Caught in the Trap: A Reverse Harem Academy Bully Romance (Mafia Lords of Knightswood Academy Book 1)

by Ivy Clyde

  “Good,” she said, rotating the chair so she was back to facing the screens. “Plenty of time for the rest of the decryption sequences to complete.” Getting to her feet, she stretched her arms high before turning back to me with a smile. “So, where were we?” Before I could reply, she stopped me. “I remember. You wanted to make up to me for being a jerk.”

  “You have something on your mind?”

  She nodded, grinning mischievously.

  “You can ask me for anything,” I said grimly, determined to give her whatever she demanded.

  “Buy me food,” she said. Moving forward, she thrust a list at my chest.

  Taking it from her, I looked down at it.

  2 Double cheeseburger

  Chicken nuggets

  Oreo milkshake

  Chili cheese fries

  The list went on to mention half a dozen more junk food items.

  “Is this all?” I asked, staring at her.

  Doubt flashed through her eyes. “Did I ask for too much? I’d be happy with just the burgers and the fries.”

  I shook my head, unable to form words. She’d surprised me once again. Crossing the distance between us, I pulled her into a hug, relishing the way her soft, warm body molded against mine. “I will get every single thing on that list,” I told her, keeping my arms wrapped around her.

  Skye had no idea the kind of things the girls I went out with demanded. Luxury bags, watches, and diamond jewelry were common requests. If they were uber-high society girls, they would demand cars that weren’t yet available on the market. Every single one of them knew what they wanted from me, the second heir to the Ivanov empire.

  Perhaps, that was the reason Skye had been able to burrow a hole through my defenses and capture my heart and mind. She didn’t care about diamonds and cars. Survival was more important to her. It was the single but strongest common trait between us that bound us together.

  I hugged her tighter, unwilling to ever let go of her. Even if Andrei and Dimitri turned against her in the future, I would protect her with my life.

  “You’re choking me.” Skye’s gasp broke me out of my thoughts. I loosened my hold but didn’t let her go. I needed to hold her a while longer.

  33

  Skye

  I was huddled up beside Christian as he drove me toward Ivanov Mansion. My stomach felt comfortably warm after eating the leftovers from the feast he brought me yesterday. The underground bunker was a mess after my weekend stay. Candy wrappers, empty packets of chips and crushed cans of coke littered the floor. Christian hadn’t bothered to tell me to clean up, so I hadn’t, hoping someone else would be sent down there for the job.

  Dimitri’s phone felt like a heavy brick in my pocket. The familiar elation that came from breaking into a phone or computer was dampened by my guilt. Even though the cost of the phone was nothing to a guy like Dimitri Volkov, it still felt awful to have stolen from the very person who’d saved my life.

  Why do you still care about morals? My mind retorted. You threw them down the drain the moment you started stealing for Sergei.

  I was stealing from strangers while working for Sergei. They were faceless and nameless. Even though it still made me feel guilty, it felt as bad as it did now.

  I looked out of the window as the car was passing over a bridge. A stream gurgled below it, the dark waters swirling and gurgling over rocks hidden underneath. We were still miles away from Ivanov Mansion. Taking a deep breath, I lowered the window and threw the phone away.

  “What was that?” asked Christian, slowing down the car as he turned to stare at me.

  “Getting rid of the evidence,” I said. The phone would soon be too damaged to be located and recovered anymore. Sorry, Dimitri.

  “You could have given it to one of the people working for us,” said Christian, stepping on the gas as soon as we crossed the bridge. “They would have taken care of it.”

  I shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. The job is done.”

  Christian was more attentive than before. It was almost surreal to hear him confess about the way he felt for me. I thought I was over him after the way he’d treated me but my heart turned all warm and fluttery after he explained the reason he was being a jerk. My feelings for him came as a surprise because until then, I was pretty sure I was in love with Andrei.

  My heart had raced each time Christian held me in his arms or kissed me. His passion bordered between tenderness and possessiveness. Even as I tried to think of myself with Christian, my heart squeezed painfully at the thought of giving up on Andrei.

  Confusion warred within me.

  Did I cheat on Andrei this weekend? I wondered. Had I given up on my morals so completely that even killing someone wouldn’t make me think twice? I winced at the thought, desperately hoping things wouldn’t come to that point.

  “You’re kind of quiet,” said Christian from beside me. “Are you nervous about meeting Uncle?”

  “No. Something else is bothering me.”

  “What is it?”

  I glanced up at him. His gaze was on the road before us, giving me the perfect opportunity to stare at him. He seemed relaxed at the moment. If I told him about the thoughts I was having, he would get upset immediately. He’d made it very clear he wanted me to himself. Wouldn’t it nice if Dimtri turned out to be a psycho who killed me off before I had to make a choice? I thought wryly, thinking of his beautiful, angelic face.

  “Skye?”

  “I’m just thinking about how Nikolai plans to get me inside the Volkov headquarters,” I said, lying partially. It was something I’d been wondering ever since I cracked the first password on Dimitri’s phone. “By the way, what does his family do? No one’s ever told me about that.”

  “You stole his phone and you haven’t figured it out yet?” he asked, glancing at me with an amused smirk.

  “I only took what I needed. Besides, the network he has most accounts on is registered under the name Novomedik. Haven’t really heard of it before.”

  “The Volkovs are one of the pharmaceutical giants in the world,” said Christian, keeping his gaze on the road. “They have several subsidiaries, selling anything and everything. Be it over-the-counter meds or super elusive drugs needed for cancer treatments.” His expression turned grim as he explained further. “This is the image they project. Underneath it all, they manufacture some of the most expensive and prohibited drugs on the planet.”

  “Wow,” I breathed. “Even if they don’t manufacture weapons like the Romanoffs, they’re creating stuff just as lethal.”

  Christian exhaled a long breath. “Their families are powerful beyond the borders of this country. They rarely highlight their family names in their businesses just like us.”

  “What does your family do?” I risked voicing the question for the very first time.

  A chuckle escaped him as he glanced at me. “I thought you knew already.”

  “How would I? No one told me.”

  “I thought someone at the academy would have told you about my family.”

  “I rarely talk about being associated with you or your uncle,” I said with a frown. “Nikolai’s orders, remember?”

  “You should have asked me sooner.”

  “Sergei taught me not to ask such questions.”

  A string of curse words escaped Christian. I didn’t catch a single one as they were all said in Russian. “Don’t take your lessons from a bastard like Sergei,” he said after a while. “He sold himself to our enemy and died for it. If he hadn’t, I would have made sure he regretted it with every breath in his body.” His gaze hardened.

  “So, what do you guys do?” I asked, my curiosity taking over me.

  “We have a chain of luxury hotels spread around the world,” said Christian. “While the Romanoffs and Volkovs control weapons and drugs, we control the lands and their ownership. Together, we rule over the east coast of this country. We have power in other places but this bit of pie belongs solely to us.”

  “Wi
ll I ever get killed for knowing this?”

  Christian’s laughter filled the interior of the car. “Gods, no! None of this is secret. Most of the kids at school know.”

  “Really?”

  He nodded, focusing his attention back on the road. “Most of the kids at Knightswood Academy come from families that have their fingers dug deep in politics. Others have parents who are shareholders in our companies. Of course, they don’t know every detail of what we do but they have an idea.”

  I sat back against my seat, mulling over the things Christian told me. It was amazing how many things happened under the radar of regular people. The common man had no idea how the world around him worked, trusting in a government to keep him safe when it was being controlled by the underground crime syndicates.

  It was another half an hour before the car slowed down. The road was cloaked in darkness without a single lamp post to light our way. Only the headlights illuminated the path ahead. I knew we were close to Ivanov Mansion now.

  We reached the heavily guarded main gates to the estate in another ten minutes. The guards peered at us through the windshield as well as the car windows before letting us pass through. Even though this was the norm here, I still needed to get used to entering and leaving the property.

  Soon, the car stopped beside the towering mansion. Christian checked the watch at his wrist before opening the door at his side. Climbing out after him, I looked toward the well-lit foyer visible through the open doors.

  “We’re running late,” said Christian, heading that way.

  I followed after him, hurrying my pace to match his.

  Christian led me through the front entrance hall and down a network of hallways, reaching the foot of the stairs that would take us to Nikolai’s office. I ignored the guards stationed around every corner, keeping my gaze focused on Christian’s back.

  I was panting by the time we reached the fourth-floor landing. Christian barely broke a sweat as he took long strides down the corridor to reach his uncle’s office. He was knocking on the door before I’d crossed half the hallway.

  He gestured for me to hurry along before marching inside the room. I was completely out of breath before entering after him. My gaze went to the far side of the room where Nikolai usually sat at his desk. However, the spot was empty at present.

  “Over here,” said a deep, familiar voice. Turning to my right, I found the enigmatic man seated on one of the luxurious couches. A beautiful woman sat next to him. Her indigo-blue dress was beautiful and in stark contrast to my jeans and black hoodie. There was something recognizable about her pretty face and startlingly green eyes.

  There was recognition in her gaze as she smiled at me.

  “Come here,” said Nikolai.

  I gave a small nod and moved forward. Nikolai’s silvery eyes followed my movements as I settled down beside Christian.

  “This is Skye,” said Nikolai, turning his attention to the beautiful, young woman at his side. “Doesn’t she look better than the last time you saw her?”

  That’s when something clicked in my mind. Memories rushed back to me, helping me recognize the stranger before me. She’d been with Nikolai on the night of the mayor’s party, the night that changed my life forever.

  “You look good, Skye,” said the stranger. She had a kind expression on her beautiful face. No one had looked that way at me in a long time.

  “This is Paris Dumas,” said Nikolai. “She will help you break into the Volkovs’ main server unit located at their headquarters in New Jersey.”

  I looked back at the young woman. “You will be disguised as an intern for one of our maintenance workers,” she said, her expression turning grim. “A discrepancy will shortly occur in their servers and they will call on us to send someone to look into it. You will have an entire day to look for the information. That’s about the time I can fetch you to do your job.”

  “I’m sure I’ll be done by then,” I said with a nod. “But why exactly will they call on your people to fix their servers?”

  “My father heads Dumas Corporation,” said Paris with a sudden smile. “Our company is responsible for managing their servers. We can plant a tiny bug that will have them calling us to take a look. You’ll go there with an actual employee. You’ll do your thing while she does her job. Get done and come out. No one will suspect you. And even if someone gets suspicious, you can always say I hired you. We’ll figure things out from there if it comes to that.” She glanced at Nikolai. “Sound all right?”

  He gave her a nod. “Sounds perfect.”

  Paris turned her attention back to me. “Are you confident you can get into their servers without raising a flag?”

  I nodded. “There won’t be any problems as long as Dimitri keeps his passwords unchanged.”

  “Let’s hope so.” She let out a heavy breath before smiling again. “How have you been at Knightswood Academy?” Her emerald-green eyes stared into mine. There was a knowing look there.

  Locked in her gaze, I found it difficult to lie. “Most of them are assholes.” My voice sounded bitter.

  “Did they hurt you?”

  A sudden sob choked me as memories of the past two months rushed past my mind. Until now, no one had sincerely cared for my well being there. Perhaps, Christian did but he’d always left me feeling vulnerable and weak. I felt a strange kinship with the woman before me, like somehow she understood what I was going through.

  “They did.” Swallowing a choke, I added, “I got them back for it.”

  “Did you hear about the scandal involving Saxon De Reers?” said Christian, speaking up for the first time. “That was all her doing.”

  Paris’s eyes widened and unlike her boyfriend, she looked openly surprised. “None of the articles mentioned your name.”

  “Other than Christian no one knows I was behind it.”

  “And she wouldn’t tell me how exactly she did it all without getting involved in the mess,” said Christian, wrapping his arm around my shoulder. The gesture didn’t go unnoticed by his uncle but his poker face remained as impassive as always.

  “Continue keeping a low profile,” said Nikolai, turning his gaze on me. “Someone will drive you to Philly tomorrow morning, so be ready by seven.”

  “Tomorrow? I have school.”

  Nikolai shook his head. “You’re going to Dumas headquarters tomorrow and from there, you’ll follow Paris’s person. Get the job done and report back as soon as possible. I’ll inform the academy about you being sick.”

  “Right.”

  “Goodnight, then.” Nikolai’s abrupt dismissal had me looking at Christian.

  “Come on,” said Christian, getting to his feet. “I’ll take you back to your room.”

  I followed behind him, quickly leaving the room but my mind stayed fixed on the woman I’d just met. Her openness and warmth made me curious about her. It was astonishing that someone like her could even begin to imagine the life I led.

  34

  Skye

  I found myself seated in a large office space with several people in hoodies lounging around in chairs with large computer displays before them. A few of them worked but the majority seemed to be chilling that early in the morning. The cup of coffee between my hands was warm as I looked around the employees who worked in the IT maintenance department of Dumas Corporation.

  Nikolai’s men brought me to the headquarters at eight A.M. It was earlier when we left Ivanov Mansion, so I couldn’t meet Mom before coming here. It had been too late to see her last night after the meeting with Nikolai and Paris. I’ll see her after completing the job, I’d decided, letting the men put me inside a car with black tinted windows.

  The office campus belonging to Dumas Corporation was empty at this early hour, giving me the opportunity to take in the vast lawns. Trees with bare branches dotted the area, giving it a bare look but I was sure the campus looked beautiful in summer. The two guards left me to sit in the sprawling office space belonging to the IT maintenance g
roup and walked away. One of the guys had taken notice and had brought me coffee.

  It was comfortable to be among these men and women who chatted about the latest games they’d bought, argued about consoles and made plans to meet up for D&D night. This was nerd heaven. I found myself smiling, knowing I’d fit in with them easily.

  “You’re Skye?” A female voice made me look up.

  “Yes,” I said, getting to my feet. A tall, lean woman stood before me. She seemed young with vibrant red hair that she’d tied into a sleek ponytail. Probably in her late twenties, I guessed as she handed me an ID card with a blue lanyard.

  “I am Mal Hayton,” she said, offering up a hand. I took it and let her give me a gentle shake. “We will leave in another fifteen minutes. Do you have everything you need?”

  “Yep.” I glanced at the large bag that contained my laptop and other accessories.

  “Then, follow me. We will leave for Novamedic right away. They are located in Jersey, so it will take us at least an hour to get there with the traffic.”

  “Right.” Bending down, I picked up my bag and shouldered it.

  “This way,” said Mal, leading me out of the office. She walked inside a separate cubicle, picked up a laptop bag and gestured for me to follow her. The area was beginning to fill up with employees.

  I was taken out into a different hallway which was deserted. Mal came to a stop before an elevator and hit the panel on the side to bring it up to our level. A minute later, we walked inside the sparkling steel-walled elevator and waited for it to take us to the underground parking lot.

  When the doors slid open, Mal led the way forward. She weaved her way through the rows of cars, heading for a yellow Toyota in the back. Reaching it, she opened the door and gestured for me to get inside.

  Putting my bag in the backseat to join hers, I climbed in.

  Mal started the car, creeping slowly as she made her way through the rows of cars. She speeded up as soon as we were outside the parking area but stayed under a limit as we were still inside the company’s campus.