Page 93 of Kings & Corruption

“So you do think Emma’s disappearance is connected to the other girls,” I said.

Oscar raked his hand down his face, something he only did when he was frustrated or tired. “We just don’t know. The fact that the other girls look like they left voluntarily makes things… complicated.”

I glared at him. “It’s not complicated. Four girls have gone missing from Bellepoint in four years. They’re connected. You knew about it all this time, and from the looks of things, you haven’t done a fucking thing about it.”

Grief was like a kick to the chest, and I had to force myself to suck in a breath as the reality hit me. No one had looked for the first three girls. Whoever had taken them had a free pass to keep doing it when Emma disappeared.

Oscar reached for me. “You don’t understand what’s at play — ”

“Four years.” I interrupted Oscar. “And from where I’m standing, it looks a lot like nobody gave a fuck.”

I was drowning in a familiar ocean of grief. No way was I going to lose it in front of the Kings.

I turned and stalked from the room.

Chapter40

Willa

Ipaced my bedroom, replaying my conversation with the guys in my mind. I kept snagging on the same detail: Emma was different from than the other girls. Because she was white, and because whoever took her hadn’t had time to make her disappearance look voluntary.

But I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that whoever had taken Emma was responsible for the other girls’ disappearances too. Find the person who’d taken one of them, and we’d find the person who’d taken all of them.

I tried to make sense of it. Who would take these girls? And why?

I teased the details. Whoever had taken them was able to get into the dorms, pack the girls’ bags without anyone seeing (did Bellepoint have cameras on campus like Aventine? I would have to find out).

I shook my head. None of it made sense. If the other three girls lived on campus (did they? I’d have to check), they would have had roommates. A stranger packing their bags would have been noticed by them and the other students in the dorm.

I sat on my bed and dropped my head in my hands. I’d been at Aventine for over two weeks and was no closer to finding out what had happened to Emma than I’d been the day Roberto and my mom had dumped me at the Kings’ house.

I’d been a bitch to the guys, criticizing them for not doing anything to help find Emma when they were obviously the only people who’d even tried. They’d known about the other three missing girls, had already been working the problem of why Emma was different.

You don’t understand what’s at play…

Oscar’s words drifted through my mind. The guys obviously knew more than they were letting on. It bugged me. We were supposed to be working together, and it felt like I was still on the outside, liketheystill didn’t trustme.

Which was crazy. I was Emma’s sister. No one wanted to find her more than me, but it felt like I was earning the trust of the Kings instead of the other way around.

Still, they had been asking questions, and I believed them when they said they wanted to help me find her. Did that mean I trusted them?

Hell no.

We were a long, long away from trust. But it was better for me — better for Emma — if we worked together.

And that meant not acting like a brat when we were on the subject of my missing sister.

Neo couldn’t care less about the way I was feeling ( I couldn’t even think about what had happened between us on the road), and Rock was so easygoing he probably hadn’t even registered my insults, but Oscar had been stung by my attitude in the kitchen. I’d seen it in the way he’d blinked when I’d interrupted him, the resignation in his eyes when I’d left the room.

I sighed and got to my feet. I needed to make things right with him. That wouldn’t have been a big deal by itself. I needed him, needed the Kings to help me find Emma.

The thing that was really fucked was that Iwantedto make things right with him.

What was that about?

I didn’t know, but whatever it was, it would take more than one night to figure out.

I didn’t know how long I’d been stewing in my room, but I was hoping Oscar had already come upstairs to his. Apologizing to him wouldn’t be so bad, but I had zero desire to be humble in front of all three of the guys, especially Neo.

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