Damaged: A Dark Bully Romance (The Primes Book 2), page 8
“There you are.” He pressed me up against the wall and kissed my neck. “I missed you, baby. It’s been too long. I don’t care what happens today; you’re going home with me.” I giggled in agreement. He was right. We hadn’t had a chance to be alone in days. “I’m looking forward to it.”
His head lifted in surprise. “Why don’t we ditch school so I can have you to myself?” I almost caved in temptation, but resisted because I needed to be here to ensure Lauren did nothing to Leah or Ally. “I wish,” I said before sharing a deep kiss filled with longing and a promise to rectify our unwanted dry spell. I wanted to drag Christian to his car and kiss every inch of his chest, especially as he deepened the kiss. I pressed against him, and bit his lip to convey my eagerness to spend time with him tonight.
“Barf. You two get a room; this isn’t a brothel,” Lauren drawled, and her two sidekicks giggled.
And just like that, the rage was back. “Ignore her. She’s just jealous.” Christian ran his nose down my neck, which pulled me away from the edge.
To keep my word to Tilly, I tried to ignore the bitch and walked to my classroom. Christian and I shared goofy grins as he murmured what he wanted to do to me when he got me alone tonight. With a huge smile still in place, I walked into the classroom and sat next to Leah. “Have you seen Ally?”
“No. Why?” I frowned, searching the room for Ally.
“I dunno. She sounded weird last night.”
“What do you mean? She sent me a text.”
“We were happy to hear from you, but she and I talked last night, and she wouldn’t say specifically, but something’s wrong.” Leah and I continued to whisper even while the teacher spoke.
“Have you seen her today?”
“No. That’s why I’m worried.”
“We should go talk to her father.” I moved to stand up, but Leah tugged on my hand. “We can’t just get up in the middle of class.” Her eyes darted toward the teacher, who was purposely ignoring us.
“Why not? This is Ally. Something might have—” I didn’t finish my sentence because my mind raced with worry.
“Yeah. You’re right.” Leah gathered her stuff and we walked out of the room. Students whispered, but the teacher said nothing. We went to the deputy headmaster’s office to see Ally’s father. When he opened the door, he waved us in with a resigned sigh. “I’ve been expecting you.”
My worry ratcheted because Mr. Steward was missing his pleasant demeanor and bright smile when he greeted me. “Is Ally okay?”
“Yeah.” He sounded tired, and had bags under his eyes. “I guess Ally told you?”
“Told us what?” My mind raced to the possibilities of why Ally wasn’t in school.
“I can’t tell you why, but Ally can no longer hang out with you two.” He raised his hand to stop my protest and continued, “You know she loves you both, but we have to do this as a family. Please understand.” I studied him closely. Aside from the haggard look on his face, there was a slight tremble in his hand. He was scared. I'd wager a sizable portion of my inheritance that this was all related to Lauren.
That bitch!
Out of panic, I jumped to my feet. Even if I must take on Lauren in class, I’d do it just to protect Ally. My mind raced as I marched toward the door. Keeping Ally safe was the only thing on my mind. However, Mr. Steward blocked my exit with a look of panic. “Please, Catherine. I’m begging you. My family and I can’t be in the middle of a prime war. Please. Ally is innocent. Please let it go.” He looked close to tears, which pulled me from my erratic thoughts.
After the initial wave of panic subsided, I nodded.
With a sigh of relief, he slumped against the door. “I promise not to act hastily as you asked, but I. Will. Fix. This.”
He looked into my eyes, and I saw a glimmer of hope through the shadows of fear before he nodded. Mr. Steward trusted me to handle this, so I'd wait despite my intense need to confront Lauren.
That bitch bought herself some time.
With barely contained rage coursing through me, my palm slapped the door, and it opened with a bang. I marched out with Leah behind me. “What are we going to do?” Leah whispered.
Mason pulled up with the car as we exited the building, and when we were secure in the back seat, I dialed Tilly’s number. “I’m on it,” she said as soon as she answered.
“Thanks,” I said before hanging up.
“What do you think happened?” Leah picked at her cuticles. I grabbed her hand firmly before they started bleeding. “We’re going to figure this out. For now, we need to stay away from Ally. No communication. The bitch is probably monitoring her phone calls.”
Mason broke protocol and didn’t raise the divider so he could hear our conversation. “Doesn’t she have a secure phone from Tilly?”
Our eyes met in the rearview mirror, and I nodded. “Yeah. But I don’t want to risk it. Her father looked terrified.”
“Do you think Ally is okay?” Leah looked up at me with her eyes shining.
“Yeah. She won’t be good leverage if they do something to her.”
“What do they want?” Mason asked.
“How can we protect her if we don’t even know what’s going on?” Leah bemoaned.
“I don’t know.” My leg bounced from the urge to hit the gym and work out the feeling of walking on a tightrope. I was drowning in thoughts of horrible things that could happen to Ally. The fear of someone getting hurt because of me ate me up.
This couldn’t be happening.
My loved ones kept getting hurt because of me. What if Tilly or the brothers were next? What if it were Christian?
“Iz?” I looked up and found Mason, Noah, and Luc watching me. We were parked in the garage while Leah stood beside the elevator with Edgar, biting her nails.
“You haven’t moved or said anything.” Noah sat in front of me with a look of concern.
“Come upstairs, Iz.” Mason tugged on my hand, helping me out of the car. Luc draped his arm around my shoulder, and I allowed him to lead me to the elevator. There was no room in me to ease their worry because I couldn’t shake my panic.
Maybe they would all be safe if I left and disappeared. It was a fleeting thought because I could never leave Leah unprotected. As the heir to Vanderford, I was the only one who could keep her safe.
I don’t know what to do.
“Iz?” Christian’s voice pulled me out of my thoughts. “I came as soon as I heard. Are you okay?” I stared at him, hoping he’d have the answer. He always knew what to do.
He could fix this.
However I only saw worry staring back at me.
My stomach dropped at the realization that no one could fix this but me.
I needed to do something.
“Get that rodent here. Now,” Christian snapped. Someone responded, but I could only hear the blood rushing through my ears. “Fuck the consequences. Get her here.”
This was precisely why I needed Christian. He wouldn’t hesitate to act.
But Mr. Steward's panicked face flashed in my mind, and I knew we couldn’t do anything hastily. “Christian. She can’t.”
“Tell me what to do, baby. You’re scaring me.” I looked up and saw fear in his eyes. Then, as if everything in the room came into the picture, I noticed Luc’s arm around Tilly, who looked close to tears. Mason had both of his fists clenched at his sides. Noah was pacing, and Klause was trying to console Leah, who had bitten her nails down to the quicks. Edgar stood in the corner, his arms crossed as he watched Leah, but stayed quiet as usual.
“I’m sorry. I’m fine.”
The room protested in disbelief. I smiled and said, “I’ll be fine. I just need to figure out how to help Ally.”
“We have all of our people working on this. We should know something by this evening. In the meantime, you and Leah should stop worrying,” Klause said.
Tilly sat on the coffee table and leaned toward me. “Iz? Why don’t you go with Noah and take Leah to the theater room? We’ll call you when we know something.”
I glanced at Leah, who had tears silently falling down her face. “C’mon, Lee, let’s go with Noah and Edgar.” I tugged on her hand and silently walked to the theater room.
“We’re fine, Noah. We’ll watch something to distract ourselves.” He looked hesitant, torn between staying here to watch over us and helping the others.
Leah sniffed and nodded. “Yeah, we’re fine.” Edgar hovered by the door. Noah flashed one more hesitant glance at us before stepping out of the room, followed by Edgar.
“Do you think Ally is okay?” Leah was looking at me with pleading eyes, asking for reassurance. I took a large breath and said, “Yes. They’re using her as leverage and won’t harm her.” It was a reassurance for me as much as for Leah.
I had been distracted by school and had thought little about my revenge, but the Arnoults would pay, starting with that bitch Lauren. Fuck being nice. She shouldn’t have targeted innocent people.
“They won’t kill her, but can make her suffer.” Leah’s voice sounded scared.
I shook my head. “No. I can’t have another person get hurt because of me. I won’t let it happen, Leah. You hear me?”
Her blue eyes stared at me with doubt.
“I don’t care what I have to do. No one else is getting hurt.” If something were to happen to Ally, I would literally march to Arnoult’s mansion and wage a motherfucking war.
“Iz, you can’t control everything. There are many ways they could target Ally right now.”
“What are you saying?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. Don’t blame yourself.”
I snorted in derision. “It’s hard not to when everything that has happened to you is because of me. Now Ally . . .”
Leah gripped my arm. “Listen to me, Iz. If it weren’t for you, I’d be dead. Arnoult Senior wants our line wiped off because of your mother. Do you blame her for what had happened to you?”
She had a point. Even after Senior’s confession, I couldn’t blame my mother. This was all his fault—a psychopath determined to make my mother and everyone else in her family suffer.
I thought about what I said to my mother in the hospital, and a tinge of guilt made me want to pick up the phone to call her.
I hugged Leah, and we shared a few tears together. “Thank you, Lee.”
“I love you, Iz.”
“Love you too.” With a sniff, I pulled away, and we both shared a watery smile. Now that the panic had subsided, I could think more clearly. “This was all Lauren’s doing. Ally is physically fine because otherwise, her father would have said something.”
“Yeah, he said to stay away from Ally.” Leah agreed.
“That sounds like Lauren is blackmailing or threatening them to do what she wants.”
“What does she want?” Leah started pacing while silence descended into the room as we were racked our brains on what Lauren could use against the Stewards. “What if she threatened Mr. Steward’s job like Heather did?”
“Yeah, that’s a possibility, but this is Lauren. She has more power than Heather, so it has to be more than that.” I wouldn't put anything past the Arnoult bitch.
“You’re right.” Leah slumped in the seat. She looked mentally exhausted. “There isn’t much we can do until we know more—”
“Should we call her?” Leah asked.
“No. I don’t want to risk it.” I grabbed a remote and turned on a rom-com—Leah’s favorite. “Let’s just watch and distract ourselves. I’m sure we’ll know more soon.”
I was certain Christian and the others wouldn’t rest until they got answers so it was only a matter of time.
Instead of watching the movie, my mind wandered, thinking of possibilities to help Ally. I glanced at Leah, who looked engrossed in the film, and noticed her bleeding fingers. I got up, took out the first-aid kit under the sink in the bathroom, and took her hands. She looked up at me guiltily, but I only smiled and quietly worked on her fingers. Something I'd done for her since we were kids. She even tried fake nails, but she’d also bite through those.
Her manicure was now ruined. My mind wouldn’t quiet down, so I considered doing Leah’s polish as a distraction, but Christian and Klause walked in with satisfied smiles.
“What . . . ?” Leah asked while I studied Christian. He didn’t look too upset, so it couldn’t be that bad.
“The bitch thinks she’s clever, but we have more resources than her.” Klause pulled Leah to sit on his lap. “What did you find out?” she asked.
Klause tucked Leah’s hair behind her ears. “The bitch is threatening to fire Ally’s dad.”
There had to be more. I looked sideways at Christian, who was sitting next to me. “She had a sex tape of Ally and threatened Ally’s sister.”
“That bitch!” Ally would be devastated if something like that came out, and this could follow her entire life. However, I trusted Tilly’s team to fix this.
“What does she have on Ally’s sister?” Leah sounded more reasonable while I was blinded by rage. I hated the bitch; if it weren’t for Ally, I’d take her down today.
“Apparently, she is in remission from leukemia and is in a clinical trial with Dr. Jones. He’s a renowned pediatric oncologist who is doing research on how to prevent recurrent episodes. Lauren is threatening to have her kicked out of the program.” My eyes widened as I stared at Klause in shock.
Lauren’s entire family was fucking evil. Just when I thought they couldn’t stoop any lower, now they were targeting an innocent child?
“That bitch!” Leah got up with her fists clenched at her sides. “She can’t do this.”
“You’re right. She won’t get away with this.” I marched out of the room, with Christian hot on my heels toward Tilly’s office, where she was barking orders at the brothers. When she saw me enter, she held up a piece of paper.
I smiled when I saw Dr. Jones’s name and his phone number. She and I operated on the same wavelength, our thoughts always in agreement. She winked at me and returned to work while I dialed the number.
“Hello.” My eyes widened in surprise because it was past nine and I was expecting to leave a voicemail. “Hi. This is Catherine Vanderford. Is this Dr. Jones?”
I heard him clear his throat. “Did you say Vanderford?”
“Yes. How are you doing, Dr. Jones? Sorry to call so late, but I wanted to discuss your research funding.”
“My . . . fund . . . Ms. Vander . . .”
Tilly passed me a paper stating that his research was funded by the university he was working at. “Would you like to take your research further? Have unlimited financial backing and access to top-of-the-line medical equipment?”
“I . . . I . . . Of course, Ms. Vanderford.”
“Call me Catherine. Good answer, Dr. Jones. I will back up your research if you agree to work for me exclusively. I have a few stipulations, but you can conduct your research without my interference.”
“That’s . . . I don’t know what to say.”
“You don’t have to say anything right now. Sleep on it, and I will have my lawyers meet with you in the morning. In the meantime, I require you not to speak to anyone about your research. I can’t stress this enough. You can not speak with anyone until you sign the papers or the deal ends. Am I clear?”
“Yes. Ms. Vander . . . I mean, Catherine. I understand.”
“Excellent. You have a good night, Dr. Jones.” I was smiling when I hung up. Tilly and the brothers gaped at me. “What? I have an ungodly amount of money. I might as well use it for good.” Leah, Christian and Klause didn’t look phased because this was what it meant to be a prime. We used our money to get what we wanted. Others used it for malicious purposes, like Lauren.
“What are you going to do with the sex tape? We can’t hack into the Arnoults’ system without them noticing.” I shrugged at Christian. “Ally will survive that scandal. We can erase it when it’s released.” She’d be devastated, but I’d ensure something like this wouldn't happen again.
“Okay. That’s two problems. What about her father?” Klause asked.
“If I have to build a new fucking school for the elites, I’ll do it. Lauren will not win.”
Christian and Klause exchanged a look I couldn’t read. However, I was feeling satisfied with myself and ignored them.
“Can we call Ally now?” Leah’s voice sounded hopeful.
“Let’s call it a night and go to her house tomorrow.” No one rejected Christian’s firm response because it was late, and now that the crisis was averted, I could feel the tiredness in my bones. I was looking forward to seeing Lauren’s face tomorrow when we walked in with Ally; the bitch should have known we weren’t easily coerced.
Everyone assumed I was weak because of William, and I must admit that it was my fault for fearing him for years. However, I learned my lesson. Being with Christian taught me to be stronger and reclaim my power, to never be a victim again.
When Christian and I were alone in my room, with his lips on my skin and his touch caressing my body, the rest of my worries fell away. “I’ve missed you so much, Iz.”
“Shut up and keep kissing me.” He chuckled and undressed me, and then he kissed every inch of my skin until finally focused on my aching core.
God, how I missed him. Even though we saw each other in school, it felt like forever since we’d had a moment together.
His tongue expertly licked me until my muscles shook, and I lost control. He took me hard and fast, reminding me of how it felt to be alive.
I remembered to keep fighting for what was important with every hard thrust. Fighting for the freedom to be with Christians was worth all the pain.
I screamed another release as I felt Christian’s hot seed fill me. My body completely relaxed when he dropped onto the bed. A sense of peace washed over us as we quietly lay beside each other.
“C’mon, let's shower, then sleep.” We took a quick shower, with no funny business, and fell asleep quickly when I was comfortably tucked in Christian’s embrace—naked.
I jerked awake from my door, banging open. “Wake up, you two. It’s time to see Ally.” Leah walked in and started opening the drapes.
