say, throwing him a cheeky smile. “Love ya.”
A few days later
I knock on the dean’s office door and sigh out loud when he finally says, “Come in.”
I step inside. “You wanted to see me?”
“Yes. Sit down, please.”
I close the door and clear my throat before I sit down in the seat opposite his desk.
“How are you?” he asks.
“Do you care?”
His brow twitches. “Of course, I do. You’re my niece.”
“Because you should, not because you want to.”
“Is everything going okay at the sorority?”
Ugh, I hate small talk.
“I wouldn’t know. I haven’t been there in days.”
His eyes narrow. “Where’ve you been staying then?”
“Here. There. Everywhere, really. I have friends.”
I haven’t actually been back because I don’t feel safe anymore now that homeboy Foley knows I am his stalker.
I’m well aware he’s been waiting for my return to the sorority so he can give me a piece of his mind, and I’m not going to wait there for him to come pick me up like some dainty little lady.
“So why did you want me here? It was obviously urgent,” I say, clearing my throat.
“Right. A body was burned at Otto’s scrapyard, and another body was found right outside campus grounds.”
I fold my arms.
“Do you happen to know anything about that?” he asks.
“Why would you immediately think of me?”
The pen he’s holding between his thumb and index finger starts wiggling back and forth faster and faster.
“I already talked with my son, and it wasn’t him.”
“And you believe him, of course,” I reply, stoically.
“Cops are swarming these grounds, and I have people asking me questions about students that I cannot answer. Hell, even the fucking frats and sororities are being monitored for dangerous activities,” he rants.
I shrug. “I don’t see how that’s my problem.”
“Do I need to contact your mother?”
My eye begins to twitch. “Do you want to start another war with your own sister?”
“No, I’m trying to put a stop to this before it destroys the university,” he says through gritted teeth. “One of you is lying, and I will find out who it is.”
I snort. “I thought you knew by now that you reap what you sow.”
His brows furrow. “How so?”
“You created your son. Like my mother created me.”
His nostrils flare.
“We are peas of the same pod,” I say, smiling.
“Lana never killed indiscriminately.”
I lean back and throw my arm over the chair. “Oh, and you think I do?”
The flicking of the pen stops. “So you admit it was you?”
I tilt my head. “I’m not admitting to anything. I’m simply holding up a mirror.”
“You can talk your way out of this as much as you want. We all know the truth.”
We stare each other down for a few seconds before he finally erupts in a sigh.
“Let me help you, Sunny.”
“Oh my God.” I laugh. “Why does everyone suddenly want to help me?”
“Because you’re obviously hurting to be lashing out like this,” he points out.
“Why do you care?” I spit. “No one has ever cared what happens to women like me.”
“That’s not true. We’ve always cared about everyone in the entire family.”
“Oh, so that’s why you lot all decided to try to kill each other last year,” I rebuke.
He bites his bottom lip, clearly annoyed. “That was a different dispute.”
“I was there,” I say. “I should know.”
“We both know the violence that runs through our veins,” he says. “But to kill and leave bodies strewn about the entire city is a one-way ticket to jail.”
“Is that a threat?”
He slams his hand down on the desk. “Dammit, Sunny, why do you think everyone is constantly trying to fight you? We are not your enemy.”
My jaw tightens, and I feel an inkling of a tear forming in my eye, but I push it away.
I do not fucking cry, not for anyone, let alone my uncle.
“Then why does it feel like that?”
His face softens, and he leans back to rub his forehead. “Sometimes I feel like I’m no better than any of the previous deans. Or a good uncle.”
Wow. I did not ask for a therapy session, but I guess we’re going with it now.
“I do not want to be stern. I fucking hate it,” he continues. “But I have to protect people, and that includes you, even from yourself.”
“And what about me? When do I get what I want?” I ask.
He focuses on me again. “What do you want, Sunny? Does killing all these people solve your problems?”
“I didn’t say I was the killer.”
“Hypothetically then.”
I keep my mouth shut.
“It’s fine if you don’t want to tell me.”
“It could be anyone,” I reply.
“I already spoke with everyone, including Silas. He swears it wasn’t him.”
I keep staring at him. I don’t care if he wants to play this game. I’m not going to admit to it out loud. Not yet, anyway.
“And like I said, you believe him, not me,” I say. “Because he’s your son.”
“Because he knows lying to me will only get him into more trouble.”
“We’re not fucking kids,” I spit back.
“No, you’re adults who don’t understand that they could get the family killed,” he growls.