Page 46 of Shattered Reign

Anger still pulsated through me. “This asshole was stalking her, and I won’t let him get away with it.”

“As the new chairman of the Chevaliers on this campus, I won’t tolerate any insubordination, especially when it is against my family.”

Parker’s eyes drilled down to look at Nash. “He’s not disobeying any rules.”

I took a step toward Parker because to hell with toeing the line. “The hell he isn’t.”

This time, Parker glared at me. “He’s not disobeying anyone because I asked him to keep an eye on her.”

Silence filled the room as Parker’s words hung in the air. Stunned didn’t even begin to describe how I, and I was sure Nash and Bianca, felt. The surprises continued to hit us with no sign of slowing down.

It was then I realized how much my jaw ached and saw the bloodstains on my knuckles, but none of that compared to the thoughts crashing inside me like I was on the world’s biggest roller coaster.

Hell, it was a roller coaster of emotions, quite frankly.

Anger. Frustration. Helplessness.

Thankfully, Nash had enough sense to speak up. “Why was he keeping tabs on her?”

Parker’s attention turned to Bianca, who was still standing near the door. She looked ready to bolt at any moment, and I didn’t blame her. When Parker didn’t say a word immediately, I made my way toward her and pulled her into my arms to give her the support she needed. And I didn’t care what anyone in this room had to say about it.

“Why was he watching her, Parker?” The words carried all the heat I felt about the turn of events. I didn’t care about respecting the man in front of me, who could probably order that I be killed on the spot. I wouldn’t be surprised if he tried to do it himself, for that matter. None of that mattered though. I was going to get answers, one way or another. The fact that even Nash was kept in the dark about this was astounding.

“I ordered Landon to do this because we needed to see how involved she was with a matter pertaining to the safety and security of the Chevaliers because of someone she is associated with. Today we deemed that this matter was closed, so Landon will no longer be watching Bianca.”

“Chairman, that’s not good enough,” I said without thinking about it too much. There was no way he was being serious. The need to quench my desire to know what was going on was not satisfied with his answer.

Parker took a step toward Bianca and me, increasing the tension in the room. He met my anger with an icy calm. “It’s going to have to be good enough for you, Beaumont.”

The tone of his voice was almost daring me to ask more questions after he’d obviously dismissed my line of questioning.

Why? What was the point of being vague now?

This time, Nash moved to stand next to me while Landon slowly made his way to stand next to Parker. It felt as if there was a line drawn in the sand and this group was standing on opposite sides of it.

“Does this have anything to do with Iris’s disappearance?”

The whole room was shocked when Bianca spoke up, and everyone but Parker turned to stare at her. His gaze had never left her.

“Landon, head down to my car. It’s time to leave.”

His non-answer was the answer we needed. Iris’s disappearance had everything to do with Landon stalking Bianca. And all of that had something to do with protecting the Chevaliers.

Landon walked around us, staring as he left. The urge to throw another punch was there, but I let him walk by.

Parker made a move to walk toward the door, but just before he left, he said, “Landon’s mission is done. Bianca, you don’t have to worry about him anymore.”

“But where is Iris? Is she okay?” Bianca’s questions fell on deaf ears because Parker just walked by us and left the room.

I grabbed Bianca’s hands and asked, “Are you okay?”

She nodded. “I’m fine.”

I pulled her into my arms, enjoying the feel of her in them again. “I’m sorry you had to see all of that.”

“It’s okay, but what are we going to do?” Her voice was muffled against my chest. “Parker’s protecting Landon for some reason, and Iris is somehow caught up in all of this. The most I’d heard about her connection to the Chevaliers was about the party she attended that they’d held on Westwick’s campus.”

“We have to handle this ourselves.” I glanced over at Nash, who was looking at both of us.

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