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The simplest method would be to murder Rocco Prince.
I’ve considered it. Many times. But it would be risky, for a variety of reasons.
First off, Zoe and I would be the obvious suspects. Despite our best efforts to be subtle, it’s widely known that we have feelings for each other. Kingmakers doesn’t always enforce its rules when it comes to petty misdemeanors like fistfights and hook-ups, but some rules are sacrosanct. The most iron-clad is the Rule of Recompense. Any serious injury or death is punished in the old way: an eye for an eye. Tooth for a tooth. Life for a life.
Even if we could skirt punishment by the school, the Princes would seek revenge. Rocco, as unlovable as he might be, is their only child and heir.
I don’t want to start our life together with a cycle of retribution.
I want to do what I do best: solve the problem, once and for all.
I need to make a deal with the Romeros and the Princes. Something that makes everyone happy.
Zoe has explained to me what her father and the Princes stand to gain from the marriage contract and its accompanying trade deal.
I have to offer them something better.
Somethingmuchbetter.
I wish it were as simple as money.
I have 10.4 million now. The full balance of my seed money that I’d planned to take to Los Angeles after I graduate.
If I thought the Princes and the Romeros would take a check, I’d clear my account today. But they stand to make much more than five million each off their deal.
I have to take that ten million and turn it into something more valuable. I have an idea for how I could do that, with Ozzy’s help.But I need another player. And probably every penny of cash I can muster.
I work on my plan every spare minute, whenever I’m not in class or sneaking out to see Zoe.
It’s starting to shape up, bit by bit.
Only one flaw remains intractable and irascible. Even if I convince the Princes and the Romeros, the one person I’ll never convince is Rocco himself. He’s the thorn in my side. The one threat I can’t remove entirely.
I turn the problem over in my head again and again, but I can never think of anything that will satisfy him. Nothing but Zoe.
I move forward regardless, trusting that even if Rocco is angry, he’ll have to abide by what his parents decide.
Rocco knows I’m seeing Zoe, much as we try to hide it. He knows, and his inability to prevent it makes him angrier and angrier.
I’ve warned Zoe not to go anywhere alone on campus. She’s careful to stick close to Anna and Chay.
Rocco retaliates by venting his rage on me instead. I’m an easier target, since we share classes and the same living space in the Octagon Tower.
Rocco and his stooges break into the dorm room I share with Ozzy. They destroy everything inside, slashing up our uniforms, ripping apart our books, and pissing all over our beds.
Ozzy discovers the mess. He’s shaking with fury when I join him in the midst of the mayhem.
He holds up the blanket his mother knit for him, one that he’s had all his life, torn to pieces and soaked in urine.
“I’ll fucking kill them,” he hisses.
It takes a lot to make Ozzy mad. But once you do, he’s got a hell of a temper buried under the jokes and the smile.
“I can room somewhere else till all this cools off,” I say to Ozzy, feeling guilty for bringing this down on his head.
“Fuck that,” Ozzy said, dismissing the idea at once. “This isn’t just between you and Rocco anymore.”
It’s true—at this point, Ozzy and Wade Dyer hate each other nearly as much as Rocco and me.
