Page 112 of Devil's Riches

“Sure.”

She quickly showed me how the app worked on her phone. Then she went back over to Ruby and Laurel, who’d cleared some space near the foot of the stairs in the foyer.

They tried their best to do their coordinated dance for the camera, but they kept messing up and collapsing into a giggling pile on the floor.

“One more time!” Ruby hollered after the fourth attempt. “Nate, are you still getting this?”

“Yup,” I said, softly chuckling as I aimed the phone at them. “Looks great.”

The girls finally nailed the dance on their last attempt before collapsing into another giggling mess on the floor. A moment later, Alexis got up and dashed toward the long hallway next to the staircase. “I have to pee!” she called back over her shoulder.

“Me too,” Ruby said, stumbling after her.

Laurel looked at me and shrugged. “Guess I might as well go too,” she said. Before I could reply, she hurried after her friends.

While I waited for them to return, I struck up a conversation with a couple of my frat brothers. My phone vibrated in my hands a moment later, and I turned it over and switched on the screen.

The layout confused me for a split-second. Then I realized I was actually looking at Alexis’s phone. I’d forgotten to give it back to her when I finished filming the TikTok video for her.

According to the notification on the screen, she’d just received a text from an unknown number.

I told you to stop digging. I told you there would be consequences if you didn’t.

Confusion unfurled in my chest as I stared at the message. Was it a wrong number? Some sort of sick prank designed to freak Alexis out after all the shit she’d already gone through?

I glanced around the crowded house, assessing the party guests through narrowed eyes. I knew my frat brothers wouldn’t fuck around with Alexis… but what about the others here? I didn’t know half of them. For all I knew, the asshole who sent that text was right here in the room, snickering behind his or her hands as they waited for Alexis to read it and panic.

I spotted Harry across the room, and for a second I wondered if it might be him. Perhaps he resented Alexis for flirting with him weeks ago and then rejecting him for me in the end.

Then again, why would he resent her for that? He seemed to be getting quite cozy with a redheaded girl right now, so he’d obviously moved on from the rejection.

I turned my head and spotted a couple of girls giggling over something on their phones, but when I stalked over and glanced over their shoulders, I saw that they were just laughing at a clip on YouTube.

A shout suddenly rose above the music, coming from the direction of the French doors on the south side of the house. A few people turned their heads to see what the commotion was about. I followed suit, brows dipping in a frown.

The shout came again, louder this time.

“Turn the music off!” the person said, wildly waving their arms. It was some guy I’d never seen before. Probably a freshman from another frat.

The thumping bass switched off, and the house fell silent, apart from a few confused murmurs and titters.

“What’s up?” my friend Jasper said, slowly blinking. He was stoned beyond belief.

“Check the news!” the freshman said, holding up his phone. His eyes were wide and his face was pale. “It’s happening again!”

Everyone scrambled for their own cell phones. I looked at mine to see that a friend had already sent me a link to an article on a local news website. The headline on the page practically screamed at me in big bold lettering.

Breaking news: Two more mutilated bodies found at Blackthorne University

I scanned the article. Just over an hour ago, a student had been returning to their dorm from a late-night study session in the library when they came across two corpses hanging from a tree in the quad. They were disemboweled and missing their eyes.

According to the initial forensic analysis of the scene, the bodies had probably been swaying from the trees for at least three or four hours. No one had noticed for so long because hardly anyone went through the quad at this time of night, and the extra security presence at Blackthorne had been pulled a few days ago when the last of the Golden Circle members were arrested.

Panic iced my veins as reality sank in.

Edward had told us the truth all along. So had my mother. The Golden Circle might’ve killed thousands of people in the past, but they had nothing to do with the recent murders.

There was another killer. Someone who wanted to emulate my uncle Greg’s 2009 crimes. Someone who was still roaming freely on the island.

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