Page 142 of Merciless Intents

“Girls, it would seem you’ve had quite the evening. If I had to guess, I’d say one or all of you were betting on Temperance either being too afraid or too stubborn to come forward, but you bet wrong. We have enough proof to expel you without any kind of confession, but if you’d like to confess, perhaps the law will go easier on you,” McArthur said.

“Girls, saynothing. Becky, not a word,” her father snapped.

“That little bitch got what she deserved,” Becky said, smirking at me.

“Rebecca!” her mother snapped. “Did younotjust hear your father?”

I looked at her incredulously. “She basically just admitted to everything, andthat’swhere you go with this? My God. No wonder your daughter is a psychotic piece of shit.”

“You little bitch,” Becky’s father snapped as he stepped forward.

“Take another step toward her, and you’ll be limping out of here,” Rick said sharply as he put his arm protectively over me.

I had to fight back emotions welling in my chest. The man was willing to fight for me, but I couldn’t even acknowledge him as my father. Guilt was dumped into the giant vat of mixed emotions currently taking me over.

“I agree,” the headmistress said. “Take another step, and I’ll have the police who are searching through all four of the girls’ apartments haul you in.”

“That’s an illegal search!” Becky’s father spat.

“Actually, it isn’t,” Rick said. “This is private property owned by Crestview. These students live on school property. There’s an entire packet of paperwork sent out or emailed every year the week before class starts. One of those papers is a consent form for Crestview to conduct searches if the need ever arises for safety concerns, illegal activity concerns—such as this—maintenance, or even suspected destruction of property. It’s just like any other rental property out there, where landlords make tenants sign a form authorizing the landlord to come in and check the premises for any reason. Thathasto be signed before a student can even be allowed to enroll for that year. Therefore, Crestview is within its full rights to search their own buildings for any reason.”

Becky’s father scoffed. “I wouldneversign something like that! I don’t even recall seeing such nonsense.”

Headmistress McArthur picked up a file and handed it over to the almighty lawyer. “Your wife’s signature has been on every piece of paperwork received over the last three years. This year, however, since Becky is eighteen, she opted to sign the forms herself.”

His eyes snapped up from the file to shoot daggers into McArthur’s. “What?!” he shouted. He then looked over at his wife. “I haverepeatedlytold youneverto signanythingI don’t read first! What the hell were you thinking?”

His wife shrank back, worry furrowing her brows as she shook her head and wrung her hands. “I’m sorry! They’re just school forms. They’re required for enrollment. It’s just part of the process. They weren’t any different from Coventry when Blake attended there, and you approved those, so I didn’t think it would be a big deal.”

He huffed, and I imagined smoke bellowing from his nostrils like a dragon as he stared her down. There wasnoway he wasn’t an abusive piece of shit. The way he looked at her with such hatred and stepped closer to her with a threat in his gaze sold me on it.What an ass.

“Well,Moira, except the fact that Coventry didn’t have dorms, so the students don’tlive on the fucking property!” His head whipped around to now look at Becky, but she seemed unfazed. “Andyou…What wereyouthinking? Sweetie, I’vetoldyou. Never sign anything Daddy hasn’t looked over.”

Oh, puke, I thought. With the way he spun like he did, I expected Becky to receive the same treatment the wife had, but he was much softer with Becky, though I could still hear the irritation in his voice.

Becky shrugged. “I’m eighteen. Mom signed that shit for years. If it was okay for her, it was okay for me. I was sick of being treated like a baby. I can take care of myself. Besides, it’s just enrollment forms.Everyonehas to have them turned in to even start class. It’s not like no one else signed it. It doesn’t matter.”

Her father sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “It matters because you gave permission for campus police to search your room foranyreason.Neversign anything without me looking at it.” He turned toward McArthur, and once again, the darkness filled his expression. Furrowed brows, flared nostrils, flattened lips, and ticking jaw. “You should be fired! She’s eighteen! Allowing her to sign her own enrollment forms, while it may be legal, should at theveryleast be considered unethical. This is outrageous!”

“Well, as you just said, itislegal and also legallybinding,” Headmistress McArthur said in a flat tone. “Therefore, you’ll find no wrongdoing on our part.” She reached for the folder, and Becky’s father huffed again before slamming down on her palm.

“None of my children willeverset foot back here again!” he shouted.

“Yes, well, Becky is no longer welcome, and if your other children are similar in any way—and I have to assume they are—I would be most pleased to never have them attend now or at any point in the future.” She turned to me. “Now, Temperance. Were all three girls equally involved?”

I looked over at the girls, watching the evil glares from both Becky and Melinda before turning to Harper, who only stared at the floor. Tears silently streamed down her cheeks, and it tugged at a part of me that I didn’t want to exist.

You fucking owe me, little sister.

“No,” I said flatly before turning back to the headmistress. “Becky held one of my shoulders down, and Melinda held the other down. I remember them laughing and talking with the tattoo artist. I don’t remember hardly anything else, but I remember them laughing at me. I remember Becky saying, ‘Nighty night, Jack.’ It didn’t make sense until I woke up and saw the lumberjack tattoo. She called me and our gym teacher Alice that—you can ask her about that. I’msureshe remembers.”

“And Harper?” Headmistress McArthur asked.

I paused, staring into the eyes of the woman who had helped me and had even smarted off to rich, powerful parents on my behalf. I hated to do it, but my heart wouldn’t let me do anything else. Just as before, I blended lie with truth, so I could sell the story without giving myself away.

“I remember Harper sitting on my hips. Nervously biting her thumb. She seemed worried, like she didn’t want to be there. I remember her nervously asking how long it would take and asking if I was okay. She said she didn’t like this, and it was wrong.”

“That’sbullshit!” Becky screamed. “She’s a fucking lying piece of dog shit! Harper was all the way in on this.”

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