Unmasked: A Reverse Harem High School Bully Romance (An Evergreen Academy Novel Book 4)

by Ruby Vincent

  “Then you know why we’re here. You’re not going to scream. You’re not going to run. You will walk calmly out the door and follow us so the cameras don’t pick up anything wrong. Got it?”

  I nodded again.

  “Good. Let’s go.”

  Just like that, they released me and I sucked in lungfuls of air, trying to slow my panic enough to give them the calm they wanted.

  “Get up.”

  I stood on knees that wobbled. They let me stumble to the other side of the room and jam my shoes on, then I followed them to the door. They pulled it open and the hallway lights revealed what I didn’t want to be true: the Spades hiding among us.

  Juliet Cochran poked me in the back. “Go on.”

  I did as she said, falling in behind Genesis as she led the way downstairs. Both of these girls had walked out of the lunchroom with me. They both cried and said they couldn’t stomach the evil of the Spades. They both lied to my face.

  I kept my expression clear as we made our way out of the dorm. On the second-floor landing, I chanced a look at Ryder’s closed door.

  “Don’t even think about it, Moon,” Genesis hissed.

  I turned away and continued walking.

  The night air chilled my cheeks when we stepped outside. The pajamas I chose were thick, but not thick enough to keep out the cold. They led me across the lawn with one in front and one behind. The three of us had rounded the main building and entered the quad when I spoke.

  “Where are we going?”

  “Where do you think?” Genesis replied.

  I bristled. I never much liked her but I bought her change of heart. It was good to know my first instinct about her was right. “That’s not an answer.”

  “That’s all you’re getting.”

  I let it go. I would find out where we were going soon enough. As we walked soundless through the quad, I flashed back to the night in the swamp.

  It was them. They tied me up. They threw me in that water. They—

  “Eric,” I cried. “Where is Eric? What did you do to him?!”

  Juliet scoffed. “You should be worrying about yourself right now.”

  “If you’ve hurt him—”

  “You’ll what?” Genesis asked. She peered at me over her shoulder. “Please, tell me. Amuse us.”

  My lips curled into a snarl. “You’re a twisted bitch, you know that?”

  She laughed. It was a harsh, mirthless sound. “Yeah. I know.”

  I had no reply for that. I quieted again as the sports complex loomed in front of us. I assumed we were going inside, but at the last second Genesis veered off and we went around the back. I realized where we were going before she grabbed the door handle.

  “Why are you taking me to the roof?”

  “We like hanging here,” Genesis said. “Ezra did a great job fixing it up for us.”

  “That wasn’t for your crazy ass.”

  “All of this is for us, Moon. I’d have thought you’d realize that by now.” Genesis yanked open the door and pointed up. I went in without argument.

  I had climbed these stairs so many times before—nights laughing with Sofia, connecting with Ezra, or breaking through walls with Ryder. Something else entirely awaited me up there.

  I reached the roof entrance and pushed through without prompting from Genesis. Eight pairs of eyes fell on to me as I slowly strode before the group. They were everywhere—on the couch, sitting on the ledge, standing by the coffee table. I met each of their gazes in turn.

  They’re here. They’re all here except one.

  No one spoke, so I decided to be first. “Hey, guys. Nice of you to drag yourselves out of bed to see me, but we haven’t all met. How about introductions?”

  They didn’t so much as twitch.

  “Don’t all jump up at once. I made a list so I’ll go through it for you.” I shifted around and leveled a finger on a familiar face. “Let’s start on this side and work our way around. Natalie Bard, Darren Rosewood, Penelope Madlow.” I turned to the people on the couch and by the table. “You must be the underclassmen Spades. That would be Barbara Williams, Timothy Davis, Rebecca Chang, Reed Morris, and Victor Cinco.” I clapped. “How did I do?”

  “You’re not impressing anyone,” Juliet said as she stepped around me. “We know that you know who we are.”

  “Not all of you,” I shot back. “There are ten of you, but we’re missing three. There’s Eric Eden and Ryder Shea, but there was also a final name to show up over and over again in the history of the academy. The most obvious name: Evergreen.”

  Stoic faces looked back at me.

  “Twelve Spades have walked the halls of this school led by Ace. In the end, I didn’t have to find Scarlett’s father in the yearbook because I found Scarlett herself under her maiden name: Scarlett Evergreen.”

  I thought that would get a response, but still they stared at me. Anger lit a fire in my gut. Why were they just sitting there? What were they waiting for?

  “I know she was Ace,” I pressed on. “Eric told me so there’s no point in denying it. She was Ace, but now she’s gone, and was taken over by the psycho tormenting me. I want to know which one of you it is.” I narrowed my eyes on them as my fists clenched. “Which one of you fuckers blackmailed me, marked me, and threatened me. Who is Ace?!”

  “I’m afraid it’s none of them.”

  I went rigid as a voice sounded behind me. Wait. Is that...

  “None of them could be Ace, Val. That right belongs to me and me alone.”

  I couldn’t move—couldn’t breathe as horrible realization washed over me.

  “N-no.”

  Ciara walked out in front of me, a pleasant smile on her face. “After big sis left, it was up to me to take over as Ace.”

  “Big sis?” I repeated, although the words did not make sense.

  “That’s right. I guess it’s my turn for introductions.” She stuck out her hand. “Nice to meet you. My name is Ciara O’Brian-Evergreen.”

  I made no move to shake. “But— But that— That can’t be right.”

  She dropped her hand, but not the smile. “Why not? Because you fell for my little performance at the hotel?” She adopted a high-pitched tone. “Staying silent was just as bad and I won’t do that anymore. I won’t ask you to forgive me either, but... blah blah blah.”

  “No,” I rasped. Shaking my head, I backed away until I was stopped by the door. “You were in the video. They outed you for smoking. Why—”

  “I put that in there so you wouldn’t suspect me.” She shrugged. “It’s not like Daddy would expel me.”

  “Daddy?” I repeated. “Daddy!?” Suddenly I was shouting. “The headmaster doesn’t pay a lick of fucking attention to you! He’s not your father! What the hell kind of game are you playing right now?!”

  Ciara’s face remained neutral through my outburst. “He is my father. Can’t you see the resemblance?”

  My glare was my response. They both had sandy-colored hair, but so did a dozen other people in the school. They looked nothing alike.

  She heaved a sigh. “Oh, well. Everyone always said I looked like Mom, but I don’t need to inherit his looks to inherit his title. You’re so damn smart, Moon, think about this. Ace leads the Spades. They choose the Knights. They deliver the marks. Who besides the Evergreens would have the right to decide who does or doesn’t belong in Evergreen Academy?”

  “But it can’t be you. How can it be you?” I whispered. My mind recalled every minute I had spent with Ciara. “The junior winter trip. You— You were in the hot tub when Ace attacked me with the ski.”

  “But I wasn’t.”

  My head whipped around at the voice. Penelope smirked at me from her spot on the wall. “Ciara sent the text to get you out. I dropped a little lesson on your head.”

  I turned back to Ciara, gazing at her as my denials faded. “But... you were my friend.”

  There wasn’t a flicker of emotion in Ciara’s brown eyes.

  “How
could y-you—” I stuttered to a stop.

  Big sis, I recalled.

  She watched her sister struggle with me before flying over a cliff. Of course, she hates me, but...

  I swallowed thickly as I glanced at the others. Do they all know what happened with me and Scarlett? Do they know what really drives this crusade?

  I can’t go there, I reminded myself. If there is a chance they’re still in the dark, then they need to stay that way.

  “How could you let it get this far?” I amended. I was staying far away from the topic of Scarlett. “You marked the real Knights and turned the school on its head. Aren’t you supposed to be about maintaining the status quo? You’ve wrecked this place!”

  Her eyes flashed. A spark of anger broke through her cold mask. “Me? I turned the school on its head? That wasn’t me. That was you,” she hissed. “You forced me to mark the Knights. You turned them against me.”

  “You did that, crazy! You blackmailed their girlfriend.”

  Ciara’s lips peeled back into a snarl. “I’m not crazy. I tried to get them to see you for the worthless slut you were. I gave them a chance to do the right thing. Their loyalty is to me, not you.”

  I scoffed. “You guys are really full of yourselves, aren’t you?” I swept over all of them. “This school isn’t here for you. The students don’t exist to make you rich and no one owes you loyalty.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong. My grandad made it clear to me.” Ciara threw out her hands. “All of this is mine, Moon. The Evergreens built this place. We own it. We allow you to walk our halls. We grant you permission to be among the best. If I don’t want someone here, then I can make them go. The Knights are chosen by an Evergreen. If they won’t obey me, I’ll choose Knights who will.”

  My fists clenched. “Like Eric? He wouldn’t obey any longer so you got rid of him?” I turned my attention on the others. “Are you hearing this? She doesn’t care about you. She blackmailed, threatened, and had you attack one of your own. You’re all expendable to her.”

  Silence followed my statement and it buoyed me. “This isn’t how it’s opposed to be, is it? When you learned about the history of the Spades and the thirteen families, did anyone tell you it would involve assault, lies, and murder?”

  The Spades looked at me, faces blank, until a noise sounded on my right. Disbelief killed the rest of my speech in my throat as Natalie laughed. The others soon joined in. All of them were laughing... at me.

  “Murder?” she cried. “What are you talking about? No one killed anyone, idiot.”

  “But Eric—”

  “Eric isn’t dead.” Natalie peeled herself off the wall and came to stand at Ciara’s side. The look on her face told me how much she was enjoying this. “The plan that night was he was supposed to lead you off into the swamp. Get you away from your boyfriends. It worked until we followed and found out he hadn’t brought you to the spot we arranged.”

  Darren picked up the thread. “It took longer to find you guys and when we did, we heard Eden spilling everything. He betrayed us.”

  “We had to think fast,” Natalie continued. “We got him out of the way and Darren and Genesis snuck him back to the hotel while everyone was frantically running around looking for you. Once we got him in Darren’s room, we called his grandmother.”

  “His grandmother?”

  “That’s right. She raced down and took him away, but not before getting out of him his little plan to give you the yearbooks.”

  My breaths grew shallow as they spoke. What the hell were they saying? “You mean Eric isn’t missing?”

  “He’s taking a little... time out while he remembers what his priorities are,” Natalie replied. “We’re not freaking murderers, Moon.”

  Anger twisted my gut. I shot off the door, advancing on her. “Sorry if I don’t know where you draw the line. You all bound and blindfolded me. You threw me in water and left me alone in the dark. I can’t swim! There could have been alligators in there.”

  “Ugh,” Penelope groaned. “Do you ever stop bitching? You’re fine, aren’t you?”

  I bristled at the nastiness in her tone. She didn’t give a flying fuck about how terrified I was that night.

  “It was to teach you a lesson,” she went on. “One that you still haven’t learned. Why the hell did you come back to the academy after that?”

  “I—”

  “And I was so clear too.” Ciara brought my eyes back to her. Her phone was in her hand and when I looked, she tapped the screen.

  “You’re done at Evergreen Academy.” The creepy high-pitched voice that haunted my dreams filled the night air. “You do not come back next semester. If you do, you’ll go the same way as Walter McMillian. Goodbye, Valentina Moon.”

  She ended the recording and her hands fell to her sides. “You shouldn’t have come back,” Ciara repeated.

  I swallowed hard. “But I did come back. I’m here and I’m not leaving.” My lips quirked up in a smile that trembled at first, but held as determination broke through. “There are only a few more months until graduation. I’ve stood up against everything you’ve thrown at me for years. I can hold out for a little longer.” My smile widened into a smirk. “And now, I know who you are. I know your names. I know about the thirteen families. I know everything. Something tells me things are going to be a lot easier from here on out.”

  Genesis stomped toward me. “I wouldn’t listen to that ‘something’ because it’s dead wrong.”

  “Why not? You think I won’t tell everyone what I know?”

  “You won’t,” Ciara stated. There was a surety in her voice that rattled me but I didn’t let it show on my face.

  “How do you think you’re going to stop me? I’ll tell everyone if you don’t leave me and the people I care about alone. Unless you are planning to do to me what was done to Walter McMillian, there’s nothing you can do to stop me.”

  Natalie laughed again. “Will you get over yourself? No one is risking prison over you. We told you we’re not murderers.”

  “That’s right, Val.” Darren picked himself up and walked over to us. I tensed when he passed behind me. “No need to go through all of that when there are easier ways to keep you quiet.” Darren pressed his nose to my neck and inhaled deeply. My skin crawled as his lips brushed against me. “We’ll go through your friends and fucks.”

  “We’ll have Evergreen expel Claire for the pills,” Genesis announced. “She’ll end up right back in your slum where she belongs with the other drug dealers. Which is what we’ll say she is when we tell the headmaster she offered to supply us.”

  “The twins too.” Darren moved around me and slung his arm over my shoulder. “They’ll find drugs in their lockers and both will be shipped back to Africa where they came from.”

  Horror filled me, chilling my blood. “Y-you can’t—”

  “Then there are your boyfriends.” Penelope continued. “No one sued Interstellar Records after the leak, but we’re sure for the right amount of money, we can convince a band to.”

  “And Ezra,” Genesis said. “They didn’t kick him out when he knocked you around in sophomore year, but they will when I tell them he hit me.”

  “But Ezra didn’t—”

  “Maverick Technologies might be hard to go after,” said Natalie, ignoring my interruption. “But Maverick Beaumont isn’t. When I start telling everyone how the giant, hulking quarterback pushed me into the locker room and forced me to have sex with him—”

  Red descended on my vision. “You wouldn’t fucking dare!” I surged forward, claws extended, and jerked to a halt gasping as Darren’s arm tightened around my throat.

  He hauled me back, keeping my swiping hands away from Natalie. “Easy, Moon. You haven’t heard what we’re going to do to Ryder Shea,” he growled. “I thought of something perfect for him while I was sitting at home with my jaw wired shut.”

  “G-get off!”

  “No one ever found out what happened to his old man,” h
e continued. Although he loosened his grip slightly, letting me breathe. “But we always suspected his mental patient of a mother. She must have gotten tired of his dad running out on her and sleeping with every slut he saw, so she had him taken care of. We’ll be sure to pass that along to the police.”

  “Leave them alone!” I struggled in Darren’s hold. “You can’t do this!”

  “We won’t do it,” Natalie said, voice hard. “If you go back to your dorm, pack your shit, and don’t tell anyone what you know. Understand?”

  I bobbed my head rapidly, bouncing on Darren’s arm. “I won’t. I won’t tell anyone.”

  “And you’ll leave,” she pressed.

  “I’ll leave. I’ll be gone tomorrow.”

  She closed the distance between us, putting her face in mine. “You’ll be gone before the sun comes up or I’ll go crying to the headmaster.”

  “Okay,” I whispered. I stopped fighting Darren. “I’ll leave before they wake up.”

  “Good. I’m glad we understand each other.”

  Just like that, Darren released me. I stumbled away from him, furious tears burning behind my eyes. I held them back. I wouldn’t let them see me cry.

  Natalie smirked at me all the same, reveling in her victory. It took everything in me not to lunge at her again.

  “We’re done here, guys,” Ciara spoke up. “Go back to bed. No reason to lose more sleep over her.”

  “Can’t disagree with that,” said Natalie.

  One by one, the Spades filed out until only Ciara and I remained. I glared daggers at her as fury made my limbs tremble. Ciara strolled up to me, looking completely unconcerned.

  “You won’t get away with this forever! Someone else will discover your secret. I—”

  Ciara reeled back.

  I didn’t have time to react as the punch connected with my face and snapped my head around. I went flying, crashing onto the coffee table. Dazed, all I could do was wheeze as the air rushed out of me.

  “That was for my sister, bitch.” Nails dug into my shoulder and hauled me up.

  “Ciara, wait—”

  The next punch was even more brutal. Cartilage snapped under her fist as blood spurted from my nose.