Killer: A Dark College Romance (Hillcrest University Book 5)

by Candace Wondrak

  “You went to him after the police questioned you?” Will asked, cocking a brow.

  Declan nodded. “I did. What else was I supposed to do, Will? There were more police going through his office and talking to his secretary. Whatever it is has to be big, and I…I feel like you’re lying to me. I feel like you know what this is about, and you just don’t want to tell me.” An accusation I knew Declan would not make lightly.

  Blinking, Will’s back straightened. “You think I’m lying? Why would I lie?” His eyes darted to Ash, whom he asked, “Do you think I’m lying?”

  Ash, for her part, didn’t look surprised. Ash seemed pretty calm, considering the dean of Hillcrest was being investigated for something that had to be on the criminal side of the law. “I don’t know what’s going on,” she spoke, neither denying or affirming. She played herself smoothly, and it was as I watched her that I wondered if she knew more about this than she was letting on.

  Or maybe that was just me and my suspicious nature.

  To Declan, Will spoke, raising his voice, getting a bit angrier than I thought the situation called for, “Well, I’m not lying. I’m only telling you what the police told me, which is nothing. Whatever it is, they’re keeping it close to their chests. They clearly don’t want to make a scene if it turns out to be nothing. Investigating the dean isn’t like pulling some thief who just stole candy bars off the streets—”

  “I cannot believe you’re comparing Dad to a thief,” Declan muttered, frowning.

  “I wasn’t—”

  Ash let out a sigh, turning her grey eyes to me as the brothers went back and forth, similar to how Lincoln and Markus were going at it in the kitchen. She shrugged, giving me a grin. “Brothers,” she mused, a twinkle in her eye.

  At that, I threw a look over my shoulder at my own brothers. We might not have shared one hundred percent of our genetics, we might’ve been more like half-brothers, but the same theory still applied. Brothers argued. A lot. Those same brothers that spent most of their time arguing would also die for each other without hesitation. Loyalty was owed to the family above all else.

  I was too busy staring at my two older brothers that I didn’t see Ash get up. She made her way to my side, gently touching my arm. Her eyes darted to the back doors, and I knew she wanted me to follow her as she headed toward them. Together, we left the house. Dusk was here, along with chilly temperatures. I shoved my hand in my pocket, reaching for the worn box there. I needed a smoke after that.

  Ash turned her head, making sure the doors to the patio were closed before saying softly, “I think I know what’s going on.” She crossed her arms, probably to hold her body heat close. She wore nothing but a t-shirt and jeans, currently shoeless and sockless.

  I didn’t answer right away, mostly because I needed to light one up. I might have my vices, but at least mine were legal. Well, most of them. There were a few vices of mine that I would not advertise to anyone else. Once my cigarette was lit, once I was able to breathe in and fill my lungs, I felt my nerves calming down. “What do you mean?”

  When it came to Ash, I was fairly confident I’d get the truth out of her. After all, after she’d told us about Ray—and what she did with him—what else could that little head be hiding?

  Speaking of Ray…I literally could not wait to end his miserable life. He’d never touch Ash again.

  The beautiful girl before me heaved a breath before saying, “Before Sawyer left, he told me he looked at Sabrina’s suicide note. I guess his parents still had it.” She studied me, expecting a reaction, though she’d get none. I prided myself on not being easily readable. “Did you know about it? Did you know he read it over Thanksgiving break?”

  It pained me to admit it, but the answer was “No.”

  “Well, he did. And I guess, somehow, someway, he was wrong. The note didn’t mention Declan,” Ash told me, her chin tilted up to accommodate the height difference between us. She didn’t even blink as I exhaled a puff of smoke in the space before her face. “It only mentioned a D. Briggs.”

  “D. Briggs?” I repeated, my eyes glancing at the windows nearby, at the two heads I spotted on the couch. “Just the letter?” Vague memories came to me.

  Ash nodded. “It might mean Declan, or it might mean—”

  “Dean Briggs,” I whispered, the hand holding onto the cigarette falling to my side. I turned my head, staring at the yard behind us. It was still kept-up, but with the cool weather, the grass would stop growing. The people who the Salvatores had hired to keep up the property wouldn’t be back for a while.

  Someone had killed Sabrina, but Dean Briggs? Declan’s father? It just…I didn’t know if that felt right to me.

  It was a long while before I muttered, “I never told you about that day.” I tapped my cigarette, the ashes disappearing in the breeze before they made it to the patio below.

  “What day?”

  “The day I watched Sabrina Salvatore die.” It was as I was saying the words, and I thought back, that my memories flooded my mind, practically throwing me back to that day.

  Sawyer was still high as a kite, back at the frat house. A Stanton party, and we didn’t often go to Stanton parties, mostly because Sawyer always had a thing for hosting them. He liked to revel in his own paradise, with booze and drugs and pussy. I let him piss away his life, mostly because at this point, there wasn’t much of a life left to save. He wasn’t my responsibility, anyway. If he wanted to slowly kill himself, to rot his liver, let him. Who was I to talk? My lungs were going to be shit by the time I was thirty.

  If I lived that long.

  When I drove up to the Salvatore’s house, I passed quite a few cars parked alongside the road. They lived in a development of other mansions, so it wasn’t like any of them were lacking for space on their driveway. They just wanted to be a bother to other people. The rich only cared for themselves, not anyone else. Hell, sometimes they didn’t even care about their own family.

  That’s what I attributed to the Salvatores. While Sawyer was off fucking up his life, James and Angela Salvatore were off, out of town, leaving their seventeen-year-old daughter to fend for herself.

  Tsk-tsk. Sabrina was such a peculiar flower, but even the strangest of flowers were trampled under the hooves of beasts.

  Me. I was the beast in this analogy.

  I pulled into the driveway, parking my car right in front of the garage, which sat off to the side of the impressive stone mansion. I got out, slamming the car door shut. It was early in the day, on a Saturday, which was the only reason Sawyer was still out of it and Declan wasn’t here. Sawyer’s phone had been going off all night and even earlier this morning—Sabrina had been trying to call him, texting him left and right, practically begging him to come home, to go to her.

  He wouldn’t, but I was here now, and that should be enough for her.

  I headed up to the massive front door, and I rang the doorbell. My hands were in my pockets, a jacket wrapped around my torso. Today was a bit cooler than the average temperature here, but apparently that’s what climate change meant. Days got colder, and then others got hotter. It was why they stopped calling it global warming.

  Or something like that. I paid attention in class, but I was the one that was held back way back in third grade. Yeah, going to Midpark High while Declan and Sawyer went off to Hillcrest kind of sucked, but it just meant I got to spend more time with Sabrina.

  Sabrina didn’t quite know what she wanted to be, and if I was honest, I didn’t know how to view her. Just as a fun little stint behind everyone’s back, or if, possibly, the girl could turn out to be more. It would take one crazy woman to put up with me and my obsessions.

  There might not be a girl like that out there for me, but in the end, that was fine. It didn’t matter much anyway, because after Hillcrest, I’d graduate and simply join the booming family business.

  No one answered the door, which I thought was odd. I waited a while, but soon enough I grew impatient. I knew Sabrina was home;
she didn’t go out when her parents weren’t home. She wasn’t exactly a goody two shoes, since she and I were effectively sneaking behind Declan’s back, but when it came to her parents’ word, she followed them.

  And, anyway, she and Declan weren’t even together right now, so this little visit wasn’t as wrong as it would’ve been a week ago.

  The front door was unlocked, as it turned out, which I found was a bit odd. I pushed into the house, stepping over the threshold as I looked around, half expecting Sabrina to be near, to be waiting for me with a frown on her face. It was either blissfully happy or depressed when it came to her. There was no in between. I didn’t think the doctors had gotten her meds quite right yet.

  “Sabrina?” I spoke her name, walking deeper into the house. I heard the sound of a chair falling, and I headed through the front vestibule, past the greeting room and to the dining room, where the long mahogany table sat—the same table I’d spent all of my holidays at, since my family did not celebrate anything.

  What I saw was the strangest thing, and the only reason I found it strange was because I wasn’t expecting it.

  A chair was on the ground, knocked back, and two small feet dangled near it. Attached to those tiny feet was Sabrina, a thick noose around her neck, tied to one of the wooden beams overhead. Her light blue eyes—so light of a color they were near grey—locked with mine, and she tried frantically to breathe in. Her fingers were around the noose, trying to loosen it, but it was too tight.

  I could’ve saved her. I could’ve done something, could have dashed to the chair and put it beneath her feet, helped her out of that noose and asked her just what the hell was going on, but…

  But I didn’t.

  I spotted a note on the table, glancing to it before locking eyes with her again. Her eyes watered, her lips sputtering, no words coming from that slender, stretched out neck. Her beautiful face was, for the first time ever, wrought with fear. This was not a Sabrina like I’d ever seen her before.

  What I ended up doing was sliding into the nearest chair, being careful not to touch anything. I’d have to wipe the door handle after this, but…

  My thoughts were interrupted by footsteps in the hall, and as I turned my head, the only thing I saw was someone moving by in the hall very quickly, speed-walking to the front door. They wore all black, so I couldn’t see their face, but deep down, I knew.

  Whoever it was had hung her. Whoever it was had killed her.

  Me? I wasn’t a savior. I wouldn’t grab that chair and help her, wouldn’t cut the rope and let her breathe again. No, the only thing I would do right now was watch Sabrina Salvatore die.

  I locked eyes with Sabrina, and it was right then she knew she would receive no help from me. By the time the front door had closed and whoever it was was long gone, I’d watched the life drain from those pretty eyes, her pupils dilating and her kicking feet cease to move.

  I’d never seen such a pretty corpse.

  I was slow to get up, knowing I had to get out of here as soon as possible. My eyes only glanced at the letter. I didn’t know whether whoever it was had forced her to write it or not, and I didn’t much care. The only thing I cared about was the fact that she was now gone, and I still stood.

  The Salvatores didn’t know that I was seeing their daughter. For all they knew, she and Declan were still a would-they, won’t-they thing. I couldn’t leave it like this, lest it somehow get traced back to me.

  Yes, I’d watched her die, but I didn’t kill her. The line was thin, but it was there.

  I ended up taking her diary from her room before I left, after wiping my prints off everything. I knew I was probably in the diary, and I didn’t want any fingers pointed back to me. A bit of cover-up for a crime I didn’t even commit, go figure.

  At the time, I had no idea how my life would change, what a whirlwind it would be. The Salvatores blamed Declan once they returned and found their daughter dead; they even had the police look into it. The note, apparently, said it was all Declan’s fault. I played the supportive friend to Sawyer and helped him antagonize Declan, not really caring either way.

  And then…then my freshman year at Hillcrest started. Then I met Ash. Then everything changed.

  Chapter Nine – Ash

  Well, Travis had told me he wasn’t the one who killed Sabrina, and technically he was right. Going off his story, he’d just stumbled onto the scene during the fact, and he didn’t feel like saving her. Huh. That was…well, interesting didn’t seem like the right word here.

  More like frightening. No. Nerve-wracking? Eh, not quite.

  Whatever. I was sure my mind would get there eventually.

  For now, as I stared at Travis, watching him take a long puff of his cigarette before tossing its end on the ground, I couldn’t help but think: holy shit. Travis could’ve saved her. If Travis would’ve saved her, I wouldn’t be here. I’d be at Stanton, with Kelsey, and Ray…

  Ray still would’ve gotten out. Ray still would’ve come after me, and without the group of guys and connections I had now, I would’ve been fucked.

  Literally, I stood here, with Travis, all because he let Sabrina die. I was here, my heart torn between multiple men who were each broken and psychotic in their own way, because he’d stood back and let a seventeen-year-old girl die.

  How could someone be happy about that? How could I look into his dark blue eyes and still feel my heart doing a strange pitter-patter? It was stupid. Travis wasn’t the killer, but he wasn’t innocent, either.

  Still, at least I knew what happened. At least I knew how he got the other diary. Someone did kill Sabrina, and now, deep in my gut, I knew it was Dean Briggs. Didn’t seem right, because he was the dean. Why would he kill his son’s girlfriend? What was his motive?

  And why would he force Sabrina to write a letter blaming himself?

  That…I hated believing it, still didn’t make sense.

  “Well?” Travis cocked his head, staring at me, waiting for me to respond, to say something, to tell him…what? That I didn’t view him differently? That knowing the truth didn’t change how I felt? It didn’t, but…a part of me wondered if I was caught in a similar situation, if Travis would end up leaving me to hang, too. “Aren’t you going to say something?”

  My eyes drifted to the window. It was dark outside now, and I could see Will and Declan still on the couch, though it looked like their conversation was still as heated as it was before. Will suspected his father, clearly, and Declan didn’t. Declan saw the good in people. He’d seen the good in me, even when I tried to hide it. This was something that just might tear the brothers apart.

  I…I hated the thought.

  “So you didn’t read the note that day?” I eventually said, slowly turning my eyes back to Travis. I almost hated how good-looking he was. Even knowing what he did—or, rather, didn’t do—I still found him ridiculously lick-able. Did that make me insane, having these feelings for a guy who clearly had no empathy?

  “No. I got the diary and got out. If someone would’ve come home and caught me there, I…it wouldn’t have been good for me.”

  That much I knew to be true, but still. It took almost a year for Sawyer to realize he fucked up, and that was only because he’d finally gotten his hands on that note. And the fact that Travis had watched the life drain from Sabrina’s eyes…how the hell was I supposed to react to something like that?

  My stomach was in knots, and I really felt like getting sick. “We can’t tell Declan about this. Not yet, anyway.” I stared hard at Travis, hoping my point was getting through. “I’m going to be the one to tell him about that note, but your involvement…somehow I don’t think he’d like to hear that you could’ve saved her but didn’t.”

  Travis frowned, his usual expression. “You’re right about that.” It was another moment before he muttered, “So much for no more secrets, huh?”

  I let out a sigh. He was right, of course. I didn’t want there to be any secrets between me and my guys, not now. Not ag
ain. It was why I swore to myself this would not stay a secret for long. I would tell Declan about it, at least about the note. Travis’s involvement…well, I really thought him knowing that particular detail would cause their truce to break and they’d be back at being enemies and hating each other above all else.

  Since that had been thrown out in the open, it was time for another truth bomb. I opened my mouth to speak, “I know you hid the presents Ray left for me.”

  An expression of hate, of utter loathing and seething fury crossed Travis’s face. “Call me a psychic, but I don’t think you’re the type of girl who thinks body parts are presents.” He stood next to me, and now that he wasn’t smoking, the air between us was cold. Too chilly. We had to get inside soon. “Unless I’m wrong?”

  “No, you’re not wrong,” I mumbled. “Still, you shouldn’t have hidden that from me.”

  “You had enough to deal with, Ash. I was only trying to help.”

  I knew Travis had meant well, I knew that he hadn’t hidden those grotesque presents out of some fear that I’d run back to Ray—they all knew I was past that point now, and that me going with him that night had been a mistake—but I still was miffed about it. He shouldn’t have hidden them from me. Maybe if he wouldn’t have kept them to himself, we could’ve been more prepared for Ray’s sudden appearance at the house, with the gun.

  It was honestly a miracle that we were all still alive, especially after that.

  Well, at least me and the guys were. Brooklyn…not so much.

  I shivered. It was almost time to go back inside, but I needed to ask one more thing. “What did you do with them?”

  “With what?” Travis tried acting innocent, but it was a wasted effort.

  “The…the body parts.” It still didn’t feel real, talking about body parts as presents. What had my life come to? I was the world’s unluckiest eighteen-year-old, and quite frankly I felt like I was older. Like, somehow, all of this shit had aged me internally. I was tired. I was so, so tired of it all.