by Ruby Vincent
Mercy
Somerset University
Ruby Vincent
Published by Ruby Vincent, 2020.
Copyright © 2020 by Ruby Vincent
Cover Design: Covers By Combs
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright holder.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Keep In Touch
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Prologue
“I’m not sure they want me there.”
“This party wouldn’t be happening if it wasn’t for the hard work you put in.” Maverick snaked his arm around my waist, resting his chin on my shoulder, and smiling at me in the mirror. “You’re at the top of the guest list, Val.”
“Don’t think Ortega and Kessler feel the same way,” I muttered. “Jade only deals with me for house business and Kessler doesn’t return my calls.”
“We’re on to them now. We couldn’t find a trace of half of those students who dropped out. They’re avoiding you, so they can’t be caught saying or doing anything incriminating.”
I met his eyes in the mirror, a grim twist to my lips.
In the weeks since Bianca attacked, I retreated into the safety of my boys and friends, letting the police do their work. As a result, the rest of my semester was somewhere approaching normal—a word not often ascribed to my life. I say approaching normal because in the background was Maverick, searching for people who left no trace behind.
I smoothed the chiffon gown, rippling over the beaded bodice. The night of my charity dinner had arrived. The decorations I chose transformed the ballroom. The menu I approved was whipped up in the kitchen. Blair and I collected and organized the prizes. This was my party and Maverick was correct, I had every right to be there, but...
“It’ll be hard to smile and trade small talk about the weather now that we know what we do. I just wish I knew what to do now.”
“The only thing we can do is prove something awful happened to them,” said Maverick. “The first step is getting into that file on Aiden’s computer. We’ll find Teagan and Sawyer, Val.”
“If it’s not too late,” I whispered.
I finished getting ready and the two of us met Ezra, Jaxson, Ryder, Gwen, and her boyfriend, Max, downstairs.
Gwen was bouncing in her floor-length teal gown. “I can’t believe we’re going to a party at the Evergreen Country Club. Where are you taking me next week, Jaxson?”
He blew out a breath. “When do I trade my groveling for your forgiveness? Lunch has been on me every day for weeks.”
“You accused me of being a violent, obsessed attempted killer because how could I not be in love with you?” She rolled her eyes, snuggling into Max. “You’re going to be buying me paninis for a long time.”
Jaxson mumbled something I couldn’t hear but earned him a laugh and playful whack on the arm from Gwen.
Not only their friendship recovered from Bianca. Daniel Meyer was also on the mend. Banged up in the car crash, he took time off to rest with his family, but if the rumors were true, he planned to attend the charity dinner and snag that two-week tropical vacation.
We headed out to the cars, driving the short trip to the country club. The place was packed. The parking lot was fit to burst, and couples and coeds dressed in their finest streamed inside the club. We drove up to the valet. Maverick got out and opened my door, holding his arm out to me.
“Ready?”
“I’m ready.”
I climbed out and we melded into our group, passing through the frosted double doors and stepping on the red velvet carpet winding through the lobby for the ballroom. The carpet was Aiden’s idea. Seeing it in action, I kind of liked it.
“Any prize in particular you want, Val?” Maverick asked. “We could snag that tropical vacation for ourselves.”
“If this was one of those win-a-man auctions, I’d put a couple million on you.” I covertly pinched his backside.
Maverick laughed. “I go for a lot more than that. Good thing you get all of this for free.”
“Lucky me.” I rose on tiptoe, claiming a kiss.
“Valentina? Oh, Valentina. There you are.”
We broke apart. Jade scurried out of the ballroom, resplendent in a slinky black gown, and held her hands out for me.
“Is something wrong?” I asked as she took them. There must be. Jade’s barely spoken to me in weeks.
“Yes, there is and it’s me. I was wrong for how I reacted to your idea to invite all the past brothers and sisters.”
I pulled a face. What did she just say?
“I’m sorry. What?”
“Tonight is about the Zeta Rho and Nu Alpha family coming together to do good for our community,” she said. “And our family doesn’t stop at those who graduated with us.”
Jade tucked my hand under her arm and drew me inside. The ballroom was even more magnificent than I pictured. A wonderland of gold and white, draped in elegance for the mingling alumni to enjoy. I spotted Sofia among one such group, but Jade tugged me on before I could think to go to her.
“Once I realized I was being silly,” Jade continued, “I took up your task.”
“My task?”
Jade stopped behind a group of people and tapped a shoulder covered in blue ruffles. “Say hello to our new president.”
The woman turned. My breath caught, held by the fist that punched my gut. Eyes gaping, I looked at her, connecting the person before me with the one I met over a year ago and coming up with one name.
Teagan Kainer.
“Teagan?”
“Hi,” she said cheerily. “It’s great to see you again. I can’t believe the hopeful I talked to all those months ago is now the president who organized this. Isn’t it amazing, babe?”
The guy next to her faced me, sliding his arm around her shoulder. Sawyer Burn smiled even wider than Teagan. “Incredible. Hey, is Ezra around?” he asked. “We’ve gotta catch up.”
I couldn’t answer. Couldn’t think. Couldn’t comprehend what I was seeing in front of me.
“I’m so happy they accepted the invite,” Jade said. There was a blatant note of triumph lacing her voice. What she had won, I had no idea.
She gripped my hand tighter.
“Once a sister, always a sister.”
Chapter One
Maverick
Val was whisked away from me so fast, I lost her in the crowd.
The party was for the alumni of Zeta Rho Sigma and Nu Alpha Theta. As I scanned the crowd, I noticed that included a fair amount of Evergreen’s high society. I wanted to believe this many influential people couldn’t be involved in the mystery behind this Greek façade. I wanted to, but I better than anyone knew that secrets were woven in the thread of this community. It’s basically what it was founded on.
There.
A wisp of blue chiffon caught my eye. I veered a
way from an incoming server and made a beeline for Valentina, seeking her bobbing head over the crowd.
“Ricky.”
A hand on my shoulder pulled me up short. I barely got the greeting out before my dad slammed me to his chest, pounding me on the back, and rumbling me with his laugh. He released me only for Mom to move in.
“Hi, sweetie.” She kissed my cheeks and then pulled out her handkerchief to wipe off the lipstick. “This party is something. Valentina did an amazing job. Where is she? We want to congratulate her. You’re sitting at our table, aren’t you? I feel like I hardly ever see you. Why don’t you come home this weekend?”
My mother’s rapid-fire questions pelted me from all angles. It was her gift to mix a little guilt in there too. “Val ran that way. I’ll catch her up and then we will be sitting with you. How about I come over on Saturday and spend the day? Adam will love running around with the dogs.”
Mom smiled—satisfied. It was in her smile that I saw our resemblance. I looked so much like my father that Mom and Dad called me “mini-me” most of my life. For a while, I thought it was my given name. His clone I might be, but her baby boy I was always. It took a few tries to slip out of her embrace and return to tracking down Val.
The ballroom was filling up as more people arrived, and the last place I spotted her was taken up by a gaggle of her sorority sisters—one of them Sofia.
I stepped in that direction and the crowd parted. There she was.
Standing next to the short woman in the black dress who whisked her away, Val was deep in conversation with a couple whose faces were angled out of my sight. As I watched, Val grasped the lady of the couple’s hand and drew her to the side. The shorter woman tried to follow, but Valentina put her hand up with the stern set to her jaw that I spotted from halfway across the room. The woman stopped and let Valentina lead her captive to the far corner of the room next to the stage. She might as well have shouted something was going on.
I took off, converging on her in time to hear the tail end of her sentence. “—happened to you, Teagan?”
Teagan? As in Elizabeth Teagan Kainer?
The woman from the defunct Facebook page smiled. There was no doubt it was her. I’d been searching for a digital trace of her for months and there she stood in front of Val, head cocked and nose scrunched like she didn’t understand the question.
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“Val.” I went to her side, sliding a protective arm around her waist. “What’s going on?”
“That’s what I’d like to know,” she said. “Teagan, you disappeared.”
She made a low noise in her throat. “I know. I totally vanished off the face of the earth. I didn’t want to leave school but my mom passed away and then—” She turned away, eyes bright. “I just couldn’t deal, you know. With anyone or anything.”
“That’s not what I mean,” Val said.
Teagan frowned. “What?”
“I’m sorry about your mother. Of course I am. I understand if that’s what took you away, but that’s not the story I heard.”
“What did you hear?” she asked slowly.
“That you were kidnapped.”
The blunt statement flared Teagan’s eyes.
“You were taken by a ‘they’ who then told the Sallys and Sams what to say to cover your disappearance.”
Teagan scoffed, throwing me an incredulous look screaming “what the hell is she talking about?”
“Valentina, I don’t—”
“My boyfriend overheard Aiden Connelly in his basement saying that you had to be taken. And the guy you were just snuggling with—the one who swore he didn’t have a clue who you were after you disappeared—was the next to go just like Aiden said he would. In his case, my boyfriend saw him snatched and driven off in a van. I’ve been looking for both of you for months and I couldn’t find anything. Not a tweet. Not a working home number. Nothing to prove if you were alive or dead. So, I ask again, Teagan, what happened to you?”
Teagan’s jaw hung open. She stared at her with confusion and disbelief etched into the lines marring her smooth face and I was studying her every twitch and blink.
Seems like she truly doesn’t know what Val’s talking about... and that’s proof enough that something is very wrong here.
“Nothing happened, Valentina. I wasn’t— wasn’t taken!” she cried. “I left because I was grieving for my mother.”
“Why did Sawyer Burn swear he didn’t know anyone named Teagan after you left?” I couldn’t help asking.
Teagan turned on me. “Maybe because I ended things with him abruptly and he was upset. When I felt better, I called him and we got back together.”
“What number did you call?” Val asked. “Because Ezra and I tried every number we could find and couldn’t reach Sawyer.”
“He got a new phone.”
“Teagan.” Val stepped forward, dropping her voice. “I’m not accusing you of anything. I know something happened to both of you. Something that I believe has happened to other people who left the Sallys and Sams and were never heard from again. You can tell me what’s going on,” she whispered. “I’ll believe you. I’ll help you.”
Teagan shook her head. “If someone kidnapped me, the first thing I’d do with my freedom is go to the police. Not a charity dinner. Now, I came here to have fun and hang out with my friends who I haven’t seen for a long time.” She sidestepped us. “I’m done with this bizarre conversation.”
We let her go without a word. What else could we do?
“Do you believe her?” I asked.
“No, Maverick. Something’s wrong. Very wrong.” The words settled like lodestones in my stomach. “I was digging. Asking too many questions. Then Jade unearthed those two and presented them to me with a self-satisfied smirk she couldn’t contain. Just like that, we’re the crazy people shouting about disappearances and that’s exactly what people will believe if we don’t let it go.”
“Val, what are we supposed to believe?” My gaze trailed Teagan through the crowd. She secured Sawyer in a hug and dropped a kiss on his smiling lips. “Those two aren’t missing. There isn’t a scratch on them and Teagan is repeating the same story you were given. They don’t look like victims of a sinister fraternity plot to me.”
“If they’re not the victims... maybe they’re a part of it.”
“A part of what, Val? What in the hell is going on here?”
“Whatever it is has to be connected to that hidden file on Aiden’s computer. Are you closer to getting in?”
“It’s encrypted like I’ve never seen before. They haven’t invented the means to crack it, which is why I will. I’ll figure out how to open that file, but, Val.” I turned her to face me. “Whatever is in that file, it’s not Grandma’s secret banana bread recipe. He went through extreme lengths to protect that file and extreme measures might be taken if he finds out we’re trying to get into it. I’m asking you again, drop out of this sorority.”
“I can’t do that,” she replied—like I knew she would. “Maverick, Sawyer was thrown in the back of a van and sped off to who-knows-where. Now he’s sipping cocktails and smiling like it never happened. Something is going on that we can’t comprehend right now, but Sofia and our sisters are not getting caught up in it. I have to stay and watch out for them.”
It wasn’t a strong hope that she’d agree with me. All the same, I’d never forgive myself if I didn’t ask and keep asking. I wanted to know the truth, but I wanted Val safe more.
She placed her hand over my heart. “Focus on cracking the file. I’ll find out more from Teagan, Sawyer, and Jade. We will find the truth. I promise.”
“I promise,” I said, “to protect you. That’s the promise I care about.”
She kissed me—slow, sweet, and mind-scrambling.
I couldn’t pull her away from the Sallys, but I would make sure none of those picture-perfect coeds laid a hand on her.
I’ll find out what you’re hiding, Aiden. T
hen the bomb will drop... on you.
Chapter Two
Six Months Later
Valentina
“The deejay should be here at nine. We’ve got sisters on the chips, dip, veggies, and beer. I’ll start on the sliders and cookies as soon as I finish with the balloons.”
“After this I’ll move the breakables to my room,” Blair said. “Whenever we open the party to the entire row, I swear those guys make a bet to see how much of our stuff they can trash.”
Laughing, I poked my head in the kitchen, confirmed the girls were laying out the spread, and continued to the back door, Blair on my heels. “What can we do? It’s their graduation party. The seniors wanted all their friends to come.”
“I feel like it’s been an endless cycle of events, parties, theme nights, and bonding activities since the charity dinner,” she said. “That event was definitely our best, though. My mom’s still talking about it. Asking me if we’ll throw it every year.”
I fell silent. Scanning the backyard and the sisters putting out the tiki torches and hanging lights saved me from answering.
Our Christmas charity dinner was a big hit. The brothers, sisters, and alumni were bouncing out of their finery to see old friends again. It wasn’t just Sawyer and Teagan who made a triumphant return. Most of the people Maverick, Sofia, and I dubbed missing were somehow located by Jade Ortega and accepted her invite. As that night wore on, my confidence in what I thought I knew was shaken to the core.
And all this time later, I still don’t know what to believe.
How could I when the proof that the Sallys and Sams didn’t hurt those people was standing right in front of me, beaming and telling stories of their vibrant lives free of deep, dark holes?
“It only gets more intense from here,” I finally said. “Next year, we have pledges. Innocent young hopefuls ready to become the next generation of Sallys. I wonder how many Blairs will be in that bunch.”
She dropped her clipboard to playfully smack my arm. “If you mean brilliant, driven, hardworking women, then I say we’ll get a lot of Blairs.”