Page 29 of Prince of Malice

Its repetitive rings seem to go on forever, waiting and waiting for him to pick up.

“Dom?” he asks through the muffled speaker.

Finally!

“Yeah, it’s me. Are you okay?” I have to be careful of what I say. If somehow he gotpicked up by the cops earlier, I can’t be sure who’s listening in right now.

“I’m all good. You okay? You weren’t at your dorm when I came to check on you.” His response tells me everything I need to know. He’s fine and is doing the same checks as me. Perfect.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I’ll head over there now. Just got caught up, but I’m good now.”

“See you then,” he says, already ending the call.

I toss my phone into the pocket of the center console, turn the key, and back out of the alleyway.

Pulling into the campus parking lot, I abandon the car between the white lines of one of the spots. Listening to the car’s melodic beeps, I lock it behind me and make a beeline straight toward my dorm.

My feet strike against the ground as they keep pace with my mind, rushing forward, not stopping until I reach the doors, terrified to look around at my surroundings in case I catch sight of him or anyone else.

I burst through the front doors to the hall, slamming the doors back against the wall, and push forward. As I fly up the stairs and race down the hallway, my dorm room’s door finally comes into view. Waiting outside of it, Angelo picks up on the rapid drumming of my steps and turns to see me coming toward him.

“Relax. No one’s racing you anymore,” he calls to me with a chuckle.

I don’t respond to his joke. I just move past him to the door, unlock it, and shove him inside. “Get in here.”

Slamming the door behind us, I throw myself onto the bed.

“Woah, Dom! I know we’re close, but I don’t like you in that way,” he continues joking.

“Cut it out.” My voice remains cold and shaky. It doesn’t take him long to catch on to my panicked state.

“What happened? You didn’t get caught, did you?” His eyes move to the window and check outside the building for any signs of the police.

“No. No, the cops didn’t get me.”

“Why did you say it like that?”

I give him a perplexed look.

“You said the cops didn’t get you, so who did?” he persists.

How does he manage to read me like this?

“Nothing like that. We’re all clear,” I try to lie.

Angelo quirks his head to the side slightly; he sees right through me. “You don’t get to lie to me like that. You’re out there in my car getting caught up in things. You have to tell me, so I know what I’m going to have to deal with.”

“Fine. No one bad got to me. It was just…” I don’t know if I can say his name. I know it’s just Angelo and he’s heard about me doing far worse things, but there’s just something about breaking that barrier and actually saying his name right now. Admitting to myself that all of this really happened, saying it out loud. I don’t know what to do.

“Who was it, Dom?” Angelo grinds away at me.

“It was… It was Luca,” I admit.

“Your stepbrother?” He almost gasps.

I can only nod.

“He’s not going to snitch on you, is he?” His tone turns serious.

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