Page 60 of Corrupt Me

“Spare me the big brother bullshit, will you?”

The nerve of this guy is astounding.

I get to the coffee machine and pour myself a cup, snatching the last muffin my sister baked just to piss Blake off.

I munch on it, staring outside the window. It’s a stormy, cloudy day, a perfect reflection of my inner world. Spring does whatever it wants—warm one day, then cold the next: sunny, then rainy—thoroughly indecisive.

My phone pings with a message from Bailey.

Can’t make it today for training.

Why?

I don’t need to give you an explanation.

The fuck she doesn’t.

I shove my phone back in my jeans and head to class. I am good at one thing, and that is what I am going to do for the Family. However, we must also uphold a societal position, which means leading companies. Studying business is just a means to an end. I’ve been juggling between what I present to the world and what I do in the shadows for so long that it’s become a part of me. This duality makes me who I am.

I take my seat in the last row as the economics professor walks in and starts the lecture.

Spring break is coming soon, and Cassandra will send us on a vacation. While I have been against that, maybe some days off will do me good, so I don’t have to watch Bailey all the time.

She is never far from my thoughts, but I can’t think straight now that I’ve experienced how she feels against me. I need to improve my mood, or I am going to explode.

At the end of the classes, I hop into my Audi R8 and drive to the shooting range. I am a regular, so everyone greets me as I go in. Grabbing ammunition, a Glock, and a rifle, I step into the soundproof room. Releasing all my frustration, I fire the gun, eachpop popfollowed by a whoosh as the bullets slice through the air. I keep going until the target is ripped to shreds. I don’t feel any better, though. Hours blur together as I try to purge my weakness. But it’s all in vain.

When I return to the house, silence greets me. Knowing Bailey, she’s huddled in her room and watching those screens. Just to make sure, I go upstairs and peek inside her room. As expected, she’s at her desk. Her head whips to me, and she purses her lips.

“I’m alive. Don’t let the door hit you on your way out.” When the kitten shows her claws, it does things to me I can’t even begin to comprehend.

“Are you sore?” I ask, stepping inside when I should fucking leave.

“No idea what you’re talking about,” she says hostilely, returning her attention to the screens and cutting me off.

I am sick to my bones, a walking contradiction—unsalvageable. Even though I asked that we never talk about what happened, it doesn’t sit right with me.

“Then why did you skip our training lesson today?”

She sighs, and there she is again—the Bailey who oozes vulnerability. She shrugs. “I just need some space, okay? I also was behind on a project.”

“Until Felix is caught, I can’t slack off with your training. Afterward, I’ll stay the fuck away.”

“I’m sure you can’t wait.”

Her phone rings with a text notification, and she shows it to me. “Look, my boyfriend is messaging me.”

“Don’t you bloody call him that.”

“He’s the only one I’ve got.”

She’s not sweet or innocent. She’s a seductress playing games, a very dangerous one, corrupting the fabric of my being.

“Could I have some privacy?” she even bats her lashes at me.

Curling and uncurling my hands at my sides, I plop on the edge of the bed, gesturing for her to go on.

She types a reply, and I ask. “What the fuck did he want?”

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