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“I have your phone and I saw all those messages you’ve been getting, telling you to get rid of Olivia,” I tell him. Vaughn might be my friend, but I can tell that he has got himself in way over his head with this shit. I’m not pulling him out from underwater unless I know just how deep it all goes. “Who sent them?”
For a minute, Vaughn looks like he isn’t going to answer. He finally does with a heavy sigh. “My father.”
“Your father?” I exchange a look with Evangeline, if just to let her know this is also very much news to me. “Why?”
Vaughn collapses back against the bed with a heavy groan. “If you really have to ask that, then you haven’t been paying enough attention. My father is Havoc House.”
I’ve only ever met Tobias Ashbridge a handful of times, but they’ve been enough to make me want to steer clear. Intense isn’t a strong enough word to describe Vaughn’s father. The man will do literally anything to ensure that Havoc House stays on top for another two hundred years.
“Did you tell him about me?” Evangeline asks, her voice deadly. “The real me, I mean?”
Vaughn shakes his head in a sharp negation. “I never said anything. The only people at St. Bart’s that know Evangeline Pratt even exists are sitting this room. Olivia never told anyone that she had a twin.”
I don’t miss the flash of hurt that crosses Evangeline’s face, even as she quickly covers it with an angry glare. “You believe him?”
“I don’t believe either of you,” she insists, crossing her arms over her chest. “All of you are liars. I’m only here to figure out which one of you is an attempted murderer.”
Vaughn’s voice is solemn as he stares up at her. “I would have never hurt Olivia, you have to believe that.”
I let her go when she yanks away from me. “I think he’s telling the truth.”
“I am,” Vaughn insists, wincing in pain as he sits up higher in the bed. “I’m telling the truth. I swear I didn’t do it.”
Evangeline still looks unconvinced. “If you didn’t hurt her, then you must have some idea who did.”
“I really don’t…” Vaughn stops short and turns to me. “Was that Brady Caldwell that I saw downstairs before she tried to give me another concussion?”
I nod, not following his sudden shift in tone. “He’s our alumni representative. Apparently, he’ll be hanging around until Initiation is over.”
Vaughn just stares at me. “And you don’t think it’s weird that he showed up at the exact same time someone made me crash my car into a tree with the girl everyone thinks is Olivia Pratt sitting in the passenger seat?”
“I have my suspicions.” I nod at Evangeline when she casts me a questioning look. I hadn’t told her yet that Brady is my prime suspect. “He was there when I found Olivia.”
Evangeline’s mouth falls open. “Why didn’t you say anything about that before?”
“I barely remember any details from that night, and practically the whole school was there. But yeah, I remember Brady.” I can’t say that it makes perfect sense, but the timing of all this is more than suspicious. “I just don’t understand why Brady would want to hurt Olivia?”
“Being a goddamn psycho isn’t evidence enough?” Evangeline’s tone says that she is more than ready to string Brady up by his toes. “I say we go to the police with what we have.”
“We don’t have anything, at least nothing that counts as actual evidence,” I caution. “Brady has the full force of Havoc House behind him. Any case that isn’t iron-clad will just get thrown out.”
“So then let’s find some evidence,” Evangeline drawls, like it’s the easiest thing in the world to do.
Vaughn just shakes his head. “It’s not safe for her to even be here.”
“Olivia Pratt is officially a pledge of Havoc House,” I tell him.
Vaughn’s eyes widen. “What?”
Evangeline shrugs like it’s no big deal. “Apparently, I’m a legacy.”
“Jesus Christ.”
“Being part of Havoc will keep her off-limits, at least for a little while,” I explain, even though I’m not convinced that’s actually the case. “I’m just trying to buy us time while we figure all of this out. The alumni won’t move against one of our own out in the open. They’d lose all their credibility.”
Vaughn just sighs. “I think you’re giving them too much credit.”
That might be truer than any of us realize.
