Chapter 76 Hadrian
HADRIAN
“Wait, what?” Sable stumbles, but I clasp her arm before she falls.
“Don’t say anything. It’s all going to be fine,” I assure her.
“How do they know?” she whispers, and it’s fucking adorable.
“Maybe the older man didn’t believe we switched teams so easily.” Orion shrugs.
“So he called the police?” She shakes her head, scared, and I have to keep guiding her through the halls.
“Don’t forget the police are in their back pocket, Sable,” I whisper as we turn into an especially crowded hall, and every head turns back to us.
It’s not surprising. The messages from various students warning us were clear.
The police are down in the atrium waiting for us, and we’re covered in fucking blood, even if we managed to change our clothes and scrub the worst of it off, we only used rags.
Bellthorn holds its secrets. Many people knew the families were here today. Their arrival was hardly missed. But the police don’t get to enter Bellthorn so easily. Their power means nothing here. Someone decided to let them in.
We arrive in the atrium, and sure enough, the detective is there along with two uniformed officers.
We all know his face. It’s the same asshole we’ve been seeing far too much of lately.
I’m starting to think he can smell a bribe a mile away.
The President of the University is there too, and I can bet anything he’s only here helping because he thinks our fathers are somewhere in this building. Still breathing.
“Mr. Morwen, Mr. Hollow, Mr. Vale, and both Mr. Rooks.” His mouth stretches in an evil smile, and Sable presses against me.
She’s proving herself so strong today, more so than before when her life was on the line. She did this for more than just herself, but everyone our families have hurt. I hate that this day is ending and I haven’t had a chance to fuck her brains out.
“Hello, Detective.” Parker steps in. “Why do I keep seeing you everywhere?”
“I have a few questions for Miss Briarwick,” he says as his sleazy eyes move to our girl.
I expect her to cower behind me, but instead, she steps forward. “Why?”
Her confident tone throws him off. He wanted her to be scared, but Sable has been through too much at this point. She steps forward, arms crossed in front of her chest, staring him down, even if she’s a foot smaller.
“Let’s go to the precinct. I will—”
“Miss Briarwick is not going anywhere,” Soren says.
“I’m sure President Marks will open a room for us if this is necessary, Detective,” I say. “But we are not leaving Bellthorn.”
I might have had to scrub the blood of my father off my fingernails, but his teachings will stay with me for longer. Bellthorn is the safest place for a Vale. These walls were built for us, and now that they are all dead, it’s only our interests that they’ll protect.
And the most important thing to all of us is Miss Briarwick.
“Follow me, gentlemen.” Marks nods and glances back at Sable. “And Miss.”
She rolls her eyes and follows them closely, making us all jump to flank around her.
The president leads us through the main halls.
Countless eyes stick to us as we go, but I’ve gotten used to that.
It’s a different kind of attention than I would get for my music, but I don’t care who sees.
I’m finally free in a way I never thought possible.
I just killed all my problems, and the best part is that I’m… fine.
We all agreed with the plan, but my conscience whispered that maybe I was too much of a soft, pampered brat to kill.
I said nothing to the others, not when the evidence of what our families did was so alarming.
The four families are too powerful and have too much money.
Prison wouldn’t hold them back; only death could end the cycle.
And now, after all I did, I still think it was the best and only choice we had.
Marks opens a door to an office for us but never goes in. Sable shoulders her way in without looking back to see if we are following her, though obviously we are. She takes the chair across the desk, and we all move to make a wall around her, since there are not enough chairs to sit.
Detective Asshole doesn’t sit in a chair. Instead, he perches on the desk, his hips leaning against the oak. He’s so close to Sable that she makes a face and moves her chair away.
“You see, Miss Briarwick, I’m afraid you can’t be in this interview.”
“And why is that?” I ask, measuring him up and wondering why he needs to play nice.
“My current investigation is about Miss Briarwick,” he replies smugly.
“Investigating what? And talk fast, you’re losing me.”
“Of course, Mr. Morwen.” The words might be respectful, but we all hear the hate in every letter. “Miss Briarwick is accused of the death of her parents and uncle.”
“What?” Sable asks, laughing.
We are all taken aback. Sure, Sable killed her uncle, but her parents?
“Tell me, Detective,” Sable asks, full of amusement. “How did I plan to have my father killed when he drove me into that river?”
“This doesn’t even make sense.” Soren shakes his head.
“Miss Briarwick has been planning this for a while,” says the detective, as he opens a manila envelope and hands a pile of documents to me, completely over Sable’s head.
I grunt at his extended hand, but I take them anyway. I’m dying to see what each says, but I won’t let this fly. I hand them to Sable right away, letting her read things for herself.
“Are you insane?” she asks and then passes the documents back to me. “I don’t have access to any of that.”
My eyes scan the papers in my hand before passing them along to the rest of the group. Each one of them is a fraudulent money transfer for accounts that, as far as I know, didn’t exist until very recently.
“Sable never had access to that money,” Lex says.
“Until she finished her uncle off,” Detective Asshole says with a nod.
“Is that your professional opinion, Detective?” Sable chuckles.
The detective opens and closes his mouth like a fish.
He’s clearly not very smart and is only following orders.
The four families are behind this of course, that was the way they were dealing with the Briarwick problem.
They set this up to frame her and make her look guilty.
If we killed her, her having access to her fortune wouldn’t matter.
It wasn’t a terrible plan if not for our double-cross.
Sable is legally loaded again, all thanks to the founding families. I relax a little. Sometimes things just go your way.
“If this is an investigation about Sable,” Soren cuts off my thoughts. “Why is she not supposed to be here?”
Detective Askey smiles slowly and reaches for another document, this one folded in three and stored in his back pocket.
“Signed by your father,” he hands that one to Lex.
“That’s it? Sable is dead?” Lex asks.
“I’m what?” Sable stands up and rips the paper from Lex’s hands.
“They signed a death certificate already,” Lex informs us. “Father’s signature and all.”
“This is freaky as fuck,” Sable complains.
“As you can see, Detective Fuckface, Sable is not dead. So what’s this whole thing about?”
“Well, you see, you made it clear you would pay—”
I shake my head and interrupt him. “What are you offering then?” I ask.
He shrugs. “I’ll let things with Miss Briarwick go if some of this money winds up coming my way.”
Orion laughs. “Next time, come with a card machine.”
“I’d be careful if I were you, Mr. Rook. I’m still an officer,” he says, his confidence falsely bolstered by a bunch of dead men who won’t be paying any longer.
“The four families are dead,” Sable says as she thrusts her own death certificate toward his chest. “If you’re going to arrest me, maybe you should start with that one.”
“Sable…” Parker grunts.
She ignores him and keeps her eyes on the cop who’s still too stunned by her words to speak. “So do you really want to do your job, Detective? Do you want to arrest the woman who is leaving a trail of blood behind her? Or do you want some money?”
Detective Asshole looks down at her death certificate and back to her.
Does he realize we are now the heirs of all that fortune?
The five richest families in the country are together and willing to put him on our books.
I don’t trust his intelligence, so I wonder if we have to explain it all.
Surprising me, he nods and rips the death certificate.
“We’ll leave you be,” he says finally and leaves the room.
My shoulders relax. “Well, so that fixes many things.”
“It’s nice to see you loaded once again.” Orion smiles at Sable, and she chuckles.
“We have to kill him.” She points at the door from where the detective just left. “If I’m going to pay off a crooked cop, I don’t want a dumb one. Find a woman, someone I don’t need to explain every fucking thing to.”
“Look at you, the perfect head of your family.” Parker chuckles.
“I’m not saying kill him now. We have stuff to do, but like, add it to the checklist or something.”
“Sure.” I nod. “Let’s add to the murderous checklist, why not?”