Page 34 of Kings & Corruption

Oh, and at the end of the row? A massive black Hummer.

“Man, I was really hoping we were taking the Beamer,” Rock said.

“You should know better,” Oscar said.

I had no idea what they were talking about. I was still trying to do the math on the hundreds of thousands of dollars of horsepower in the garage. Where the fuck were these guys getting their money? I mean, yeah, our families had money. Or theirs did anyway. We’d lost all of ours.

But this was like… yacht money. Some of our parents had it. Neo’s dad probably did — our parents were experts in hiding money offshore and investing dirty money in real businesses that made them legitimately rich — but it was hard to believe Roberto Alinari would give his son the kind of money necessary to fund this lifestyle.

“Get in,” Neo said, opening the Hummer’s passenger side door.

I ignored him and moved to the back seat.

“I’ll take shotgun,” Rock said, climbing into the car.

I got into the backseat, careful not to let the skirt of my dress drag on the ground. When I looked up I was surprised to find Neo standing there, waiting for me to get settled.

His eyes met mine in the moment before he shut the door without a word. A few seconds later, he was starting the Hummer and backing out of the garage.

Oscar reached over and linked his hands with mine. “You okay?” he asked softly.

Like he knew. Like he knew how hard this was going to be for me.

“I’m good,” I said.

I should have pulled my hand away. I’d been in the Kings’ house for a little over twenty-four hours and I was already slip-sliding into a dangerous place, a place where I saw as friends the men who might know something about my missing sister.

But damn if that wasn’t getting harder to believe.

Chapter16

Willa

Iheld my head up and tried not to notice everyone staring when we stepped into the ballroom. To be fair, it was entirely possible they were only looking because I happened to be accompanied by three of the most gorgeous men on the planet.

Sure, Neo lost points for his personality, but I doubted any of the thirsty bitches at the ball cared about that.

Music thumped from several speakers as a DJ mixed tunes from a high-tech setup at one end of the room, and I wasn’t surprised by the bar at the other end. Aventine wasn’t exactly a rule-following institution, despite the brochures that made it look like any other expensive private college on the Eastern seaboard.

We came here to learn how to break the rules, not follow them.

Besides, thanks to the customary gap year or four, most of Aventine’s students were over twenty-one anyway. Neo, Rock, and Oscar had been three years ahead of me in high school and taken time off to work with the family, and they’d already been at Aventine for two years.

“Willa!”

I thought I was imagining the sound of someone calling my name through the beat of the music and the murmur and laughter of the crowd, but then Claire was in front of me, looking gorgeous in a short purple dress with feathers on the sleeves and skirt.

“Hey!” I was more than a little relieved. All the D in the Kings’ house was nice to look at, but I was in serious need of a woman friend. “You look amazing!”

I had to shout it over the music, but I knew she’d heard me when her smile widened. “Thanks! But look at you!” She looked me up and down. “Someone came to play.”

I laughed and she looked up at the guys, who had somehow closed ranks around me, creating a wall of man-chest and shoulders.

“Oh look, it’s the big, bad Kings,” she said playfully.

“Claire,” Rock said. “When did you…?”

“We met in town today,” Claire shouted over the music. “And we’re going to be best friends, so get used to seeing me around.” She grabbed my hand. “Let’s get drinks and dance."

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