Page 81 of Brutal Prince

“Wow. This is big.”

“Mom, it’s huge and there a lot people involved. These people are seemingly good, stand-up citizens on the outside, but are sadistic and hurt people for fun when no one is watching.”

“It sounds dangerous, honey. I’m not happy about this.”

“I’m protected.”

“By Ollie?”

“By the FBI.” I sighed. I didn’t mention the girls who wait so loyally in the car for me. “Ollie isn’t involved in the feds side. He doesn’t know anything about it, so you can’t say anything to him. Okay?”

“Why isn’t he involved as well?”

“Because we have to keep a tight lid on it until we’ve got names and enough evidence to make arrests. While there are several agents working on it, there are only a couple of citizens involved for fear someone might accidently squeal. It’s just too risky.”

She sat in silence for a moment staring at the blank TV screen chewing in the cud. “It seems so farfetched, but you’re my daughter, so I’ll have to believe you.”

“Thank you.” An acidy brick developed in my gut, making me feel ill. I needed to tell her about Dom. I had to tell her about Dom. “Mom,” my voice was so quiet I’m surprised she heard me. She cocked an eyebrow giving me her attention because she recognized the desperate tone in my voice so well. “One of the men,” taking a deep breath, “is the man who shot…”

I didn’t need to finish the sentence, her jaw set. “Are you sure?”

“Yes. He confessed. We have footage of him confessing.”

She was struggling to believe it. “Who is he?”

“I can’t say because he’s heavily involved in the racket, but…he was only a kid when he did it.”

“A kid?”

I’m sure she was picturing an elementary school aged kid, so I had to correct her. “I mean, he was only sixteen.”

“Oh.” Her eyes moved back to the blank TV screen, seconds later she switched the TV back on using the remote control and I was comforted by the blaring sound infiltrating the room. “You’ll be careful,” she said, without moving her eyes away from the show playing. “I’ve already lost one love, I don’t want to lose another.”

“I will,” I answered, stepping over to her bed and sliding down next to her to watch The Walking Dead. “Mom…”

“Huh?”

“You have terrible taste in TV shows.”

She chuckled. “I know.”

THIRTY SEVEN

Gretta

The sun beat down on the back of my neck as I sat crossed legged on the grass on the Southside sports field. Summer break was just around the corner and I’d taken extra shifts at Stads, so my boss could take a vacation. That’s okay by me as I had nowhere to go anyway.

I spotted the impressive frames of Luca and Cody in the distance walking slowly across the grass, hand in hand. I watched them as they stopped to kiss and cuddle, Cody’s arms wrapped tightly around her as she crumbled into him. They were completely immersed in one another, utterly in love. I could say the same about Rhys and Jace, who were in the process of moving to Maui after this term. I felt sad about that as I enjoyed working with Rhys as she’d become a great friend and ally.

Tris and Lise were planning to spend their summer break in Cancun, until I burst their bubble by asking Lise to work over summer break. I don’t think Tris cared that much, as he said he’s not really a beach guy anyway, whereas Lise was keen to see the back of KV for a while.

I dropped my head down and began typing up notes from this morning lecture on my laptop. Nearby a group of students laid about in the sun, giggling and chatting as music played from someone’s IPhone. I paused to watch them for a while happy and oblivious to the dark undercurrent in the depths of this university.

A Coldplay song came on and I hummed along, not really knowing the words as I refocused on my assignment. My life was far too busy to listen and memorize the words from a song. No matter how I much I liked the song.

Someone stood in the path of the sun, casting a dark shadow over me. I snapped my head up, but it took a couple of seconds for my eyes to adjust before I realized who it was.

“Care for a dance?” he asked.

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