Page 182 of Depraved Boys

My breath caught in the back of my throat. “You burned my stuff.”

Her lips twisted into a smirk. “Amongst other things.”

“Like what?” Sebastian snarled.

“That would be telling.” She turned to Leopold and fixed him with eyes that glared with malice. “Where are your clever remarks now? Leo, boy?”

Leopold snarled. “Why are you bothering us, when it was the knights who pigged you?”

“They’re bastards who will get their comeuppance, but you’re the only group who has a murderer in their midst.”

“I did not kill Corrine,” Prakash said between clenched teeth.

“Corrine’s diary says otherwise.” She pulled out her smartphone from her cleaner’s uniform. “El Sol… That’s Prakash, by the way, pushed me against the wall and called me a lying bitch for accusing him of rape.”

I bit down on my lip. Ashley probably had more time on her hands to decipher the bits I hadn’t yet done.

“Then he said I would pay for my lies. The truth burns in my heart. He raped me, plain and simple. Raped me when he lied about his emotions to play that terrible game. Even now, el Moreno and el Rubio give me these pitying looks. Nobody cares that my heart was violated. They just want me to move on. But had I known how things would end up, I would never have given him a second look, and that’s what makes it rape.”

Prakash’s face stilled.

Leopold shook his head. “That proves it wasn’t rape. Besides, Kash did love her.”

“She didn’t seem to think so,” said Ashley.

Sebastian reached for Ashley’s phone. “I fail to see the murder plot in that passage.”

“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!”