Page 277 of Depraved Boys

“Corrine was going to throw herself out of a fourth-floor window in the east wing if I didn’t help her. I didn’t want her leaving this world in pain or surviving and ending up like Bianca Byrd.”

“Did you—”

“Miss Byrd deserved what I did to her. She bullied my sister relentlessly, just as she bullied you.”

I considered opening the door and jumping out of the car, but we were in the middle lane and going too fast. On our right, a Mercedes overtook us, and a lorry trundled toward us on the left. Leaving a moving vehicle would mean a certain death. At least if I played along with Cormac, I might have a chance of survival.

“How did those girls know the circumstances of Corrine’s death?”

“They didn’t.” Cormac turned the Aston Martin down a highway that led to the mountains. “I gave Geraldine the idea for the sister’s dilemma and the penalty, hoping you would report the girls to the police and make them reopen the case.”

A shiver ran down my spine. It made sense in a twisted sort of way. Anyone aware of what had been found in Corrine’s dead body would have looked twice when they discovered what had happened to me. Especially since that information was never made public.

As the incline steepened, the road narrowed from two lanes to one. The clouds thinned, letting through the full strength of the sun. Sweat beaded on my temple, and my throat dried. I had to get out, but how? If I ran through the mountains, Cormac would chase me until I stumbled and fell to my death.

“Did you poison Bruce Wilmington’s hookah?” I asked.

He tilted his head to the side and gave me a fond smile. “Sorry. Ashley did that all by herself and even placed recording devices in peoples’ rooms. She tried to disguise herself as she did the rounds, but I noticed.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

He blew out a weary breath. “I didn’t spot what Ashley had done until after she’d stolen all my evidence against Kashaayah. After she threatened Wilmington, I told him she’d gathered enough evidence on him to frame him for Corrine’s death. Your sister really is a piece of work.”

“So, Bruce really beat her up?”

“He roughed her up a bit and dumped her in the hallway. It was me who dragged her to Kashaayah’s room to finish the job with a cricket bat.”

I clapped a hand over my mouth to stifle a sob. “Why go so far?”

“Revenge for everything she did to you.” He raised a shoulder. “And it was a prime opportunity to get Kashaayah locked up.”

It was on the tip of my tongue to protest his innocence, but of course, Cormac knew this. He’d fucking helped his sister to die.

Cormac continued down the highway at a steady pace and whistled as though all was right with the world. I glowered at the side of his face. Of all the people I’d suspected of causing shit at the academy, I had never imagined the prefect I had befriended.

“What are you thinking?” he asked.

“I just can’t believe how much you fooled us all.”

“Nothing about my feelings for you were fabricated. You love me, I see it in your eyes.” He chuckled. “Even though right now, you look like you want to wring my neck.”

“Very perceptive,” I muttered.

“One day, we’ll laugh about this.”

We may as well have been disagreeing about his tea-making skills. “Do you think so?”

“It will take a while for you to adjust, but there’s a study that says it takes a captive ten weeks to warm to their captor. Once Stockholm Syndrome kicks in, we’ll both start a new life in America.”

The part of me who imagined escaping him on the ship died a slow, painful death. “I suppose you’ve got somewhere to keep me until then?”

“You’ve seen it,” he replied.

I shook my head. “If you mean my cottage—”

“My tent. I’ve stashed enough supplies for three months. Longer if we catch fish in the lakes.”

“Cormac,” I said with as much compassion as I could muster. “Right now, no-one thinks you’ve done anything wrong. You can stop the car near the academy and let me walk the rest of the way back. I won’t say a word to anyone, and I’ll tell them I went out on a hike.”