Page 180 of Heartless Sinner

I didn’t check the rest of my texts until I was in my dorm room, nor did I return to Daphne in the Fawn Quarters. She’d know something was wrong, and right now, I needed privacy and peace to deal with this.

Just when I’d finally gotten what I wanted—Daphne—my life was becoming a total shit show.

I dropped into my desk chair, found the article Enzo had shown me, and reread it.

According to sources, I’d sat with a group of friends, gotten drunk and high, then told them story upon story about a secret society where we killed people and stole.

I’d never describe the Sons like that.

It went on to say that this secret society involved royals, politicians, and any family worth billions, which was another fucking lie. Money couldn’t buy you into the Sons. You could be the richest man in the world, and that still wasn’t an easy way in. You needed the right connections and still had to prove yourself.

I closed the article, returned to my texts, and opened the thread with my father, starting from the bottom.

Dad: WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU?

Dad: ANSWER ME, GODDAMN IT.

Dad: Are you ignoring me?

Dad: If we don’t figure this out, we’re fucked.

Dad: Here’s another article to add to your list of fuckups. You’d better call me.

Kicking my feet up on the desk, I opened the article. They immediately fell when I finished the headline.

President Byron’s Son Caught with Daughter of Man Involved in His Attempted Assassination.

Forty-Three

Daphne

My alarm this morning was courtesy of Blair barging into my room in the Fawn Quarters.

Or rather, my afternoon alarm since it was twelve thirty. I’d been so exhausted I’d slept in later than I ever had.

“Daph! I’ve been calling you all morning, and then I remembered you didn’t have your phone.” She shut the door with her hip while carrying two lattes from the university coffee bar.

I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and scooted up until I was propped against the headboard. A yawn escaped me as I eyed the latte like it held the cure to every problem I had.

I looked from the latte to the empty space beside me.

I frowned, hating that Brooks had slipped out sometime this morning without waking me.

Blair, already dressed in her uniform, held one of the cups out to me. “Drink this. You need to be fully alert for what I’m about to tell you.”

“Okay …” I carefully took the latte from her. “You’re scaring me.”

She sat at the end of my bed with her latte cradled between both hands.

“How bad is whatever you’re about to tell me?” I blew across the opening in the lid before taking a sip.

“Pretty bad,” she said softly.

I took another sip, wishing it had liquor in it. The expression on her face told me she wasn’t just being dramatic for once. “What is it?”

“Which do you want first? Bad or worse?”

“Is there a good option?”