Page 164 of Depraved Boys

I kept my face blank. Why hadn’t he told me any of this before?

Bianca sniffed. “Evergreen started it. Besides, she gave as good as she got.”

“I’ll come with you,” said Leopold.

“So will I,” added Prakash.

Sebastian leaned forward and raised his brows in a look that seemed to ask if I needed him. I gave him a tight smile and shook my head. What he had done for me yesterday, opening up about something personal to the police, had touched my heart but also left me wondering whether I was his next pull-a-pig victim.

If I could just remember how he was with Miss Claymore when I had caught them in his room together, things would make better sense. Had he been fighting off the older woman or enjoying her fist of fury, as Leopold had described it?

“Are you coming or not?” asked Bianca.

I rose to my feet, making both Leopold and Prakash stand. Bianca sashayed out of the lecture theater, and the three of us followed. Out in the hallway, she opened the door to the stairwell and flicked her head for us to follow.

“What do you want, then?” I placed my hands on my hips. Leopold and Prakash stood behind me like walls of protection.

Bianca reached into her bag and pulled out a thick envelope. “This is from Father.”

I stepped back, stomach churning at the thought of more photos. “What is that?”

“Twenty-five thousand pounds in cash—enough to cover your expenses until you scrape up a scholarship.”

“Why?” I folded my arms across my chest.

Bianca’s gaze flickered from Leopold to Prakash, and the corners of her mouth twitched downward with displeasure. Perhaps their presence restricted what she felt comfortable to say, but I didn’t care. The contents of that envelope looked like a bribe to keep quiet about Mr. Byrd’s proclivity to abuse his own daughter.

With a pained grimace, she said, “Because of our differences, you’ve embarked on a campaign of malicious slander. He wants it to stop and is willing to fund your academic lifestyle as a gesture of goodwill.”

“I can help you.” The words tumbled out of my mouth. “I know what I saw. If you—”

“Take it.” She tried pressing the money into my folded arms.

I stepped away. “Why are you helping him?”

“Because you’re a disgusting liar,” she spat. “And a money-grubbing whore like your sister. Take the cash.”

Irritation flared across my skin. Bianca was probably throwing out random accusations to distract me from her terrible secret, but I was too accustomed to Ashley’s distractions for Bianca’s to have any effect.

Wiping signs of annoyance off my features, I said, “You know, he grabbed me after the Board of Governor’s meeting, and he’s probably done worse to other girls. Fathers don’t do that to their daughters or anyone else’s.”

Her gaze darted from Leopold to Prakash. She lowered her head and whispered, “Don’t you think I know that? Unlike you, I don’t have nothing to lose.”

“But—”

“Stop it!” Bianca stamped her foot. “Stop thinking you’re better than everyone here because you’ve had a better life.”

I reared back, nearly bumping into the kings. “Orphaned at seventeen, and you think that’s good?”

“I’d sell my soul to be in your position.” She waved the envelope of cash over my chest. “Even with those monstrous things!”

“You’ve said enough,” snarled Prakash.

“Finish your point,” said Sebastian.

Bianca raised her chin and leveled me with a determined glower. “He wants you to sign a prepared statement that says you won’t slander him or me.”

I shook my head. “No amount of money will make me deny what I saw.” She opened her mouth to protest, and I said, “And no, I’m not doing it to be vindictive. Your father needs to be stopped before he attacks some other girl.”