Page 76 of The Silent Note

He wordlessly turns away and strides down the corridor.

Heads are fixed in our direction.

Everyone is watching.

Sol stops and looks back. “Coming?”

I bite down on my bottom lip and scurry behind him. So much for being covert. “This isn’t the way to the counseling room.”

He slips his hands into his pockets. “I know.”

Sol leads me to The Kings’ private practice room and flips out his access card.

My eyes widen. “Oh no. Oh… you can’t possibly think we’ll meet in there?”

He tosses me a rough smirk over his shoulder and opens the door.

I remain in place, eyes darting around. The hallway is empty, but I’m sure everyone saw what direction we were headed in.

“Sol,” I hiss.

He turns to face me. Leaning one arm on the door frame, he purrs, “Miss Jamieson, whether you like it or not you’re one of us now. That means if you want to talk, you talk in here.”

“I’m not?—”

“One of us?” He laughs. “Zane didn’t give you the whole ‘you belong to me now’ speech? They’re into that.”

“Yeah, well… a piece of paper can’t transfer ownership of a person. I’m not imported goods.”

Sol laughs and runs a hand through his wavy brown hair. The thick strands fall back messily over his face, making him look even more unhinged. “I know Zane likes a challenge, but I think he bit off more than he could chew with you.”

“Sol.”

He folds his arms over his chest and looks down at me from his ridiculously stupid height. Oversized babies. All of them.

Smirking confidently, he guesses, “You want to ask why I faked her death.”

I swallow hard. Then I nod.

“And you’d rather talk out here where anyone can hear us than in there?”

I nod again.

“A’ight.” He shrugs and leans more comfortably against the doorway.

“Why did you, Sol?” I whisper, my heart tightening.

Sol turns his face to the side, showing me his profile. Strong, yet oddly vulnerable.

Unlike the other students at Redwood, Sol is different. He’s a scholarship kid. No yacht. No daddy with money or fame or connections. Just a kid with grit and potential. His notoriety, his respect, comes from The Kings, but that won’t change who he is. Where he comes from.

I know what it’s like to be at Redwood as a normal person, to fight like hell togethere, believing it was a ticket to another life, and realize that just existing is a crime to the upper class. That I’ll never really beenoughfor them.

“Don’t do that,” Sol hisses.

I blink. “What?”

“Feel sorry for me.”

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