Page 23 of Snitches and Serpents

A wicked grin spreads across my mouth.

Mission complete. Now, I can head back and get some sleep so that?—

My phone vibrates in my pocket.

Scowling, I pull it out and unlock the screen.

Frustration and anger and a suffocating sense of helplessness crash over me like a tidal wave as I read the text I have just received.

Mr. Bracken: Come.

For fuck’s sake! I need to sleep. I can’t afford to be exhausted and unfocused during class in the morning.

Letting out a soft snarl, I shove my phone back into my pocket and rake my fingers through my hair in frustration. I wish I could just tell him no. Tell him to just fuck off and leave me alone.

But I can’t.

Because he owns me.

He is bankrolling my entire education here. So when he calls, I show.

I drag in a deep breath, trying to fill my lungs, but it barely feels like it’s working. Most days, I can ignore the reality of my situation and pretend like everything is fine. But at times like these, I feel so fucking trapped that I can barely breathe.

It feels as if invisible walls are pressing in on me from all sides. And I can’t even break through them, because if I do, I will lose everything.

So I force in another hard breath and drop my hands from my hair. Then I start towards the parking lot.

Elle has no idea what it’s like to live like this.

But soon, she will.

9

ELLE

Loud pounding comes from my door. I jerk upright. Blinking sleep from my eyes, I throw out a hand and fumble for my phone on the white nightstand next to the bed. The screen reveals that it’s only six o’clock.

The door vibrates as someone pounds on it again.

“Campus police,” a man’s voice calls from the other side of the door. “Please open the door.”

Alarm crackles through me. Oh God, has something happened?

Jumping out of bed, I scramble over to the door. It’s not locked, so I simply push down the handle and throw it open. Panic still courses through me as I look between the three people standing in the corridor outside. Two men and one woman. All with serious expressions on their faces.

“Has something happened?” I blurt out.

The man at the front looks back at me with hard brown eyes. The name tag on his uniform says Davidson.

“We have received an anonymous tip,” Davidson says, his tone clipped. “Please stand aside while we search your room.”

For a few seconds, I simply cannot comprehend the words that just came out of his mouth. An anonymous tip? Search my room? For what?

In the end, all I manage to say is, “What?”

He just heaves an exasperated sigh and starts forward.

I’m forced to scramble to the side to avoid getting mowed down by him. The other two follow Davidson into my room as well.

---