Page 64 of Savage Elites

She pulled out a packet of ginger mints and pushed them across the table. “I’m sorry I wasn’t able to protect you.”

I stared at the innocuous tube of candies. They had been a symbol of our camaraderie, but now, all I saw was a cheap bribe she’d used to appear as though she’d cared.

“That’s your answer?” she spat. “Expelling me?”

“According to your contract, your bursary is immediately repayable if you give us cause to expel you.”

My mouth opened and closed. Most of that money had been eaten up by monthly direct debits and pre-authorized payments. I couldn’t afford to pay back the academy.

Miss Claymore sat and typed a few rapid sentences into her computer. “If you resign, I will offer you a payment plan to reimburse what you’ve already received.”

Her words were like a claw, not only squeezing my heart but digging its talons into the flesh. I clenched my teeth and clamped my lips together. I’d bet my entire bursary that Miss Claymore had done something to Mrs. Benazir, so she could now act as headmistress, expel me, and harass Sebastian as much as she liked.

What choice did I have? The woman knew my weak points. I had no income apart from the bursary, and no means of paying back a lump sum.

Her printer whirred into action and spewed out a letter with a schedule of payments. Then she slid the printout and a pen across the table and waited.

My gaze dropped to the hateful words in bold print:

LETTER OF RESIGNATION

Tears burned in my eyes, and rage shook my heart. Pride told me to ball up her piece of paper and hurl it in her face, but my survival instinct told me to leave.

I swallowed down the lump in my throat. Everyone who had warned me so far had been right. Bullies always escalated. With my enemy being a grown woman strong enough to throw me down mountainside caves or into tumbling cars, I couldn’t afford to be defiant.

After signing the bottom of my resignation letter, I pushed it across the desk.

She lowered her gaze into its contents and murmured, “This is for your own good.”

“There’s no future with him,” I whispered.

Miss Claymore pursed her lips. “Ridiculous accusations like this are exactly why it’s best for you to leave. The pressure of the elite environment is too much for a delicate soul like yours. I should have noticed it earlier.”

I backed away from the desk. She had won for now. But if she thought that getting me to leave this shit hole of sociopaths would make her more attractive to a boy young enough to be her son, she was deluded.

“Miss Evergreen?” she said.

I turned around and folded my arms across my chest.

Her eyes softened. Most likely due to relief at having finally gotten rid of me. “If anyone drove Corrine Gibbons to her death, it was the boy who seduced her and broke her heart. She was never the same after that.”

“I’ve heard the pull-a-pig game affects women of all ages,” I snapped.

Her face hardened. “And I wish to protect you from the game’s harmful effects.”

I curled my lip. Who was she trying to fool with the faux concern?

“One more thing,” said Miss Claymore.

“What?”

“Corrine confided in me before she died. At the time, I thought it was an exaggeration, but with hindsight, I believe in the truth of her words.”

I waited for Miss Claymore to get to the point.

“She said she had become a nuisance to the wrong person, and because of that, she would die.”

“It wasn’t Prakash.”