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Adrian and I should never have let this go. If whoever was behind this was stooping low enough to involve others by offering them cash, I suspected these attacks wouldn’t end anytime soon.
At this point, it seemed harmless. But what was going to happen next? Would this cad attack Ella?
The same defensiveness—the same fear—I’d felt on her behalf on Christmas Eve swept back through me with a vengeance. My fists clenched at my sides.
Whoever it was, if they daredto hurt her, they’d have to answer to me. I wouldn’t think twice about unsavory acts if it meant keeping her safe.
Or I’d pay someone else for those impermissible acts. Either way.
It didn’t need to come to that, though.
“Thanks, Noah,” I said, drawing myself back into the conversation after too long of a pause. “Keep me posted.”
“I will, sir.”
I exhaled a puff of air. Was this happening to any of the others?
I texted Adrian first and filled him in on as many details as I could. I told him about Priscilla Malus attacking Ella and then setting her up, and how I was trying to find ways to prove her innocence.
I told him about what Noah had discovered: Pris had contacted someone. That person had paid her to attack Ella.
Was I jumping to conclusions? Had he heard about the women’s rocky relationship and convinced Pris to build on that as a reason for taking Ella out?
What was in it for Pris? For that matter, what was in it for Will?
He was already in jail, but I assumed he was the puppet master behind these strings. Why not let it go?
Me: Dude. You were Vice President. Do you have any kind of record of just how many of the guys signed The Pact?
Adrian: I don’t. I tried looking into it before, but Sean would only send me my contract.
Hm. That wasn’t exactly helpful.
I thought about the backstory we’d all been told, about the fraternity founder’s son who was manipulated for his money by the woman in his life.
It had inspired the genesis of The Pact.
Sean had told the story about Finn and Robert at every hazing.
Was it true?
Me: Was the story he told at those hazing ceremonies legit?
Adrian: I thought so. But now, I’m starting to think it was something he made up. Why do you ask? You think this stuff with Ella has to do with The Pact?
Me: Yeah. I do.
If Sean had made the original story up, that would be one thing. But his story had involved Eudora Wilson, who owned the house we’d all lived in.
The men in question had been her sons. Sean wouldn’t have made it up if it involved someone else’s good name, would he?
Eudora would never have continued supporting the fraternity otherwise.
Me: Maybe we should contact Eudora and see what she has to say about The Pact. Are the fraters still expected to sign to stay part of the brotherhood?
I wasn’t sure. It’d been ten years since Adrian and I were there. I didn’t keep up on the fraternity dealings these days.
Adrian: I know as much as you do. We’ve kept in touch, but I’ve avoided talking about The Pact as much as possible.
