Page 79 of The Revenge

When we arrive back at Royal’s Mercedes, he gently sets Tori down to unlock the car. I push du Pont to the back and open the door, but Tori appears next to me.

“Wait,” she says before ripping the tape off du Pont’s mouth. “The girl you killed; was she named Lucy? Lucy Barnes?”

Du Pont sneers. “Why would I know what that whore’s name was?”

“You left JP at the front of the campus. What did you do with her?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, you—”

Gemini lunges, shoving du Pont into the back of the vehicle. Before du Pont can recover, Gemini punches him ashard as he can in the temple. As his body slumps to the side, Gemini steps back and shrugs. “I have wanted to do that since he was Elite President.”

“I was talking to him,” Tori objects.

“He’s not going to tell you anything. He won’t lead us to any evidence that will incriminate him further anyway.” Gemini leans past her and puts some more tape over du Pont’s mouth. “Just in case he wakes up.”

“Let’s head back.” I wait for Tori and Gemini to move out of the way before slamming the door shut. I lead Tori to the side of the car. After a moment’s hesitation, I open the front passenger door and gesture for her to get in.

She looks at me in surprise, but gets in. “Thank you.”

After making sure she’s clear, I shut the door and go to get in behind her. Gemini’s leaning against the door, grinning at me like an idiot. “What?”

“Nothing.”

“You seem to like your teeth, Gemini. If you want to keep them, I suggest you get in,” I tell him when he doesn’t move.

Like he’s a toddler, he sticks his tongue out at me. Then he pulls open the door and jumps in behind Tori, shutting and locking the door. I can’t see him through the tint, but I’m sure he’s sticking his tongue out at me again.

I swear, there is no one more infuriating than this dipshit.

Grumbling to myself, I head around to the other side. By the time I get in, Royal’s already got the engine running and is turning on the heated seats for Tori. The door has a fresh bottle of water in it, so I pull it out and lean forward to offer it to her. “Here.”

She glances over her shoulder, the surprise returning. “Thank you.” She takes the bottle from me but doesn’t open it.

It’s on the tip of my tongue to point out that I’ve not poisoned it, but instead, I settle back into my seat.

XXXI

Tori

As the inside of Royal’s car grows warmer, my mind seems to go numb. I barely paid any attention to where Preston had taken me, and it wasn’t until we’d been driving on the freeway for a while that I even thought about it.

The digital display shows that the car is playing music from Royal’s Spotify playlist, but he’s muted the sound. My focus is on the time. It’s a little after midnight. Somehow, it seems like it should be much, much later than that.

I’d like to be able to close my eyes and sleep the journey away… actually, I’d like to be able to skip everything that falls between now and Cole being released.

Tonight, the only hope I had was to make Preston believe that Cole was innocent, and I wasn’t the one he needed to take his revenge out on. Honestly, I wasn’t even expecting Preston to admit to sending Declan after me.

Syn, Royal, and Gemini allowed me to believe the museum would be safe. And why wouldn’t it be? A public venue with three guys by my side. They had been confident, and in spite of everything, I was confident in them.

Not that I blame them.

I don’t think any of us expected Preston to kidnap me or attempt to kill me. If anything, I’m grateful they managed to find me and save me in time…

How did they find me?

Tonight, I got more than I ever dared hope for.

Not just the truth about what really happened the night JP was murdered, but a confession from the real killer.

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