Chapter Five
Onyx
Our campus search for Amelie is fruitless.
I send Kalen and Slate off to different areas on campus while I head to her room.
I don’t for a second expect her to be there, but I need some time alone in her room.
I need to set up security. There’s no way in hell I would leave her unprotected.
Our father seems to think that having us around and being friendly with her will be enough to keep her out of harm’s way, but I refuse to underestimate the people we go to school with.
I’ve fought them, I know how ruthless they can be.
I slip into Amelie’s room using the key I had copied last term.
I can easily get my hands on the master key from my father to allow me entry into every room on campus, but I have no interest in sneaking into anyone else’s room.
Amelie is my only focus. Thankfully, there is no one around.
Campus is still pretty quiet, with most students not returning until the new year, so I’m able to move without caution.
She hasn’t been back to this room at all, her luggage from the flight isn’t here.
The room is also empty, completely devoid of the few personal possessions she left behind, which I’m fairly sure that our father had sent to the house in the hopes of getting Amelie to move in there, but I know her.
She’s too headstrong; there’s no way she will agree to live under the same roof as Laura.
Not that I blame her, when I overheard Amelie telling Slate what Laura was like, I wanted to kill her. She’ll need to be taken care of, but the priority has to be getting Amelie inducted into The Order first.
I grind my teeth with impatience, always thirsty for revenge, and set to installing the security cameras around Amelie’s room.
I have one on the window, one on the bathroom door and one on the main door.
I installed one in the corridor outside her door and one at the entrance to the dorms on my way in too.
I hesitate with the final camera in my hand.
Is it overkill? I shake my head. I need to know she’s safe.
Since the day she tripped and cut her knee running with me, it’s been a weird compulsion I can’t fight.
Decided, I cross the room and install the final camera facing her bed. I will not abuse it. I just need to know she’s safe at all times. Done, I leave a rape alarm, some pepper spray, and a few other self-defence items in her desk drawer, then head out.
I pull my phone from my pocket and group call Kalen and Slate.
“My room. We need to talk,” I snap, and hang up.
It doesn’t take long to get to the room I share with Slate. My brothers turn up shortly after, just as I’m sending a text to Sawyer to tell him she’s not here.
“We couldn’t find her anywhere,” Kalen complains as he enters the room.
“I know.”
“How?” He frowns.
“Her room was empty. If she came back to campus, she would’ve at least dropped her bag off.”
“Ugh you could have said that and saved us some time,” he grumbles. I shrug. I don’t give a shit if he’s wasted time searching for her.
“I had shit to do,” I say before filling them both in on the camera situation.
“You put one facing her bed?” Slate asks quietly.
“Yeah, but–”
“Free porn!” Kalen yells excitedly before I can finish. Slate glares at him and I hit him. “Ow, what was that for?”
“I will not be giving you access to that camera, even when it’s your turn to watch over her. I won’t be abusing it.”
“Gee, you’re no fun,” he complains, rubbing the spot on his arm where I thumped him.
“Shut up. Let’s come up with a plan.”
It’s some time later and we’ve been going round in circles for a while now. We’re not getting anywhere.
“I still say we should protect her!” Kalen cries.
“No.” I shake my head emphatically. “She doesn’t want our help. You saw how she acted at the airport – she won't even accept a lift from us – there’s no way she’ll take our protection.”
“That’s bullshit! You know she won’t last a week with the whole school gunning for her!” Slate chimes in.
I sigh. They’re right of course, but there’s a fine line. I’ll watch over her, but I don’t think we should step in and rush to her defence over every little thing. Especially when she’s so mad at us. She’ll go out of her way to get in more trouble, just to prove a point.
“Be that as it may, she needs to learn her lesson. You can’t pull a stunt like that and get away with it.”
I don’t want to show my brothers how much I care about her. I want them to think that I’m simply acting on our father’s orders.
“She’s not untouchable,” I continue to explain to them. “And if she’s not willing to call a truce with us, we need to stand back and let the lesson be learned the hard way.” I cross my arms, sitting back in my chair to watch their reactions carefully.
“I don’t think I can do it. You know they’ll really hurt her.
I can’t watch that.” Kalen’s reaction just confirms how much he cares about Amelie.
I’m trying to decide who’s the softest right now when it comes to that girl.
Kalen’s always been a sap, but Sawyer doesn’t even seem to care that she cost him his entire livelihood.
“Obviously, I won’t allow that,” I snark. His assumption that I would pisses me off. I care about her too. Even if I want to kill her for the stunt she pulled.
“Well, at what point can we step in? First blood? When she’s unconscious? In a fucking body bag?”
I sigh at Kalen’s theatrics, though he does have a point. I won’t admit that to him though.
“I said, I’ll sort it,” I snap. I don’t want any real harm to come to Amelie, but a little pain is inevitable. The people we go to school with will want revenge. Hell, they’re entitled to it. If it weren’t for my father and these damn feelings she stirs up in me, I would want revenge on her too.
I don’t know what Amelie is expecting when she gets back to Knox Academy, but she’s soon going to find out that things are very very different.