Page 78 of Dare To Take

I’m not even sure why I’m sitting here. I should have taken my breakfast back up to my room.

Because I crave human contact like everyone else. There’s only so much a person can take of being isolated and alone.

My food is untouched on the plate on the table in front of me. My focus is on the caffeine in the coffee, which is all I’ve been living on lately. Occasionally, I look around me, checking to see where everyone is.

Lacy and Brad are sitting close together. Tina is with Garrett, but the others are missing, including Miles. Kellan and Eli are at their usual spot. Eli’s eyes are boring a hole in my head, and I can almost feel him mentally demanding I look at him properly.

I don’t.

Instead, I keep my head down. Icy fingers of dread slide down my spine when my cell vibrates.

Unknown number: Go to your locker and open it.

The words chill me. I’ve barely been able to sleep, waiting for them to contact me.

Maybe I can call their bluff. Would they really send the video to Elliot? How would they even have his phone number or contact details?

I suck in a deep breath.

Me: No.

Unknown number: Your stepdad will divorce your mom, and you’ll be back in poverty. Do you think she’ll ever forgive you for that?

Would Elena really hate me if that happened?

My thoughts go back to how happy she’d been at Christmas, and my heart sinks. Yes, she would.

Me: You can’t predict the future. You don’t know what’s going to happen.

Unknown number: True, but we know your dreams. Do you think any fashion house with a prestigious name will want to hire you? One video of you is out there for all to see. Do you want to risk a second? Your hopes of being a fashion designer will all come crashing down. We have the power to destroy your future with just a single click of a button.

I shift uneasily in my chair, glance around and then back down at the cell in my hand. Although I haven’t kept what I want to do in the future a secret, it’s creepy that they know so much about me.

What other things do they have on me? Do they know about Sin? Did they follow me and Eli to the hotel? Why are they targeting me? It could be anyone.

Unknown number: Go to your locker and open it.

Like a puppet on a string, I rise from my chair. Someone calls me a whore as I pass the tables, and I can’t hold back a flinch. Head bowed, I leave the cafeteria and walk toward the main building.

There’s no one in the hallway when I reach the row of lockers. I open mine, and stare down at a box of eggs beside a screwdriver.

My phone vibrates.

Unknown number: You have a choice. Egg Eli’s car or carve your initials into the paint. One will get you a reward. The other … won’t.

It takes a second for the words to sink in, and I reread them slowly in growing horror.

Me: I can’t. That car is more expensive than everything I own.

Unknown number: Tick tock, Arabella. Choose now.

Me: He’ll kill me.

Unknown number: Eli isn’t allowed to come near you. It’s part of the agreement to his return. You’re wasting time.

Whoever is sending the texts is forcing me onto a collision course with Eli, and I can’t avoid the impact that’s coming. I snatch up both items, and I stuff them into my bag. I close my locker, hurry along the hallway and back out into the cold air. The wind picks up as I wind a path toward the parking lot, lashing my hair against my cheeks. When I reach the vehicles, there is no one around, and relief floods through me when I don’t see Eli’s Bugatti.

Me: His car isn’t here.

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