Page 24 of Cruel Legacy

Pax

It’s another stellar morning here at C Falls U. I stifle a yawn. I need a few more hours of sleep to feel human. Everyone around me looks like they’re dragging ass, but our reasons aren’t the same. They probably partied from the time they left campus on Friday until early this morning.

I was at home attending charity dinners and the opera with my family in LA. I drove back last night but stayed up late finishing a paper which is due this morning. I slept maybe three hours before my alarm went off. As tired as I was, there was no way I was skipping the gym. Now I’m sitting in the first floor lounge area of the dorm, killing time before heading to breakfast.

Finn likes to watch what he calls the Society Princess Lingerie Show. It’s basically the girls on this floor running from one room to the next, or to the showers, in their underwear. It’s not until you reach the fourth floor and above that you get a shared bathroom with your quad mates.

On the sixth floor and seventh floor, it’s a three-bedroom apartment set up. There’s a lounge, game room, and laundry room on the eighth floor. The gym and pool are on the ninth.

The top floor, the tenth, has four full sized two-bedroom apartments. There are only two elevators that take you all the way to the tenth floor, and you need an access code for that to happen. One of them is an express elevator, disguised as a utility closet on the other side of the building. It goes from the secret tunnel in the sub-level of this building and only stops here on the first floor and the top one.

“Who’s that?” Someone snickers, drawing my attention to the elevator doors. I shift in my seat. I’ve been keeping an eye on it, since it was called back to our floor, waiting for it to make its slow descent to the lobby. I swear it must’ve hit every floor on its way down.

Our school has average enrollment numbers and class sizes compared to other private universities, so there’s no way for me to remember all the names and faces of people I see or meet, but I recognize the girl from the hallway as soon as she gets closer to the lounge.

It’s hard not to notice her. She stands out like a sore thumb, and I’m not just talking about the indigo and purple-colored hair. She moves differently than the other girls here. Like she’s trying not to make noise with her shoes. Her head is facing forward, but her eyes shift around, never settling on one thing for long. It’s sketchy behavior. I should know, because it’s how I scan an area before we pull a prank.

“What’s our pet doing here?” Finn asks, tracking her movements.

“It’s her.” Holden says.

I tilt my head to the side. “You sure?” There are other women getting off the elevator too. Any of them could be our mark.

He nods once, passes me his tablet, then turns the page in his book. Finn stands and walks over to a group of girls standing in the middle of the lobby. He drapes his arms over two of their shoulders and leads them out the door. It looks like he’s just escorting them because he’s a big flirt, but he’s following her. That’s the assignment we were given, and we’ve been taught to take all tasks, no matter what they are, or who they’re from, seriously.

The girl is gone by the time Holden and I join Finn on the sidewalk in front of the dorm. He smiles at the girls tucked under his arms, and sends each of them off with a kiss, before turning to me and asking, “What we got?”

I hand him the tablet so he can see for himself. “We’ve got nothing. It’s definitely a dorm mix up.”

He looks up from what he’s reading and asks, “What makes you so sure?”

I gesture towards the device in his hand. “It’s all right there. Theona LaReaux, born in Marshall Springs, Louisiana. Single mother, unknown father. Bounced around a lot until she and her drunk of a mother landed in Nags Creek, Nevada. Population, 10,931.

She was in and out of foster homes and groups homes from the age of seven through twelve, at which time her mother disappeared, making her a permanent ward of the state. That’s where she was right up until she got here.”

I pull out my phone and send a text to my dad, letting him know I have eyes on the girl, before finishing up my assessment. “Like I said, it’s a mistake, and this assignment will be over sooner than we thought.”

Holden cracks his knuckles and says, “That’s an optimistic view. Sometimes the easiest tasks are the hardest.” He always takes an opposing view, just to make sure we’re considering all angles.

This won’t be one of those times. It’s pretty cut and dry to me. “Her tuition is covered by Moira and Scott Hughes, who I have never even heard of, have you?”

They both shake their heads. “Right, and think of all the parties we’ve been to over the years. I’m pretty sure we’ve met every daughter, niece, granddaughter and cousin of all the legacy families.” I point to the dorm. “You were in the lobby. Nobody spoke up about knowing her, or vouched for her. If she were someone,anyonewith half a drop of blood relation to a legacy, someone would have recognized her.”

We all have family members we don’t like or don’t trust, but we make sure we account for everyone, no matter how distant the blood relation. You never know when that relationship can be exploited. I finish with one final thought. “And on the off chance she is related to a legacy, she’d still be on the wrong goddamn floor, because the fourth bloodline died off a long time ago.”

Finn nods in agreement, while Holden types away on his tablet again. When he looks up, he’s got his math whiz face on. Whatever he just read can’t be good.

“What is it?”

He flips his tablet over again. Our new project is also the driver of the Audi.

Chapter13

Thea

Somehow I’ve made a friend. I wasn’t trying to, but it happened. Ever since that day in the cafeteria, when she stopped me from sitting at the wrong table, Layla-Jean Breland has been like a shadow that never fades and a song that never ends.

I never knew someone could talk as much as she can. It’s been a bit of an adjustment for her and for me. Too many times to count, I’ve hurt her feelings without even trying. She doesn’t say anything but her face is so expressive, it’s easy to tell when it happens.

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