Sweet Retribution (Rydeville High Elite #3)(78)

“You leave Charlie to me.” An evil grin spreads across his mouth, and my stomach twists painfully.

“You won’t hurt him, Elizabeth, or Lillian,” I say. “They get the same protection as me.”

He shakes his head slowly. “To think I was actually proud of you last night over how well you defended yourself,” he says, tut-tutting. “And then you have to go and let emotions get in the way.”

“It’s called compassion, not that I expect you to understand because I doubt you’ve experienced any normal human emotion ever in your life.”

He looks through me, not even dignifying that with an answer.

“And I have one other condition,” I say.

“That’s not how negotiations work.”

“I don’t give a flying fuck how your usual negotiations work,” I hiss. “This is how this one is going down unless you want us to out you as the cold-blooded murdering, sadistic bastard you are.”

Drew shoots me a warning look, and I force myself to calm down. “Alessandra publicly embarrassed Drew last night. You will arrange it so Trent and Alessandra are engaged, and Shandra will become Drew’s new fiancée.”

Shock splays across Drew’s face. I knew he’d never ask for himself, and while we have the bastard by the balls, we might as well squeeze as much out of him as we can.

“It’s not that simple,” he replies.

“Oh, please. Of course, it is. The elite have no regard for women. We’re interchangeable, so this should be a cakewalk.” He purses his lips, and I enjoy watching him squirm. “I don’t care what you have to do or say to make it happen, just make it happen. That bitch is poison, and I want her a million miles away from my brother.”

His wry smile rubs me up the wrong way, and I’ve had enough of his toxic energy polluting our airspace. “And this conversation is officially over, so get the fuck out of our house.”

Oh, he doesn’t like being spoken to like that. Not one little bit. My inner minx is throwing a party.

He’s fuming, but he’s doing a good job of hiding it. “Drew,” he tosses over his shoulder. “I’ll wait for you in the car. Don’t be long.”

He gives Kai and me the evil eye as he walks out of the room, followed by Rick, who is quick to chaperone him to the door.

“Thanks for that,” Drew says, standing and smiling. “At least Shandra is pleasant to be around.”

“And she’s very easy on the eye,” Jackson adds, grinning.

“I wouldn’t know,” Drew says, completely serious. “I only have eyes for one woman, and it’s not her.”

My heart aches for Drew, and thoughts of Jane enter my mind again. When all this is over, I’m going to track her down, because I hate seeing my brother so miserable.

“What’s going on?” Kai asks, directing his question to my twin.

“We’ve been summoned to Parkhurst to explain how Denton Mathers got shot,” he replies.

What a fucking joke. He gets to almost rape me without consequence, but they’re making a big deal out of the fact he got shot? Typical elite bullshit.

“Will this be a black mark against Father’s campaign?” I inquire.

Drew shakes his head. “He’ll wriggle his way out of it. He’ll blackmail Denton into withdrawing his complaint, and it’ll get buried.”

“How long will you be gone for?” Kai asks.

“Two nights, max,” Drew replies.

“Is that enough time?” I ask Sawyer, being vague on purpose because I want to be careful with that bastard in the vicinity.

“I believe so.”

“This is the perfect opportunity,” Drew whispers. “Because Christian, Trent, Charlie, and Denton have all been requested too. You have the list of elite targets, and there’s enough time to work out a plan. Go for it, so we can get ready to really nail the bastard to the wall.”





CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE


“That was easy,” Xavier says, when I return from the dungeon to my old bedroom the following night, having given the new guard on duty down there a glass of iced tea laced with the sleeping potion I’ve used to drug Charlie.

“It helps that we have eyeballs on him to ensure he drinks it,” I add, watching the new guy sipping from the drink via the live feed on Xavier’s tablet.

Thanks to the intel I acquired from Father’s computer, the guys broke through the firewall into the security system. We don’t even need to call the safecracker dude in, because the infrared security is all digitally monitored and controlled, and Xavier now knows how to deactivate it. The only thing we aren’t sure about is whether it will emit any alarm once it’s disabled, so knocking the bodyguard out was important for more than one reason.

“And you’re sure the camera system in the house is separate to the system in the dungeon,” Kai asks, folding his arms across his chest.

“Yes,” Sawyer replies. “They are completely separate systems. Xavier has already uploaded a fake feed to the system in the house, so they won’t see us sneaking down there. It’s why no one discovered Abby wandering around the house. All we have to worry about is bumping into any guards patrolling inside.”

“It’s the middle of the night,” I say. “And whoever is on house duty is most likely dozing in front of the TV or already passed out. I didn’t bump into anyone.” Although, I had a story concocted about needing something from my old bedroom if I’d been discovered. “Everyone is away, and the staff is sleeping, so they won’t be expecting any trouble. Especially when we snuck in through the tunnel, so they have no idea we are here.”