Page 1 of Twisted Kings

1

Milo

Removing pornographic images and videos from the internet was like playing whack-a-mole. If Thea had been underage, we’d have stood a chance of getting the footage taken down from all the major sites, but she wasn’t.

Lucian Forsyth’s PR team was probably going out hard to limit how far the incriminating footage spread, but it was a pointless task. By now, the film would have been shared a billion times, as well as uploaded onto hundreds of shady sites around the world.

Who’d uploaded the damn thing? That was the billion-dollar question.

The sound of fire alarms going off all over the place distracted me from my bank of screens. I pushed my headphones off and stood. What the fuck was going on? Had some pranksters set fire to the dumpsters behind the kitchen again?

When I looked out of my bedroom window, huge flames lit up the night sky, soaring upward from the direction of the science labs. Our apartment was too far away to be in danger, but staying put was still a bad idea in case the fire spread.

I glanced at my phone to see a ton of missed calls and messages from the guys. My call to Cassian rang out for a good few seconds. Just as I was about to hang up and try Lan, he picked up.

“What’s going on?” A symphony of screams and shouts in the background made it hard to hear his reply.

“The science labs are on fire. It’s chaos. Get your ass down to the assembly area. We need to talk.”

The acrid scent of smoke permeated with chemicals burned my nose and eyes. Students milled around in their ball gowns, some crying, others looking shell-shocked at the unexpected end to a festive evening of debauchery. Everyone had been looking forward to letting loose before we all headed home for the holidays.

When I found the guys, the three of them stood apart from the masses. Cassian’s Tom Ford tuxedo jacket hung over his shoulder and he’d rolled his shirtsleeves up, apparently oblivious to the sub-zero temperatures. The righteous fury on his face made me wonder what exactly I’d missed.

Lan seemed pissed off but resigned, while Kyril was quieter than I’d expect considering the current state of anarchy on campus.

I scanned the area, searching for my angel. Why wasn’t she with the guys?

“Where is she?” I asked when it became apparent she wasn’t anywhere in the vicinity. Fear of losing her had my emotional state unraveling faster like a cheap sweater from Shein.

“Like I give a fuck.” Cassian snarled dismissively.

His words registered, but they made no sense. Why was he acting like she meant nothing to him?

I fought to contain my panic. My therapist's words repeated on a loop in my head.

Breathe.Five things I can see: fire, Cassian, trees, the moon, and Kyril. Four things I can hear: crying, a fire alarm, the sound of sirens, and someone yelling. Three things I can touch: the grass beneath my feet, the smooth sleeve of my jacket, the wall. Two things I can smell: smoke and perfume. One thing I can taste: smoke.

The panic eased and my muscles unlocked. I took a few more deep breaths, wincing at the awful taste of chemical-infused smoke in the air.

“Tell me what’s happening? Why isn’t Thea with you?” Maybe she was with Eden. Those two seemed close. Yes, that made sense.

“She fucked us over, man,” Lan muttered while staring at his phone.

What?“Explain, please.”

Cassian rolled his eyes. “We don’t have time for this shit. My father will be here in five minutes, and I’m going to have to come up with a reason why I let some manipulative bitch fuck me up the ass with a giant dildo.”

My brow scrunched in confusion. The video clip lasted sixteen minutes and 32 seconds. Not once in that time had anyone fucked Cassian up the ass, with a dildo or otherwise.

“He doesn’t mean that literally,” Lan snorted, seeing my perplexed expression.Oh.

“So what has she done to upset you?”

Cassian clenched his fists and walked away, leaving Landon to explain.

“Dario played us an audio clip of Thea agreeing to plant drugs in the hotel room to ensure Cassian got arrested.”

“But the police raided the hotel room and found nothing?” Lan wasn’t making any sense.

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