Page 94 of Savage Elites

“I’m getting to it.” She twisted her body and backed toward the door. “I’ve become a nuisance. To Miss Claymore, to Mrs. Benazir, to Michelle, to everyone. The kings don’t look at me anymore, and even Cormac is becoming weary every time I speak about them. Today la Puta pushed me down the stairs and told me not to look at the royal table. La Perra told me I was an eyesore. La Puta kicked me in the gut, and el Sol told her to stop. She asked if he was still in love with me. El Sol just turned around and walked away, leaving me to their mercy.”

Prakash lowered his gaze, indicating that the story was true.

Puta meant whore in Spanish, and Perra meant bitch. Corrine had probably been referring to Geraldine and Bianca. From the violence of la Puta, I was guessing she was Bianca.

I clutched at my dry throat. The passage Ashley had read out indicated that Bianca had suspected that their relationship had been real all along. This was just like in Dangerous Liaisons when Marquise de Merteuil tricked Valmont into breaking off his relationship with Madame de Tourvel, knowing that it was no longer a game and that the act would break Valmont’s heart.

“Why are you doing this?” Prakash asked.

“I want a hundred-and-fifty thousand pounds for the diary and all the other evidence I have linking you to Corrine’s…” She made finger quotes. “Suicide.”

“So far, all I hear are the ramblings of an obsessed girl,” said Leopold.

“Same here.” Sebastian advanced toward Ashley. “Everything you’ve read out proves that Bianca and Geraldine are bullies. Not even they would pay to have that information kept quiet.”

Ashley turned to me. “Someone told me Prakash overheard that you were alone and naked on the side of a mountain, and he rushed out in his car to the ‘rescue.’ How do you know he didn’t rape you and cover his tracks with pork ribs?”

“Because that makes no sense,” I snapped. “Stop wasting everyone’s time and go back to Carlisle before someone decides you’re the nuisance.”

Ashley raised her chin. “Is that a threat? You’ve taken everything else from me, why not my life?”

I folded my arms across my chest. “My biggest revenge on you is to let you continue your lifestyle and not interfere.”

She curled her lip. “One-hundred-and-fifty-thousand pounds or I’ll take everything I have to the fucking police.”

My nostrils flared. It was fifty percent of the sum Prakash had bid for Mom and Dad’s house in the auction. Ashley had been angry enough on that day to smash something over my head. What else had she done in the past months? As a cleaner, she would have access to my room. My head snapped up, and I glared into her gloating face.

“You poisoned me,” I whispered.

“Prove it.” She slipped her smartphone in her pocket and backed into the hallway. “When I’ve finished with you all, this academy will burn itself to ashes!”

Chapter 22

According to Sebastian, Ashley sprinted down the hallway and ducked into a stairwell. Still sitting on the bed with a sheet wrapped around my naked form, I shook my head, trying to process the recent revelations.

Prakash sat at the farthest end of the bed to me with his clenched fists resting on his thighs, and his head dipped. Ashley’s ugly and untrue accusations had clearly affected him.

I scooted down on the bed and placed a hand on his arm. “Kash?”

He flinched away from me. “Why didn’t you tell me you had Corrine’s diary?”

I stilled. Maybe if it had been common knowledge that Prakash had been dating Corrine, I might have mentioned it, but by the time I found that diary, I’d only known her as Cormac’s sister.

“It wasn’t any of your business,” I said.

“Come on, Kash,” said Leopold. “Put the blame where it really belongs.”

“You’re being harsh,” added Sebastian.

“Maybe you two forgot about Corrine’s rape accusations, but I haven’t,” he snapped.

I buried my head in my hands and tried to make sense of what I’d just learned and what it meant in the context of my resurfacing memories. “Ashley lied that I was investigating you. I translated Corrine’s diary because I wanted to make sense of what happened to her.”

It was mostly the truth. Cormac’s comments about the kings’ involvement with his sister had triggered me into uncovering the diary’s secrets. Maybe it was an underhanded way to go about researching potential boyfriends, but in light of the pull-a-pig game, reading the diary had seemed the most reliable source of information.

“Let’s not fall out,” said Leopold. “Ashley will do anything to hurt her sister, and accusing Wills is playing into her hands.”

“I’m sorry.” Prakash scooted over and wrapped his arms around my shoulders. “Corrine is a sore point.”