It was suspicious, and I made a mental note to mention it to Jordan just as soon as he could erase Alex’s touch from my skin.
My ex-boyfriend just shrugged, reached over to his bedside table, and grabbed a small velvet box. He tossed it over to me, but I didn’t catch it. Instead, I let it land on the comforter in front of me and stared at it like it was poisonous.
“What the fuck is that?” I demanded.
Alex let out a sigh, like I was being dense. Okay, sure. I was. “Lesser of two evils, Violet. Make smart choices.”
Without waiting for me to open the box or even for me to respond, he climbed out of the bed and disappeared into the bathroom. Seconds later, the sound of the shower running reached my ears, and I released the breath I was holding.
Curiosity pulled at me, and I picked up the velvet box, even though I already knew what I’d find. My fingers pried the lid open, and my heart stopped beating for a second.
Nestled in a bed of black velvet was a ring with the largest diamond I’d ever seen. It was so huge it would take up most of my knuckle, not that there was a chance in hell it would ever touch my finger. The jewelry was typical Alex in that there was nothing special or personalized about this ring. Huge rock, square cut, no other adornment.
He didn’t know me at all, and this was just another show of money and power, neither of which I was interested in.
Dropping it like it was a snake about to bite me, I backed away, looking anywhere but at that fucking box.
How could this be happening? In this freaking century. If anything, the monarchies had taken us back ten decades instead of forward into the future.
The twenty-first century had seen the abolishment of most monarchies, and arranged marriages had not been the norm, but somehow all of these years later, after the Monarch War and everything, we were back to this bullshit.
Well, not today. Not with me. I’d die first.
Chapter 24
Alex left me alone for the next week, and I spent my time avoiding everyone—scurrying to classes; hiding from the nurse, who’d taken to knocking on my fucking door at ten at night; and listening to the student body rave about the big dance that was coming up next week, on Saturday. The Spring Ball was Arbon’s first chance this year to show off to the monarchies, and they were wasting no time revamping the entire school to make it a showpiece. Or more of one than usual anyway.
I personally was freaking the fuck out because I had almost no doubt that Alex’s parents would be there. Along with Rafe’s, Jordan’s… Jesus, I had to stop fucking princes. They were too complicated for my life.
During my last class on Friday, the buzzing of my palm reader distracted me, and I glanced down to find a new message.
Jordan:It’s done.
Fuck. Yes. This was the first good news I’d had in days, and I needed it desperately. He’d run into a few snags in making sure the virus would not be traced back to us at all. It required him to use the school server, ping it all over the world, scramble the data… I’d tuned out the rest of his explanation because this sort of thing was not my strong suit. It was Jordan’s, though, and I trusted he had done an exemplary job at ensuring its success.
Kinda helped that he had the best tech at his fingertips and probably the best teachers growing up.
Me:Great work.
I didn’t reply with anything incriminating, just in case they decided to investigate anyone other than Alex. I was already regretting my big fat mouth mentioning a “project” to Jordan the other day. Hopefully Alex was too stupid to put that together with this frame job. It’d be better all around if he wasn’t suspicious that this had anything to do with us.
Wishful thinking, no doubt.
Jordan:Meet me after class. Rafe’s glass cage of emotions.
I silently snorted out some laughter at that. Apparently Jordan was the only other person privy to knowing about Rafe’s secret escape from the world.
The rest of whatever class I was in now passed super slow. I’d stopped paying attention. Stopped taking notes. I wrote my name on the test papers and handed them in, only to get a top mark back.
It had actually turned into a game now of how bad I could be and still pass all my classes.
So far I’d discovered that even if I didn’t turn up to class, I’d receive full marks, but I also had Alex up my ass about appearances, so I’d taken to showing up. And that was all.
When it was over, I hurried out of the room before anyone could stop me.
“Violet,” Alex called, waving from the back of the class. Moron. He knew by now that I was always the first out, and still, he’d been too lazy to hurry.
“Not a dog, Alex,” I yelled back. “I don’t come when you call.”
