Page 40 of The Revenge

“I do,” Royal says with a shrug. “But what I also know, what Tori knows, and what every other fucking person on this campus knows, is how much you hate her. If you don’t stop being a dick, she’s going to leave and never look back, then we’ll never get any answers.”

Grabbing my towel, I stand, forcing Royal to take a step back. “If she does that, she’ll never get her brother out of prison.”

I take a step to leave, but Royal sidesteps in front of me, pressing his hand against my chest. “Don’t be a dick, Synclair. We made it perfectly clear to her that even if we do find out who really killed JP, the chances of her brother being released are slim to none, because of his guilty plea. Think about it: how much more of your bullshit behavior do you think she’s willing to put up with?”

With a grunt, I shove his arm aside. He doesn’t get a response as I walk around him and leave him in the gym.

Neither the scalding hot nor ice cold shower is successful in removing the bad mood that Royal has put me in. It’s too late to attempt to get some sleep now, not that I’m feeling remotely tired, so instead, I get dressed.

In the giant vivarium on the other side of my bedroom, my basilisk, Basil, is standing on a particular branch to let me know that he’s hungry. Welcoming the distraction, I walk over and open the glass door to the enclosure. Unfortunately, he’s more interested in being fed than climbing onto my arm, so I add some mealworms to his bowl, and instead, watch the tongue of my bright green lizard as it spears its breakfast.

Right now, I’d like to stab something too.

As I close the door to the vivarium, my bedroom door opens, and Gemini walks in. “How many times do I have to tell you to knock first?” I ask, despite the fact that the answer to that question is probably in the high thousands, and I should therefore stop wasting my breath by asking him.

“What the fuck did you do?” Gemini snaps at me.

“Gemini, there are a dozen answers to that question, so either give me some specifics, or—”

“Our little Vixen is meeting with the dean right now.”

“I gave her explicit instructions to not leave Bergmann’s room until we came to get her.”

“Which she probably would have done if she hadn’t received an email summoning her to a meeting with the dean this morning,” Gemini tells me in a tone that implies he thinks I know exactly what he’s talking about.

Gemini hacked Victoria’s accounts months ago, and he’s had access to her college email since it was created, so I’m not the least bit surprised that he’s reading her emails.

But I have no ideas about this meeting.

“This has nothing to do with me,” I tell him. “Whatever you know, it’s more than me.”

Gemini’s expression turns to one of suspicion. “Are you sure? Because this has Synclair Keyingham written all over it.”

I walk over to him. “Even if you mean that literally, I have no idea what you’re talking about. So, stop wasting time, and tell me what this is about, so I can fix it.”

“Inappropriate conduct,” Gemini tells me.

Inappropriate conduct can cover a multitude of things. In this instance, it’s really only going to be about one. It was only going to be a matter of time before the sex tape came under the dean’s radar.

Which is precisely why I’d already called the dean and informed him that if there was even a hint of action towards Victoria, the only person leaving this place would be him.

The man is too much of a simpering fool, used to living in an easy life of luxury, to ever even consider going against anything I say.

“I want to know exactly what this is all about, before I arrive at the dean’s office,” I tell Gemini before I walk out of my room.

Before I get close to the administration building, I spot Victoria’s friend walking in the direction from where I’m headed. I steer the golf cart in her direction, cutting her off. “Where is she, Bergmann?”

Bergmann tosses her ponytail over a shoulder as she crosses her arms and glares at me. “Tracking device not working?”

Now I’m even more irritated at the fact that I hadn’t even considered a tracking device.

I’ll rectify that later.

“Is she still with the dean?”

“What do you even care?” she asks. “I don’t know what game you’re playing now, but no one buys this change of heart. You wanted Tori gone from the moment you found out who she was, and you wanted it done by inflicting the most pain and humiliation as possible.”

My hands grip the steering wheel tightly. “If you don’t want me to inflict pain and humiliation upon you, you’ll answer my question: where the fuck is she, Bergmann?”

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