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“Glad you approve.”
We shared a grin I desperately hoped no one noticed or questioned.
“Let’s see his lawyers butter him up and slip the bastard out of this one,” I gritted.
“This is me going easy, Sinclair. Just wait until you see what I’ve got for the rest of them.”
I folded up the page, sticking it in my pocket. This one I would not burn.
“Going easy isn’t what I’d call it. Your truth list about me was inspired. Pussy Muncher? Seriously?”
“Some of those were just things I wished were true. I would very much liked to have met, known, and watched the Pussy Muncher in action.”
I ducked my head, looking anywhere but at him. It messed with my head that someone could be so serious and threatening one minute, then so horny the next.
“The rest had to be brutal so no one would think you’re behind it,” Wilder continued. “The last one... I heard about yesterday. You spaced out of class. Did I go too far writing that about you and Winter?”
My throat tightened. “It was too far, but like you said, that was the point. It wasn’t true, Wilder,” I said to his fallen expression. “Winter didn’t call me before she did what she did. To be honest, that’s what crushed me. She didn’t call me. She didn’t call anyone. We didn’t get a chance to talk her out of it. To bring her back to us.”
Wilder laced his fingers through mine. “I’m sorry.”
I smiled. “Don’t be sorry for doing what I asked of you. Just promise me Owen is next.”
“I hope he enjoys today, because by tomorrow, Owen Thasher will wish he dropped out of Regalia U.”
I ATE RAFAEL’S BACON and spinach scrambled eggs the next morning, but Cato and I still strolled into the café that day. I only believed a fraction of what Rafael—and the other Rogues—said, but one thing I could not argue with was this: if Rafael was slowly poisoning me, I wouldn’t ask questions or even care that much.
His food was the best damn thing I ever tasted. Better than the café food served by some of the top chefs in the country. If I had to die to eat his cooking, then so be it. Who knows if his mother was truly a poisoner, but if she cooked even better than her son, she didn’t have to hide that she was an assassin. People would’ve updated their wills, kissed their families goodbye, and happily picked up their forks.
Inside the café, I squashed my grin down hard. Posters plastered the walls, covered the tables, and blanketed the carpet. I had no doubt someone would rush in, close the cafeteria, and get it all cleared away, but it wouldn’t happen before the truth about Owen Thasher spread through the entire school.
I went to the drinks station, getting a mug of tea while Cato chased a couple out of our seats. I relaxed with my steamy cup of Earl Grey while I read.
The Truth About Owen Thasher
Number One: Owen steals things from his parents’ house, sells them, then blames the staff when it comes up missing.
Number Two: His family got their Royal status by aiding in a hostile takeover that destroyed the Levine family. Then they turned on their coconspirators and bankrupted them. Owen likes to send them pics from the homes, boats, and cars they bought from them at auction.
Number Three: Owen, two Royals, and a Dreg were busted with drugs. The three of them pressured the Dreg to say they were his, promising they’d give him ten grand and a lawyer.
They lied. He’s serving out a five-year sentence.
Number Four: He forced himself on the caterer’s assistant and beat her when she said no. His folks paid her half a million not to press charges.
Owen didn’t need five truths. Four were bad enough.
I set the paper down, pushing it away from me. I didn’t delight in reading those things. That was a list of pain, vileness, and the deeds of someone who truly did not give a crap about the feelings of other human beings.
“Cato, is all of this stuff true?” I whispered. “I mean, Wilder made up my list.”
Cato shook his head. “All true.”
“My goodness. I knew they were monsters. I wanted the world to see their true face, and still, I’m horrified. Seems like the world already knows.” I shuddered. “His parents discovered he assaulted an innocent woman and their first thought was pay her off. What if people try to find her to prove the story? Or Owen lies through his teeth, saying that someone is making up lies about him and tries to spin this to make him the victim?”
“Do you still want to do this?”
I looked at him in surprise. It was the first time one of the Rogues asked me that. It was the first someone suggested I could pull back, course correct, make a different choice.
