“And what do I say in response to the fact that I am standing in allegiance with a dead man?” Michael looked cool and cunning as he spoke.
“Let me handle that,” my father answered. “I am prepared to tell them that I was forced to fake my death in order to hide from threats against my life based on the bogus embezzlement claims that have now been put to rest.”
“No one is going to believe that bullshit,” I mumbled under my breath.
I felt my father’s hand squeeze into the meat of my arm and saw both Michael and Julian look as if they wanted to kill him on the spot. Neither of them made a move, though.
They knew it wouldn’t do any good.
“They’ll believe it if you sell it well enough,” he growled at me. “That is your whole entire job, my dear. Smile, look pretty, give a kiss on the cheek to Michael first, and then to your poor lost father who has returned to you and who has returned to help the success of the schools by taking over Lineage Academy as an amicable ally.”
I felt like I was about to throw up. “I’m not going to kiss you,” I said.
“You are if I tell you to.”
I heard a faint scratching noise and saw Julian’s fingers clawed against the edge of the table so hard that his knuckles were turning white.
There was a knock at the door, and one of the Goldshire members announced to us that the press had just arrived, an assemblage of journalists from the various local papers and news stations.
“Shall we?” my father said as he held out his arm to me. I envisioned what Michael had said about making my father choke on his own hand. The thought was becoming more and more appealing by the minute.
I needed to tell Michael about the depth and reach of my father’s plan.
“I need to use the restroom,” I said.
“You can wait,” my father replied.
“Just because we’re all forced to go along with this,” Michael said to him. “It doesn’t mean that we need to act uncivilized.” He held his arm out for me to take, and I quickly chose that over my father’s. “I’ll escort her to the bathroom and then meet you back here. It won’t kill the press, or you, to wait for a moment.”
My father looked unhappy, but Marta made some comment about not losing his temper before going on camera, which forced him to calm down.
As soon as Michael and I had left the room, he pulled me into the hallway around the corner and pushed me up against the wall with his body and kissed me. I had missed him so much that I wanted to hold onto him and our brief moment alone more than anything. But I had to tell him about what I knew before the press event. I pulled him further down the hall and whispered to him as quickly as I could, telling him everything my father had said about having control over more than just the schools and how he was going to bleed the entire city dry. Michael looked as if there was something brewing behind his eyes, and I warned him to be careful.
“We can stay stuck like this forever,” he said.
“What are you going to do?” I asked.
“I don’t know but—”
Marta came around the corner and glared at us until we walked back toward the office.
The reporters were all fanned out in a semi-circle in front of the steps of the Goldshire Hall. When the five of us stepped out and took our places at the top of the steps, the sound of camera shutters started to go off like a loud, pattering rain. Marta thanked the press for coming and expressed her excitement on the recovery of “Mr. Jack White.”.” Then she handed the moment over to my father, who carefully explained his bogus story, which the press seemed to be completely buying into. He went on to announce the merger of the two schools. Although the general consensus from the press seemed to be one of approval, I noticed that there were a few faces out there that looked suspicious and uneasy about my father’s speech. When it came time for Michael to speak, there was a moment of unanticipated pause.
I was standing in-between my father and Michael, with Marta standing by my father’s side, and Julian standing by Michael’s side. As everyone eagerly waited for Michael to begin talking, I felt the side of his hand brush mine down against my leg, and I had the immediate sense that he had done it purposefully. He was sending me a signal. Michael wasn’t going to go through with it.
“Sorry to have brought everyone out here today for nothing,” Michael said in the arrogant and defiant tone that reminded me so much of how I first thought of him, that I actually laughed out loud a little.
My father looked at me with a stern and scolding look.
I hope they got that on camera, I thought.
“But there will be no merger between Goldshire and Lineage today.”
My father’s head snapped around to look across me to Michael.
“What do you think you’re doing?” he growled at Michael under his breath.
“Telling you to fuck off in front of all of these cameras,” Michael smiled.
He turned back to the reporters who were feverishly snapping photos and holding their microphones in the air like a pack of hungry vultures.
“Goldshire is under new leadership now—mine. And I don’t necessarily like the way that Lineage handles their business affairs. Perhaps if Mr. White would like to agree to undergo an audit of the college’s ledgers, then maybe we can revisit the offer of a merger following a clear showing of transparency. What do you say, Jack? Surely you have nothing to hide.”
Michael’s wicked smile shot back at my father, and I was scared for a moment that my father’s rage would erupt and that he would kill everyone here, even in front of the cameras. The look of horror on Marta’s face indicated that she was also worried about that as well.
“Jack,” I heard her whisper to him.
She made a little squeak when he grabbed her hand and squeezed it so hard that I thought I could hear her bones crunch. He stared fixedly at Michael before finally turning his face to the cameras.
“Of course, I don’t have anything to hide,” he smiled as the camera flashes went off.
As soon as that was over, and a few reporters had managed to get lesser questions answered, my father pulled Marta and me off the campus so quickly that I didn’t have time to say goodbye to Michael or Julian. I saw the look of fear in Julian’s eyes as I was being dragged away, though. He knew that my father would take out his fury on someone at what Michael had done.
When we got back to Lineage, I tried to get away and get back to the apartment, but that was definitely not going to happen.
“Jack, please calm down,” Marta pleaded as he pushed us both into his office and slammed the door closed.
“Calm down? Do you have any idea what your bastard of a son just did? He made me look like a fool! He embarrassed me publicly and cast a spotlight on this entire operation! If Lineage gets audited, everything will be exposed.”
“I’ll talk to Michael,” she said. Her voice was shaking so much that she sounded like she was going to cry. “I’ll get him to change his mind and issue a public apology. The media will just think that he’s young and foolish, and they won’t question it further.”
I stood in the corner of the room as close to the door as I could. I watched as my father took huge, fast steps toward Marta and grabbed her by her neck with his thick fingers. He hit her across the face with his other hand, and the ring on his finger sliced a long gash into her cheekbone. I screamed, and two of the security guards outside the office pushed through the door. When they saw my father in his fit of rage, they just stood there as if they had been summoned to watch instead of to help. He was so angry that he was going to kill her. But instead of killing Marta, he turned his wrath on the guards. Killing them would bring less consequence than killing either of us. I knew that’s what he was thinking because I knew what an evil man he was.
He pulled a gun from his pocket, that I didn’t even know he had, and shot both of the guards squarely between the eyes before they even had their holsters opened. As soon as the two men fell down against the floor, he let
go of Marta, and she dropped to her knees. Then he stared at me as I backed up into the corner as far as I could go. He held my eyes for a minute and then walked out the door, leaving Marta and I and two dead bodies behind in his wake.
I hated Marta with a passion, but she and I both seemed to be on the receiving end of things this time. So, I walked over to help her up.
“Get away from me!” she screamed.
Never doing that again, you stupid bitch. “I was just trying to help. Your cheek is going to need stitches.”
“I don’t need any help from you,” she hissed.
She got to her feet and stared at me as blood gushed from her cheek and onto her dress. “I wish I could have gotten you killed when I had the chance.”
After Marta left the room, I found myself standing between widening puddles of blood on the floor that was spilling out of the guards. Had I been in this situation prior to all of this, I probably would have run screaming from the room, but since I was already used to being in rooms of dead bodies now, I simply stepped over them and left.
I could tell that my father’s temper had not yet cooled since there was evidence of more carnage scattered around the campus. Locks or no locks, I figured that the safest place for me to go until he had cooled-off was the apartment. I had made it to the door when Adam showed up.
I was so happy to see him that I threw myself at him and then tried to pull him into the apartment with me. When he wouldn’t come, I looked up.
“I have to get you out of here,” he said. “Jack is too dangerous. You’re not safe to stay here through the night.”
“He’s not going to kill me,” I said. “Not yet, at least. He still needs me to make everything look good for him.”
Adam shook his head. “No, be sure that he will kill you, Lisette. That’s why I came back to get you.”
“Where did you go?” I asked. “Why did you leave me here alone? You promised me that you wouldn’t do that.”
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I had to. I had to go take care of some things so that I could come back to get you.”
“What things?”
“I’ll tell you once we get out of here.” Adam grabbed my hand and tried to pull me along with him.
“No,” I said as I yanked my weight back from being pulled. “I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what’s going on with you. What did that guard mean the other night? What aren’t you telling me? Because I’ve been as patient with you and your nonsensical side-stepping of my questions, but enough is enough. Even I have patience that runs out eventually.”
“Lisette, please, not here. I’ll tell you everything once we get to Goldshire, I promise.”
“We’re going to Goldshire?” I asked. I was stunned to think that was even a possibility.
“Yes, the guys are waiting at the campus line for us.”
Adam let go of my hand and held my face against his. “You can trust me, Lisette. I’m the same man that you think I am. I’m going to get you out of here now, and then we can talk, and I will explain everything, okay?”
He leaned forward and gave me one small, sensual kiss before he took up my hand again, and we both ran toward the edge of campus.
Michael had already made several significant changes to Goldshire. One of the first changes that I noticed was the fortification of the school’s underground library. I hadn’t even known there was an underground library. Apparently, it had been used when the school was first built and then abandoned as the building was modernized. Michael had immediately secured it as a sort of bunker that he posted guards at the entrance to. Except for the guards, Julian, and himself, no one even remembered that the place existed.
As soon as Adam and I had reached the campus line, Michael and Julian were there to usher us toward their new secret hiding place. Julian wrapped his arm around me as we hurried toward the auditorium, which stood on the ground above the entrance to the old library.
“I missed you so much,” he whispered into my ear as we ran. “I was so worried about you.”
“Me too,” I said back.
When we got there, the staircase that led down to the underground library was dark and narrow, and it reminded me more of a dungeon than a haven for books. But once we were fully inside, it was actually quite a cozy place. Most of the books had been removed, but there were still a few old, decrepit volumes that sat haphazardly on the crumbling bookshelves. Michael had some furniture and lights brought down and had even made sure there was food and drink. I imagined that it was probably possible to stay hidden here for a few days, if necessary, without needing to go up to the surface. I had expected that the four of us would all stay together now and talk about what was going on. Michael and Julian both gave each other a look and then acted as if they were going to head back up the stairs. Adam was over at the corner of the room, leaning his body against the side of the wall as he ran his hand through his hair and sighed. He looked stressed.
“Hey, where are you guys going?” I asked.
Michael walked over to me and hugged me so close to him that I could feel each curve of his body against my own. He kissed me on the forehead and smiled.
“We’ll be right above you, and I’ll be back down soon. There are a few things we need to take care of, and, uh, I think you and Adam should talk.”
I looked over at Julian, and he gave me a sympathetic nod.
Okay, what was this all about?
After the other guys left, I walked over to Adam and stood in front of him. I wasn’t going to move this time until he told me what was going on.
“No more secrets between us,” I said as I put my hand on his chest. I loved the way his pecs felt beneath my fingers. I couldn’t help but trace them over his body, even now, when I knew there was something important to discuss.
“No more secrets,” he agreed. “I never meant to keep any secrets from you, to begin with. It’s just that I didn’t want you to know the kind of man I used to be. I wanted to be the kind of man that you thought I was the kind of man that I am now.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked.
“Your mom took me in at that halfway house because she knew who I was. I didn’t just stumble upon that place, your mother brought me there to try to help me because she took pity on me.” He drew a deep breath in, and I could tell that the worst was about to come. “If it hadn’t been for her, I might still be running drugs for your dad.”
My hand fell from his chest, and I felt like I was underwater.
“What?” I asked breathlessly.
“I didn’t know what was happening back then,” he said. “You have to believe me. I didn’t know who your father was, or how big of a conspiracy the whole drug-thing was. I just thought I was running a few lines to people and getting paid. I was only going to do it until I had enough money to get off the streets.”
Adam leaned into me and held me by my waist as my arms dangled limply down at my sides.
“Pauline caught me one night. She had been watching things that your father was doing, and she had followed me right after I had done a pickup for him. Your mom was so brave, she walked right up to me on the street at night and told me that she could help me. She said I didn’t need to work for him anymore and that she was getting ready to blow his whole operation wide-open. She asked me if I would come back with her to the halfway house where she could help me, and that’s when I first saw you.”
I was stunned. Not just because Adam had worked for my father, but because he hadn’t told me. No wonder he had been so good about me not telling him stuff. This fucker had secrets of his own. Still, how could I judge him for withholding a piece of information that he thought would either hurt me or make me think less of him? I had done the exact same thing.
He stood there, looking into my eyes and waiting for me to say something.
“Why did they put a camera in your room?” I asked.
Adam sighed. “I’m sure that was to have proof of whose side I am on and whose side I us
ed to be on. If your father goes down, I have no doubt that he intends to take everyone who ever worked for him right along with him.”
“I’m not letting him take you,” I said.
Adam looked at me with wide-eyed hope. “You’re not furious with me?”
“Of course, I’m not. I’m just happy that you’re back.”
And despite the ebbing anger that I was more than deserving of feeling, my love for this man grew bigger than that. Pulsed louder than that. And eventually, swallowed my anger whole completely.
I loved Adam. Just like I loved Julian. Like I thought I loved Michael.
And I wasn’t letting my father take another person away from me that I cared about.
27
Michael and Julian had done an amazing job of working together to build Goldshire up in ways that I never imagined. I was truly impressed, and a bit stunned that they were even working alongside each other, in addition to having gotten so much done in just a few short days.
The campus was closely monitored, and Michael had set up a security detail comprised of Goldshire students who had volunteered to help. The old board members had been dismissed, and he had essentially kicked them all out on their asses. He put Julian in charge of overseeing the day-to-day running of the college. He released several statements to the press, which clarified Goldshire’s complete and utter separation from Lineage as he tried to distance everyone here from the corrupt downfall that loomed in Lineage Academy’s near future.
Instead of being the fake trophy leader that his mother had wanted to place in the Headmaster position for, Michael actually had a vested interest in bettering the school and making sure its students and families didn’t get swindled out of their wealth by my father’s embezzlements.
Ruined: A Dark Bully Reverse Harem Romance (Beautiful Tyrants Book 1) Page 18