Page 9 of Revenge

Panic burst through my chest, and my mouth dried. Whatever I said next could either help or hinder my mission. I turned to Sergei. “You tell them.”

He gave the reporters an enigmatic smile. “We are not ready to make any official announcements.”

The reporters continued their barrage of questions, while Sergei poured us each a cup of tea. He redirected the conversation to his plans to conquer the classical music circuit in Europe and made a few diplomatic comments about other classical pianists.

Throughout the conversation, Mr. Carbuncle pushed his way through the crowd and walked up to the counter. The old woman gave him a box, presumably containing cake, but the janitor leaned on the counter, listening to the rest of the press conference, his oversized mustache twitching with disapproval. Disgust rippled through my belly at the sight of the man, but I forced a smile so wide, my cheeks ached.

* * *

The next morning at breakfast, I walked to the table I shared with Alice and Duncan. Rita had awoken early to spend time with the upper-sixth year boy from Hawthorne House who she’d befriended the previous term. I was pleased for her, and suspected she kept her distance to avoid being caught up in the shit storm I would create when I finally enacted my revenge.

As soon as I sat, one of the girls jogged over with their smartphone open to a digital copy of the Saturday Correspondent. “Hobson, it’s saying here that you’re engaged to Sergei Bachmann. Is that true?”

“What?” I pulled out my own smartphone. “Let me see.”

The reporter I’d met the day before had written a piece saying we were engaged but being tight-lipped about making an announcement. She had even managed to take a picture of the ring on my finger.

Alice gasped and grabbed my wrist. “How many carats is that?”

I slipped my hand under the table. “I didn’t ask.”

While I ate my cooked breakfast, people from other tables passed by to gape at the ring. Anxiety surged through my belly. If anyone knew about jewelry, they might work out the diamond was a fake.

“We’re playing Hawthorn House today at rugby,” said Alice. “Everyone’s going to give their support. Want to come with us?”

“Umm…” I stared down at my plate. The last thing I wanted to see was Henry running about a field half-dressed. But with everyone out of the house, it would be a perfect opportunity to plant some cameras. I’d placed a few in the common room after lights-out, but Jackie had complained that they hadn’t been positioned well enough to get any decent footage. I glanced up at Alice’s face. “Actually, I need to stay behind to catch up on my prep.”

After Saturday classes, I headed for the common room. The triumvirate preferred to hold court at the leather sofas closest to the fire. I lifted the camera I’d placed next to the clock on the mantle and glanced around for a better vantage point. If I could screw the device to the wall and tilt it downward, I’d get an amazing view of whoever sat on the sofa. I glanced at the sash window on the right. Any of the sills might work if nobody tried to open it.

The door clicked open, and Blake sauntered in with his hands in his pockets, looking like he was strolling into a yacht. His black hair hung about his temples, making his chocolate brown eyes stand out. He wore a shirt closely fitted to show off the contours of his chest, unbuttoned to the sternum to offer tantalizing glimpses of tanned skin. My heart stopped, and I stuffed the camera in the pocket of my denim jacket.

“You’re not fooling anyone.” He sauntered over with a lazy half smile.

I sucked in a breath through tightening lungs and backed away. Jackie’s idea for me to install the cameras had been a horrible idea. Students hardly got the opportunity to tamper with walls unmolested, as there was always someone hanging about and asking awkward questions.

I headed through a row of sofas toward the door on the far side of the common room. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Blake caught up in a few long strides. “You’re not over us. I can tell by the way you stare.”

Relief lightened the tight hand of panic around my lungs. He hadn’t noticed the cameras, after all. I exhaled a long breath before the offense in his words reached me with a hard slap. I stopped walking and turned around. “What the hell are you talking about?”

He advanced on me, arrogant smirk in full force. It was the kind of lazy, confident smile a guy made when he already knew a girl was hot for him, and he was just waiting to hear her say the words. “You want a relationship with the three of us, but you don’t know how to get on your hands and knees to grovel.”

“Are you smoking crack, or do you usually hallucinate that people are looking at you? I shoved the door open and rushed through the hallway.

Blake overtook me and stood on the first steps of the staircase, blocking my way. “Why did you return if it wasn’t to rekindle our old flame?”

I made a one-hundred-and-eighty-degree turn and stormed through the reception hallway, out of the double doors and into the cold morning. Blake followed after me, keeping up with my fast strides. I shot him a filthy glare. “If you must know, my stepfather gave me the choice of Mercia or military school. But now you’re making me think I made the wrong decision.”

The wind blew over the lawn that stretched between Elder House and the other buildings, and I sucked in a deep breath of bracing air. Although I was glad that Blake hadn’t caught me with the camera, a pit of hatred opened up in my belly. He had only made the insulting overtures because he’d heard about the report of my supposed engagement. Now, he and the triumvirate would do anything to sabotage my fake progress with Sergei.

“I think you’re lying,” said Blake.

At the far left of the campus stood the academy tuck shop, a cafe that served hot and cold snacks. Wrapping my arms around my middle to protect from the cold, I headed left.

Blake kept up with my steps, staring into my face as though he had a right to question me about my relationship choices. “It’s true, isn’t it?”

I kept my eyes on the small building at the end of the gravel walkway. “Believe what you want, but I’m not here for you. Things are going well with Sergei, and I’m happy.”