“Maybe I don’t want to be your fake boyfriend,” I tease him.
“Then have fun getting kicked out of Crimson College. I’ll send the administration my favorite video of you covered in your own cum.”
Something twists inside me when I hear his plain attempt at blackmail.
He has no idea about how deep those words cut.
Because I cannot go back to where I was before I came to Crimson. Callum’s house was pure mental warfare, and I haven’t even begun to process the trauma from how I was treated.
How Iletmyself be treated.
My ex’s biggest lie was that he was going to help me toward a career in modeling. Real modeling, not just the artsy photos I toss out onto Instagram. Callum is 29 and he found me when I was 18, promising me all sorts of modeling jobs that never worked out. I moved in with himthe moment I finished high school, and I didn’t even consider going to college.
Callum also started slowly pilfering money from me.
I thought he was rich, and he certainly lives the life of a man who has money. But he slowly started complaining that his money was “tied up in investments.”
He’s ask me for a grand here, three grand there.
Over time I ended up giving him almost thirty thousand dollars, and he hasn’t attempted to pay back a dime of it.
“Get me kicked from Crimson, and I really will make your life hell,” I tell him in a serious tone.
“Why do you even want to be at Crimson so badly if you hate us?”
Because every other aspect of my life is a burning mess.
And I’m running away.
“Someone threatened my cousin,” I tell him, giving him a small slice of the truth. “My cousin Sevan is in Double Daggers, and his life is in danger. I need to be here to protect him.”
I grab my phone and show Oliver.
It’s an anonymous comment I got a few weeks ago that sent a chill down my spine.
Anonymous38374: You care about Sevan, don’t you? Shame he won’t be able to run, when I find him. Crimson College security needs to step up.
“Christ, Niko. You get comments like that?”
“I get creepy anonymous comments all the time. Stalkery ones. But no one has ever mentioned a family member before. The person knows about my cousin, and the fact that he goes to Crimson.”
“It has to be your ex, right?”
“I don’t know if the comment is from Callum orsomeone he knows. I have to be here at Crimson until I know what’s going on.”
“Why can’t your cousin in Daggers protect himself? You have to swoop in and be a hero?”
“He’s injured. Badly.”
“Oh,” Oliver says, his expression softening. “Is he the guy with two broken legs?”
“Two broken legs and a bruised ego. He couldn’t defend himself even if he tried. He refuses to buy a gun, even though I’ve seen him win every fistfight he’s ever been in.”
“Shit. How did he injure himself?”
“At the gym. Barbell with a wicked amount of weight fell on his shins.”
“Holy fuck.”
