I ignored the Sigma House members wandering campus, and they ignored me. Occasionally, my roommate Mila would have a fling with one of them, but she’d keep it to the frat house.
I was surviving.
It wasn’t until Violet started dating Kole that things started going downhill.
Walls began to close in.
One by one, my roommates started to fall. First Violet, then our other roommate, Teal, who married the House President, Declan. Now, everywhere I look, there are signs of Sigma House lurking. Or, as the students on campus like to call them,Sigma Sin.
It's fitting, considering it’s what they represent.
The end of all good.
All hope.
All purity.
What they did to my brother is proof of that.
As a child, I begged Alex not to follow in our father’s footsteps, but he didn’t listen. He chose the House like all male legacies do, promising he’d still be there for me through thick and thin. That nothing would change.
It was a lie.
Looking up, I meet Kole’s gaze, and I’m surprised he doesn’t immediately break it. He doesn’t like anyone besides Violet, and it’s rare that he interacts with anyone else when she’s around. But for that split second, he watches me, and I watch him. And I try to understand how she sees any good in him.
I’m the first one to look away when a chill ices my spine.
“The line’s moving again,” Violet says, tucking her black hair behind her ear.
I turn to see she’s right. They’re finally letting us onto a new plane. We’ve been stuck at the airport for hours after our original flight had mechanical issues, and I’ve been getting close to ditching this plan entirely and going back to the dorm.
“Finally,” I mumble, drawing the attention of the man in front of me again.
When he smiles at me this time, I take a step back.
There’s something about his eyes that reminds me of one too many moments growing up.
Kole must sense something because he shifts him and Violet, putting himself between the man and me. Violet’s eyebrows scrunch in confusion, but he doesn’t explain as his hold on her waist tightens.
“I’m going to sleep for a week when we get there. This last bit of school was rough.” Violet sighs.
“At least you breezed through your finals. I barely passed my last statistics test.” Math has never been my strongest subject, and I’ve been too distracted by my brother these past few months to focus on schoolwork.
“I don’t think this internship will be much easier.” Violet frowns.
“It’ll be fine.” I shrug because at least it isn’t math. “Besides, we get to learn from the best.”
The bestbeing Professor Gray, the most brilliant mind in modern criminal psychology. He’s helped federal agents catch several of the most notorious serial killers in recent years, and his methods are a work of brilliance.
Professor Gray is prolific in his field.
But strangely, he’s also extremely private.
When I searched him online, I wanted to learn more about him as a person so I would know what I’m walking into this summer. But there’s not one picture. Nothing referencing his personal life. If it wasn’t for his name being mentioned in textbooks, agency reports, and hundreds of arrest warrants, I’d almost think he doesn’t really exist.
The line moves again, and this time, we don’t immediately slow down.
We board the plane, and I breathe a sigh of relief as I turn left into the first-class cabin and space opens up.