Page 148 of Morally Corrupt

No killing, no bloodshed, no mayhem.

No corruption, no mob, and no assassins.

I want a life as far away from crime as possible because that's all I've ever known for a while. But the more I try to avoid it, the more drawn I become to it, without even realizing it. I should have known that chasing after Jimenez would put me on a path of no return.

But as I look into Bianca's eyes, I realize Idon'twant to return to ordinary.

"We can try," I finally say. Because she's not the only one who will be navigating this unknown world. And somehow, we'll manage it together.

"I want to take this slow," she adds, almost bashfully.

"What do you mean?"

"I want us to take it from zero… to get to know each other as our real selves. I want to know who Adrian Barnett is, and I want you to find out who the real Bianca Ashby is. No more secrets."

"I'd like that." I cup her jaw and go for a quick peck. "I'll even take you on a date when we get back." I smile at her, and she chuckles.

"Can I choose what type of date?"

"Sure."

"Good." She gives me another quick kiss before she frowns, remembering something.

"Wait. We can't go back just yet."

"Why?"

She proceeds to tell me in detail how her stint on the auction block went, including her meeting with Jimenez's son, and how Martin and Jimenez knew each other from being in the same fraternity at Princeton.

"I've never heard of him having a son," I muse before adding, "Too bad, we can't really use any of that information."

"Not true, which is also why we aren't heading directly back to New York. We need to go to Princeton and get our hands on one of their old photo albums. When I went through Martin's stuff, there wasn't anything related to his days at Princeton, so I'm guessing the more important things were in his safe, which you know how that ended up. Anyway, if we can find a photobook from his time there, maybe we can also find Jimenez. That was the entire purpose of this mission. Putting a face to the name."

When she explains it like this, I can't help but see the logic of it.

"Fine. Let's rest tonight and head there tomorrow." Bianca still needs some rest to heal.

"No, we need to leave now. I don't think they're going to drop the search for me, especially when it wasel jefe who I offended." She suddenly springs out of bed and puts on clothes."Shit," she mutters. "I should have thought of this before… We need to move. Like now!" At her urgency, I pack the rest of our stuff. When we're done, we hurry towards the car, and I leave a big tip at the check-in desk for the almost hole I left in their wall. I guess I don't have the time for apologies.

I get in behind the wheel, and Bianca joins me in the passenger seat.

"Do you know which fraternity?" I ask as we leave the motel and head onto the highway.

"Yes. Sigma something… We'll have to ask around. I remember he used to go to some of the alumni events when I was younger."

"Wait… Didn't Senator Wolfe also go to Princeton?" I'm suddenly struck by that thought, and Bianca's look tells me it just occurred to her as well.

"He did… Shit." She quickly takes out her phone, and I see her about to ring Vlad. My right hand shoots out and stops her before calling.

"Call Marcel," I tell her. "I don't trust Vlad." I expect her to put up a fight about this, as she's always defending Vlad, but she surprises me when she actually dials Marcel, putting him on speaker.

"Marcel, can you please look at the list and tell us where they went to school?"

"What?" he mumbles, clearly barely out of bed.

"We need to know what universities the people on the list went to," Bianca reiterates, and Marcel tells us to wait.

"Do you really think…?" Bianca looks at me and asks.

---