Page 111 of Knox Academy Omnibus
“Why did you call him? I don’t want him near her. He’s a loose cannon and he knows too much.”
“What choice did we have? She can’t walk onto that campus without protection and for some crazy reason, Branson is willing to look out for her.”
“You all best go look for her and not come back until she’s found,” he barks. We scramble to comply.
“Don’t sweat it, Dad,” Kalen says, slapping him on the back in what he probably thinks is a reassuring manner.
“If anything happens to her, I swear I will…” Dad pauses and pinches the bridge of his nose. It’s the most stressed I’ve ever seen him. He sighs. “Just leave.”
We do as he says and head back out to the car, though my mind whirls as we do. Why is Dad so stressed? I highly doubt it’s because his fiancée’s daughter is at risk. His reaction is too much. Even with what he told us before she ran away, something still isn’t adding up. And why hasn’t he ended things with Laura yet? He has to be playing some sort of long game, but why?
“Reckon she’s back on campus?” Kalen asks me. I shrug. I can’t imagine where else she’d go.
I briefly wonder if Branson was the guy who picked her up from the airport and if he just played me, but I dismiss the thought. I have to hope that he wouldn’t do that. I guess I’ll never know; my pride won’t let me text him to ask if he has her.
“Let’s head back and search for her. We’ve got time before we need to leave for the fight. And we need to sort out surveillance and protection for her. We’re going to need some sort of rota or schedule or something.”
Everyone nods, so that’s what we do, though we drop Sawyer off en route. As he’s not technically employed at Knox Academy anymore, he has no reason to be on campus. He tells us to message him as soon as we find her. All I see as we drive away is worry in his eyes. He’s not mad at her at all. Why? He, of all people, should want to kill her. She’s wrecked his life. I have to be angry on his behalf, but I suspect that when I come face to face with her, that’ll be easier said than done.
Chapter Five
Onyx
Our campus search for Amelie is fruitless. I send Kalen and Slate off to different areas on campus while I head to her room. I don’t for a second expect her to be there, but I need some time alone in her room. I need to set up security. There’s no way in hell I would leave her unprotected. Our father seems to think that having us around and being friendly with her will be enough to keep her out of harm’s way, but I refuse to underestimate the people we go to school with. I’ve fought them, I know how ruthless they can be.
I slip into Amelie’s room using the key I had copied last term. I can easily get my hands on the master key from my father to allow me entry into every room on campus, but I have no interest in sneaking into anyone else’s room. Amelie is my only focus. Thankfully, there is no one around. Campus is still pretty quiet, with most students not returning until the new year, so I’m able to move without caution.
She hasn’t been back to this room at all, her luggage from the flight isn’t here. The room is also empty, completely devoidof the few personal possessions she left behind, which I’m fairly sure that our father had sent to the house in the hopes of getting Amelie to move in there, but I know her. She’s too headstrong; there’s no way she will agree to live under the same roof as Laura.
Not that I blame her, when I overheard Amelie telling Slate what Laura was like, I wanted to kill her. She’ll need to be taken care of, but the priority has to be getting Amelie inducted into The Order first.
I grind my teeth with impatience, always thirsty for revenge, and set to installing the security cameras around Amelie’s room. I have one on the window, one on the bathroom door and one on the main door. I installed one in the corridor outside her door and one at the entrance to the dorms on my way in too. I hesitate with the final camera in my hand. Is it overkill? I shake my head. I need to know she’s safe. Since the day she tripped and cut her knee running with me, it’s been a weird compulsion I can’t fight.
Decided, I cross the room and install the final camera facing her bed. I willnotabuse it. I just need to know she’s safe at all times. Done, I leave a rape alarm, some pepper spray, and a few other self-defence items in her desk drawer, then head out.
I pull my phone from my pocket and group call Kalen and Slate.
“My room. We need to talk,” I snap, and hang up.
It doesn’t take long to get to the room I share with Slate. My brothers turn up shortly after, just as I’m sending a text to Sawyer to tell him she’s not here.
“We couldn’t find her anywhere,” Kalen complains as he enters the room.
“I know.”
“How?” He frowns.
“Her room was empty. If she came back to campus, she would’ve at least dropped her bag off.”
“Ugh you could have said that and saved us some time,” he grumbles. I shrug. I don’t give a shit if he’s wasted time searching for her.
“I had shit to do,” I say before filling them both in on the camera situation.
“You put one facing her bed?” Slate asks quietly.
“Yeah, but–”
“Free porn!” Kalen yells excitedly before I can finish. Slate glares at him and I hit him. “Ow, what was that for?”
