by L V Chase
The alleged crimes that the Voss family have committed are plentiful. From sexual assault to bribery and breaking antitrust laws. But the family has only formally been charged with one crime: the murder of Diana Mason. Diana Mason happens to be another scholarship girl who lived in the same building as Demi, Dahlia, and Desiree. But Grayson Voss left his jail cell without a trial to weigh down on him. If shamelessness and a consequence-free existence were a location, it would be in the Voss mansion.
The rumors still flow, whether or not money and power drown out the justice system. Despite the Vosses claims that they’re scapegoats in a society with deep-seated issues and resentment against the wealthy, three courageous women came forward to speak truth to power. They have witnessed what occurred behind the curtain and are willing to risk their safety to expose the Voss family and their atrocities. It takes courage to listen to them. It takes courage to see the pain in our most vulnerable and see the control of our most powerful, and know that the right thing to do is to ensure justice is served.
It’s time to be better, do better, and, eventually, see better.
I close my eyes and force myself to take several breaths. I blink several times, my eyes feeling dry from staring for so long.
It has to be a lie. It can’t be true. But how could I doubt three women and their trauma? How could I doubt it when I know Diana was being groomed for the same thing?
But I never saw Grayson give a second look to any of the DDD girls. I never saw him act violently towards a woman. I never saw him use his father’s power as a threat. Even Grayson had mentioned it was Eric who trained Diana, but these testimonies seem to indicate that he was the one grooming them. And it was his father who selected the scholarship girls. Grayson wouldn’t have needed to introduce Demi as someone who came from a lower-class family, because Lawrence would have picked her out from the scholarship girls in the first place.
Still, denial is my favorite defense mechanism. It saves me from pain by ignoring its existence.
I pull my phone out. A notification tells me I have another text from Damian. I click on it.
Damian: The article is hidden on the Writing on the Wall website. I could change it to viewable to the public at any time.
I start typing. Fuck you, you piece of shit. I erase it. What the fuck is wrong with you? I erase it. I don’t need him to know he’s under my skin, although he’s burrowed so deep, I can’t shake any of this off.
Cin: What do you want?
The bubble with the three dots blinks over and over.
Damian: I don’t want anything. I just want YOU to know that you’re about to ruin another man’s life since you didn’t care enough to witness how you ruined mine.
Damian: Happy holidays, sugar plum.
I click around on my phone until I figure out how to block his number. I yank out the flash drive and hurl it against the wall.
I wish it made me feel better. I wish it changed anything.
10
Grayson
The full-length bathroom mirror's still steamed from my morning shower. I stare at my blurry skin-colored figure as I towel off, remembering when Cin and I had fucked in the dance studio with all those mirrors. The memory of her panting with a flushed face in the reflection as I thrusted into her over and over sends a throb of heat into my gut and cock. I reach down and take my growing shaft in my hand, stroking once slowly as I imagine her pressed against the foggy mirror while I take her from behind again.
My hand drops away. It's been too long. I want to fuck her for real, not relive the past. I need her. Now.
I pick up my boxers and slip them on. The front's still tented over from the lingering memory. I'm reaching for my pants when the door to the villa's bathroom swings wide open. I hadn't bothered to lock it. I stare at Cin, who's standing in the doorway as if I summoned her.
She has on a light gray jacket, but it's hanging loosely off her shoulders so that I can see her figure clearly in the strappy white tank top underneath. She's wearing tight denim that looks more like leggings from the way they cling to her curves. My eyes linger there for a moment before I glance back at her.
I'm not the only one who's eyes are wandering. Cin's mouth is partially open as her gaze sweeps down and then back up. Her eyes drop back down to below my waist. She swallows.
"Perfect timing," I say.
Confusion flashes across her face. "For what?"
"Oh, I think you know." I lick my lips as I take a step closer.
She puts a hand on my bare chest to stop me. Her warm hand nestles into the crease at the center of my chest. After a second, she pulls it away, rubbing the fingers slightly as the leftover moisture on my body wets her hand.
"Wait," she says. "We need to talk. I need to talk." She frowns, her face turning serious. A flush of red runs up her neck, but I can't tell if she's excited, angry, or both.
I crack my shoulders, stretching my arms behind me. Cin's expression grows hungry, then hardens again.
"Stop that," she snaps.
I raise an eyebrow. "Stop what? If you're here to talk, then talk."
Cin huffs, then pushes something at me. In her hand's something small and black. It's a USB stick.
I frown as I take it from her. There's a picture of a green plant on it, some kind of logo. "This what you want to talk about?" I ask, any sense of playing around with her quickly vanishing.
"Yeah. Just read what's on there."
This can't be good. I can practically smell Damian's bullshit all over this.
"Fuck," I mutter as I walk out of the bathroom and over to my room.
"Uh, you can get dressed," Cin calls out to me as she follows.
"No need." I pull up my laptop and turn it on. When I insert the USB drive, it takes a few seconds to get recognized and pull up the same green logo as an icon. I click on it.
A single folder opens up. I freeze when I see the name of the document.
Voss Ambition.
I can sense the heat from Cin's body as she watches from my side. Her breathing's short and tense.
"It's from Damian," she says.
"I knew it, that fucker." I should just delete the whole damn thing and throw away the drive. I'm not interested in playing his stupid games. But Cin's here, so I open the file.
It's an article that starts out with a pretention title. The Voss Ascension, Ambition, and Atrocities. Something cold knots within me when I catch my name within the first paragraph. My eyes skim over the article as fast as I can as I try to figure out what bullshit angle Damian is going for.
The first part's about Demi...I slam a fist onto the table as I read the words on the screen. As she’d imagined, she had sex with him that night. All of the men watched them consummate their relationship.
"The fuck is this?" I let out a short laugh. "It's like Damian's writing up his own pathetic fantasies. And why the hell would I fuck a girl while a bunch of old perverts watched? Jesus, this thing is ridiculous."
There's more. Dahlia, then Desiree. I finish skimming the article and yank the USB drive out of the laptop. The document disappears from my screen. I hold the little black stick out to Cin, but she eyes it warily like it's poisoned. I shrug and toss it into the garbage instead.
Cin's biting her lip, still not saying anything.
"It's all bullshit," I say. "You know that, right? All the details are over the top and don't make any sense. Not to mention the whole thing's fucking stupid the way it's written."
"All of it?" Cin asks. "You told me you needed Diana for your father—"
"Stop." I hold up a hand. I can see the turmoil swirling in her eyes. She still doubts me, and that kills me, even if she has every right to. Because I'm not an angel. Far from it.
I take a deep breath. "I did work with Dahlia and Desiree at first, but nothing like what was in there." I point to the garbage where I threw the USB drive. "As for Demi? Hell, no. She was too fucking annoying, so I skipped her. But once I realized Diana was a better match to be, yo
u know, the right type of girl, I focused on her instead. I barely worked on the other girls outside of Diana."
"So, you did groom them?" Cin asks.
"Not like that. But...yes. I did, if that's what you're asking."
Cin looks away. "I can't believe it. I knew you were an asshole, but Jesus. What the fuck? You were really working on them, weren't you? Like it was a big deal for you?"
I don't have an excuse to offer her. I did what I did, and I'll take what I deserve. But not for the lies that Damian is pulling out of his ass. I had limits. I had boundaries I wouldn't cross.
"It was part of his plan. My dad's plan. I was on board, until I met you. Then, it was just about keeping you safe. About making my dad focus on somebody else. Anyone but you."
My phone buzzes from where I left it on my desk. A message notification pops up. I quickly unlock my phone and check the message.
"The fuck?" I realize too late that I'm visibly scowling.
"What is it?" Cin asks.
"Nothing." I move to put my phone back on my desk, but Cin reaches for it. I stop halfway through the motion and shift the phone further away from her.
"Let me see, then, if it's nothing."
Cin swipes at the phone again. I raise it higher and to my side. Cin's body brushes against mine as she reaches for it.
"Don't worry about it." I lightly tickle Cin's side, and she bends over with a cry.
Cin forces herself upright and leaps for the phone I've got raised above my head. Her breasts bounce as she jumps up. She lands and steps forward to press herself into me, one thigh going in between my legs.
"Just show me." Cin giggles as her one hand reaches for the phone, the other groping my bare chest. "Don't be like that."
"Stop it, Cin. Don't be annoying." I say the words with a half-smile, treating it like a joke. There's no fucking way I'm letting her read my phone.
"Or what? You'll punish me? Like you did in those stories?" Cin's half hugging me as one arm still flails about trying to catch my phone. She laughs into my ear. "You going to fuck me while your friends watch?"
"Hell, no." I suddenly grab her by the waist and lift her up. She cries out in surprise as I bring her over to my bed, dropping my phone on the floor along the way. I push her down on her back, then straddle her.
Cin tries to shove me away, but she can't move me. "Come on, Grayson. Just let me see."
She tries to sit up, but I press down on her shoulders, pinning her to the bed.
"Well, then take a good look." I say while leaning over her. "What do you see?"
Her body is close enough so that the rise of fall of each breath brings her breasts up enough to brush against my chest. She stares at me with wide eyes for a moment. Then, I feel a hand crawl down my abs and the front of my boxers to grab my hard cock.
"Fuck," Cin whispers.
The next thing I know, I'm slipping off my boxers while Cin is quickly stripping out of her clothes. When I slide my hand down to touch her, I find her slit's entrance already slick with wetness. I kiss the middle of her chest, making my way to her erect nipples while she wraps both arms around my head. She leans her head back and closes her eyes, making a long, contented sigh as I knead her breasts with my palms while flicking one nipple, then the other, with my tongue.
I kiss my way along her shoulder and throat before meeting her mouth. She kisses back, hard, her tongue fighting with mine. I reach down for her clit, making a circular motion around it gently with the pad of my finger tip. Her thighs tense as she tries to bring them together, but I reposition myself so that my legs are below hers, forcing them apart.
Fuck foreplay. I had already been thinking about her right after I showered. I can't wait any longer. I position myself at her entrance, then work my cock's head inside her. Hot, wet pleasure surrounds me as I thrust deeper.
It's a fast, desperate fuck, like it always is with her. I'm hammering her faster and faster as I try to get closer to my climax. I want to come for her and only her, and it's as if we're both trying to use each other before the other one sees reason and changes his or her mind.
She finishes first. She gasps and writhes beneath me, her legs wrapped tightly around my back, her fingers digging into my shoulders. She makes a pained, groaning sound that ends in a wild cry as her pussy quivers. She tries to say something, panting, as her body shakes, but I thrust into her even harder until I'm throbbing with my own release. I keep on pumping until I've been drained of everything. Cin's body trembles one final time when I pull out of her.
"God damn," Cin mutters. "I needed that."
I hold back a laugh. I want to lie next to her and cherish the moment, but as soon as the orgasms clears my mind, everything comes crashing down on me again. I scramble over to the side of the bed and grab my phone.
I pull up a story notification form a news app. It's a stupid tabloid piece calling us Vosses a bunch of monsters. The article's more of the same without anything new or noteworthy. I'd seen the notification earlier before I went to shower.
"Here," I say as I show my phone to Cin. "This is what I was looking at."
Cin's voice is still breathy. "Fuck, my body's still shaking. I can't think about that." She leans over to get a look at my phone but quickly hands it back to me.
"You could have just shown me," she says, a hint of accusation in her tone.
"I didn't want you to think worse of me." I set my phone back on my desk, then pull up next to Cin in bed, wrapping one arm around her. "Not that you think much of me anyways, right?"
"Mm." Cin doesn't say anything else as she nestles into the crook of my arm. She stays there for a few minutes, before she turns over to look at me. "I have to go."
I kiss her on the forehead. "Sure."
We don't talk much more as she dresses. My mind's elsewhere, and I don't know if she senses that. After she's gone, I grab my phone and check my messages again.
Ever since Cin's mom pulled that shit with stealing my phone, I've been extra careful about leaving anything on my phone. Dad and I both switched to a new messaging app that deletes texts after they're read.
Sure enough, when I open the app again, the message from him is gone.
I don't waste any time calling Dad. He picks up on the second ring.
"I saw your message," I say.
"Good," Dad says. "You'll—"
"No. There's no fucking way I'm seducing Aurora." I know she's not my sister in any sense of that word, but this is beyond that. I'm not fucking around with any girls. Not while I have Cin.
"Grayson. You have to do this. Trisha is being difficult."
"What? Difficult about what? The divorce?"
"Yes, the divorce, obviously." Dad huffs into the phone. "She's playing the victim, trying to sell her so-called heartache to the press. It's a fucking joke. I need you to set her straight. Punish her."
"The fuck? Punish who? Are you talking about Trisha or Aurora now?"
Dad laughs. "Both. It'll be easy. Come on, Grayson. You know how fucked up her little bitch Aurora is. Aurora wants you. You could have her wrapped around your finger in no time. And once you do, you torture her. Make her life a living hell until Trisha breaks."
"No way. No fucking way."
"Grayson. I know about you and Cin. I could arrange the same thing for her. I could have her be tortured, have her lose every single shred of dignity, make her beg to end it all for good. Turn her into nothing but the fucking meat puppet she wants to be."
"You keep you fucking hands off Cin," I growl into the phone. "Leave her out of this."
"It's up to you, really. Cin or Aurora. Your call."
I stare at the phone, hating myself for the decision I'm about to make.
"Fuck you!" I scream as I slam the phone onto my desk.
11
Cin
I could blame my behavior on a lack of sleep. On shock. On Grayson’s magnetism. But as the pleasure seeps deeper under my skin, the confusion and rage return to the surface. I’m ready t
o ambush any aggressor. This must be what cocaine feels like. Or what convictions feel like.
When I swing open the door to the art room, the DDD girls are in the middle of a mess of wrapping paper and empty boxes. The dean insisted that we watch videos on how to correctly wrap gifts—even fake ones—for the holiday dance but it looks like none of the DDD girls watched anything. Damian sits beside Demi, whispering something in her ear while she giggles.
I snatch the box filled with wooden gift tags and chuck it at Damian. They spill and ricochet against his face. He jerks backward, the chair scraping across the floor, as he sweeps the tags off him like they’re insects. Demi yelps, jumping to her feet. Desiree squeals. Dahlia clings to a pair of scissors and a small shred of wrapping paper.
“Why the fuck are you assholes buying into his bullshit?” I hiss, jabbing my finger at Damian. “I know he fed you those lies about Grayson. I don’t know what the fuck he did or said to get you to lie like that, but you three must be able to rub together your two brain cells to know it’s bullshit.”
“Wait—" Desiree mutters.
“They’re not lies,” Demi cuts in, but I’m focused on Damian.
The faintest smirk cuts across his face as he traces along one of the edges of one of the gift tags.
“You can’t understand Cinnamon,” Demi says. “You’re not the type he wanted.”
“Shut the fuck up,” I snap.
“Cinnamon.” Dahlia sets down her scissors. “Do you have any proof that anything we’ve stated is a lie?”
“Were the testimonies released?” Demi asks Damian.
He shakes his head.
“No. I just sent it to Cin because I thought she might be a fourth victim,” he says. “But she wasn’t.”
I turn to Dahlia. “I know it’s not true. That’s all that matters.”
Dahlia turns to Damian. “She doesn’t have any proof.”
Demi crosses her arms over her chest, looking between Dahlia and Damian. Her bottom lip juts out. Her glare slowly turns to me.