Page 124 of Kings & Corruption

The Kings made me feel like I could do anything.

Like I was safe.

Ugh. Where the fuck was Dean Giordana?

I read the titles on his books, but most of them were related to law or business administration — in other words, they were boring af — so I focused on the photographs instead.

There were a lot of them, mostly showing Dean Giordana with various men in suits. The men were always shaking hands. Either that, or they had their arms around each other like they were long-lost pals.

I recognized a younger Roberto in one of them next to the dean on a boat, both of them looking virile and tanned. My stepfather looked mostly the same, but Dean Giordana had a thick head of brown hair in that one, so it had to have been taken a long time ago.

In another picture, a group of guys stood with their arms around each other, all of them wearing some kind of uniform. They couldn’t have been more than twenty, and they painted a perfect picture of wealth and privilege, all of them smiling and attractive.

All of them men.

I studied the expression on their faces, trying to place what they all had in common, then realized it was certainty. They all lookedcertain.

Of their privilege. Their entitlement. Their safety.

I drew in a breath as my fear hardened into something else, something still and cold.

The guys in the picture looked certain of those things because they could afford to be. The world wouldn’t tell them no. It wouldn’t hurt them.

It wouldn’t dare.

But Emma had gone to Bellepoint thinking she was safe. Then she’d come here.

Dean Giordana was responsible for the safety of the students on Aventine’s campus — all of them — but he looked the other way when the girls from Bellepoint snuck on and off campus. He looked the other way when we played the game. He looked the other way when students like Neo, Oscar, and Rock were obviously involved in some bad shit in town.

And why shouldn’t he? It was all about appearances at Aventine, all about making the parents happy so they’d keep writing those fat checks. He didn’t care at all about Emma or any of the Bellepoint girls who’d gone missing.

I drew in a breath, my heart beating slow and steady. The sweat had cleared from my forehead, and my face no longer felt hot.

I’d stolen the medals because I had to, because it was the only way to build credibility with my fellow students, and they were the ones who’d last seen Emma. Why should I feel bad about playing a game everyone at Aventine was playing one way or another?

“I’m sorry for the interruption,” Dean Giordana said, returning to the office. He sat behind his desk. “As I was saying, we’re talking to all of the students who were in the building over the last few days. According to our security cameras, you were one of them, so Miss Russo, I must ask, do you know anything about the theft of the medals from the teacher’s lounge?”

I shook my head calmly, the lie flowing off my tongue like water. “No, Dean Giordana. Not a thing."

Chapter57

Willa

“Ican’t believe we let you talk us into this,” Oscar said as we pulled up to Ruby’s Friday night.

His hand was on my bare thigh in the backseat, his thumb rubbing sexy circles on my skin that made me want to forget Ruby's and spend the night fucking him instead.

“I didn’t talk you into anything,” I said, adjusting the neckline of my drapey gold dress. Its thin straps, plunging neckline, and a back that dipped almost to my ass made it impossible to wear a bra, but I wanted to tease my tits, not give everyone a free show. “I told you I was going out, and you insisted on coming.”

“Like you knew we would,” Neo grumbled from the driver’s seat.

“It’s not my fault you’ve appointed yourselves my personal bodyguards,” I said. I was being flippant, but I was secretly glad they’d attached themselves to me like industrial-strength glue.

I was still having nightmares about the chase through the woods. The truth was, I didn’t feel safe when I was alone anymore, but no way in hell was I going to give them the satisfaction of knowing that.

“It’s for your own safety,” Rock said from the passenger seat of the Hummer.

“It’s your call,” I said. “But I can’t be a prisoner in the Kings’ house.”

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