Page 57 of Queen’s Gambit

“You didn’t think I would find out, did you? You thought she was too scared to tell me.”

“I didn’t do anything,” Lawrence yelled. “Get security. He’s gone crazy. I swear she made the whole thing up. I wouldn’t do that,” he said, lying right to my face.

“Yeah, you would,” Paul said calmly. “I know you did because I got my hands on the security footage. Ana refused to turn you in to keep Ed from killing you. She didn’t say anything because she was scared of you. She was scared for you and didn’t want your death on her conscience.”

Lawrence glanced between us as we closed in on him. He darted out from behind the equipment, but I was faster and jumped over the workout bench. Before Lawrence could run out the door, I tackled him to the floor.

“You were supposed to be my friend.” I landed a hard left. “How do you repay me for my friendship? You assault Ana, the love of my life,” I roared and hit him with a right fist to the jaw. “Your pathetic little ego couldn’t handle it when she got away, so you tried to destroy our relationship.”

He tried to protect himself, covering his head with his arms as he curled up in a fetal position. But there was no fighting off the beast raging inside of me. Ana’s fear, her tears, and the memory of the scratches on Lawrence’s face fueled me. My fists rained down on my enemy.

“Help…stop him,” Lawrence begged between the blows, but no one was coming to his aid.

They all knew that I was not only a top student, helped everyone, and was the captain of the soccer team, but I quietly ruled this school. Not even the dean would interfere in Lawrence’s punishment.

Paul grabbed my arm.

“That’s enough. You need to leave him breathing,” he said, trying to remind me of the consequences of killing someone on school grounds.

I yanked my arm away, and my fist found Lawrence’s jaw once more before Paul gripped me from behind, saving the asshole on the ground from certain death.

Marcus ran in and helped Paul restrain me from lunging after the bloody and now unconscious Lawrence. I fought against them, wanting him dead. Anything less than that wasn’t good enough.

“Stop, you’re going to kill him,” Marcus said, pulling me back further as I continued to fight their hold.

“That’s the fucking point,” I growled.

“What the fuck did he do,” Marcus asked.

“He assaulted Ana and then told her father a pack of lies about us. Vadin took her home, and I don’t know if I’ll ever see her again,” I said.

“What the fuck….” Marcus’s grip loosened. “On second thought, go ahead and kill him.”

“Well, isn’t this fucking entertaining. I just had to come see when I heard that Mr. Mikhailov was here and whisked his daughter away.”

I looked up to see Christov Ivankov leaning casually against the doorjamb, smiling like he’d just won the lottery. He smirked at me and then pointed to Lawrence.

“He didn’t tell Vadin, I did.”

Arrogant prick. Christov and I had been natural rivals from the second I’d stepped foot on Wayward property. He was the star quarterback, second to me in GPA, but it was his attitude that separated us. Where I planned to build my empire without crushing the poor and defenseless to get there, he was all too happy to exploit a weakness or step over a dead body to get what he wanted. Until now, we had purposely avoided each other.

“Technically, it was Lawrence’s idea, but I made the call.”

“What the fuck, Christov? There is nothing for you to gain by doing this, and you didn’t just hurt me.”

The asshole had the balls to smirk at me.

“Wrong,” he said, casually removing lint from his uniform. “Did you forget where I’m from? My father has deep political ties in Russia. He’s already in talks with Vadin to unite our houses. Adding the Mikhailov wealth to my family is the plan, but ruining your reputation and watching you suffer is the icing on the cake. Face it, you failed. There is nothing you can do to get Yulianna back, and the only wedding you’ll attend with her will be the one where she gives herself over to me.”

“Son of a bitch,” I growled and tried to lunge at him, but Marcus and Paul held firm. “But you don’t love her.”

He snickered and shook his head.

“What the hell does that have to do with anything? This is why you’ll never make it in this world. You’re too soft and sentimental.”

“How about my guys let go of me, and we see just how soft I am when I snap your neck.”

Just as I managed to pull away from Marcus and Paul, Dean Martin and the guards walked in, forming a barrier between me and Christov.