Page 11 of A University of Betrayal

“An asshole who abandoned his family,” I replied a little too sharply, only to receive a look of disbelief from him. “No idea. He ran away from California when Bayla’s mother was pregnant with her.”

“And the birth went without complications?” He hesitated again. “I mean... did she ever tell you anything about her birth?”

He pressed his lips together, and for a moment, he seemed more unprofessional than I knew him from campus.

I was so confused by his questions that I reached a point where I couldn’t respond to him and instead looked around frantically again.

My surroundings were unchanged. I wasn’t dreaming.

Slowly, I looked at Bastien. This man was Adrian’s real bodyguard. I was with the...DeLoughreys.

Slowly, I stepped back. First one step, then another one.

“Damn it,what am I doing here?” I asked shakily, bumping into the bedside cabinet this time. “What have you done to me?”

I looked first into Bastien’s glowing eyes, then into the mirror, where I recognized myself. That pair of red eyes. They belonged tome.Red and menacing, just like his at that moment.

I stared at him. Listened to my double heart beat…hisheart beat.I could hear his heart beat.

“What the hell did you give me?” I yelled, and he flinched slightly, but then clasped his hands behind his back again. His eyes were shining more intensely now. He looked tense.

“Strange...” was all he said.

“Okay, I’ll make a suggestion. You tell me where Bayla is, you let us go, and I can prevent my parents from starting ahugesearch.”

That excuse had worked once before, but Bastien had to stifle a smirk.

“I’m not joking,” I said hastily, trying to focus on him and not on the figure in the mirror whose eyes were mesmerizing me.

That wasn’t me…

Whatever they had given me, it completely hit my system.

“Your parents won’t come looking for you,” he said again, a little more seriously, and I looked at him, puzzled. “Your mother is dead.”

The pain came too quickly. Unexpectedly.

“How dare you...” I clenched my hands into fists, but he sped toward me again and grabbed my wrist.

“It’s my duty to inform myself of something like this so that there are no complications.”

I looked at him, stunned.

Who was he to just find out something like that without any problems?

Panic and even more panic spread through me.

“I want to go to Bay!” I shouted at him angrily and desperately, which often helped me to suppress my fear.

“You should come to terms with the fact that you won’t be seeing your friend for a while. You’re in the Receptum now.”

What was he talking about? No longer seeing her?Receptum?What was he planning?

“Why am I here? Whymeand not someone else?”

“Because you’re a DeLoughrey.”

I froze.

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