He stood back to his full height before glancing around. "We need to take this somewhere more private before we go any further on details. Let's go to my room."
Fuck, it hadn't even crossed my mind that students could be listening in, even with the walls between us. Fear spiked in my heart at the thought. I had no idea how vast my father's reach was, but I knew it was immense.
"My mom!" I gasped, eyes wide as the implications of our situation settled in. "We have to get her. We have to take her somewhere safe. We—"
Alina's voice soothed me along with her hands brushing up and down my arms, "Andrei, take a breath. Breathe. That's good."
She praised me as I did as she requested. The blood pounding in my ears subsided with each inhale and exhale.
"Come on," she murmured, pulling me up with her as Lincoln offered her a quick nod.
Making our way up to the top floor, we piled into his room quickly. Not even a second passed before I forced myself to try to rationally explain the situation as I began pacing. "We have to get her out of the manor in case my father gets wind of me talking to you, Alina. He threatened to either kill you or her if I fell out of line."
Their shocked expressions quickly morphed into ones of concern as Alina whipped a phone out of the side pocket of her leggings.
“Piece of shit,” Lincoln seethed, rubbing his jaw harshly.
Her eyes flicked up to me as she halted in the middle of typing out a message. “Are you okay if I ask Drake to go get her? I don’t want to do something you don’t feel comfortable with, but he’s our quickest option to have her extracted.”
Could I trust him? My father had served on his board since before I was born, and the way he shipped me straight to him when we got to Sanguis for the party proved that he thought absolutely nothing amiss with him.
Alina’s eyes searched my face for an answer, and it hit me then that if she trusted him, then it was good enough for me. I wouldn’t doubt her ever again.
With a sharp nod, I agreed. “Do it.”
It felt like all of the air was sucked out of the room as she typed out a quick text. A whoosh sound accompanied the message being sent, and my heart dropped into my stomach at the thought that we might be too late.
No. Mom had to be okay. We were quick.
It was so easy to assume the worst when I’d witnessed first-hand the way my father followed through with every other threat he’d made to me before. They weren’t empty promises.
Alina crossed the room to stand next to me, sliding her hand into mine and squeezing tightly as her eyes were glued to the phone screen, seemingly waiting for a response.
It astounded me the way she was still willing to help me after all of this. I knew that we were far from moving on from what I’d done, but the way she selflessly tucked her own issues away in order to help my mom and I me why she owned my heart and soul.
“Thank you,” I rasped, pulling her focus as I pressed a kiss to her hand. Turning to Lincoln, I said, “Thank you as well. I know that if the roles were reversed, I would hold the same animosity toward me for what I did to Alina.”
Truly, I’d want to fucking kill him.
His throat bobbed as he swallowed. He took a deep breath before answering, “It’s not up to me to forgive you for what you’ve done to her, and I know I’ve made my own mistakes with Alina that I will continue to try to make up to her for the rest of our lives.” He paused, running his tongue along his teeth. “But don’t forget that just because someone finds it in them to forgive doesn’t mean that they’re going to forget the pain you caused them.”
At that, Alina’s gaze dropped away from me and returned to her phone.
I knew we had so much to talk about still, one on one, and I hoped that we’d have that private moment soon. I knew I could start one with her if I let down the mental wall, but it felt really unfair of me to bombard her like that. It was so much to work through, even in my own mind, that I didn’t want it to overwhelm her. This had to go at her pace. If she wasn’t ready to talk yet, I’d respect that and give her the distance she needed until she was ready.
All I could do was nod in acceptance of Lincoln’s words. Without a doubt, they were the truth.
A ping sounded, and I jumped, my heart in my throat as I waited for her to read off the text she’d received.
She let go of my hand, tucking a long strand of hair behind her ear in a move that I had observed in the past as her nervous tick. “He said he was in the middle of an interrogation but that he’s going there now.”
I didn’t miss the way her brow subtly scrunched for a second as she said interrogation. I wanted to ask what that was about, but I had no fucking right to ask for private information with the precarious situation I was already in.
A heavy sigh came from Lincoln as he looked at his watch. “I have to run for another meeting with the fucking faculty. Hopefully we don’t sit around pointing fucking fingers like children at this one like we did last night.”
It hit me then that while I had been so preoccupied with my own situation, I’d completely forgotten about the breach of security and attacks on students in the other sectors.
Fates, do you think you have it in you to cut us a fucking break? Sincerely, one tired motherfucker.
