Page 59 of Outcast

“She couldn’t face her daughter, the kidnapper,” Rudolph said without looking at me.

“Where’s Marissa, then?”

He turned livid, steel-gray eyes on me, anger etching his usually expressionless face. “Do you know what I had to do to clear up your little scandal?”

I parted my lips to tell him the truth, but he continued his rant.

“I repaid the Bournevilles the million pounds you extorted from them, and donated another fifty thousand to the school to erase your records. Even that Chief Inspector wanted a donation to his pet charity!”

My jaw dropped, but no words came out. I turned and stared at the headmaster, who narrowed his eyes, daring me to tell Rudolph he’d been the one who wanted to avoid the scandal and that Rudolph had paid for nothing.

Rudolph stood. “I’m taking you somewhere you will never tarnish our names!”

“W-where?” I pictured an institution deep in Siberia.

“Military school.” He stood, walked out of the room and down the hallway, not even bothering to check that I was following him.

I hurried after him. “Rudolph… wait.”

Ignoring my entreaties to stop and listen, Rudolph continued down the marble staircase, through the hallway, and out of the double doors.

Rita stood at the bottom of the stairs, her dark eyes large and solemn. “What happened to you? They packed all your things and wouldn’t say where you’d gone.”

I shook my head and wrapped my arms around her. “The less you know, the better.”

She stepped back. “Have you been expelled?”

“More like wiped out of the academy’s existence.”

“Sorry.” Rita left the rest unsaid. She’d tried to warn me. Several times, but I’d been too stubborn and too confident in my mental strength to listen. It had never occurred to me that the triumvirate would stoop so low.

“Thanks for being there for me,” I said through the lump in my throat.

She pressed her lips together and nodded. “I’ll never forget you.”

We embraced once more, and I stepped out into the wintry day. Out on the courtyard, between the front door and the limo, Henry, Blake, and Edward stood in a form of one-sided gauntlet.

A fist clenched my heart so hard, tears welled in my eyes. I had no words for them. Anything I said would be taken as some kind of triumph over the Yank they never wanted in their precious academy. I held my head high and walked toward Rudolph’s car, keeping my gaze fixed on the driver standing by the passenger seat.

“Emilia,” said Henry.

My step faltered, but I refused to look at him.

“You shouldn’t have called the police.”

“There’s a lot of things I regret,” I breathed hard to keep the tremble out of my voice. “But considering you unworthy swine as anything but unlovable bastards was my biggest mistake.”

Edward stepped forward. “You brought this onto yourself. We were serious about you being our fourth.”

I shook my head and walked past. “Go to hell and take your pathetic friends with you.”

The driver opened the door. I stepped in and took the seat opposite Rudolph who was on the phone, yelling at an employee who had failed to account for all the debts of a newspaper he’d just bought. Apparently, he was stuck with a staff of a hundred and would have to lay off half to make the venture break even.

The limo pulled out of the driveway, and I turned to stare at the triumvirate one last time. They stood in the same formation I’d originally met them on the top of the stairs. Blake on the left, Henry in the middle, and Edward at the end. If I had known then that they would give me half a term of hell, followed by half a term of companionship only to frame me for their own crimes, I would have left with Marissa and never turned back. If only there was a way to stick a proverbial knife in their guts, I would do it in a heartbeat.

Rudolph hung up, muttering about worthless investments, when an idea dropped into my head.

“Rudolph?”