Because he’s seeing Margot.
“I wish he would talk to me,” Dr. O continues. “I’m surprised he hasn’t confided in you.”
He can’t be surprised—he broke us up. Even if everything else got in the way, Dr. O made it clear our assignments come first.
Our assignments that involve digging around for missing interns, and planting money on our stepdads, and hiding pregnancies so we don’t face the streets.
My pulse is running too fast. Dr. O’s acting concerned, but it feels wrong. He wants Grayson to stay here until he testifies, but we both know that won’t happen anytime soon—not while Dr. O can blackmail the senator to change his votes. He needs Grayson, but Caleb …
Caleb finished his assignment with the mayor’s daughter. The Wolves nearly killed him because she found out what he did. Dr. O knew, and he kept security just out of reach when Caleb was attacked.
The director doesn’t need Caleb. At least, not as much as he needs Grayson.
My gaze flicks from my clenched hands on my lap to Dr. O’s peering gaze.
He’s hurt people.
He’s out of control.
People are dying.
I try to push Caleb’s voice from my head, but it’s too insistent.
“You know I care about my students,” says Dr. O, leaning forward, the way I have with Grayson when I’m trying to set him at ease. “And their families.”
My breath comes out in a huff.
His meaning is clear: he’s talking about Mom, about her job with Wednesday.
About what he’s done for me and what I stand to lose if I don’t play ball.
“So you know I don’t take these decisions lightly.” He rubs a hand over his chin. “Maybe it was wrong of me to ask you to see what Caleb’s been up to, but if I don’t know what he’s doing, I can’t keep him here.”
Sweat dews on my hairline. He’s putting this on me. Caleb’s fate, or Grayson’s. I press my teeth together, trying to quiet the throbbing in my brain, to think.
Grayson’s safe as long as he’s useful to Dr. O.
Caleb may be off the deep end, but he needs Vale Hall. His family needs it. I can’t let them sink just because Margot’s twisted his head up with lies and made-up reports …
Margot. That’s my play. I glance to Susan’s picture, to her fragile build and her pressed lips, hoping this is the right call.
“Caleb’s helping me,” I say. “He thinks he found a police report from your sister’s accident.”
Maybe it doesn’t exist, but right now it’s all I’ve got.
Dr. O goes still, his face grave. “Why didn’t you mention this before?”
“I haven’t seen it yet,” I say. “Matthew Sterling buried it with all the other evidence.”
Dr. O’s gaze flicks to Susan, then back to me. “What does this report say?”
I’ve never witnessed Dr. O’s rage before—I didn’t know he had it in him—but I can feel it now, just beneath the surface.
“Something about head injuries before the accident. I don’t know the details.”
“Because you haven’t seen it.”
“That’s right.” Panic slides an icy finger between my shoulder blades.
“Where did Caleb get this? I need to see it.”
I can’t tell him that.
“Some old contacts from his last assignment,” I say, forcing myself to hold his gaze. I need to tell Caleb this so he can figure out his story. “He had to do some digging, that’s why he’s been gone so much. We didn’t want to say anything until we knew for sure it was real.”
“I see.”
“He’s loyal to Vale Hall,” I say.
Loyal. The word hangs between us, setting my teeth on edge.
“And I doubted him.” Dr. O rises slowly, clearly rattled by this new information. “Thank you for telling me. You’re dismissed. Mr. Moore will take you to the clinic for an evaluation. I’ll feel more confident once a doctor takes a look at your head.”
His tone leaves no room for argument.
“What are you going to do?” I ask.
Dr. O stares into the dark hearth. “What I always do. I’m going to take care of my students.”
CHAPTER 32
Dr. O has connections. A physician is already waiting for us at the urgent care. After a battery of questions, my eyes are examined, my head is prodded, and I’m taken for an X-ray and a CAT scan to make sure my brain isn’t bleeding.
Big surprise: it’s not.
Caleb still hasn’t responded to my text warning him about the police report by the time we get home. It’s after ten, and the main floor is quiet, so I bypass the girls’ hall and make straight for the boys’ wing. Two hours have passed since Grayson and Caleb fought, and for all I know they’ve finished the job in my absence.
I’m still furious at both of them. Caleb for attacking Grayson. Grayson for taunting Caleb. I’m even mad at me for covering for Caleb after the way he’s been acting. I tell myself he’d do the same for me, for my mom, but I don’t know anymore.
I keep thinking about what Dr. O said—that he’s taking care of his students. But he’s conning us, and we’ve played right into his hands. A classic pigeon drop, performed by the master.
Establish rapport. Check.
Entice your mark with a taste of something they want, enough to make them greedy for more. Check.
Convince them that what they’re doing, they do for the big payout—for college, for the perks of Vale Hall—when really they do it for you. Check.
Remind them they’re screwed if they don’t follow through.
Double, triple, quadruple check.
Only the last step remains: take the money—our secrets—and run.
But he’ll only do that if we don’t comply. The only way to win this game is to do exactly as he says. And it’s worth it. For college. For Vale Hall. For Mom.
I’ve been telling myself this since I left his office. My mantra. It’s worth it. It’s worth it.
There’s a commotion coming from the boys’ hall as I reach the turn in the stairs. A thump, and the framed picture against the wall shakes. Voices clash together. Adrenaline spikes my system, and I run the rest of the way up.
It’s Grayson and Caleb again. I know it.
As I reach the landing, my sight is blocked by the crowd, all facing the other way. Belk is shouting for them to calm down, to get back to their rooms. Sam’s voice rises above the rest.
“Get off,” he yells. “This is on you!”
I rush toward them, shoving Joel aside.
“What are you doing?” Belk’s fingers slide off my shirt as I barrel past, into the heart of the crowd.
He’s saying something else, but I barely hear him, because before me, standing outside his room, is Caleb.
I scan for a fight, still ready for anything. But apart from Sam pointing a finger at Grayson on the opposite side of Caleb, no one appears to be violent.
I don’t understand what’s going on. Everyone is staring at me, their gazes filled with anticipation. The heat in the hall seems to rise ten degrees.
Caleb’s lip is split. There’s a red welt beneath his left eye. He’s holding a cardboard box with only a few things inside. I see the corner of a picture frame on top. I know the photo—it’s of his family before his dad got hurt.
He’s wearing a royal blue sweatshirt I haven’t seen before. There’s no raven, and the fabric’s faded at the stress points, ripped around the collar.
And I get it then.
The breath burns as I suck it in. My gaze aligns with Caleb’s. His expression is one I’ve never seen before, and it takes another beat to register what that look means.
Disappointment.
He is disappointed with me.
I’m going to take care of my students. That’s what Dr. O said. He felt bad for doubting Caleb. He thanked me for telling him about the report.
I can’t hold Caleb’s stare any longer. My eyes fall to the box. The only pos
sessions he has.
“This is a mistake.” My voice is a trembling whisper. “This wasn’t supposed to happen.”
Your fault, a voice whispers from dark corners of my mind. But it can’t be. I told Dr. O that Caleb was helping me. I hid the truth about Margot. I protected him.
“You did this?” Henry is suddenly beside me. His hand is on my arm. I can’t look at him. I can’t look away from the box in Caleb’s arms.
“I…” I swallow. This doesn’t make sense. Caleb should be staying. If anything, he should be with Dr. O explaining what he knows about the police report, or at least making up the details. “I told him you were loyal. I told him about the report—”
Caleb flinches, and I know then that I made the wrong decision.
I’d thought that report would save him, but it condemned him somehow.
Caleb starts to walk forward, to push past.
“Wait,” I say.
He doesn’t wait.
“No.” Henry’s between us, facing Caleb. “No. No. This is a mistake—Brynn said. She can fix it.”
“Come on, Caleb,” says Belk.
I am trapped underwater, my movements slow and clumsy. The conversation with Dr. O is playing out in fast-forward through my mind. I don’t understand where it went wrong.
But it did, and now Caleb is getting kicked out.
“I’ll talk to him,” says Henry. “You stay here, and I’m going to go talk to him.”
“Henry, go to your room,” says Belk.
“No.” Henry’s shaking his head so fast his hair whips into his eyes. “Caleb’s not leaving.”
“You’re damn right he isn’t leaving,” growls Sam. “If anyone’s going, it’s this asshole.” He points to Grayson again.
“It’s not his fault!” shouts Henry.
“He rammed me into those pillars downstairs because I was in his way. That raven statue nearly took my head off!”
Grayson’s gaze finds mine, his expression cold. He takes a step back, away from Sam. His shoulders drop.
There are more people behind me. I don’t have to look to sense them standing there. Probably the girls have heard and come to see what’s going on.
“I’ve got to go,” says Caleb quietly.
Henry’s crying now. He keeps shaking his head. Caleb tries to walk past, but he puts himself in the way.
“Come on, Henry,” says Caleb.
More head shaking.
“Get into your rooms, all of you!” shouts Belk.
“What the hell is going on?” asks Charlotte, behind me.
In a burst, Henry grabs Caleb’s box and wrestles it free from his grip. Caleb must not have seen this coming, because he doesn’t put up much of a fight. As soon as Henry’s got it in his hands, he seems confused what to do. He drops it on the floor, and something within makes a sound of breaking glass.
Belk snags Henry’s arm, but Henry shakes free. I feel what’s coming a second before it happens, and so does Caleb, because just as Henry wheels back to punch the security guard, Caleb steps in and blocks him.
And then Caleb and his best friend are hugging, in the middle of the hall, in front of everyone, and the sound ripped from Henry’s throat makes me want to die.
Tears are streaming from my eyes. I have to fix this. I have to do something.
But I can’t move. If I do, Belk will take him away. Caleb will disappear, just like Margot. My feet stay grounded on the spot, forcing me to witness this. To become a wall Caleb can’t move past.
This is my fault. I don’t know how, but it is.
“I know what happens,” Henry’s saying. “You go away, and I’ll never see you again.”
“It’s okay,” Caleb says. “It’s okay, Henry.”
“You can’t go.”
“It’s okay.”
“I can’t be here without you.”
“It’s okay.”
“It’s not. It’s not.”
Caleb’s eyes meet mine over Henry’s shoulder.
I’m sorry, I want to say. This wasn’t supposed to happen.
The disappointment is gone, and all that’s left is a hollow sadness, and my own guilty reflection in the frames of his glasses.
“Sam,” says Caleb, as somber as a man heading to his own funeral.
And then Sam’s pulling Henry back. For a moment, he’s tucked into the crook of Sam’s arm, then Henry breaks free and shoves into his room. The door slams behind him.
Caleb picks up his box.
Stop.
He stands.
I’ll fix this.
With a nod to Sam, he walks past me. I reach for him, but there’s some kind of field around him, blocking my touch.
“I’m sorry about your head,” he mutters without looking up.
He follows Belk down the hall.
I should chase after them. I should chuck that box out the window. A hundred shoulds fill my mind, too slippery to grasp.
“What did you tell the director?”
Geri’s talking, but I can’t find the voice to answer.
“Come on. She wouldn’t do that. It was Grayson.” Sam practically spits the name.
It was me.
“Not this time, pal,” Grayson says. “He didn’t ask me anything. He just said I had to stay in my room until further notice.”
It was me. Caleb’s gone because I didn’t do enough, or maybe because I did too much.
I press the heels of my hands to my temples. It doesn’t make sense. Dr. O should be glad to find more information about his sister. He should be relieved that Caleb wasn’t sneaking around behind his back—that he knows of.
That report should have saved him.
“Brynn?” Charlotte’s standing in front of me, her brows warped in concern. “Brynn, what happened?”
“She got Caleb kicked out, just like he did Margot.” Geri’s voice is thin as a razor. “I guess that’s the circle of life.”
I flinch at the words.
“Get out of here, Geri,” says Sam, but he sounds less certain.
They think I’m a snitch.
That I betrayed Caleb.
It doesn’t even matter that he betrayed me first. Or that Margot screwed with his head to bring down the program. Or that he might have endangered us all by meeting with her.
They believe I broke the trust.
“Brynn?” Charlotte’s arms are crossed over her chest, setting a shield between us. “That’s not true, right?”
Hurrying around her, I shove past Geri and the others and run down the stairs. I don’t know what I plan to do—stand in front of Belk’s car, or yell at Dr. O. Something. From outside comes the sound of gravel crunching beneath tires. I race toward the front door, but the car is already halfway down the driveway. I’ll never catch them.
“Brynn.”
I spin to see Dr. O standing in the threshold of his office, pulling on a coat. He looks like a fighter who just made it through nine rounds.
Like he’s the one who’s just been turned out.
“What’d you do?” I demand. The others are on the spiral staircase now. Sam. Charlotte. All of them but Henry and Grayson.
“Why don’t you come into my office. We’ll talk.”
I’m not going into that office again.
“I told you he was loyal.”
“Brynn—”
“You said you’d take care of him!”
Dr. O shrugs into his coat and steps toward me. I back away.
“I said I’d take care of my students. I have to protect all of you, and if he’s going on rogue assignments at your orders, it becomes a security issue…”
“I said he was helping! There is no security issue.”
“Brynn, please calm down.”
I can’t listen to him. Every time he opens his mouth, lies come out. I look to the stairs, but Dr. O’s already said what the others need to hear, and they’re gazing at me in horror. Sam’s hand is covering his mouth. Geri’s nose is scrunched in disgust. Paz and Al
ice are whispering and scowling my way.
I think of all of us girls crowded together to take a picture before Charlotte’s party.
They hate me now.
Charlotte hates me.
You never realize how much you love someone until they give up on you.
It doesn’t matter. What matters is Caleb just got kicked out of school. He’ll have to go home, tell his mother what happened. This will hurt her. Hurt his brothers.
Hurt his father.
His father.
Will his dad lose his medical care over this? That care is why Caleb is here, why he stayed. Why he took a beating from the Wolves this past summer, and came back even after Margot told him Dr. O was dangerous.
Dr. O is dangerous. Maybe not like Margot thinks, but in his own, twisted way.
I need to get out of here.
I need to find Mom and tell her the truth about Wednesday Pharmaceuticals and the house.
I need to go to Caleb’s family and tell them I’m sorry, and I’ll help them. I don’t know what I’m going to do, but I’ll figure out something.
With Dr. O calling my name, I run down the hall, past the classrooms to the garage. Inside, I grab a key ring off the hook under a handwritten note that says Jeep. Moore taught me enough to get out of here. I can figure the rest out on my own.
But as I turn the car on, I realize something’s wrong. The shifter looks different. It’s not an automatic, it’s a manual. I need a different car.
The driver’s side door opens, and I yelp in surprise. Moore is standing beside me. He reaches over me for the ignition and takes out the keys.
“You don’t have your license,” he says.
I break.
My tears feel like shards of glass, my lungs like a vacuum. I can’t breathe.
I have ruined someone’s life.
Not just anyone’s, Caleb’s.
It doesn’t matter if it wasn’t deliberate, or if he chose Margot over me, or if he punched Grayson in the basement.
With a few words, I have taken everything from him.
“It should have been me,” I say. “If Dr. O thinks I asked Caleb for help—that I’m the one that caused the security issue—why am I still here? I haven’t gotten anything from Grayson. I barely found anything on Jimmy Balder—”
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