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“Sit. Down,” Dean Caruso barks, his voice as low as his eyes, as he tries to subdue Felix.
And fuck me, this is about to turn into a fucking fight right here in the dean’s office.
“It’s true,” Penelope suddenly says.
My face turns stone-cold as I focus my gaze on her, realizing what she just did. And I’m not the only one. Both Dylan’s father and my father are now glaring at her.
“They protected me,” she adds. “Josh tried to … use me against my will.” She swallows.
“And then what?” my father continues.
Everyone’s looking at her now, trying to make sense of her story.
“Some guy named Kai was there too,” she says.
“That Phantom house freshman?” Dylan’s father asks.
Dylan nods.
“Kai attacked Dylan and Alistair,” she says. “We had no choice but to defend ourselves.”
My father makes a face at her. “So you set Josh on fire?”
She shakes her head. “No. There was a lot of fighting between Josh and us, and then he pulled out a gun and threatened us. So Dylan knifed him down.”
Fuck, why is she telling him this? And it’s all a jumbled, dishonest mess too.
My whole body shakes right now, and I wish I could wrap my hands around her neck and silence her. But my dad would drag my ass to jail right away.
Fuck.
If only Felix hadn’t dragged us into this mess to begin with. I could’ve just lived out my life knowing I at least had Dylan to fall back on.
But now … chances are none of us will make it out of here without shackles around our wrists.
“Kai then came after us too, but he fell while running, and he hit his head on a rock, so he started bleeding from his ear. That’s when the fight finally ended.”
My eyes widen.
What?
“Alistair, Dylan, and I ran off and hid in the bushes to escape while Kai got up. But when he couldn’t find us, I saw him torch Josh’s body and bury him.”
What the fuck is she doing? These are half truths and half lies.
My father’s eyes narrow. “Hmm …”
“I swear, that’s all we did. Kai killed his own housemate so he could frame us,” she says with the most sincere voice I’ve ever heard. “As revenge for not being able to take their shit out on me.”
“So you got assaulted?” my father asks. “And these boys defended you? Is that what you’re trying to say?”
She nods. “We didn’t mean for anything to happen at that party. Those Phantom boys just showed up out of nowhere.”
“Where’s your proof of all of this?” my father asks.
Penelope pulls up the sleeves of her hoodie, revealing bruises on her wrists.
Goddamn.
Maybe I was wrong about her.
“I tried to fight them off, but I couldn’t. Not without their help.”
My father grabs her wrist and inspects it up close. “And you saw Kai burn Josh’s body?”
She nods.
“And what did Kai do after?”
She shakes her head. “I don’t know. We all left as quickly as we could after what he did. We were scared we’d get caught. And now we did.” She swallows. “Please don’t lock us up. We didn’t do anything wrong. They only tried to defend me.”
I hold my breath.
Is this really going to work?
My father glances at all of us. “Then where is Kai now?”
I make a face. “I haven’t seen him.”
“Me neither,” Dylan chimes in.
Everyone looks at each other.
Because we all know what this means.
If they haven’t found him where we left him, then he’s gone. Which means he’s going to talk.
“Look, all of this is news to me, so can I just go?” Felix says, yawning.
“Stay,” Dylan’s dad barks at him. “As long as Chief King isn’t done with you, you’re staying here.”
Felix rolls his eyes, but my father ignores him.
“So you’re all telling me some guy named Kai from the Phantom house burned one of his own housemates so he could frame you for his murder, all because you two wouldn’t let him take advantage of her?”
We all nod.
“That’s about it, yeah,” Dylan says.
My father rubs his forehead and sighs out loud. “All right.”
Wait. He believes it?
Wow, that’s a first.
“Joseph, this is going to be one hell of a case,” he mutters, turning toward Dean Caruso.
“I don’t want to go to jail, please,” Penelope mutters. “I’m the victim.”
My father raises his hand. “No one’s going to jail.”
Our jaws collectively drop.
“Wait, what? I thought you said you suspected us?” Dylan asks.
“Do you not want me to believe her story?” He narrows his eyes.
Dylan gulps. “No, sir, it’s the truth.”
“Then be happy you’ll get off with a warning.” My father grabs the papers off the desk. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some work to do.”
“But what about the body?” Dylan’s father asks. “We can’t just ignore it.”
“Let me deal with that,” my father replies. “I know how to fucking handle things.”
