In the next few seconds, he leaned down to my right ear and said something before planting a kiss on my forehead. It looked like he might be leaning down to whisper sweet nothings in my ear, when in reality, he’d leaned down to tell me that nothing was happening and it was all a dream. Unfortunately, there was no sound to make that clear.
The video suddenly stopped and went to a black screen with bright red writing.
SO THE VIRGIN ISN’T REALLY A VIRGIN. WHAT ELSE WILL SHE LIE ABOUT??? #sextapeslut #fuckyoulaney #blacklistbitch
After that, the horrible video started playing on a loop again—just those few seconds of my assault. The few seconds that could be mistaken for a sex tape by anyone who had no idea about the dark truth.
I clenched my fists, digging my nails into my skin and hoping this was just a terrible nightmare. Adam and Trina stared at me, foreheads creased. “This is fake, right?” Adam asked, leaning over.
I choked out a whispered response. “No. It… it’s the video. The one the man made. When he…”
I couldn’t finish my sentence, but I didn’t need to. Adam and Trina’s eyes went wide with a mixture of comprehension and horror, and they abruptly stood up.
“Turn that off right now!” Trina screeched as Adam pulled me to my feet.
“I’m trying!” the deputy headmaster said, frantically mashing keys on a nearby laptop to no avail. He whipped his head around to look at the teaching staff. “Go and get the IT guys!”
The initial silent shock had worn off around us, and every student in the auditorium was staring at me and whispering. Some were even laughing.
“Go to your homerooms!” Sanders called out as his deputy attempted to stop the video from playing. “Now! All of you!”
“Come on, Laney,” Adam muttered, taking my arm. “Let’s get the fuck out of here.”
I couldn’t move. I was frozen with shock and fear.
Just yesterday, I thought I’d finally found a way to get past the horrible thing that had happened to me when I was younger. Not to forget it—I would never, ever forget it—but a way to move on and live my life without remembering Peter Elton and feeling ill every time I even thought about a man touching me.
Now it was here, right in my face. My dark, ugly past, coming back to haunt me in the worst possible way.
“I… I can’t breathe,” I whispered, sinking to my knees.
Ice filled my veins as I tried to process the shock. Who would do something so unimaginably cruel to me? That despicable tape only existed in one place—sealed court documents. That meant whoever managed to gain access to it knew that it wasn’t a sex tape. They knew it showed something unthinkably horrifying.
But they took it and used it anyway, depicting it as a sex tape that I willingly participated in.
“Come on. We have to get out of here,” Adam said, pulling me back up to my feet. He and Trina each slung an arm around me and helped me down the steps toward the front of the room, where the closest exit lay.
“Laney!”
I managed to weakly turn my head over my shoulder at the sound of my name. Hunter was standing at the top of the tiered auditorium, staring down at me with furrowed brows.
In those seconds, a snippet of one of his last messages flashed in my mind. I heard something shocking is going to be announced at the assembly today.
My throat closed up again, and my knees almost gave way as realization struck me like lightning.
It was him.
He did this.
He knew about the existence of the tape. He had access to a private investigator, too. One who could probably figure out how to access sealed court records and past trial evidence as long as he or she had enough money thrown their way.
A burst of adrenaline surged through me, and I turned back around and ran toward the exit, tears clouding my vision. My heart ached so much that it felt like it would swell up and explode right out of my ribcage.
When I reached the large foyer outside the auditorium, I stopped and put my head in my hands, letting the tears flood down my cheeks. Adam and Trina put their arms around me, muttering about how they were going to murder whoever was responsible for the incident.
Seconds later, Camila, Kiri, Riley and Penelope from the Medusa Society joined us and helped my friends form a circle around me so that no one could stare at me as they headed past.
“I’m sorry, Laney,” Camila murmured, stroking my shoulder. “If you trust someone enough to let them film you like that, then they should never betray—”
I cut her off. “It wasn’t a sex tape, Camila,” I said raggedly. “I was assaulted and the man filmed it.”
Her brows shot up as her face paled. “Oh. Oh, no. I’m so sorry.”
“Who knew about that video before today?” Adam asked, eyes wide. “At RFA, I mean.”
I swallowed hard. “Only three people.”
“That makes it easy to narrow down, then. Who are they?”
“Well, there’s you and Trina, because I mentioned it to you weeks ago. But I know you guys wouldn’t hurt me,” I said with a loud sniff.
Adam briefly glanced at Trina, and the expression on his face wavered. I thought I saw a hint of doubt in his eyes, but when he blinked it was gone. “And the third?”
“Hunter,” I whispered miserably.
“When did he find out about it?”
Tears flooded my eyes again. “Two days ago. I told him when I went to talk to him about all of the Lindsay stuff.”
Adam rubbed his jaw. “Shit,” he muttered. “It must’ve been him.”
I nodded, even though I was still having trouble believing that Hunter could do this after everything we’d gone through. It was cruel on so many levels, and I honestly couldn’t think of anything worse he could’ve done to me. I would’ve preferred it if he simply went to the police and told them what I admitted to him about my father.
“Laney!”
I turned to see Hunter hurrying toward us from the auditorium exit. Trina left my side and ran over to him, blocking his path.
He looked over her head, focusing his wide-eyed gaze on me. “Laney, I know what it looks like, but I—”
A loud crack pierced the air as Trina swung the flat of her palm across Hunter’s face. “You fucking asshole!” she screamed. “How could you do that to her?”
“It wasn’t m—”
Trina slapped him again, cutting him off. “Of course it was you! Do you have any idea how fucked up it is?” she said. “You took the worst thing that ever happened to her and showed everyone! And you edited it to make it seem like it was something she wanted!”
Hunter rubbed his cheek. “Just let me talk to her.”
“You’ll never talk to her again. Not unless she decides to visit you in prison, because that’s where you’re going once we figure out how to prove this was you,” she replied, face turning bright red. “Showing that video wasn’t just fucking disgusting—it was illegal as hell. Even Daddy’s money won’t be able to buy you out of this one!”
Hunter said something to her that I didn’t catch—he was standing too far back, and he’d lowered his voice. I stood and watched, eyes stinging with tears.
“Our offer is still open, you know,” Camila said to me, sympathetically rubbing my arm.
I turned to her. “Offer?”
“To join the Medusa Society,” she said. “You’re still welcome. And remember, no one from the society is allowed to be put on that stupid blacklist.”
“Oh. Right.” I sniffed and rubbed my eyes.
“If you join, the bullying will stop. We’ll make sure of it.” Camila leaned closer and lowered her voice to a whisper. “We can help you get revenge against that prick for doing this shit to you, too. If that’s what you want, anyway.”
Adam looked at me and nodded. “Do it,” he mouthed.
I glanced back at Hunter. Bile rose in my throat at the sight of his painfully-handsome face. He’d drawn me in like a moth to a flame, and then he burned me in the
worst way possible.
I didn’t know why, but I guess it didn’t matter.
All that mattered now was getting through this ordeal without losing everything... and the Medusa girls had just thrown me the lifeline I needed.
I gritted my teeth and turned back to Camila. “Yes,” I said, lifting my chin high. “I want to join the society.”
To be continued….
More Information
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Shattered Kingdom
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About the Author
Kristin Buoni is the shared pen name of bestselling dark romance author Stella Hart and her romance-loving sister-in-law, K, who has always wanted to write something… especially a bully romance.
S and K both love coming up with fun ideas and gut-wrenching twists, so it was only a matter of time before they decided to team up and work on something together!
Royal Falls Elite is their first co-written series.
Savage Prince: A Dark High School Bully Romance (Royal Falls Elite Book 1) Page 36