Page 9 of Heartless Game

“Oh my god,” I said in my car, excited and afraid, as I made a U-turn and headed back the direction I’d come in. If this was the evidence I needed to blackmail Isaac, I’d kiss my source, even though Sebastian and I weren’t remotely interested in each other.

Reaching the fancy apartment building that only the wealthiest Reina students’ parents could afford, I found a guest spot and parked. I shook my head as I got out of my car and locked it. Compared to all the nice, expensive cars that surrounded it, my car looked like a trash heap. There was no reason to lock it; no one was going to steal it. Still, old habits die hard, and I never, ever risked that one of Abe Silver’s “employees” could be waiting in my backseat. It was unfortunately more than possible.

Walking down the sidewalk to the front of the building, the back of my neck tingled, like someone was watching. I pivoted around, scanning the street once, twice, three times. There was no one and nothing there besides the already parked cars.

“Tovah,” Sebastian said in the shadows, making me practically jump out of my skin.

“You scared me!” I gasped.

He shook his head, a small smile playing across his lips. “Sorry. I wanted to wait outside for you to make sure you were safe.”

I shivered, still feeling like there were eyes on me. “I appreciate that.”

Glancing behind him, he wrapped an arm around my shoulder and guided me inside his building.

“Did you see someone?” I asked, still on alert.

“No, but you can never be too careful,” he said.

Sebastian should know. He was in a secret society on campus, not to mention connected to the Gold dynasty—the Silver crime organization’s biggest enemy. He had a lot to watch out for.

I finally relaxed when we reached his huge, modern apartment and he locked the door.

I took a seat on a bar stool in the kitchen.

“Want anything?” he asked.

“Water,” I said, realizing how thirsty I was. But then the stress of thinking I was being followed and spending time with Isaac “Jones” would do that to a girl.

Nodding, he grabbed a bottle out of the fridge, handing it to me. I gulped greedily, before capping the bottle and asking, “So what do you have for me?”

He smiled slowly, teeth flashing like a shark. “Video footage of one of the Kings dealing Vice and Vixen at a party. It’s old, from the beginning of the semester, but it’s solid.”

My throat tightened in anticipation. Vice and Vixen were two black market sex drugs, one for men, and one for women. They didn’t work the same, but both drove the people who took it into sexual frenzies. For guys, it was like an aphrodisiac—they were fully aware of what was happening, just hard and horny. For girls, it was glorified roofies—lost in a sexual daze, they had no sense of what was going on.

I’d had a hunch that the hockey team participated in Vice and Vixen’s distribution, based on some things Aviva had said, but I didn’t haveproof.

Until now.

“Is there any evidence that Isaac’s involved?”

My stomach hurt. I needed Isaac to be involved to blackmail him, but I didn’twanthim to be—because I hated what that might say about his character.

“Silver?” Sebastian scowled. He knew Isaac’s true identity. “There’s no footage of him dealing, but one of the guys in Fire and Hail was a dealer and can testify to working with Isaac Silver and Jack Feldman last year.”

Disappointment filled me. That wasn’t enough. “Will he testify?” I asked.

Sebastian nodded. “I have a recording of his statement.”

He handed me his phone, and I watched the video, excitement bubbling within me.This was it.This was exactly what I needed. Proof that would destroy Isaac and Jack’s future hockey careers, as well as their team’s. For a moment, guilt raised her timid head: Messing up Jack’s hockey career would hurt Aviva, too.

As if he sensed my hesitation, Sebastian reminded me, “What’s more important, that Feldman and Silver get to go to the NHL, or that your mom gets to be safe…and you get to be free of this bullshit?”

As if she’d sensed him talking about it, my phone flashed with an incoming call from “LOML” (love of my life). It was both true—I loved my mother most in the world and owed her everything—and a way to keep her identity hidden. Aside from Sebastian, everyone thought Hana Lewis was dead…and that Tovah Kaufman was an orphan.

“Mom?” I said. “What’s wrong?”

She never called unless it was an emergency.

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