Page 22 of Vengeful Princess

“Out of interest, exactly how many serial killers have you met?” Kyril interjected.

“Fuck off,mudak.”Oh great. Landon had been learning new Russian curse words on Google Translate. That was bound to end well. Kyril had a short fuse at the best of times. “I watched a documentary on Ted Bundy, OK? The guy had a similar vibe.”

“You should meet myotets.He’s a fucking real-life serial killer,” Kyril sneered. “With a much higher body count than Bundy.”

“Congrats, you’re related to an unhinged serial killer. You win,mudak.” Landon rolled his eyes.

“Call memudakagain, and I’ll show you all the tricksOtetstaught me while you were still sucking on your mama’s tit.”

“Did this serial killer guy have a name?” I asked, growing tired of their stupid bickering.

Landon turned back to me. “No, she just called him papa, but he said something about how he’d take care of Verity. No clue who she is, a sister maybe?”

I made a note of the name and added it to the search parameters. Maybe there was another Thea out there. Either that or someone had created a fake persona in case anyone dug into Thea’s identity.

Thea’s non-existent online footprint was suspicious. Even I, the most private person I knew, had a carefully curated Instagram. Sure, I only ever posted photos of coffee cups or random shit like rainwater puddles, but it was there.

It showed I was alive, existing in the world.

Landon was always on social media. He lived for TikTok and posted daily. Kyril wasn’t a fan, but he had a TikTok account, where he followed a few popular MMA fighters. Cassian rarely posted anything on his official Instagram or TikTok, but he used Snapchat.

That was the one platform we all used. Most recently, Landon had taken to sending us all photos of his cock, which was fucking annoying. The last time he shared a video of himself jacking off, Kyril threatened to cut his balls off.

Thea had no social media presence whatsoever. Nor did anyone called Verity Ricci. The only Verity Ricci I could find was a 67-year-old woman who posted a ridiculous number of cat photos on Instagram.

She didn’t live anywhere near Thea, and there appeared to be no obvious links between the two.

Was Thea a fake identity? Or did someone scrub her online footprint?

According to her college application, she’d completed high school in the town listed on the data profile I’d uncovered. She was an average student. Not especially academic, but good enough to get into Abernethy. This was followed by a year at a local college.

Her high school record was exemplary. No non-attendance citations. No detentions. Absolutely nothing to suggest Thea had a worryingly violent streak. There was no record of a sister orotherwise called Verity. So if Verity existed, she didn’t appear to be Thea’s sister.

It was a mystery.

“Have you been up all night?” Cassian narrowed his eyes, taking in the empty coffee mugs and energy drinks. He was well aware of my obsessive tendencies.

I ignored him while tweaking my code.

“Milo, take a chill pill. The girl’s not important. I have bigger fish to fry.”

That caught my attention. “Oh?”

He dropped onto my bed with a heavy sigh and I scanned his face. He looked exhausted. Worse than me. Judging by the purple shadows beneath his eyes, he’d had very little sleep either.

“My father wants me home next weekend,” he said, scrubbing his jaw. “He’s invited Camilla and her family for dinner.”

That wasn’t good. “Is he still pushing for the engagement?”

I watched my friend as he slumped forward like he wore the weight of the world on his shoulders. I suppose in a way he did. To most people, being born the son of Lucian Forsyth was like being gifted a golden chalice.

The Forsyths were wealthy and influential. Lucian owned controlling shares in several high-profile companies and had the ear of the Prime Minister all matters security related, plus the Forsyths were from Old Money and enjoyed significant generational wealth.

To Lucian Forsyth, power was far more important than his son’s happiness.

My father would never win a Parent of the Year award, but at least he left me to my own devices, which suited me just fine. Lucian, on the other hand, was in Cassian’s face constantly. And it had got a whole lot worse since the scandal when we were 17.

“Yeah. The world can expect an engagement announcement imminently.”

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