Cynthia continued. “Then you had that date with Luka. It made me sick. You had Jaeson all to yourself, but that wasn’t enough, was it? Of course it wasn’t. You had to go slutting around with our Prince. What was worse, Jaeson and Luka knew you were sleeping with both of them, and they didn’t care. I knew then you weren’t good enough for him. I knew I had to get you out of this school.”
“You spied on Jaeson and Luka? You spied on me? Is that why you pretended to be my friend? To get close to me?”
“I needed to know,” Cynthia said, waving her hands wildly. “ I needed to figure out a way to keep you away from him. Whole lot of fucking good that did, until you went ahead and did the work for me, outing yourself as the writer. Like I said, the rumors were all I needed to work with. The messages, well…” She smirked. “Those were just a nice touch to go with it all.”
“That’s why you’re always at the office so late?" a voice called out from the doorway. “Planning more schemes?”
Jaeson stepped through the door, followed by Luka and Riot. The look on Cynthia’s face was delicious. Horror mixed with dismay, with a hint of fear. Good. I wanted her to be afraid. After everything she put me through, she should be terrified about what these three powerful men might do to her. I brandished my phone that I’d been holding in my hand the whole time, showing Cynthia the screen. I’d been recording the entire conversation.
“It took me a while, but eventually I realized you had to be the blackmailer,” I told her. “A while back, before anyone knew who I was, you saw me at a computer and asked if I was working on ‘that sexy story.’ Luka had told me to pretend I was proofreading, but you didn’t know that yet. Why would you have assumed I was working on the anonymous author’s story? Unless you already knew it was me.”
Cynthia scowled.
“Not to mention,” I continued, “that time at the auction, when you were going on and on about Jaeson. How did you put it? The things you would do to get with him would probably get you locked right the hell up. Does that sound familiar?”
“I’m done with you,” Cynthia snarled.
“That’s not how this works,” I said, stepping close to her. “You tried to threaten your way into getting what you wanted. You tortured me, you put me through hell and back, and the damage you’ve done to my reputation, it’s completely unforgivable.”
“Get over yourself,” Cynthia snapped.
“Now I’m going to get what I want,” I said. “Get your stuff and leave. I want you gone from this school.”
Cynthia scoffed. “You can’t be serious.”
“You’ve got twelve hours,” Jaeson added, looking pointedly at his watch.
“I’m not leaving,” she said, glaring at the four of us.
Jaeson stuck his hands in his pockets, looking as relaxed as ever. “I’ve been looking for a new company to acquire, you know. Your father’s company deals in textiles, doesn’t it?”
Cynthia looked confused at the change of topic.
“Maybe I should look into acquiring it,” Jaeson continued. “Of course, I’d need full access to his accounting books. My lawyers would have to go over every detail. It would be a shame if they found any discrepancies. Like, say, maybe the fact that your father’s been embezzling from his own company for years.”
Cynthia gaped. “He has not!”
Jaeson shrugged. “How could you prove otherwise? All it would take is a change of a decimal here or there and all of a sudden your father is being investigated for white collar crimes.”
“You wouldn’t dare!” she shrieked.
Jaeson looked at her, eyes cold and hard. “I would think very carefully about whether VIP College is the right school for you.”
Cynthia darted her eyes back and forth between me and Jaeson, as if trying to decide whether he was serious. I kept my face set firm and resolute.
“You can’t—” she started to say, before falling silent, looking nervous.
"Clock's ticking," Jaeson said. “Best get a move on.”
Cynthia gave all four of us one last terrified look before grabbing her bag and fleeing out the door.
