Page 93 of Twisted Elites

“My recruiter mentioned what happened to the academy in my interview, but I didn’t know what he was talking about. Were you there for the trial?”

With a nod, I explained to Cormac that Mr. Riley had joined forces with Mr. and Mrs. Wilmington to sue Brittas Academy for corporate manslaughter.

Miss Claymore had already resigned and left the country the week after Cormac had tried to abduct me, leaving Mrs. Benazir and the school governors to face the full wrath of the court. Several students gave evidence via video, but I chose to take the stand and explain to the court how those in charge of Brittas Academy had failed to take care of their students and gotten three killed and three subject to brutal attacks.

Mr. Byrd hadn’t been available for the trial due to serving a twenty-year sentence based on the testimony of Bianca and his younger daughter.

The three-million pound fine was the largest paid in the history of corporate manslaughter, and Mrs. Benazir was sentenced to two years in prison for criminal negligence under the Health and Safety at Work Act. Although the board employed alternative headteachers, a group of parents took the school to the civil courts and won a lawsuit for negligence.

Cormac shook his head as he listened to me recount the downfall and subsequent bankruptcy of Brittas Academy. A year after I had graduated and joined Cambridge University to study mathematics, the board of governors had to close it down and transfer the students to an academy in Mercia, which already had enough empty buildings to accommodate all the students.

“I wanted to apologize to you before I left,” he dipped his head and stared at the cupcakes on his plate.

A lump formed in my throat. Two years ago, Cormac wrote to say he had discovered the identity of his parents. His father was a notorious British serial killer, famous for consuming his victims’ body parts, and his mother had been rescued just before the murderer had finished his act.

The discovery had set back his recovery several months and had led to Cormac opening up about the abuse he and his sister had suffered in foster care. I set down my cup and tried to meet his eyes.

Cormac’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. “Of all the people I hurt, you were the only one who was completely innocent. Not that Bianca deserved to end up in a wheelchair for the rest of her life and Geraldine deserved what I did to her face, but—”

“It’s alright,” I murmured. Both girls had also graduated from university and were getting on with their lives.

His shoulders drew up to his ears. “If you’d joined a year earlier, you would have made a great friend to Corrine. Maybe even talked some sense into her.”

“Thanks.” The old me might have reached out across the table to hold his hand, but I’d just come to help give Cormac closure.

We sat in silence for a few more minutes. I sipped my cold, milky tea and nibbled on a cupcake, the way I did whenever I attended the tea-parties of Prakash’s little nieces.

“Did you ever visit Ashley in prison?” asked Cormac.

“She refuses to see me.”

“What went wrong?”

I shook my head. Once I had recovered from jumping out of the Aston Martin, I had persuaded Ashley’s lawyer to send her for a psychiatric evaluation. Unfortunately, the assessing psychiatrist couldn’t find any mental conditions that would have affected her judgment, and she was sentenced to fifteen years in prison. She did send Uncle Trevor and me long letters detailing how we had both ruined her future.

Cormac leaned forward, eyes alight with curiosity.

I blew out a long breath. “It’s like you said. Ashley saw me as a scapegoat for everything that went wrong in her life, starting from when she fell in love with a private tutor who showed her no interest.”

“Sorry.” He sipped his cold tea.

“So am I.”

“I saw an announcement of your engagement in The Sunday Times.” Cormac wrinkled his nose at the three-carat diamond engagement ring on my finger. “Why did you choose him of all people?”

A laugh huffed out of my throat. “I didn’t.”

He tilted his head to the side. “I don’t follow.”

“It’s complicated and doesn’t matter.” I wasn’t about to explain that we were on our way to India for a polyandrous wedding. That was nobody’s business but my own.

Cormac shrugged. “I suppose not. Are you happy?”

“Very.” Warmth filled my chest, and my gaze darted to the security camera above the door. If anyone offered me the chance to reset the last seven years of my life, I still would have gone to Brittas Academy, even if it meant reliving all that fear and pain and anguish. Because it had led me to my three soulmates and move love to fill three lifetimes.

“Although life isn’t without its challenges,” I added.

“How is Kashaayah?” Cormac bit into a lemon cupcake.