Chapter 5

I washed my face three times, the cold water didn't stop me from shaking.

I looked at my reflection in the bathroom mirror. I looked the same—same dark eyes, same mouth, same hair, but I wasn't the same anymore, I felt like a traitor.

I checked the time. 9:05 AM. Class had started.

I had to go in, If I didn't, Matteo’s man in the back row might get restless.

I pushed open the bathroom door and walked down the hallway, the air felt thick, like I was walking underwater. I reached the double doors of the lecture hall, I could hear my uncle’s voice through the wood.

I slipped inside.

The hall was large and stadium-style, It was warm, about fifty students sat in rows, typing on laptops or scribbling notes.

Down in the "pit," at the front of the room, was Uncle Arthur.

He looked small next to the massive blackboard, he was covered in chalk dust.

He waved his arms, excited about history, he loved teaching more than anything.

I tried to sneak to the back row, hoping he wouldn't see me.

But he did.

"Ah! Elena!"

He stopped his lecture, he smiled, a big, genuine smile that crinkled the corners of his eyes.

"Class, this is my niece," he announced. He pointed at me with a piece of chalk. "She finally decided to grace us with her presence.

Better late than never, right?"

A few students chuckled, I felt my face burn, I forced a weak smile.

"Sorry, Uncle Arthur," I whispered. "I... I got lost."

"Take a seat, take a seat," he said kindly. "We were just discussing Robespierre and the Reign of Terror."

I climbed the stairs to the back.

I kept my head down, I didn’t want to look at the other students, I was terrified I'd see the gunman. Was it the guy in the hoodie? The girl with the headphones?

I reached the top row, I sat in the corner seat and looked to my left, my heart stopped.

The seat next to me wasn't empty.

Nico was there.

He wasn't looking at the professor at all, he was looking at me. He had a notebook open, but the page was blank, he was twirling a black pen between his fingers.

"You're late," Nico whispered.

"What are you doing here?" I hissed. "This isn't your class."

"I love history," Nico said. "Especially the parts about betrayal."

He looked down at the podium.

"He looks happy," Nico noted. "He has no idea his life is over."

"Please," I begged, keeping my voice quiet so no one would hear. "I did what you asked, I put the envelope in the drawer, just let it be, let him finish the class."

Nico stopped twirling the pen, he looked at me with those cold, gray eyes.

"The fuse is already lit, Elena, we just have to wait, then boom" he said displaying the sound with his hands.

Down below, Uncle Arthur turned to write on the board.

Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité.

The door at the bottom of the lecture hall opened suddenly.

It banged against the wall, and the whole room jumped. Uncle Arthur dropped his chalk, and it shattered on the floor.

Three people walked in.

First was the Dean of Students, the woman with glasses I had seen in the office.

Behind her were two campus security guards. They weren't the friendly ones who unlocked doors for you. These were the big ones, the ones who handled fights.

The room went deadly silent.

"Dean Miller?" Uncle Arthur said, looking confused, he dusted his hands on his pants. "Is something wrong? I'm in the middle of a lecture."

"Professor Vance," the Dean said. Her voice was ice cold and echoed in the quiet room. "We need you to step away from the podium."

"Excuse me?"

"Step away from the podium," she repeated. "And please hand over your keys."

The students began to whisper, phones came out, and they started recording.

"I don't understand," Arthur said, looking small and frightened. "What is going on?"

"We received an anonymous tip," the Dean said loudly. "About misappropriation of funds and improper conduct with students."

A gasp rippled through the room.

Arthur’s face went white. "That is absurd, that is a lie."

"We checked your office, Arthur," the Dean said, holding up a plastic bag. Inside was the envelope.

"We found this in your desk," she said. "Cash and the photos."

"I have never seen that before!" Arthur shouted, shaking. "I haven't been in my office all morning! I came straight to the hall!"

I gripped the edge of my desk, my knuckles turning white.

Say something, my brain screamed, stand up. Tell them it was you, say it's a setup.

I started to rise.

Under the desk, a hand clamped onto my thigh.

It was Nico, his fingers dug into my skin, painful and hard.

"Sit," he whispered. "Or the gunman takes the shot."

I froze, I looked around wildly, I didn’t see a gun, but I saw Matteo standing by the exit door, smiling.

I sank back into my chair.

Down below, Arthur was looking around the room, desperate for an ally.

"This is a mistake!" he pleaded. "Someone put that there! I wasn't even in the office!"

Then, his eyes found me.

He pointed up at the back row.

"Elena!" he yelled. "Elena, you were there! You were in my office just now!"

The whole class turned to look at me—fifty faces. The Dean looked up, her glasses flashing in the light.

‘How did he know?’ I thought.

"Ms. Vance?" the Dean called out. "Is this true? Were you in his office?"

What the hell is going on, this woman just saw in my uncle's office and she is asking me that question, is all of this already planned, I wondered.

My heart hammered against my ribs like a trapped bird.

Uncle Arthur looked at me with so much hope.

"Tell them, Elena!" he cried. "Tell them I wasn't there!"

Nico's hand squeezed my leg harder.

I looked at my uncle, I saw the fear in his kind eyes.

I looked at Nico.

I opened my mouth, my tongue felt heavy.

"I..." I started, my voice cracking.

"Ms. Vance?" the Dean demanded. "Did you see who put the envelope there?"

I looked at my uncle one last time.

"I..." I swallowed the lump in my throat. I let the tears spill over, but I made my voice steady. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Uncle Arthur flinched like I had slapped him.

"Elena?" he whispered.

"I wasn't in the office," I said, lying. "I... I haven't seen him until now."

The silence that followed was heavy.

Arthur stared at me. The hope died in his eyes, replaced by shock, then betrayal.

"Take him," the Dean said to the guards.

The guards stepped forward, they grabbed my uncle by the arms and dragged him away from the chalkboard, away from his life's work.

"Elena!" he screamed as they pulled him toward the door. "Elena, why?"

I couldn't watch, I looked down at my desk. Nico leaned close to me, he released my leg and brushed a tear from my cheek with his thumb.

"Lesson one complete," he whispered. "You're a fast learner, Little Mouse."

The doors slammed shut, my uncle was gone.

The lecture hall emptied quickly.

Nobody wanted to be near me. I sat in the back row, staring at the empty chalkboard.

I couldn't stop seeing his face, the way he looked at me, like I was a stranger, like I was a monster.

I had saved his life, I had to believe that, If I hadn't lied, Matteo’s man would have pulled the trigger but saving him felt a lot like killing him.

"Up," Nico said.

He stood over me, packed his notebook, and looked bored.

I didn't move, I couldn't feel my legs.

"Elena," Nico said. His voice wasn't loud but was firm. "Don't make a scene, get the fuck up."

I forced my body to obey and stood up, my knees knocking together.

Nico didn't offer his arm, he just turned and walked toward the stairs, expecting me to follow like a well-trained dog.

We walked down the stairs, past the podium where the chalk still lay crushed on the floor, past the empty seats.

We pushed through the heavy doors into the hallway.

It was chaos.

The news had spread quickly. Blackwood was a small place, and bad news traveled like lightning, students stood in tight circles, whispering. When they saw me, the talking stopped.

Hundreds of eyes looked at me with disgust and fear.

That's the niece, they probably thought, she turned her back on him.

I kept my head down, focusing on Nico’s back. His broad shoulders were my only shield.

"Hey! Vance!"

The voice came from my right.

I tried to keep walking, but a hand grabbed my arm.

I stopped and looked up.

It was a tall guy wearing a varsity jacket, holding a camera phone in his other hand, he was filming me.

"Is it true?" he asked loudly, shoving the phone in my face. "Did you really plant the evidence on your own uncle? How much did the administration pay you?"

“How did they even know about this?” I screamed in my head.

"Let go of me," I whispered.

"Come on, give us a quote," the guy sneered, squeezing my arm tighter, which hurt. "What kind of girl does that to her own family?"

I pulled back, but he was stronger.

"I said let go!"

Then, the world went upside down.

A dark shape moved between me and the guy in a blur of motion.

A sickening crack echoed in the hallway.

The guy in the varsity jacket screamed, dropped his phone, and stumbled back, clutching his nose. Blood poured out between his fingers against the floor tiles.

Nico stood there.

He hadn't even broken a sweat, he stood with his feet apart and his fists unclenched. He looked calm, deadly calm.

The hallway went silent, no one dare move or breath.

Nico took a step toward the guy, the guy scrambled backward, slipping on his own blood.

"Please," the guy whimpered. "I didn't... I was just..."

Nico crouched down, he didn't look at the crowd, only at the boy bleeding on the floor.

"You touched her," Nico said softly.

His voice carried down the hall.

"I... I'm sorry," the guy choked out.

"Elena is mine," Nico said, reaching out to wipe a speck of blood from his own knuckle onto the guy's jacket. "She is my toy to break.

Not yours, do you understand?"

"Yes," the guy sobbed. "Yes, I understand."

Nico stood up and looked around the hallway, at the cheerleaders, the nerds, the jocks, he looked at everyone.

"Does anyone else have a question?" Nico asked.

Silence. Absolute silence.

Nico turned to me, his face was blank again.

"Let's go," he said.

He put his hand on my back, his touch burned through my shirt.

He guided me through the crowd, the students parted like the Red Sea, they didn't look at me with disgust anymore but with terror.

We walked out of the building and into the rain.

The black SUV was waiting at the park. Matteo was leaning against the hood, smoking a cigarette, he saw the blood on Nico’s hand and grinned.

"Eventful morning?" Matteo asked.

"Drive," Nico said. He opened the back door and shoved me inside.

I slid across the leather seat, I was shaking uncontrollably now. The adrenaline was wearing off, leaving me cold and empty.

Nico got in beside me, the door slammed shut, locking out the world.

The car started moving.

I looked at my hands, they were clean but they felt dirty.

"Why?" I whispered. "Why did you do that?"

Nico looked at me, he took a handkerchief from his pocket and began to clean his hand.

"Do what?"

"Hit him," I said. "You hate me. You want to destroy me, why did you help me?"

Nico stopped cleaning his hand, he turned his head slowly, his gray eyes bore into mine.

"I didn't help you, Elena," he said.

He reached out and grabbed my chin, forcing me to look at him.

"You are an investment," Nico said coldly. "I have put a lot of time and effort into your suffering. I won't let some random idiot take the credit for breaking you."

He let go of my chin and leaned back in the seat and closed his eyes.

"Rest now," he said. "Save your energy."

"For what?" I asked. My voice was barely a squeak. "I did the task. I ruined him, what more do you want?"

Nico smiled but didn't open his eyes.

"Tonight is the Blackwood initiation party," he said. "It's the biggest event of the year. Everyone will be there, the Dean, students and literally everyone."

My stomach dropped. "I'm not going."

"Oh, you are going," Nico said. "You are going to walk into that room with your head held high, you are going to dance and you are going to drink."

He opened one eye, It glittered with malice.

"And you are going to listen to everyone whisper about what a terrible person you are," he said. "And you are going to smile."

"And if I don't?"

"Then I send Matteo to visit your uncle in his jail cell," Nico said. "I hear the accidents in prison can be very... messy."

The car turned a corner, speeding toward the mansion on the hill.

I looked out the window at the gray sky.

I had thought rock bottom was framing my uncle but I was totally wrong.

I was just starting to fall.